Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Deaths in the moonlight

Beth stood alone in the middle of a dense snowy forest, as the crunching of bones echoed through the woods.

It was the forest that housed her late grandpa's cabin and the one in which she had spent all the summers of her life. Or at least it used to be, for she was currently standing over the remains of her previous self. Now reduced to a mere pile of meat, scattered and half buried in the snow, her lifeblood having formed small islands of crimson blood in the endless sea of freshly fallen snow and green trees.

Several wolves were eagerly gnawing down at it, filling their bellies with her now cold flesh. Beth's ghost looked down on them, wishing that the food would give them indigestion.

At least I think I am a ghost. She thought as she began to examine her spiritual body in search of any injuries or abnormalities. 

Beth assumed that her current condition would be completely identical, or at least very similar to when she had been alive, appearance-wise at least, and as she found out she was indeed correct. Messy, shoulder-length, lusterless brown hair, blue eyes, a rainbow-colored hoodie, and dark grey sweatpants. Her shabby appearance was undoubtedly the same as it had always been. All except for the dozen hairpins that were still decorating her corpse.

Upon confirming the continuity of her current appearance, she once again returned to observing the wolves, and occasionally trying to curse them with her nonexistent ghost powers.

Beth, naturally, having both felt, and later watched herself being eaten by said wolves, held no small amount of negative emotions towards them. I can't blame them though. I used to be an avid meat eater as well. She thought. It was meant to be a joke but only a small joyless chuckle escaped her phantom lips. The kind that could turn into sobbing at any moment.

"Stupid dogs," was all she said to them in the end which went completely unnoticed by the wolves themselves. As was the rude gesture she gave them afterward.

After she let a heartbeat pass she turned away from their pack and walked off into the surrounding forest, heading in the direction which she believed her yard to be.

Crow should be getting home right about now, I bet. She guessed as she maneuvered herself through the densely packed trees of the forest. Crow being the nickname of Beth's younger sister, Anna. The origin of the name being that her sister liked to hoard shiny things.

"I might as well try to see her one last time before the reaper shows up to... you know, reap me." She told herself, as a slightly bitter smile dawned on her face.

For the next couple of minutes, Beth continued walking forward through the forest in silence, leaving no footprints as she traveled, the cold wind now a mere sound with no perceivable substance. It was only when she came across an old wooden sign, one that she had seen many times prior, that her halted her step.

"At least I am going the right way." She said out loud, the presence of the sign letting Beth know that she was indeed only a short distance from her cabin. She kept walking, reading the sign out of the corner of her eyes as she passed it by: 'Warning: do not feed the wildlife, feeding the wildlife may be punishable by a fine of up to-' "Pfft!" She only managed to read halfway through before having to stifle a laugh for the law that she had very clearly just broken.

"So I'm a criminal now eh?" She mused, "I wonder if big sis will bail me out of ghost prison when she finds out? Hahahahaha!" She laughed out loud as she imagined how such a situation would play out.

Beth then, still greatly amused by her own joke, continued forwards past the sign, still snickering as she went.

Then suddenly after roughly another dozen meters of walking, just as she was about to reach her cabin's yard, Beth felt a sudden 'pull' on her very being, as if unseen fingers from an invisible hand were coiling themselves around her body, dragging her back into the dark abyss that was the snowy forest. The world shifted then turning into a mirage of muddy brown, frosty white, and crimson red, and suddenly, instantly Beth found herself back among the wolves, once again standing over the remains above her own previous self.

For a moment she stood their stunt as the realization that she will never return home settled in.

"...Haa..ha..." she laughed then. A small fragile laugh as lifeless as her corpse before her "no luck even in death eh?" She said out loud.

I guess... this is my home now. A small amount of sadness began to bud in her heart at the thought, and a small amount of moisture began to built in the corner of her eye as well. Beth once again turned her attention to the wolves in a futile attempt to prevent herself from crying.

The site of them made her nonexistent stomach turn, however. She looked away once again and turned her attention to the evening sky. The day matched her mood. The sky was grey and overcast and the sun was struggling to break through the clouds. Beth could not have said who would win this fight no more than she could the one below, where two great wolves were fighting over the remains of her left arm.

What does it matter no matter who wins I would still be dead. She thought bitterly.

By now her sister must have reached the town and informed the authorities but Beth did not think that they would get here soon. By the time they calm her sister, get armed, organize a search squad, and actually arrive at the cabin night would have surely fallen.

"If they don't hurry up though they might not find anything to bury." She mused to herself as she watched the wolfs fighting.

