Uninvited Guest

The tremors of the ground and the rustling of the greeneries behind, gives me a feeling of adrenaline and despair like no other.

My body and outfit is being constantly slapped by the leaves as I run through them with the best of capabilities, staining their pristine condition.

My head is sweating from all this sudden exercise when I was just in my room sitting, and playing games. I am just a normal guy, someone that would gladly prefer to be in the sidelines enjoying my life, why? Why? Why am I being hunted?

"Ahhhhhhhh"

A loud shriek came out of me as a large praying mantis came upon my arm, making it dye my arm red for the first time since the day of my birth, in a manner that would mimic a fountain's grandeur.

My body fell down as I trip because of the pain, with the mantis taking the brunt of the fall as I pound it down.

I frantically smash it everywhere, my tears streaming down upon my clenched and horrified face. Somehow, I managed to damage the abnormally large insect, making it flee from my bleeding arm, making it scurry back to where damned hole it came from.

But, it is too late, that interruption just made the creature that was chasing me to catch up. The leaves rustle as it came coming through, and split the cover of the greens apart, revealing itself in its full glory.

It is a weirdly green and, large cat. Its gaze fixed at me with eyes of cold indifference and possibly even mockery, mockery of my weakness and ease of this hunt for me.

It slowly moves forward towards me, licking its bloodied mouth, most likely from a previous prey. This furthered the terror inside me, making me somehow forget some of the pain that is flowing through my arm as the fear of death overwhelms my meek mind, and desperate whimpers to escape my lips.

As I wait for death, flashes of my past and how it all came to this starts pouring in like a flood, my life, my memories.

I was just a normal guy, living with minimal problems. My parents are supportive but also very strict with me, always nagging me for not being equal to some of my peers that they compare me to.

Always hated that, it always makes me sigh after since I am fully aware that they just want what is best for me, and that is a sustainable future. Time passes and I already finished my college, ready to spread my wings and get a job

I moved out of the house because of the constant nagging, but mostly because I wanted to no longer rely on them if I were to be honest. A few tears was definitely not shed that day from me, yeah, definitely not, I am a grown man, I couldn't have possibly cried in front of my parents.

They just laughed at it light-heartedly, reassuring me that everything will be fine and dandy while reminding me to visit them sometimes or even just the holidays if I am busy. I wipe my definitely not tears from my face and said goodbye with a smile and a wave.

I moved to the country's capital since I thought I would have a better chance of finding a job for my expertise there, and already scheduled an apartment to live in.

A year have passed, and I was doing quite well in my job. I just visited my parents in the newly passed Christmas, with the garments of festivity still lining some of the city's corners.

But something went haywire, mimicking the devastation of a house of cards falling apart, like a pile of dust being blown by the wind till it is nowhere to be seen. I lost my job, and due to the same source for my loss of job, I wasn't accepted by places that needed my services.

I was forced to settle in part-time jobs, as I have no other choice but to do so. I scoured for jobs frantically in hopes of restoring back my financial situation as fast as possible, and fortunately I did get them.

I dismissed my parent's questions about how well I am, comforting them as usual that I am fine, even though my financial situation have changed and I had to work extra hard so I can maintain my expenses.

I worked in restaurants on days, and a store employee on night. 15 hours of my time is dedicated to working to achieve a financial net that I could fall back on just in case, I don't want to worry my parents and I need to use this so I can earn back what I lost.

This set up, this direct path was also again ruined in Sunday morning, the time of the week where I take a rest and enjoy some of my hard work's results, spending some or most of it on games that I managed to notice with my small amount of free time.

When the white light devoured everything and I felt my body being washed gently for a moment, I felt my world crumble and a sweet embrace.

Until the light disappeared too, to reveal to me the greatly changed environment. From a cement forest to a green one.

I was confused by everything, and was once again angry at how all my plans was ruined, but I quickly regained my peace of mind and looked around at my surroundings for any signs of danger.

For a few minutes, I thought I was fine till I saw a large cat or some may call it tiger, though it is definitely part of the feline family, slowly reveal itself from the cover of the dense leaves. It stayed still, having our bodies lock in observance of each other until I made the first move and made a run towards the opposite thicker parts of the forest from it.

I almost got pounced upon when I managed to turn just at the right time to make it collide with a tree and continued to go deeper into parts where the vegetation makes it hard to move around, making it so that the environment is in my favor.

This chase lasted for a few minutes, very surprising considering the differences in morale and experiences so I guess the greeneries were really that horrible for its speed.

And here I am, in front of a stupid green feline that is about to slit my throat and drink my blood to quench its desire for food, making me pity myself in the last moments of life.

But despite this, despite the severity and desperation of my situation, I can feel a growing fire within. The fire of determination, the fire to live and fight for its sake, for what it holds dear or paramount to its existence.

So right in the moment when the feline pounced upon me, I let my wounded elbow get in the way, letting its sharp fangs sink into my soft flesh. I gathered my energy and will to live and grasped the damn thing's body with my 2 legs, pulling it upon myself and restricting it.

I used my other arm to hold its head in place to make sure that it can't gather enough energy to rip apart my flesh, the inflicted wound and its pulls at it making the pain worsen even further, suppressed screams of pain came out as groans because of my anger and will combining with the pain.

With all of the force that I could muster, I managed to hold it down for a minute or 2 with it constantly trying to rip me apart. My abdomen is in bad shape with all the claw marks and the blood running from my wounds, my shirt nothing but rags now.

When all of my strength is almost spent, the cat escaped from my grasp and pulled out its fangs from my arm, causing it to spurt out even more blood. It vigorously shook its head to regain its composure and once gain pounced towards my neck, and I close my eyes in hopelessness.

I wait. I wait.

Eh? Is it taking its time? Is this animal some kind of sadist letting me live this long?

I slowly opened my tired eyes, only to see nothing but the tops of the trees, and the grasses lush enough to come into the range of my eyesight.

Suddenly, a shot of heaviness hit me, making me feel so tired, I think it is because of my adrenaline rush. I shakily close my eyes, but before I shut it, I saw a dark silhouette slowly enter my blurry and disappearing vision.

A brown-haired woman slowly looked at the man's body, with a young boy following behind her. A large cat's body lies dead, a few meters ahead, a dagger hanging from its bleeding shoulder, and a small bleeding wound from its chest.

The woman and the boy talks with each other for a moment, after which, the boy proceeded to go towards the body of the dead feline and touched it, causing the carcass to turn into wisps of light, dispersing upwards to the sky.

While that was happening, a white cloth came out of nowhere in the palm of the woman's hand, and starts wrapping its around the man's wounds. More white cloth appeared when she ran out of the first batch.

After closing the bleeding through the cloth, the woman tried to carefully carry the wounded man, and the young boy followed closely, their bodies slowly disappearing into the the cover of the forest.

Their presence only indicated by the occasional stains of blood from that location.