The woods are dangerous. I’ve been told that my whole life. But the sound from the woods still plays on a loop in my head as I go home. That horrible thing, whatever it was, probably got hurt. Serves it right! Everybody knows that the creatures in the woods hurt you if you get too close. I stop walking. I just realized something. What if it wasn’t just a creature from the woods. What if it was someone from the village?
        When I get back to the café, I head straight out back to the bins. I strain my ears, trying to hear the sound again. It’s eerily silent.
        “Eeeeeeek!” I hear the noise again, so loudly I feel like my eardrums are exploding.
        I run into the forest towards the sound. That was definitely a person, no creature could have screamed like that. I’m running at full speed now, struggling frantically to try and find the source of the scream. Branches are hitting my face, but I don’t care, I have to save this person.
        “Eeeeeeek!” The sound rings again.
        I finally reach a clearing. There, in the middle is the source of the sound. It’s not a person.
        The creature is grotesque, with scaly long legs protruding from its furry black body. It’s completely oblivious to me watching. It looks pathetic, using its feet to open an oranchow* from the trees nearby. I can’t believe that these are one of the creatures that live in the woods. It’s so small. It’s got a fox’s face and front legs, but the back legs are scaly and long. I notice that it has a long gash on its back leg, with blood running all the way down. I feel kind of pitiful towards this creature. It’s kind of cute if you look past the back legs and wings.
        I’m just about to leave when a branch snaps underneath me, alerting the fox-dragon of my presence.

To be continued…

Read part 1 here: https://www.mywritersstudio.com.au/spells-from-the-grave-part-1/

*A purple star-shaped fruit from Oranchowest trees found in the Forgotten Woods that goblins use for strengthening metals