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Caelyn watched as her father roamed about the house locking doors and windows and muttering to himself under his breath, his thin and frail frame slightly trembled as he clasped his hands together and prayed. Caelyn shook her head somberly at her father’s obsessive behavior and stomped upstairs to her room, careful to avoid the step with a loose board. She collapsed onto her bed and thought back to her childhood and when her father started this strange behavior. Her earliest memories go back to when she was about four years old and her father had picked her up and warned her about the monsters. He told her that they lived in the woods surrounding the house and that if she wasn’t careful they would snatch her up, just like they did her mother. Soon after, the daily prayer sessions started and crucifixes lined the walls. At the thought of her mother she reached up and felt the necklace that was left to her by her mother. Though she had never known her she felt her absence painfully. She had believed him when she was young and had heeded his warning to stay out of the forest, but as she got older she realized that monsters don’t exist. At least, not the ones he told me about. Now though, the forest was her safe haven away from the obsessive havoc her father wrought. She picked up a book from her nightstand and read by the light coming through her window across from her bed until she could feel herself about to pass out from exhaustion. As she drifted off she momentarily recalled that she had not closed her curtains but she was fast asleep before she could get up and shut them. She jolted awake disoriented and groggy before getting her bearings and looking around to see what had woke her. She glanced at her clock, it read 3:15am. She looked to her window, the curtains still open, and got up to draw them closed. She stopped short when she heard a faint, inaudible whispering coming from the direction of the window. Unease washed across her but she pushed it aside and drew closer to close the curtains. She froze as she saw a dark figure at the treeline. She stared at whatever it was but it never moved. She relaxed and assumed it was some sort of object that she couldn’t make out, she would check on it in the morning. She moved back to her bed, briefly noting that the whispering sound had stopped. She pulled the covers back over herself and tried to get back to sleep. Morning came far too early, she hadn’t been able to get back to sleep for another two hours and to make matters even worse, the whispering had started up again. She had no idea where the sound was coming from but she figured that maybe it was something in the ventilation. After showering and dressing she headed downstairs, careful of the loose step, to prepare breakfast. She didn’t see her father this morning, as per usual, he was sprinkling holy water around the house and fervently praying. She worked in silence, her father’s delusional mutterings and frantic footsteps the only sounds to be heard. The walk to school was her only comfort away from both the consuming madness of her father and the alienating stares of her schoolmates which she would soon have to face. She arrived at her school, bracing herself before opening the door. It was a small building, needing only to hold about a hundred students. The inside was filled with small hallways and the harsh fluorescent light cast everything in an ugly shade of yellow due to the age of the coverings. As soon as she stepped foot into the building a hush fell over the crowd of students and many pairs of eyes turned to look at her. This wasn’t an odd occurrence, in fact, it happened every day. People would look at her with scathing eyes but none would dare speak to her let alone touch her, so she was left in relative peace. She put her head down and ducked into the bathroom to splash water on her face. She gasped as a shock ran through her body at the cold water. She gripped onto the sink and looked up into the mirror. She stared at her reflection, taking in the pallidness of her skin, to the dark shadows under her eyes, and the messy nest of short, curly, black hair on her head. She fell backwards from the sink with a yelp as the mirror suddenly cracked. She stared in bewilderment from the floor until she heard a gasp come from the entryway. She whipped her head around to look at the girl and the girl jumped in fear and quickly walked backwards out of the restroom. She stood up and dusted herself off, following suit and leaving. She was met with murmurs from the students outside, catching whispers like “witch”, “cursed” and “freak.” She hung her head and walked faster, ignoring all the eyes on her back. She sat down at her desk in homeroom in the back of the classroom, as usual, there were at least two or three empty desks around her, as no one wanted to sit too near to her. The teachers didn’t say anything about it, they never did, after all, the teachers were the parents of the students that feared and hated her so much. The school day ended and Caelyn started the trek back home, walking slowly to prolong the time she had by herself and away from her father. Eventually though, she did arrive home but instead of coming in and being pulled into one of her father’s rituals like usual, she took a detour around the house and to the forest. She looked around for the thing she had seen last night but she found no objects big enough to look like the thing she had seen at her window last night. Whatever it was had moved. It's possible that her father put something here for another of his bizarre rituals but she highly doubted that. Her father warned her about going to the forest and would almost certainly never go himself. She brushed it aside and headed to the house, hoping to avoid her father. She slowly opened the door and took a step in, looking around. She didn’t hear her father’s rapid murmuring or pacing footsteps. That was odd, he was always here waiting for her to return home so he could “cleanse” her. She shivered at the thought, oh well, she wasn’t going to complain if she didn’t have to do it. With a shrug she headed back out the door and to the forest now that she had a chance to escape her father’s watchful eyes. She entered the forest making sure to keep an eye out for anything that looked like the thing she saw last night. She headed to a clearing a little ways into the forest where the grass was high and a large rock sat. She hopped onto the rock and laid back, taking in a deep breath of the fresh air. The afternoon sun warmed her skin and she soon fell asleep. She dreamt of places far away from her home, far away from her father and the scornful and fearful glares always cast at her. Places where no one knew