She looked up.
Not a star in sight...No bats fluttering overhead…
This night was different.
She looked down.
Broken twigs and leaves were scattered in the clearing.
Something had passed by since she last came here.
Something…big.
She gingerly stepped over the debris, trying her best to stay quiet and low in the darkness:
She knew hers weren’t the only senses heightened by the still and inky blackness this night.
Reaching the mid of the clearing, she slowly spun around in place, peering into the woods that surrounded her.
The glittering eyes of the night spiders sparkled back at her from the trees.
She breathed in, and out, in, and out, trying to still her nerves.
And then, there it was…
The Dark Shadow.
Darker than the starless black night above her.
It moved quickly, silently.
Watching her.
Stalking her.
Unnerving her.
It blotted out the spiders’ diamond eyes as it glided from tree to tree...
That was the only way she could track it.
It circled her, watching from the woods.
Waiting for her.
Whispering, hissing for her.
But she wouldn’t come nearer.
Not that night.
She wasn’t ready to face it yet.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready.
She sank to the ground, pulling her cloak tightly around her shoulders.
All she could do now was wait.
Wait in the Darkness…Wait for the Light.