"𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐧
𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦,
𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞,
𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝."

Cathy rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she dismissed her alarm with one swipe of her finger across a glass screen.

Looking down at the unfamiliar covers draped around her, she frowned before casting her face upwards to look at her surroundings.

The room had perfect white walls and everything else a teenage girl could wish for. Wooden shelves stacked with books shadowed the wooden desk pushed against one of the walls while the other two held a cupboard and a bay window.

Begrudgingly standing up and stretching, Cathy's eyes fell on to the school bag lying at the foot of her bed, accompanying a neatly pressed pair of Jean's and a baby blue V neck T-shirt.

God, mom really is trying to be nice.

Cathy smiled at her mother's efforts and then grabbed her clothes and darted into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later she was sitting on her doorstep tying a pair of high tops while munching the remaining bit of her bacon sandwich. Her mom had already left for work leaving a "good luck on your first day!" note along with one apologising for she'd be returning home late.

Cathy's dad chased after his dream job for years, and when he finally got it, he wasted no time in packing his bags and leaving for England. The place he'd been for the the past 10 months with visits to his family only every 5 months unless it was a special occasion.

Being a person with extreme anxiety, her mom's therapist had reccomend Emilia to find a job to keep herself busy. And all though the family made calls to one another whenever they could, the masked distance between them didn't fool anyone.

Cathy turned her back to the woods and shut the door behind her. There was still some furniture to be moved in so her mom had left the key with the neighbors aka one of her close friends. Another thing Dr. Smith had reccomended. And with the growing hatred for her friendless school, Cathy had no complaints in getting the hell out of Serene Falls.

Cathy shook her head slightly to clear her head of her thoughts, but then soon realised it was a mistake when it wandered off. -and with this many trees around her, she couldn't blame it. In the end, she just let it carry her away to the memories of her previous school, Serene High.

"Hey, my name's Bethany," said a girl with short black hair dumping her bag on the chair next to Cathy's. "Mind if I sit here?" She asked.

"Um...not at all," replied Cathy, staring at the girl's confidence, a trait which she lacked and admired.

"You don't need to be so shy, you know," said Bethany nudging Cathy on the elbow as she sat down. "And by the way you can call me Beth if you like,"

"Nice to meet you," mumbled Cathy awkwardly, to which Beth chuckled. "I'm Cathy,"

Cathy was never good at making or being friends. Most people mistook her shyness for being to proud and stuck up, hence she'd simply crept into her shell and learnt how to be satisfied with being friends with people online.

But as days turned into weeks, and spend-the-days were turned into sleep overs and winter turned into spring, the spent more time Cathy spent with Bethany, the more she liked it.

"Cathy?" Beth whispered while adding a green liquid to their science experiment. "I wanna go to the woods," she said randomly.

Not that Cathy wasn't used to Bethany's randomness, there'd been times where she'd randomly talk about murdering all the birds that used to hum outside of their English class to how erasers tasted like strawberries. But unlike those times, there was more seriousness than usual to Bethany's voice.

"Since I turned 15 last month," continued Beth. "My parents have finally allowed me to go wherever I want to alone. Something about proving my responsibility-"

"Beth," interrupted Cathy while she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Why do you want to go to the woods anyway?" She asked, trying her best to get the topic done with. "Besides, don't they say that the woods are haunted by l-" Cathy stopped mid sentence. If she had continued what she was about to say, then not only would she have been dubbed mental but she would've lost the only friend she'd ever had.

"Cathy?" Said Beth bringing her back to earth. "Were you about to say Malthus?"

Cathy gaped at Beth for a few seconds before swallowing the huge lump in her throat and muttering a soft "yes" while glancing around to see if anyone had heard them.

She waited for the noise of a chair screeching and for Bethany's footsteps. That was always what happened whenever she spoke about her fascination for demons.

But this time the footsteps never came. Instead, she was embraced in a bone crushing hug by the girl to her left.

"Thank you!" She heard Beth squeal into her hair.

"Um, Beth what exactly are you thanking me for?"asked Cathy hesitantly while trying her best to make sure the jug of boiling chemicals didn't spill over them.

"For you agreeing to come with me to the woods this Saturday of course," said Beth beaming at Cathy.

