The sun shined on my deadly pale body. My messy hair swayed in the wind as my body laid in a pool of blood.
I opened my eyes, groaning in pain, the bright sunlight blinded me for a moment. My body screamed, every nerve in my body firing off like I got chewed up by hell itself, and yet there was warmth, warmth from the sun...it felt nice.
I tried getting up but my body wasn't listening. It was like gravity became 10 times heavier than it used to. With a groan that sounded more like a dying animal than a person, I forced myself to sit up slowly. And then I saw it.
To my shock, my left arm was completely gone, there was nothing. In my arm's place, there was a sealed-up stump, the wound had healed on its own.
I should have been dead. More dead than a corpse, yet I'm still alive.
I lifted up my body stumbling all over the place. I couldn't believe I was alive, yet I couldn't decide if that made me lucky or cursed...
My clothes looked like some rags an animal chewed up, making it almost unwearable, but the warm sun shined upon my tired body. I felt a weird, calm feeling overwash me.
I walked back to my house, constant thoughts flooding my mind. Thoughts about the creature, about everything that happened that night.
...
I got to the house, hesitantly opening the old creaking door, I went inside. The rays of sunshine peered in through the windows, the wallpaper was as torn and stained as always. The smell was foul, reminiscent of decomposing flesh. I went over to the bathroom, and with my heart full of hesitation, I looked into it. There was nothing left. Not my mom, not my dog.
I ran over to our bedroom, where me and my sister slept. I opened the door, the stench hit me like a truck. My sister's decomposing body was left on the cold floor... It looked grotesque.
My knees grew weak. I couldn't help but crumble down to my knees, my eyes filled with tears. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to call out for someone...Anyone. I clutched my chest like my heart was tearing apart. I couldn't understand why my sister had to die. Couldn't I be a better brother? Why couldn't I save you? It should have been me... you should have survived.
...
Milo looked destroyed. He looked severely tired, unable to get a wink of sleep in the past 3 days. The memories of that night haunted him.
His movements were very sluggish, he looked like he didn't care if he lived or died.
As time passed, the stench became even more unbearable to him, he hadn't even been able to look inside that room ever since that day.
Milo took one last plum, which looked like it already had spoiled a bit. He took a bite out of it, grimacing in its taste. It tasted foul. He understood that he couldn't stay here anymore. He had run out of food, and even worse, the looming threat of that creature coming back haunted him.
Rummaging through Dad's stuff, he found some clothes and equipment from his old adventuring days.
Milo quietly whispered under his breath with a lonely expression.
"Dad, where are you..."
He looked like he was on the brink of tears, yet he rummaged through his dad's stuff and found a brown cloak with a weird dagger.
The dagger had a dark wood hilt, the blade looked sharp with weird engravings on it.
Milo picked it up, examining the blade, it looked like it could cut anything.
Milo holstered the dagger to his waist, preparing a small backpack for a long journey.
...
I stood outside in the cold wind, feeling the heat on my skin as the house slowly burned down. What once was a place of warmth and care has become a bloody mess. I've decided to burn the house, giving a proper burial to my sister and my family.
The ash floated in the air, landing on my hair and clothes. It was strangely beautiful, almost looking like snow.
With every ash that fell, I felt an indescribable emptiness in my heart.
I turned around, walking away from the burning house, ash covering the ground.
What once was a house full of love and laughter has been reduced to nothing but ash.
I walked tirelessly from the burning house, never looking back at it. Before I even noticed, it had already gotten dark, I felt the cold seep through my clothes.
I grimaced at the thought of sleeping in the cold, I wouldn't be able to sleep if it was this cold...
I walked around collecting dry branches in the forest, making a small campfire out of them for warmth. The warmth felt nice, it was the only warmth I felt in the past few days. All I wanted was just to huddle up to it.
'I feel so drowsy... I can finally rest. It's over for now...'
A sudden sound in the bushes alerted me. I jumped back away from the bushes that the sound came from.
Damn it, why does nothing ever go my way...
I could hear something scratching on the tree. It was breathing heavily like it was hungry. I took out my dagger, my hand shaking from the fear. I felt paralysed unkowing on what to do next.
The creature came out of hiding, it was a ferocious beast. It looked wolf-like, but the size of a human, its fangs looking sharp.
It seemed that I had stumbled into its territory, and it seemed to be hungry.
My mind was trying to figure out what to do until my thought abruptly stopped by that creature's howl, it felt so ear-piercing, making me disoriented for a second.
Fear took over me. From the pitch-black darkness, 2 more creatures jumped out of the bushes. They looked even more ferocious, covered in blood from the other creatures.
I quietly walked back trying to go unnoticed until my foot got caught, falling down on the ground with a thud.
My luck is seriously the worst...
The wolf-like creatures stared at me with bloodlust in their eyes. It really felt like it was over. I was really going to die, I can't do this... I'm too weak...
The wolf-like creatures grinned at me, I stood up from the ground, standing against the 3 blood lusted creatures.
The creature was a bit bigger than me, not that I was much taller myself.
Adrenaline pumped through me, it was either fight or flight, and I had no choice but to fight, the beasts being much faster than me in every way...