"So, this is a redo of one of the very first pieces of fiction I wrote. I started a creative writing club in high school, and we did prompts each week. This was our first week: Fear. I tried to keep some of the same metaphors and language I used, and the story structure is, essentially, the same. Thought it would be fun to do revisit since the spirit of this project is similar, just without the prompts. "
Ellie loathed the city. It was oppressive. People didn’t give a shit about you. They stepped past the homeless and the dying without a glance. Eyes locked ahead. Empathy held in a glance never given, never acknowledged. She left it whenever she could. It was a pleasure to be surrounded by nature, dancing at the edge of civilization. But, even then, the city lights were at her back: the leering gaze of a monster with a million eyes waiting for her to return. This time, it was different. She had pushed ahead into the serenity until she could no longer hear the idling thrum of her aging Civic.
Daylight softened to twilight quicker than she anticipated. It was time to go back, but she was uncertain of the way she came. She had never gone far enough to leave markers or bring anything aside from a snack and a pocket knife that was more for utility than defense. Her phone flashlight did little to abate the burgeoning dark. Shadows swayed from twisting live oaks, cast aslant by the recent tropical storm. Ellie centered herself, tried to abate the panic, but it had already wormed its way into her thoughts. If her brother would just shut up and stop provoking mom, maybe she wouldn’t have come out here. She couldn’t stand to be around the two’s constant shouting. Once she was out of school, she was leaving and not looking back.
She cast around for any sign of the way she came and found none. The lights of the city had winked out; the beast slumbered. She moved back toward the way she came, searching for any cell signal, but there was none. If her car still idled, she couldn’t hear it over the blood rushing in her ears. She yelled, calling out to anyone, but the swamp was silent but for the constant hum of insects.
Hours dripped by, the dark feeling in her gut solidifying into a constant dread. Night was complete. The chorus of insects was joined by the dirging croak-songs of frogs. Humidity cloyed, mixing with sweat that stung her eyes. She pushed through underbrush, any semblance of logic had been eaten away by the dark. She had to get somewhere, anywhere. If she just kept going, she would find something. A power station. A campground. Ellie reasoned there must be plenty of trails this close to the city. There had to be.
Her foot plunged through another bush and hit something firm. A sharp, piercing heat blossomed in her calf. Ellie cried out, tumbling down, mind racing. She fumbled for her leg, pulling at whatever had locked around her. A black bear trap, she thought for a fleeting moment. No, it was slick and writhing, tightening like a vice.
She scrambled for the phone and cast the light towards the source. A snake. Olive green and black, camouflaged amongst the foliage. It was massive. She pried at it with her fingertips to no avail. It tightened, coiling itself further up her leg. She tried to stand but couldn’t under its weight. It had bitten her, she could feel the blood slick beneath its scales. Its black eyes glinted in the dark. The creature’s tongue darted as though tasting her fear. Something creaked in her leg under the force of its twisting body as the hulking thing tried to wrap itself around her torso.
The knife. She dropped the phone and fished it from her pocket and flicked it open with unsteady hands. She brought the blade high and down into the snake’s body. It tensed, constricting her further. She tried to scream, but she couldn’t take in enough of a breath. Again, again, she cut into it. Just as dark roses threatened to blot out her vision, it slackened. She freed herself from its blood-soaked corpse. Her leg was weak and burned from its bite, but she was free, back into the grasp of the night.
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