[attr="class","stafftext"]"those woods sure are dark, daniel."

a drifter flicked his cigarette, burning ash falling to the ground before he took another drag. he - daniel - looked up at his friend, who was staring out at the woods.

"it's night time, tasha, of course it's dark." even so, daniel peered at the woods too. he felt uneasy. "why'd you bring it up, anyway?"

"no reason," tasha responded, though she did have a reason - she was uneasy too. "maybe we should move over to aspen for the night. besides, i'm kind of cold-"

a wheezing...snarl? growl? - it cut off her sentence. everyone in the area looked up, even daniel - and especially tasha.

"what was that?" daniel asked, voice strained a bit. his cigarette had fallen on the cement, forgotten. "what on earth..."

police arrived at the scene the next morning, after an exploring teenager found blood near the edge of the forest. all they could find besides the blood was a half-smoked cigarette, smoldering on the damp ground.

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