In the Dark

In the dead of night as the moon hung at its highest in the dark sky. The forest was still. The animals had all gone into their burrows for the night. Warm and cozy with their families. Even the wind that was usually blowing had died. All was still and silent. All but the soft crunching sound of leaves under someone's feet.

The girl walked slowly through the trees, admiring the beauty. She cannot recall why she had come out here, no matter how hard she tried. The eeriness of the absences of sound was almost deafening. Her arms got goose bumps from the ghostly chill in the air. Searching through the view, her eyes finally settled on a single flower. It was a brilliant red that that stood out among all the grey of the dead forest.  She was tempted to touch the flower, but as soon as her fingers wrapped around the stem, a thorn pricked her. A red liquid began to flow from her hand. Blood that matched the deep red of the rose.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a twig snapping nearby. The girl snapped of her trance.  

"W...who is there?" her voice said, shaking. Looking around the girl saw nothing that was different, but she continued to walk quickening her pace. However, the quicker her pace got the faster the sound of things scrunching under one's foot came. This frightened the girl. Her heartbeat was beginning to accelerated, matching the rising pace of her feet.

Finally the mysterious sound stopped. The girl looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings she was in. The girl believed that was lost and began to wonder looking for the way she came. Something felt off to her, as if she were in a different dimension. The ground was cold under her bare feet and the hairs on her arms were up on their ends.  

Out of nowhere a cold white hand rested on her shoulder. The girl twirled around, to see who was following her. Before her was lean young man that could easily be mistaken for a girl. She could not make out any of his features in dark, but there was one thing that brought fear to her entire body. His glowing red eyes. Crimson that matched the color of the bloody rose.

For a moment she just stood there, mesmerized by their glow. Until the clouds shift, revealing some of the moon's light. Gleaming in the light, there they shone like two crescent moons. Fangs.

She began to turn away toward the direction she had come, but the hand that was resting softly on her shoulder had a surprisingly strong hold on her. She attempted to scream but before the sound could come out another hand came up, muffling the sound.  The cold hands that touched her caused a shiver to run through her body.

She continued to fight back. Although the more she fought, the tighter the grip became.

Finally the man brought his lips to the girl's ear and spoke "Fermare"

From just that simple word the girl's limbs went limp and could no longer move. The man softly kissed the girl's neck and smile with his lips pressed to her neck. Soon a sharp pain shot through her skin as the man plunged his fangs into her. A sound-less shriek came from her. The creature began to drain the blood out of her body.  

With tears streaming down her face, the girl whispered in a voice that sounded as if it were the wind.

"Please…stop..."

At these words the man released the girl. As the girl feel to the ground she remembered two important things. The reason she had ventured into the forest and with whom she was going meet.

"ITALY!!!" the German yelled while, shaking the Italian. Italy's eyes shot open to see the blue eyed Germany staring at him with a face expression full of concern.

"Ve... Germany what is it?" whined the Italian who didn't like to be woken up early.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were having a terrible dream," asked Germany, Italy's longtime friend. Italy had seen many faces of Germany, but the face he was making was different than his usual concerned face. The German realized this and blushed a little from embarrassment.

"You weren't responding to me so I got a little worried" admitted the blond muscular man. The German saw the naïve look on the Italian's face and sighed.

"Since you are up, want me to make you some breakfast," asked Germany. Knowing the Italian he was probably hungry and would ask for something outrageous like his signature Pasta.

"I'm not very hungry,ma grazie" said Italy. This sort of worried the German; it was very unlike the Italian. But he just shrugged it off and continued.

"Well I'll just go ahead and eat. Why don't you just go back to sleep. It's still pretty early" advised Germany.  The Italian smiled his usual goofy smile.

"Sure! Ciao," said Italy while waving his hand.

As soon as the door closed behind Germany, Italy's face quickly darkened. Italy placed his face into his hands and brought his knees to his chest.

"What…what the hell was that," shuddered the Italian, remembering the terrifying dream that he had just woken up from.