Crimson and Furs

Pain

I've never wanted this life for myself—this life filled with perils and evil. It's like a dream I can never escape from—a dream which I'm forever stuck in. Heh, no one ever wanted this life or ever wished for it. You'd be either insane or extremely evil to wish for this kind of life—the life where you don't have a choice over anything—the life where you're bound by your deepest desires.

I never wanted to enter into the supernatural world. I never wanted to come across the Crimsones[1], Lycanthropes[2], demons and the rest. I never wanted to be involved in anything pertaining to the dark and supernatural world. I had always yearned for freedom and not servitude. But of course I was wrong all along. I had been delusional, thinking I'd be able to escape it all—to escape from fate. I never knew I would be pulled into this mess, becoming one of those dark creatures which roam about in the ungodly night. I never wanted to be a merciless predator who was also a prey to another predator (what a food chain!).

But all is good. No matter what I shall not alli myself to degenerate into a heartless monster who only knew how to tear flesh, spill blood and break bones. I cannot allow my desires to pull me down. I cannot be corrupted by the abyss!

My name is Daniel Stark and what I'm about to tell you is a real life horror. I don't know what you call horror or romance or fantasy but this story I'm about to tell you, you need to listen attentively and not miss a bit of information. This is my story—one beginning with pain.

~

Rumble!

There was a roar of thunder as lightning flashed, illuminating the dark and creepy woods.

Pat! Pat! Pat!

Drops of rain streaked through the air, dropping ferociously as if they had been forced to do so. The leaves, the ground and everything was wetted by the torrential downpour which seemed to continue for ages. The dark trees which seemed like humanoid figures swayed to the raging wind, their branches seeming like extended arms—arms which would grab at you from the shadows. Down here in the woods it was very dark, so dark that only tiny bits of light rays could penetrate at the brightest afternoons.

This was the Crimson Woods, a woods rumoured to have ungodly creatures roaming here and there. Wild tales spread like fire, filling the hearts of the residents of Crimson Springs with fear—fear borne out of the natural instinct to avoid danger and not from wild imaginations. It was said there were creatures with dark red hypnotizing eyes and fangs which sucked the blood of people, creatures like wolves which mauled people, creatures in form of water which drowned people, ghostly creatures which possessed people and many more! All these wild tales pointed to one thing: Danger! These creatures spelt danger to the people. So no one dared to wander into Crimson Woods at all. The brave ones usually went in groups or carried weapons with which they would defend themselves. But against who? Against what? Spirits? Ghosts? That was sure vanity.

And at this very afternoon, a kid was running through this same woods chased by a group of bullies. It was as if they had never heard the tales and wanted to bet their precious lives on them.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The kid ran very quickly, panting as he dodged the scary looking trees. He kept looking behind him occasionally to see if the bullies were still chasing and was disappointed to find out they actually were. The bullies were actually very relentless in catching him. Earlier at school they had threatened to beat him at school when it was lunch time. To avoid that he had immediately made a run for it when the bell rang for closing. Who knew they would chase him into Crimson Woods.

As he ran he would occasionally see figures receding into the darkness. He would see countless red eyes staring at him from the shadows, an ungodly presence wavering over him. Of course he shrugged all these from his mind, thinking that they were all as a result of extreme hallucinations. He needed to escape from the bullies!

He stopped behind a large tree and hid, controlling his breathing so that it wouldn't be too loud for the bullies to hear. His brown hair was now wetted by sweat, his entire faced drenched in perspiration and tiredness. His brown eyes had hints of fear in them, his narrow lips quivering uncontrollably. He was very much afraid—afraid of what the bullies would do if they caught him.

"I have to find a way to get out of here,"he muttered as his eyes darted at every angle, wary that the trees weren't just trees but the bullies in disguise. His hallucinations was getting the best of him.

"Daniel!" an angry shout filled the woods. "Wherever you are just come out here and receive your beating! You don't want us to catch you!"

Daniel wasn't stupid enough to reveal himself as he continued hiding. He heard the footsteps of the bullies approaching and he quickly made a run for it, going deeper into the woods. He didn't know how long he had run but then his right foot suddenly stumble against something, causing him to tumble down to the ground. He fell on something hard which he didn't bother to check because he was in so much pain.

"Ah," he groaned as he struggled to stand up. His whole body was in pain making his attempt to stand futile. "Don't tell me I'm gonna be stuck in this woods."

He turned his body so he would be able to prop himself up with his hands. His eyes suddenly narrowed in horror as his pupils dilated. Facing him was a human skeleton! He turned his head to another side and discovered that there was a corpse lying beside him. This corpse had been mangled beyond recognition, oozing with pus and releasing a foul stench.

