" why is it
that when the story ends
we begin to feel all of it "
⟶ rupi kaur

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THE COLD AIR bit at her warm face as she ran.

The words from moments before echoed in her head.

"I can't have a daughter like... that!"

Her feet hit the concrete in uneven strides, her body threatening to go down at any second.

She was running - running away from her problems.

She veered into the woods, taking a sharp turn and wincing slightly as the sharp branches littering the forest floor attempted to pierce the skin on the bottom of her feet. Her breaths came out heavy - she could see them in front of her - and ragged; her lungs burned with agony as she looked around, seeking her destination.

It was a small cabin called the Hideaway by what the town referred to as the Sleeping Creek. There was a dock there that she could sit at, forget her worries, and best of all - be alone. She entered the clearing, slowing down as she neared the dock, trying to catch her breath. She stepped onto the dock, walking forward as slow as she could. She took in the silence for what it was worth and looked around, sitting down. The creek was the only noise, coming from far below her feet as she looked down, her tears falling feet down into the Sleeping Creek below.

Her reflection looked back at her as her tears landed on the surface if the water. They disrupted the image, making it look as though it was made of shattered pieces of glass. It looked like her, but it looked broken.

"Keira Walters," she growled, sniffling as she grabbed hold of the edge of the deck. Keira leaned forward as a tear slipped off of her face, disrupting the image once again. Her voice broke as she let out a strangled sob, saying one word, "Broken."

The only sound besides that of Keira's sobbing was the flow of water from the creek below with the faintest of footsteps in the background. Keira heard this, but was too upset to care. She choked back another sob, moving her head up as tears ran down the sides of her face, seeing the vast sky above. She was completely alone like she wished, but she felt trapped - she just wanted a world where the drama that led her to sitting on the edge of the dock, crying, didn't happen.

A few feet away, it walked through the woods as Keira growled at herself. It's hands were shaking, not wearing anything but a t-shirt. The cold bit at its arms like it did with Keira's face, but it didn't bother with the cold. It was shaking, it's impulse looking to kill.

What Keira didn't know was that danger was in store for her very soon, and a wrong-place-wrong-time situation would lead to much more sense than it would ever know. She had no clue that she was a target of a spontaneous killing - a hunger for blood, and Keira ended up as the target for this.

It was wandering the forest, not knowing the destination. It saw a girl who it recognized as Keira Walters dart into the scatter of dead trees and followed her, hoping to catch her alone, and that was exactly what happened. She ran deep into the woods, it following in her trail and moving off course when she sensed someone watching from behind.

In hiding, it lost sight of Keira, but was nearing a clearing that looked as though it housed a small cabin. The sound of flowing water grew louder as it approached the space in the middle of the woods, hoping that it would find her there.

As it came to the edge of the clearing, a wrong step was taken. It stepped on a branch, the noise of it cracking ringing out in the quiet woods. A few birds scattered as it cursed under its breath, seeing the back of Keira. Hearing the sudden noise, she whipped around, seeing it standing there with a gun in hand.

Before Keira had time to react to the scene unfolding in front of her, it pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The light left Keira's eyes as she fell back, dying before she hit the bottom of the Sleeping Creek. At this sight, the face behind the gun smiled in satisfaction.

Keira Walters was finally dead.