Cathy raised her eyebrows. "I didn't exactly say yes,"

"But you belive in Malthus!" Exclaimed Beth referring to the demon, Malthus, which, according to the folktales, was one of Lucifer's servants that had gone rough. Where Lucifer's servants existed to serve only him, Malthus found pleasure in other things.

It's said that every night, Malthus would leave the flames of hell to enter earth. Where, with his burning red eyes, he would traumatise kids for the rest of their lives without killing them. He'd lure them into the shadows and drive them insane until they turned into skin clawing monsters and died in their own hands.

"Cat please don't say no," said Beth showing off her best pleading look while adding her special nickname as a cherry on top.

"What exactly are you planning to do?" Asked Cathy. "It's a suicide mission to go into those woods. You'll get scared out of your mind-"

"Heck ya I'll get scared," said Beth totally ignoring her first question as she began to give a speech about being afraid while moving her hands in dramatically.

"But isn't that what makes it fun?" She paused to lower her voice before continuing. "Being afraid is what makes things an adventure. Being afraid is all about living life. If you're not afraid what's the point in living life? It'll just be filled with safe boredom" She said as she stared at Cathy, her brown eyes filled with hope.

"Okay, I'll come," muttered Cathy.

"But Cat," began Beth. "I want you to remember that I am not forcing you okay, if you don't want to do this it's alright," said Beth looking half happy, half worried.

And this ladies and gentlemen in emotional blackmail at it's best!

"Don't worry, I'll be there," said Cathy placing her arm on Beth's shoulder. The black haired girl's face lighting up with excitement before she began to give the details.

I can do at least this much for her. I mean not like any thing's gonna happen.

Right?

Days flew past and in in no time Saturday had come. At 7.00p.m. that night,both Cathy and Beth were standing in front of the fence of Henry Walter's woods. Backpacks hung against their shoulders while torches were clutched firmly in their hands as opposite thoughts ran in both their minds.

Cathy's with a sense of dread and guilt of what was to come, and the lies she'd told her parents. Beth's, on the other hand was filled with excitement of living a dangerous and adventure filled life for once.

"Ready?" asked Beth.

"Ready," replied Cathy taking a deep breath.

Bethany placed a twig on the barbed wires which laced the top of the fence and when it didn't catch fire due to the electric current which was rarely on, she threw the twig away and climbed over the fence with ease.

Too late to chicken out now.

Cathy placed her fingers on the fence and tried her best not to tear her clothes as she climbed over it. Unlike Beth, she landed with a heavy thump and a groan.

Standing up and dusting the dirt off her palms, Cathy pressed the red button on her torch and began to proceed forward.

Her sneakers crunched the dried leaves under her while twigs snapped free their weight. The two immature teenagers went deeper and deeper into the woods while the fog and mist surrounding them increased until it blocked their path back to safety.

And the narrow beam of their torches weren't that helpful as they illuminated only what was directly ahead and not around them.

"Well, maybe the Malthus story was just a fake," she heard Beth say beside her.

"Yeah maybe," mumbled Cathy, unconvinced.

But before she could voice her opinion out aloud, she Bethany grabbed her shoulder. "Woah Beth your hands are col-" she turned around and uttered a scream that was sure to be heard miles away.

Cathy's heart pounded loudly against her chest as her mind processed what was looking down at her.

The bony 3 eyed face of the one and only Malthus.

Cathy felt her body go cold as she saw it sinking it's fingers into the edges of it's face. Almost as if it was a sort of mask. And behind the mask was...

"BETH!" Cathy exclaimed.

"Wha- what the hell is wrong with you!" Said Cathy stumbling over her words as she spoke. "I- I thought it- that... you scared the hell out of me!"

"You should've seen your face," said Beth clinging onto a tree to control her laughter. "I mean, couldn't you even tell the height difference," she said doubling up with laughter when she tried to steady herself. "Malthus is supposed to be like eight feet tall. And like he's supposed to have red eyes. Do I look like that to you? "

"Uh jeez," Cathy muttered, waving her embarrassment away and walking ahead, leaving a still giddy Bethany clinging on to tree with tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks. But when she had taken no more than only three steps, she came to a halt once more. "Uh Beth?"she asked.