That made her ponder though. What would my funeral be like? She wondered. It was a queer thought to be thinking about one's funeral and if truth be told she would rather be doing anything else. Only there was nothing else to do but think. She had no books to read, no games to play, and no other ghost companions to pass the time with. Thinking was the only thing she could do and so she did.

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Wonder who will come?

Her family, that was for certain. Even her older sister even though there was no love lost between them. Other than that though she was not certain. The neighbors maybe, out of a sense of moral or social obligation perhaps. Family friends most likely though she doubted that all of them even remembered her name and....... Well, she could not think of anyone else.

In school, Beth had never been what one might call a popular girl. She had no friends nor colleagues nor even teachers and she was close to and she generally preferred to be alone.

More than likely they are like to forget me in a year. And why should they remember me? I am nothing special unlike the rest of my family. She thought disheartening and despite knowing that it was mostly her imagination Beth could not help but see in her mind's eye an empty church, a lone priest preaching over an empty coffin.

"No, no it's all in my head. Better think of  something else." She told herself and so she did. Or at least tried to but the thought get creeping back into her head.

Time passed as Beth struggled with thoughts of the morrow, how many hours had passed though she could not say. Two or three or maybe more perhaps but they had passed that was for certain.

The sun had set on the western sky and as she had predicted no signs of human life were yet to be seen entering the forest.

The moon was hiding behind some tall pine trees but the night promised to be cold and beautiful nevertheless. Beth could see steam rising out of the wolf's nostrils, their grey shaggy furs dabbled with snow. The pack had stopped feasting and turned their attention to a big puddle of rainwater. After the wolves drank their fill they settled around it sleeping beneath the moonlight.

Beth sat next to them watching them sleep and wishing for a knife. It would change nothing she knew. She had found that out when the wolfs had first pounced on her she tried desperately to reach for a huge branch to use as a weapon, only to have it slip through her plumb fingers like water. It was only she looked back at the wolfs did she realize that the battle was already over.

If only I had my swords with me at the time. She said to herself, coiling her phantom fingers into fists. Beth owned two swords. One had been a gift from her uncle (on her father's side) and the second she bought herself. Both were her treasures, both had meant a lot to her and both were a thousand miles away in her family house in Ohio.

She would still be dead she knew. She did not dilute herself into thinking she was such a great warrior as to take on a pack of wolves (even a small one) singlehandedly and still come out alive.

I bet I could have taken at least one down with me though. That would have been a better way to go at least. Maybe it would have even given birth to a rumor or two. About how the vengeful spirit of the girl that had been savaged by wolves was now haunting this forest, the ghost of the beast she slain now eternal companions in the afterlife. She thought to herself, amused at her own imagination.

Instead, she entered the forest chasing after her sister without as much as a knife to her name and ended up as wolve grub without being able to take even one down with her.

"It could have been worse. At least the view is good." She thought to herself as she looked up at the sky.

The moon had left the cover of the tall trees and hunged on the night sky like a pearl around a woman's neck. Big, round, and full. It was beautiful and for a brief moment, as Beth stared at it through its reflection in the small pond, she could swear that it stared back. Then she looked again and saw that it was actually, truly, looking back at her.

She crawled away, instincts that she had before dying dragging her feet, and rose to her feet unsteadily. Then suddenly a cry full of pain came from her right. Beth turned and saw wolves being held up in the air in huge watery hands.

The eight hands made of water grew from the small pond, larger than they had any right to be, and grasped the wolves from their throats, lifting them up in the air, their wails echoing through the woods.

For a moment Beth did not recognize the savaged wolves that had killed her. Instead saw eight small puppies, crying like newborns when held up in the air for too long or too roughly. But whereas a man's hands might have let go, those cold watery ones did not. They squeezed harder as the wolves cried out in anguish, yet it was not choking that killed them.

Beth saw their shaggy grey fur turning snowy white and then icy blue as all memory of warmth fled from their bodies. When the hands let go the wolves were gone and eight ice statues took their place before falling and shattering into the forest floor.

Beth's head was spinning, her legs felt like cooked noodles making her tremble and causing her to fall again on the cold hard ground. When the hands turned towards her an overwhelming feeling of dread seized her, like a knife through the heart that twisted with every breath.

The hands never reached her though, they did not even move instead, they merged and mingled like vipers until they took the shape of a woman.

Tall and pale she was, with eyes as cold and lifeless as the forest and when those eyes turned to look at her Beth thought for the second time today.

I am gonna die.

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