Fear gripped him as his heart palpitated. He quickly stood up and made to run but his legs failed him, causing him to fall again. This time he fell into something that seemed like a pit with a thud.

"Uh," he groaned as he tried moving his body. It hurt badly. He couldn't even move it without pain. He stretched out his hands to grab something. His fingers clasped around something soft. He moved his eyes in fear to look at what he had touched and to his surprise he was holding to two rotten corpses in the pit.

"Ah!" he yelled in fear as he quickly rolled to his feet, trying in vain to get out of the pit. At this moment he discovered that the whole pit was filled with corpses—real life corpses!

Thud? Scratch? Growl?

He didn't know the exact sound that came from the entrance of the pit but he immediately had an ominous feeling. I need to get out of here quick before I die. The wild tales are really true.

Mustering courage despite his fears, he climbed out of the pit by using the corpses littered around as floorboards. One of his feet even sank into the torso of a corpse, drenching it in smelly blood. He forcibly pulled out his feet, reaching out his hands to grab the edge of the pit. He then pulled himself up out of the pit. He gasped for air as he staggered away from the pit. He had to get out of this horrid place very fast. He was only ten paces from the pit when he heard a deep growl behind him. He turned around in fright but saw nothing.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

His heart began palpitating again as he made a dash for it. He felt a cold breeze behind his neck as he ran but he didn't dare look back to check. He had to escape from whatever demonic creature was lurking in the woods.

Whoosh!

At that time something grabbed his right shoulder and pulled him down to the ground.

"Ah!" he groaned as he crashed to the ground with his back, his panting becoming deeper. His eyes then opened widely in horror as he stared at the thing which had grabbed him. It was like a wolf but then it was way more bigger and monstrous. It was covered in a black fur, its dark brown eyes having an unnatural glow to them. Its whole body was made up of taut and strong muscles which couldn't be explained using the normal geometric dimensions or angles. It was standing on its hind legs, its paws bearing angry claws as it glared at Daniel. It was breathing deeply, puffs of air billowing out of its nostrils.

Lycanthrope! Daniel was greatly petrified as his senses blurred, failing him. He tried shouting but he couldn't as his eyes were fixed on the monster.

At that time the Lycanthrope pounced on him, resting its heavy paws on his shoulders as it sniffed him for some moments. It glared into his eyes and let out a loud growl which caused Daniel's brown hair to sway. It then lifted its left paw and clawed at Daniel's chest.

"Ah!" Daniel yelled in pain as he closed his eyes. Blood trickled down his wound as his vision blurred. He saw the Lycanthrope move into the darkness in a blur, disappearing instantly. He couldn't maintain his consciousness again since he was filled with an unbearable pain. He quickly passed out.

After some minutes, he opened his eyes slowly. Again his pupils dilated at what he saw, his fear numbing the pain momentarily.

Standing before him were four 17-year old teenagers like him. They all wore mean expressions, their lips curling into wicked smiles. This were the same bullies that he had tried to escape from.

"So you thought you could escape from us, huh?" Walter, one of the bullies glared at him as he delivered a kick to his torso.

"Ah!" he yelled in pain as he clutched his torso. At that time the other bullies began raining blows and kicks at him. He curled himself into a ball in order to prevent his vital body parts from been hit but that didn't stop him from suffering the tremendous pain accompanied by the beating. He almost passed out again.

By the time they had finished beating him, he was very weak and covered in bruises. There was no how he was going to get to his feet again. No how. He heard muffled words as the bullies departed, leaving him to the scary fate of the woods. From the distant he could hear curses:

"I hope you die there, Daniel! Next time you won't have the guts to talk to my ex!"

"Hahaha! So weak and pathetic!"

"Just wait till you're possessed by an evil spirit or eaten by a Lycanthrope! Your life is as useless as a white crayon anyway. There's no need to live again! It's worthless."

Daniel lay in pains, his thoughts drifting till he couldn't feel the outside world again. He thought he would die—that he would rot here like the corpses which he had seen earlier. He thought about his mum who was the only family he had at Crimson Springs. He thought about how pained she would be when she would discover his death. He had grown up knowing how pained she was after father's death and now he was going to die too. It was so sad and painful. So painful...

[1] Crimsones: For the sake of standing out different and not wanting to use what everyone was using, I decided to use a different name. Crimsones are vampires.

[2] Lycanthropes: Although these are also widely known as werewolves, they are not widely used so I resorted to using this. They're still werewolves.