of her or her father, where she could start anew and leave behind her painful life. She awoke hours later with a crick in her neck and pain in her back from sleeping on the rock. The sun had already gone down and she was left with only the light of the moon to see. She rubbed her eyes groggily and looked around. She froze as her eyes landed on a silhouette at the treeline. It looked like the thing she saw last night. The thing appeared to be around seven to eight feet tall and it’s arms were elongated, unnaturally disproportionate to it’s body. The thing stepped closer into the moonlight and Caelyn’s blood ran cold. She sat in shock at what she was seeing. It was vaguely humanoid but it was hunched over with a hump in it’s back. Sickly bluish gray skin covered portions of it’s body, the rest was exposed, rotting muscle and bone. It’s face was featureless aside from a huge, gaping, bloody maw that took up most of it’s face. There were simply empty sockets were eyes would usually reside. At the end of it’s arms were mangled looking fingers ending in giant razor sharp claws. The creature was slowly moving forward but seemed unaware of her presence. Caelyn slowly shifted on the rock and lowered herself to the ground, trying to make as little noise as possible. Her heart beat rapidly and her breath came in short, shallow breaths. What was that thing? Had her father been telling the truth the whole time? Where was he? She heard the creature shifting through the grass and moving closer to her. She stood and slowly moved one foot in front of the other, quietly moving forward. The grass rustled as she moved and she heard the creature let out a terrible screeching sound. It sounded like multiple voices screaming at once, it was breathless and had a wheezing quality to it, like it didn’t have enough air to produce the sound. It was ear piercing and sent shivers down her spine. She covered her mouth to avoid making any sounds in her fear as her eyes watered with tears. Was she going to die? She heard the creature move faster in her direction now and she hurriedly pressed herself back against the wall. The creature came around to her side of the rock and paused only a few feet away from her. It swung it’s head around and then stopped, facing her. Fear gripped her heart and she couldn’t bring herself to move. Shaky breathing sounds came from the gaping hole in the creature’s face and she could feel it’s warm, putrid breath blow into her face from it’s exhale. It made no movements for a few moments before darting off into the forest after a rustling sound in the bushes. Whatever that thing was it was blind. Caelyn took this opportunity to to run as fast as she could back to her house, the branches slapped against her face and leaves crunched under feet making a racket. She distanly heard the cry of the creature and ran faster. She burst through the front door and slammed it shut, leaning back against it before sinking down onto the floor. She brought her knees to her chest and put her head in her arms, shakily breathing and trying to wrap her head around what she just saw. She slowly lifted her head again and saw a figure standing at the top of the stairs. “Dad?” She called out but received no answer. She squinted her eyes to try and make him out better but could not as the house was pitch black. She slowly stood up and reached to the lightswitch on the wall but the lights did not come on. The power was out. She approached the bottom of the stairs, still trying to make out the figure to no avail. As she got closer, the outline of the figure grew blurrier and blurrier until it simply vanished. She gasped and stilled at this. Suddenly a loud bang came from the front door and she whipped her head around to see the creature from the forest clawing at the door. The creature slammed its head into the window on the door and it cracked under the force. Caelyn gasped and fled up the stairs. She yelped as her foot fell through one of the steps and her ankle caught in between the wood. “Shit!” She frantically tried to pry her foot out of the gap as the creature kept butting it’s head into the glass, breaking more and more each time. She managed to pull her foot free just as the glass shattered and the creature’s claw poked through, turned the lock and grabbed hold of the handle, opening the door. The creature flung itself towards her just as she finished climbing the stairs. She scrambled towards her father’s room, the creature right on her tail. She dove into his room and the creature tried to follow suit but was stopped as it ran into some sort of seemingly invisible barrier. She sat on the floor looking at it struggle to reach her to no avail. She looked down as her hand touched something wet and a shadow not her own was cast onto the floor from the moonlight shining through the window, swinging slightly. She turned and screamed at what she saw. It was her father, hanging from the ceiling fan by his own entrails. His stomach was slashed open and blood dripped down, forming a puddle underneath him. His face was frozen in the expression of horror he wore as he died. Looking around the room she saw that blood splatter was everywhere and claw marks riddled the walls and the ceiling. She gasped and her cries fell silent as a figure materialized in the room. It was her father, she realized. “Caelyn, listen to me. Do not leave this room until morning, do you understand?” He warned. She finally regained her voice and spoke. “What the hell is going on and what is that thing!?” She yelled, pointing to the creature still trying and failing to enter the room. “What happened to you and how are you here speaking to me!?” She demanded. “I know you have a lot of questions but I don’t have much time, please, you must stay in this room until the sun comes up and when it does, I want you to look under my bed for a box. There’s money inside. Take it and leave town, don’t look back, just keep going. The monsters won’t follow you. And I know I was never really there as a parent but I did everything for you, I love you, please remember that.” And with that, he vanished. Caelyn sat, staring at the place where her father stood. She turned back to the creature, watching it claw at whatever invisible barrier was there. She figured it was something her father must have put up. She sat and waited for hours for the sun to rise. Finally morning came and the creature gave a screech and ran down the stairs and out of the house. She did as her father instructed, looking under his bed and fining the box with the money in it, along with an address. She packed a few things such as food and clothing and did just what her father said. She walked out the house and down the road leading out of the town. She left and she didn’t look back.