"Ya?" replied Beth finally composing herself.

"Did you hire that person to scare me?" Asked Cathy directing her torch light ahead to her right and pointing at a figure.

Beth's eyes travelled across Cathy's finger and then ahead of it where she saw an inhumanly tall figure. Its body was cloaked in the darkest of shadows and its paper coloured face looked poked out with bons while its mouth was sewed shut. Exactly the way the stories had said Lucifer punished him. By sewing his mouth with his own hardened blood so that he wouldn't be able to frighten anyone with his haunting cry.

But the appearance of the 3 pits of hell were enough to scare the living shit out of anyone. Lex's three eyes, which were the colour of the burning flames of hells seemed to burn brighter while the corners of his already curved mouth curved up even higher. And as Cathy and Beth faced it with their wide eyes, they felt the temperature around them slowly dropping.

"I didn't Cathy!" Said Beth almost jumping up with excitement.

"Then run!" Yelled Cathy turning and blindly making her way past the trees while panic clouded her senses. She stomped on the ground and pushed the branches out of her way as she ran and ran.

Until she realised no one was following her. "Beth! You coming?" Cathy asked stopping and turning back while she felt her heart beat increasing when there was no response.

"Yeah!" Screamed back a voice before Beth sprinted from behind the trees carrying a camara faced backwards while her open backpack threatened to spill it's contents.

"Are you crazy!" Yelled Cathy starting to run again.

"What's the point if I don't record this?" Beth yelled back as she felt the air around them thicken. She stopped, took her phone out of her pocket, snapped a few shots and started running again. Since the camara was strapped onto her shoulder- and she couldn't be bothered to- she didn't worry
about it falling.

"Woah Cathy! It's grown these weird tentacles!" Yelled Beth once more as she stopped to steady the camera before running again.

Cathy turned her head behind. And sure enough the damn thing had grown tentacles. Though these weren't the ones you'd find on an octopus, they were more like black flexible spiky stuff protruding from the devil's spine.

"Beth if it's grown tentacles shouldn't that be bad!" Yelled Cathy increasing her speed. For all she knew she could be faster than Husain Bolt the way her legs were moving.

Cathy stopped for a moment and mustered her courage to turn behind when she didn't get a reply. Her heart sank when she couldn't see a soul in sight. "Beth!" She yelled cupping her hands around her mouth.

She turned her torch sideways but she couldn't see either Beth or three glowing eyes. "Beth!" She called out once more, now heading towards the way she came from. The panic in her body rising as she put one foot in front of the other. She took another step in front and felt some liquidish substance touch the bottom of her shoe.

Cathy directed her torch towards it and saw a puddle of fresh dark blood beneath her feet. Goosebumps began to prick her skin and her stomach knotted with dread she raised her torch ahead and saw a trail of blood on the grass leading her towards the fog.

And that's when she heard a whimper almost directly ahead of her.

She gulped down the huge bulge of threatening vomit in her throat and aimed her torch to face what was ahead of her. Unsure whether or not she wanted to see it.

Bethany was in front of her, but even though Malthus wasn't in sight, Cathy knew she was not alone because of the long fingered hand that had clasped itself tightly on her her mouth while the other was preventing her from escaping.

But the thing that made Cathy's blood run cold was the spike poking itself out of the side of her stomach. The hand covering her mouth was widrawn, resulting in a pool of blood being spat to the ground.

"Cat," stammered Bethany as she looked up. The moon above peeked out of the clouds and made the blood around them shine like expensive wine. Cathy gaped at her only friend as she felt her cheeks turn wet."Cathy listen to me," said Beth using her calming voice, the one she used whenever she wanted to soothe Cathy's anxiety.

"Take this," she said kicking the backpack on the ground towards Cathy. Cathy drew in a shaky breath as she looked from side to side, trying to figure out if they were alone or not. But long gone was the bony hand and the spike, all that remained was a teenage girl kneeling on the ground with a hole in her as her blood stained the fresh grass. Cathy gulped once more as she was about to kneel down.

