Shadows

Light streamed in through the canopy of trees that marked the forest ceiling. Everything was calm inside. Leaves were flickering about, changing color from dark green to light, and bright green as they played in and out of the golden beams. The chasm of silence yawned, and closed its eyes. Leaves rustled. Panting, heart racing, a spotted fawn burst out of the underbush. Bounding, leaping, blindingly fast. It did not have a destination in mind. It was just avoiding one. Fast, short breaths that would soon turn into longer, gasping ones.

It skirted around the wide trunks of the mighty trees in the forest.

Behind it, a shadow followed. It rustled through the leaves, the stench of death and decay following it. The leaves which had been evergreen until a minute ago, slowly turned yellow and then brown and then black, crisp, wherever the shadow passed through them. The forest hushed, holding its breath. Waiting. The ominous creature followed the fawn.

A thud thud thud went through the heart of the forest, every creature knowing what it meant. Squirrels stopped searching for food to hoard, and went inside their nests and shivered. The deer which had run when the creature jumped to their herd lifted their heads and ears up from grazing, and trembled. The mighty, nine hundred and nine pound bear which was pawing the beehive let out a whimper that seemed as if it came from an animal a fraction of its size, and crouched into a ball right there beside the hive. The army of bees that had been assaulting the bear, trying to prevent it from stealing their golden liquid, from attacking their home, left that very home and spiraled up into the air and away, as one unit. The sun cowered behind clouds. In the dim light that hung over the forest like a malicious haze, the fawn ran and the shadow followed.

A whiz cut through the air, heard throughout the entire forest as the creature scratched at the fawn, missing and tearing open a rift in the empty air.

A screech of fear and the stench of death, a rupture, and a tear. The fawn gave out one last sound before its heart ruptured, and the creature tore into its skin. Feasting. The stench of death danced with the dim haze, and the creature enjoyed its meal. The shadows took the shape of a cat, crouching, shifting, never one solid form, powerful hind legs, arched back, strong, long, thick tail. The eyes were holes that sucked in light, darker than the blackest black, dimmer than the darkest night. Always shifting, never able to keep a form. 

The sky brightened, the sun uncovered the clouds. The bear returned to now empty hive, the herd returned to graze, the squirrels came out to forage. The trees began to breathe, the leaves to flutter. The wind danced, the stench of death and fear drifting up and away, going to the hearts of those that welcomed it most, the two legged ones. Nature cannot stop. It must go on.