Ella Bular was a familiar face at the local newsagents, returning daily to purchase her usual chocolate bars, crisps, coke and half of the stock of junk food. And today was no different, "These thanks," she grunted to the shop assistant, slamming her chosen foods down onto the till.
"Sure," he murmured in reply. "Bit late isn't it?" he warned, checking his watch and glancing nervously through the windows where it was already getting dark.
"Pah!" she spat. "Wimp," she sneered, taking the two bags full of junk food from the short man and stumbling out side.
Now the newsagents was on a high street, the other shops long since abandoned, and Shalley Forest towered over the right side of the street. And as the overweight Ella waddled down the street, huffing as she did, the tops of the trees swayed, catching her eye and holding it. But dismissing this immediately, she continued on, getting to a bend in the street that led down to a block of houses. Pausing for a minute to get her breath back, she went to take a step when she heard a light scuffling.
"Its probably nothing," she told herself, about to step again when another, similar noise stopped her.
"Its probably the boys from school taking the piss," she told herself, then said slightly louder, "Oi! Jeremy, I know its you!"
Silence.
Ella nodded to herself and stepped forward, to be halted by a louder noise. A growl.
Anger and fear flooded through her as she turned around, expecting to see the boys from her class in year 10 laughing at her, but there was no one there.
"Come on! Where are you then? Come to take the piss?" she called, her voice noticeably weaker.
Something ran behind her, rattling a couple of metal bins by the side of the street, knocking two completely over.
She spun round, dropping her bags.
"Come out!" she screamed, still trying to convince herself it was just lads larking about.
Her hands were trembling, her legs shaking.
Hearing a quiet shish as if material or hair was brushing against something, her head snapped round. Still, she saw nothing. She was sweating uncontrollably now and her breathing was increasing rapidly and becoming more erratic, she knew she couldn't run without having an asthma attack and she had left her inhaler at home. But a small sound of something scratching the concrete lightly surged her into a run, sprinting down her street, her weight dragging her down. Shadows became monsters all around her, the noise of the wind becoming their howls. But it might interest the reader to know that the huge moon that shined cold light on her scene of panic, was only half full tonight...
Ella, remembering the legend about the full moon, looked up quickly to check for herself and noticed quite so, but that wasn't the only thing she saw above her.
Suddenly it dived on her from the roof, its strength overpowering her, its claws tearing at her. Ella's eyes remained glazed and staring towards the half-full moon, the only clue discovered the following morning after her ravaged body was found bleeding on the cold concrete of her street.
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