Pain. Excruciating pain. The bone protruding from Melony’s arm is all she can concentrate on walking back to the cave. A flashback forms in her confused mind of the threatening fall.


A voice, summoning her out of the cave, spread through Melony’s limbs took control.

“Melony…” the creature called. She started running, but not on her own accord. After many miles, exhaustion seemed to bring her to her own senses. She came to a stop and glanced nervously around. Ahead of her was what appeared to be a black wraith. The strange creature snarled, “Melony” again in a broken, inhuman sort of way and glided away into oblivion. Ignoring the urge to collapse, Melony climbed the nearest tree to see the mysterious thing again. With shaky breaths she climbed to the top of the tall sycamore, which, fortunately, happened to be the tallest in the forest. Melony spotted a flash of black to the left. She gasped. Just as she focused in on it, it disappeared. Disappointment swept through her like a drop of black food coloring spreading—masking—the water until no trace of any original color remains. That is when she realized she yearned for the creature. Her heart leapt in the direction of the wraith as if attempting to escape the cage her body took shape to. The sudden motion caused instability and the sudden feeling of weightlessness rushed to meet Melony.

Snap. At first the shock revealed no discomfort. But, as the shock subsided, the pain shot through her body like a bullet. The depths of the pain seemed incomprehensible… Never ending.

Melony finally found the willpower to stand up somewhere within the encompassing despair that clouded her thoughts; she began to walk.



She reaches the cave finally and drops on her pine needle bed. Melony senses her cheeks are wet, and finds the source is her tears. Her arm would never heal, the injury is too severe. She lifts her head and looks to the forest. A look of determination spreads across her delicate face.

“The darkness calls to me. And I will answer,” she whispers into the night.