Bewitching The Beast

A small stream wended through grass and into the rocks. It rippled through the mossy stones and fishes bubbled in the river near it.It was another day and the sun was high in the sky and the sound of cicadas buzzed through the trees. The sunlight felt warm to the touch yet turned cool under the shade. The grass and soil are still damp from the dew and the birds chirped calling out to one another to make sure the others are safe.Everything around her had something by their side, something that won’t make them feel alone and yet here she is, alone in the forest with no one but herself. But this didn’t bother her, in fact, it was peaceful and serene. She could do anything she wants and she is free on her own.Julia lived in a small hut made of sticks, dried leaves, and planks that she had a hard time cutting. By braiding dried vines together, she managed to create ropes that held the pieces of her home together. Sometimes one side of the house breaks down out of nowhere and somethings

Julia gasped at the pile of animal carcasses that landed in front of her.“You hunted this? All by yourself?” she asked in disbelief. In front of her were five rabbits and a boar. And it took him only an hour after he left, saying that he was going to ‘look’ for food. Julia expected that he was coming home with a bunch of berries and fruit, but he came with meat instead. Not that she’s complaining, though.“I was slow this time since I still didn’t recover all of my strength,” he muttered with discontent.Julia, who was staring down at the livestock, perked her head up, “What?”The man ignored her and walked away. The guy hunted all of these in an hour and yet he still thinks he wasn’t fast enough? Julia barely even catches a single rabbit in three days or more. The man must be extremely talented at hunting.Days passed by and Julia lived in the luxury of eating meat every day. Not only was the stranger good at hunting, but he was also a good cook. He prepares and cleans the meat and

JULIA I warily stared at the back of the cloaked man while walking alongside Zeke in the forest. The man—or boy looked young and he kept looking back at us and stealing glances at me and Zeke. I can’t help but wonder who this boy was and how Zeke knew him. I’m not even sure if going with him is safe right now. I walked closer to Zeke and whispered, “Are you sure we can trust this guy? Do you really know him?” Zeke looked down at me with his usual expression and nodded. His nod did not reassure me. He looked like he didn’t know what he was doing. He was trapped in a cave for so long so maybe he doesn’t know how much the world changed. People are scarier now, and even though I have no memories of it, it was quite obvious. “I don’t know if we could trust him, Zeke. He might be a scary person and try to harm us.” I tell him but I only heard a snort from the boy and a smirk growing on Zeke’s face. He stared at the path head-on and whispered something I barely heard. “Everything in this

JULIA I kept looking back and forth at Zeke who was busy breaking down firewood with his own bare hands. He would get a log, place his fingers in the middle and pull it apart as if it was nothing. A few days ago, I asked him how he could do that but he just said that the wood was already brittle. Now that I thought of it, he could do a lot of things that I couldn’t do. I assume that most men can’t do what he can but I was too scared to ask. Not scared of him—just scared that he would have to leave if I knew something I wasn’t suppose to know. The man in the treeline still didn’t leave. He was still stalking us from afar and made sure his eyes didn’t leave us. Zeke said to just let him be but I was bothered by it. “You should fan faster or else the fire will die out,” Zeke said without even batting me an eye. I almost jumped and cleared my throat and continued to fan the fire that was cooking our dinner for the night. “What do you want to ask me?” he asked and threw the last piece

JULIAI woke up coughing and choking from the smoke of a now burning car. My skin rubbed against the rough and rocky ground and as I looked around, there was no one else except for Amir who was heavily injured beside me.I immediately crawled towards him. He was groaning, clutching his bloody chest and almost fainting. I tried to talk to him and call his name but when he looked up to me, his eyes flash with a bright glow and soon disappeared.“You—You have to run, miss,” he said, coughing up blood.“What happened? Where is Zeke?” I asked him as I slowly helped him sit upright and lean his back against the vehicle.Amir shook his head and lifted his shaky hand and pointed toward the opening of the forest. I bit my lip and looked around. We were stranded on the side of the road and it looked too isolated for someone to pass by. There was no one else to ask for help.“Tell me what happened. Who did this?” I asked him again. He tried to speak but he had difficulty in doing so.“Cro—Cronus