A long time ago, in a small city, where no one remembers its name. Its inhabitants were living there for life. If you were born here, you died here. The city was more like a village, lost in the woods. Few people came from outside, but none stayed to live there. Until Jessica, who came with her parents. Now we are 22 years old and planning on leaving together. Lately, a lot of people were leaving, they never said goodbye… they were just taking their car, going on the road at night, and never coming back from the woods, maybe to another bigger city.

One day, we told the Mayor we were leaving soon. Unlike the others; we wanted to say goodbye. He did not seem very happy to see us leave like that. We were the only young people in there, of course he wanted us to stay. That night, we went sleeping at my grand-parents’ place, to say goodbye. That night, like the other nights, Jessica went for a walk. But that night, unlike the others, she came back a few minutes later. We opened the door, to see her as pale as a dead, tears running down her cheeks, still red because of the cold outside. It was summer, nights were not supposed to be cold. She was trembling, even after she sat on the sofa. I thought she was losing her mind, as she kept telling us: “it came for us, it will come back”. That night, she did not say anything else, nor slept. She just sat on the sofa and kept telling us: “it came for us, it will come back”.

After that, we decided to leave the same day, she was too scared to stay so we took our luggage and went to the nearest hospital. For that, we needed to go across the woods. Today was hot, when we were leaving all windows were opened. I saw the mayor, he seemed angry.

And he was. “how could they survive!?” he was thinking. “too bad for them, the Beast is still hunting.”

As I was scared for Jessica’s mind, I wanted to drive as fast as possible but the road was too bad, as if no one has driven on it for centuries. Suddenly, we started making mist while breathing. It started to feel very cold, even though the sun was shining like never before. And at this moment, Jessica awoke her senses, as a prey who faced its predator. She broke the silence to say: “it came for us, it will come back”. Because she kept saying the same sentence, over and over again, I started to look outside, maybe she saw something. I looked behind the car, only to see a shadow. A pitch black shadow, that was growing. Indeed, it was not growing, it was approaching!

I drove as fast as possible, trying to escape this shadow, while Jessica continued to say the same sentence. Before, I was hearing birds and the engine of the car, but now, all I could hear was the silence coming from the shadow. It was faster. Faster than me, maybe faster than everything I could think about. And suddenly, I could not hear anything, only the silence. I could not see anything, not even my hands. Terrified, I searched for Jessica, I needed to protect her. I needed to protect the love of my life. I was touching her. Maybe her arm, I could not see anything. Whatever it was, I knew it was her, so I grabbed her and decided to never let it go.

It seemed this moment lasted for an eternity. I Could not think correctly. It seemed this moment lasted for an eternity.

I did not realise I was being shaken up. As I was opening my eyes, I started to hear a noise, more than a noise, it was a voice, a woman’s voice… Jessica! I suddenly stood up, gasping for air. Jessica was there. The car was a few meters behind. And someone else was there too. A big hat, big boots, a long coal jacket, with a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. Although, this “hunter” did not seemed dangerous. He then explained to us that something was chasing us. “Now it will not” he said, pointing to the car. Jessica and I decided to go see what he was pointing. As two scared dogs, we were moving slowly, reacting to every noise in the woods. Something dark was behind the car, a shadow. As we were approaching, I could see this shadow, it was more like a cloud, with something inside. The human mind could not imagine what it was. It was not human, or from what we know. It was not possible to describe that thing. But something was sure, it did not come from this planet.

We were talking to that “cowboy-like” hunter. We learned that our small village was not human either. Something bigger, from the outside, was controlling it and for “They”, humans were food. As we eat beef, “They” were eating humans. While we were eating sheep, “They” were eating us.

I am now sure, that night, the mayor was with “They”. Jessica never spoke again – except for my name- but I am sure she saw “They” that night. That night that could have changed our lives.

  It seemed this moment lasted for an eternity.