The dimly lit street was filled with the sound of crickets chirping.
Samantha couldn’t shake off the creeps crawling up her back. She glanced behind her at the smirking faces of her ‘friends’.
“Scared?” taunted Charlie, his eyes glittering with undisguised hate.
“Of course not!” Samantha huffed, trying to bury her fear.
She marched forward into the darkness, heart racing and body shivering from both the cold air and fear.
She jolted at the sound of breathing. It sounded ragged but soft.
Her pace quickened and she shined her flashlight around the dark alleyway. She wished she hadn’t accepted that stupid dare.
She caught sight of golden-blonde hair one time while she saw her flashlight illuminate a sharp set of teeth before they disappeared.
She knew Charlie and the others had left her alone and were probably just waiting in the street, ready to laugh at her when she came back.
She stopped in her tracks to the sound of chewing. It sounded much like a carnivorous animal’s eating.
She almost gagged from the smell that reminded her of when she was in science class, and they had to dissect an animal heart. This mixed with the rancid smell of the dumpster trash made her queasy as she wondered what animal lurked in the alley of this abandoned city close to the populated sea-side town.
As she approached the sound despite her common sense and flight-or-fight instinct screaming at her to run away.
But it seemed like her legs kept going against her fear and logic. Samantha heard the chewing pause.
She shakily raised her flashlight.
A seemingly young woman was crouched sideways. She was pretty and that made Samantha do a double-take. It seemed unfitting that such a pretty woman was in such a scary place.
White blonde hair was slightly tousled and flowed down to elbow-length. On top of her head rested silver roses, which seemed freshly picked although silver flowers that looked as metallic as they did did not exist. A beautiful but dull green eye stared at her. The woman had nice features from what she could see from the side view. And then her eyes trailed downwards, her lips, although uniquely and pretty much perfectly shaped, seemed to be coated in blood. Her hands were holding what seemed to be a half-eaten heart. The blood dripped down her hands, and somehow wasn’t getting on her Greek goddess-like white and silver dress.
The woman got up slowly, making the teenage girl back away to the sight of a corpse. It looked as though it had been shot a while ago, and had been found recently.
She faced the girl, and Samantha gasped.
The other side had the same facial features and shapes as the right side but her skin was grey and her left eye was pitch black. Sharp pointy teeth dripped of blood when she, or it, opened it’s/her mouth. The black and wiry-looking hair was puffed up and reached the same length as the other half of her locks. Her dress was a contrast to the white and goddess-like on the right side. A wide golden strap supported the black dress that was circled by a golden belt. The black dress’ bottom was made of a stiff-looking fabric split diagonally from the middle of the dress as if meant to have a matching half on the right. The golden-orange cempasuchil flowers were woven into the flower crown of silver roses.
The monster, no, more like demi-monster, said in a slightly echoey and quiet tone.
“Hello there, child. It’s been so long-” She took a step towards the terrified teenager, who took five steps back, “-since I’ve had visitors. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten offerings too.”
Samantha bolted, clutching the flashlight in her hand as she ran, weaving past anything in her way and eyes darting around. Pure terror filled her brain as the soft clicking of high heels followed her, casual and at a normal pace. Her breathing quickened as she finally saw the familiar dim lights of the street.
She burst out of the alleyway, half-aware that the fear had caused tears to pour down her cheeks.
Charlie smirked, “Lost the bet, Sam? You chickened out and couldn’t even find the old altar to that monster myth!”
His friends burst out into malicious laughter.
Samantha gasped for breath, quick and shallow, pointing down the alleyway.
“Run! I saw...a demi-monster! She-” She gasped for another breath “-It- was eating a heart! It followed me!”
The trio burst into louder laughter than before but abruptly stopped to the sound of heeled shoes clicking against concrete.
The demi-monster appeared, blood dripping from her hands and a hungry look in her eyes.
“I haven’t eaten fresh in hundreds of years, but I am a bit hesitant about eating...children.” The features of hunger momentarily flashed to uncertainty.
Charlie covered his mouth in horror.
“Oh my god. It’s the monster!” He practically screamed, stumbling backwards.
“I prefer Foxglove if you are to call me anything, but I don’t think we need formalities as you seem to be my first sacrifices in such a...long time.”
Samantha fumbled out her phone, taking a photo when the demi-monster was distracted.
Then Foxglove descended upon the trio while Samantha ran away, even though her feet were sore and her throat and lungs were burning.
She saw the murders from the corner of her eye and retched once she made it back to the seaside town.
She was hysterical when her neighbours found her, sobbing and screaming about a demi-monster eating the three ‘friends’ of hers. The adults tried to calm her down, but she was terrified.
She was sent to the hospital to check for any injuries, but she screamed at anybody who approached her. They managed to take her phone from her and saw the photo of the so-called demi-monster.
They sent out police to search the abandoned city to find the children and perhaps the strange monster. They'd found the trio’s bodies, decorated with flowers in the chest area where they'd been ripped open. A small note was burned into the ground.
‘Thank you for the sacrifices- Foxglove’
Strangely, all organs other than the heart were intact and the chest was opened by a huge but precise cut. It could’ve been said that it was opened by a surgical knife other than the slightly jagged edge like what you would expect from a claw.
Although the Police searched for an actual killer rather than a ‘demi-monster’ the townspeople began talking about the picture from Samantha’s phone. Some said it was just a costume for a creative murderer who needed hearts for some reason. Others speculated that she was still stalking around and looking for offerings.
Some stupid adults occasionally visited the abandoned city, only to disappear and be found dead with flowers scattered on them and around them.
Samantha kept replaying the death of the trio in her head, slowly going insane over it. She was locked away as her actions became more violent. The town would no longer feel safe again, not when the demi-monster still walked and ate.