ForNever

Loudly I ask appalled, "Why are you doing this, Kieran?"

He glances toward me anxiously and whips the horse again. I do not recognize the look on his face.

" Why are you doing this? What is going on?" I ask him, pulling at his forearm to make him stop hitting the horse. The horse gallops faster and faster and the cart jump and skip over the rutted path.

Jayden climbs over the backrest from behind me and I move aside so that I am sitting between Jayden and Kieran. I lift my dress to make space for him and I notice that the hem is mud-soaked and heavy.

I ask again, apprehensively, "What is going on here?"

Jayden starts, "There is this, um."

Kieran interrupts him, "Not now, Jayden. I will explain everything to you as soon as we get you home." His eyes do not look away from the road.

The moon is shining brightly, illuminating the tall trees and bushes crowding in onto the two ruts in the road. I see the dark gloom, which is recently always with me, filtering through the bushes on either side of us. I have never really been afraid of these shadows because once I got used to them, they seemed harmless and not dangerous at all. The shadows I saw earlier mirrored on the cliff were menacing though. They looked like long claw-like fingers reaching out toward me. Also, I do not know if it is because of Jayden and Kieran's sudden panic and strange behaviour, but I now feel terrified of these shadows.

I yell involuntarily when I see a figure standing on the grass median between the two muddy grooves that the wheels of many, many wagons have made when they travel this busy road.

I hear Kieran gasp loudly.

Jayden reaches his arms around my shoulders and pulls me into him. He puts his palm over my ear as he pulls my face tightly into his chest. I feel smothered and then when he stiffens against my cheek, I hear a faint, far-away yell of frustration.

The figure in the middle of the road, in front of the wagon, floats above the ground. The tips of its black smoky skirt are skimming the tall grass. As the wagon approaches, it waits, it waits and when the wagon reaches it, it lunges up and swoops down onto the girl. It opens its hideous mouth and screeches sharply.

The boy driving the wagon crashes the whip down onto the apparition. The other boy, whom she should have chosen, holds the girl tightly.

The ghoul reaches the girl and then with an ominous cackle it sweeps through the girl and takes her soul with it.