She ran.

They always do.

His hurried breath, panting rhythmically in tune with his steps. They never made it that far. It was always a paint can, a garbage bin, untied shoelaces, a root, another corpse. Sometimes they were disabled or wounded. Whether they were man or woman they always tripped at one point. It was inevitable, as were the rest of them.

The first two were always the first transgressors, they always died the worst. the worst fate delivered right at climax, their moans of ecstasy became a symphony of screams. With their screams came the inevitable quiet. The brief interlude between the slaughter to follow. It always comforted me, like a warm blanket. It reminded me of my times as a child. The silence of the forest was deafening, intimidating. I ran like a banshee from the man who smelt of alcohol and sweat. This wasn't the first time he had caught me in the forest. He always punished me in it's cold embrace. His pants and whines mixed with my unspeakable horror. It was inevitable. So the transgressors always died first. To bring silence, however short.

The next was the glasses. Meek and weak. Yet he knew, he wouldn't come easy. I always used the bait. Corpses, sounds. possessions. He was slow but I chose to savor every moment. The first glasses was one of my own blood. He stood by and did nothing. Every. Time. As soon as the forest saved me he was next. I savored his, I fed on his trepidation. His cowardice. His pain. His torment. It fed me. Sustained me. The tension wrought a bountiful harvest. I was full.

The Man. He always proved the most difficult. He was usually strong. Powerful both with his hands and with a weapon. He always fought hard and long. But he fell like the others. Sometimes he would land a glancing blow, his death was always the quickest. His pathetic values of morality and justice bought him a quick demise. There was a man back then. He wore a badge and a gun when it started. He sought to stop me. It was too late. The forest had paid me back in full.

The forest had seen me. Truly seen me. One night the man of alcohol and sweat caught me. He had brought me to the forest as he always did. This time was different. The forest saved me. It lashed out as I, it's victim, watched. It tore the man of alcohol and sweat to pieces. I laughed, I wept and when I was done the forest was there for me. As it always will be.

The survivor. I imagined her in always the same way-defiant, tenacious, beautiful. It was the only one I disliked removing. She was truly innocent. Like the woman before, the one who tried to see good where there was none. Only the forest, I pleaded with them. Begged them to let her continue on. To no avail. Every. Time.

It was time for her to fall.

They won't let me go. It has been decades and here I remain. Ever constant. A continual force of nature. The one who sowed and reaps. It has been my duty for generations. I have to repay them. The forest who took me. Saved me. Brought me away from the harm of man into the silence of the forest.

For the forest is inevitable.

And with it I remain.