Work Text:
You wandered aimlessly through the woods, your eyes having difficulty adjusting to the darkness surrounding you. You've always been one with a curious and adventurous soul, and its gotten you into trouble more than once. You gulped as you clung to the bramble that grew near the trees, trying to feel your way out of the forest. You really never thought anything through, did you? Otherwise you wouldn't have continued going deeper. Or maybe your first taste of freedom caused you to realise just how delicious it was, making you grow even hungrier for it? Well, whatever reason it was, it'll surely be the reason you meet your end.
Your sweaty palms clung to whatever flora it could find, and after an hour or so, it just happened to meet something thorny.
You winced in pain and watched as the deep crimson fled from your fingers, falling onto the forest floor as a waterfall falls into a river bed.
From somewhere you didn't know, something had gotten a whiff of your blood. It was reminded of itself upon smelling the scent, similar to that of rust.
It didn't normally eat people— it didn't even need to eat to survive, in fact. But the scent had informed him that a human had entered its living quarters. With slow, precise steps, (it's not like he had the ability to move fast anyway) it approached the location from where the distinct smell of iron oxide was coming from, and then it saw you. You with your succulent flesh, you with your humanity. He'd always found humans fascinating after all, it was a great hobby of his to stalk them, though he called it 'observation'.
It watched you from a distance, behind oaks and through weeping willows, and you didn't notice, even as you licked up the blood from your palm. Of course, you found it odd that the smell had only increased even after the blood had dried up, but you didn't question it. It's not like questioning it would change anything, anyway.
From that day onwards, the creature adorned with rust growing from its stiff body and a wide, rather morbid smile plastered on its face, made a point to moniter you. And once you had finally gotten a glimpse of him, you continued pretending not to notice, smitten by the fact that you had been able to capture the attention of such a morbid creature.