Unravel(3)

Matthias arrived at his home and as soon as he entered the door, he saw his father sitting on their couch reading stories for Izana.

Something struck Matthias upon seeing the sight, it was like a bad omen. In the back of his mind, a little voice was telling him the time had come once again.

He quickly went out and ran towards their backyard, not even bothering to acknowledge his father and brother. He knew, the rare days his father decided to take a break from work were the days his mother went missing in the woods.

Just a short walk from their backyard was the edge of the forest where his mother often visited and Matthias quickly ran inside the darkness of trees filled with fog.

As much as he wanted to stay out of trouble and live his life as idly as he can, he knew if he didn't satiate this gnawing curiosity within him, he would never be able to live his life to the fullest. So he ran quicker than he ever did before while his legs were screaming in pain. However, he did not stop. He thought it was high time he uncovered the little secrets that were clouding his family.

Since the forest was always so foggy and damp, there were many lichens on the tree roots that were poking out from the ground. Matthias, owing to his desperate attempt to catch up to his mother, missed one of those roots and slammed himself on the ground.

"Damn that hurts!"

He looked at his leg and saw a huge gash running down his calf. He looked further to the side and saw an old tree trunk lying there, probably what gave him the wound. He stood up and limped forward. His wound was throbbing and Matthias was afraid it would get infected, therefore, he tore a sizable portion of his shirt and covered the wound. It was starting to hurt like crazy as well, but Matthias still went forward. He was not about to stop now just because of a single wound.

Matthias knew he was on the edge of the forest when the view of the ocean was on his horizon. The fog started disappearing bit by bit, but it was still so very thick, so much so that Matthias could barely make out the shape of water in his view. His wound was also becoming unbearable and it made his sight blurry.

Thinking it was his best bet, he started calling out for his mother. His voice echoed throughout the place but there were no answers. Several times he called his mother again and again at the top of his voice, but there were still no answers. He was also starting to get dizzy as everything inside the forest started spinning out of bounds.

He crashed on the ground with a loud thud, however he was still conscious. His body felt heavy and he knew he was going to be unconscious sooner than later. As luck would have it, it was at that moment when he heard the sound of a growl coming from a few distance behind him. He gulped.

The timing couldn't have been worse.

He was told by his parents many times before that there were wild beasts residing in the forest. But since he never saw them even once before in his life, he concluded it was just a scare tactic his parents derived so he would steer clear of this place. But at that moment, Matthias was not very fond of finding out whether his parents were indeed telling him the truth.

The sound was getting closer and closer until it was just a few short steps behind him. Matthias would have gotten out of there at the speed of sound if he could, but his body felt like a boulder. He knew there was nothing he could do to save himself if that wild beast ever decided to have him as supper, so he just closed his eyes, silently praying for his mother or father or whoever was available to come save him.

Someone, please, I need help! Please, isn't there someone who's willing to help me? his mind was screaming.

The beast started sniffing beside him. Matthias closed his eyes, barely breathing. The beast, then, out of nowhere started licking his wound, right on top of the gash where blood was seeping from his make-shift bandage.

Then, to his surprise, the beast started making sounds of cry and whimpers. Matthias was shocked, so shocked that he decided to move his head a little bit to the side and look at the beast.

The beast was staring right in his eyes. Matthias flinched, both because of the sudden eye contact he had with the thing and because of its heinous appearance.

It was covered in black fur, its eyes the color of the lightest shades of grey. Its snout was long and sharp with huge teeth protruding from its mouth where saliva was dripping down on both sides. Its face looks uncannily like that of a fox while simultaneously looking like a horrendous form of chimera.

A chill ran down on Matthias' back. Just before he could let out a blood curdling scream, his consciousness decided it was a good time to cop out and his vision became dark.