"Don't," Beth hissed. "Cathy," she warned once more when Cathy attempted to reach for her. "Go." Beth said firmly before bursting into a fit of coughs. "Promise me," she said, trying to wipe the blood off her mouth but ending up smudging it everywhere. "Promise me that you won't come looking for me,"

"What the hell, no way!" Retorted Cathy, wondering what the hell had gotten into her friend. "We're gonna get you to a hospital." Cathy said as she tried to steady her breathing while frantically digging through Beth's bag.

"Cathy stop it and listen to me." Beth said urgently. Her chest rose up and down in abnormaly hurried breaths before her eyes suddenly went wide. "Run."

Cathy let out a shriek as out of the trees from behind Beth, a slender spike made its into her best friend.

Drops of pain rolled of Beth's cheeks and she seemed possessed as her eyes rolled all over before they landed on Cathy. The brown orbs which had always twinkled with mischief looked dazed before they crinkled at the corners, squeezing the last of tears out of them while Beth gave Cathy a weak smile. "Run,Cathy. Run and never look back." She said before collapsing to the ground.

Cathy screamed as she crawled backwards. The moon had disappeared back into the clouds and until miles on there was only pitch black darkness. Except for the three red eyes the peered straight at her.

Cathy's eyes darted to the white backpack on the ground beside before flickering back up. And when they did, she could swear that the red eyes had come closer.

It's now or never.

Cathy grabbed the backpack and bolted to her feet before scrambling away as fast as she could. Her chest felt heavy with all the blocked tears and the cold air whipping past her made her wet cheeks freeze as her sneakers hit the ground for a millie second before flying off again. Each movement making her head pound more. Taking the chance of glancing behind, Cathy turned her head around and instantly regretted it when she saw the creepily stitched up smile not far away from her.

She turned in front but was too late to stop herself as her foot collided into a sticking up root and she felt the waves of shock course through her as her body toppled forward. Wincing as her face came into contact with the hard sand mixed with stones, Cathy looked up to see Beth's backpack's contents came scattered all over ground. One of the items being a gun. A. Real. Metal. Gun.

Running on pure adrenaline, Cathy grabbed the pistol and just hopped that it was loaded as she turned to face what was in front of her. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets as she came face to face with one of her worst nightmares.

The creatures eyes were heavily hooded and as Cathy stared into them, she saw people being burnt alive as flames engulfed them, mothers shielding their children from the sins the world had to carry. Parentless toddlers screaming in allies while the shadows edged closer and closer to them until the screams suddenly went mute.

Cathy felt her breathing become shallow as she tightened the grip on the gun. She pulled the trigger repeatedly and felt her heart sink when the bullets didn't come firing out. The demon's haunting smile grew even wider until it reached upto the corners of its eyes.

Cathy felt her chest closing up as she tasted salt on her lips. She fiddled with gun once more before she finally found the safety. Umlocking the safety with trembling fingers, she gulped as she pulled the trigger, a gunshot being the last thing she heard before everything went blurry.

She could feel cold blood oozing out of the side of her head and rolling down her cheek while a black figure retreated from her. Cathy groaned as she felt herself being picked up until she saw nor felt no more.

Fast forward to 5 days later, Cathy had found herself on the bed in the hospital, both her parents by her sides while she screamed for her friend.

"Who's Bethany?" She remembered her father asking before he explained about them only finding her, or more like the people in the neighbourhood hearing gunshots in the middle of the night only to see a bleeding teenager muttering about demons.

And the last of their evidence was destroyed as well. The camera had been broken while the phone was never to be found.

And when Cathy had tried to tell the truth like she was forced to, her parents had started questioning themselves on what they did wrong for their only daughter to engage in such occult behaviour.

And by the time Cathy had gone back to school, the rumours had spread like wildfire.

But rumours aren't necessarily the truth, and in Cathy's case, the rumours were the total opposite of the truth. She'd been labelled "weird witchy girl" by her peers until she'd been driven to the edge of suicide.

But then they moved, and all Cathy could hope was for the new beginning to actually 𝘣𝘦 new.

And she couldn't have been more wrong.

*  * *

I wanna keep it slow so dw there'll be more info on Malthus later on ;)

Oh and what did y'all think about this chapter?

I'm still trying to make everything make sense even though most of it is just plain dumb so comment on how I can improve it!