The Wraith of the Bridge

It was raining; I shouldn't have left my home. My sister was all alone, but if I hadn't left to find food... 

I didn't even want to think about what would happen to us. 

I looked at my hands – wet and muddy. My knife was the only thing on me that remained clean. I sighed and leaned my head back against the stone foundation of the bridge. Water dripped from my ears, but at least I had finally found shelter under the bridge. 

I had managed to start a fire, though with great difficulty, merely hoping to warm myself up a bit. Maybe, the rain would stop, and I would continue my hunt. Even finding a small hare would be a blessing, but with this rain, I could barely see in front of me.

In the dim light, I could have sworn a shadow detached itself from the bridge. I blinked to make sure, but a movement caught my attention towards the forest. An animal was running, small and on all fours; and- something was on its head.

Was it horns?

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I wasn't the first to see hallucinations among these trees, especially on stormy nights like this. With a swift motion, I extinguished the fire and hid my knife. It was my food, and I had no intention of wasting it - just because the rain and exhaustion made me see things that were probably not even real. The otherwise protective edge of the bridge made the rain fall like a curtain before me, giving me chills. 

A voice inside my head told me not to go. But I couldn't let my sister down. I had come here for a reason, and I intended to fulfill it. 

The faster I found my prey, the sooner I'd return home, after all.

I took a deep breath; the scent of the wet earth and the incessant sound of rain compelled me. The image of my sister spurred me on. She probably would be beside the fire, reading her book, her white hair falling over her face and her red eyes lost in the pages, a mirror image of me, yet entirely different. 

Waiting.

It was a game: the hunter and the hunted, and I was determined to win. The last time it rained like this, I might have been in the safety of our home, but nothing could elude me in these woods. They had been my territory for many years, 100 to be exact, as long as our father had been missing from home.

I bolted into the rain. Water lashed at my face, but I followed the tracks of my prey. It had to be done swiftly and precisely, because the rain made the tracks vanish as quickly as they appeared. 

It got to a point that I felt as though I was circling the bridge, again and again. A broken tree, a squirrel's nest, the piercing gaze of an owl. I stopped abruptly. I couldn't have lost it. But I saw nothing; no tracks, no broken branches, no movement among the fallen leaves. Only silence. 

In the deafening silence, only the sound of rain could be heard, without even a single clap of thunder. Such tranquility was never present; something was amiss. I had to turn back. I'd return tomorrow; I'd make sure to hunt something for my sister then. Orianna would understand.

My wet hair clung to my face, and I turned to start towards the house, but a stick snapped. My breath caught, forming a hot cloud in the cold night. That sound was too close. Nothing should be that close to me. 

I spun around abruptly, and suddenly someone grabbed me. I tried to pull away, but a grip tightened around my wrist. I turned, my face distorted with fear. 

A man, his eyes hollow voids, his skin eerily glowing in the dark. I screamed, trying to free myself, but he wouldn't let go. I looked at his hand. Bones. Bones wrapped around my wrist. My cry echoed in the night, joined by the hoot of an owl. The man in front of me laughed, a sound that was oddly innocent, playful, almost childlike. "Who are you?" My voice came out hoarse, his grip my prison. "You are my salvation, finally," he said with a chuckle before disappearing - his voice vibrating through me . His figure vanished like smoke before my eyes. I brought my hands to my chest, clutching my knife tightly. My heart was beating erratically - I needed to leave. 

Now.

I started walking quickly, but it wasn't fast enough. I wasn't getting away quickly enough. I began to run, but the distance seemed to stretch out before me. 

I ran until I couldn't run faster.

When I saw the bridge ahead, a sigh of relief escaped my lips. If I crossed that bridge, I'd reach our village. 

I'd be safe. 

Strong hands suddenly pushed me from behind, as I lost my balance and fell to the ground. 

To my horror, I saw my knife lay two meters in front of me. The ground had turned to mud, and the rain obscured the person those rough hands belonged to from my view. A powerful thunderbolt resonated through the sky.

The tables had turned.

I scrambled to my feet and looked behind me, but there was no one. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I needed to flee, to save myself. 

Just as I turned to retrieve my knife, I gasped as I saw a tall man was holding it. A hood obscured his face, but his bones wrapped around the knife's handle, as the bridge loomed behind him. 

I slowly took a few steps back, not daring to take my eyes off him. I had become the prey, and I sensed it; he was going to kill me.

An old voice emanated from him, "Once in every decade, during the fiercest of storms, it is my only chance for a great feast of freedom." He coughed, his cough dry, like someone suffering from an incurable disease. 

"What are you?" My voice quivered. I would have sworn that a smile formed in the shadows of his face. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I needed to get back to Orianna; she couldn't lose me too. 

She'd be left alone. 

"I am your future," his voice began to fade, turning into smoke before my eyes, "if you cannot cross the bridge." As the smoke dissipated, I started to run.

Suddenly, the sound of a very familiar voice made me tremble, "Morana, I've been searching everywhere for you." 

My sister's voice pierced the silence. 

I looked terrified toward the bridge, "Run, go home!" I yelled at her. 

But then, to my horror, the bridge started to collapse. Stones plummeted into a black void. My sister tried to hold on, but was slipping. I rushed to her, the bridge now fragmented. The ground was disappearing into a black void. 

"What's happening?" she cried out, pinned beneath the rocks. The ground was giving way. I had to hurry, I had to save her. 

"Why did you come?" I was desperate. 

"I was worried," she said weakly. I removed the stones trapping her, grasping the hem of her long sleeve dress. 

"Come on, we need to hurry," I said. 

But it was too late. 

I felt the ground vanish beneath my feet. I was falling into the void. 

My sister tried to grab me, "Don't leave me too," her voice breaking, thread keeping me from being lost forever. Tears streamed from my eyes as I helplessly dangled above my fate.

I had lost; I couldn't escape. I could feel her tears landing on my hand as she was losing her grip. "You promised to protect me; you promised not to leave me like our father did," she cried out between sobs. I knew it wasn't my fault; yet if she was kept alive, if she didn't fall into the void with me, I could accept my fate. I was falling into this void because of the high-stakes game I had foolishly entered. "Let me go and run," I whispered. "Save yourself." 

Her tears eerily stopped, replaced by laughter. I looked up. Bones held me, not my sister. The man had deceived me.The man's face had transformed to look like hers. His face was relieved, joyful event. Color began to bloom on his cheeks, while my grip, once flesh, was fading. Color, vitality, life. A sob escaped my lips, "What have you done to me?" I asked, horrified. 

Tears of joy rolled down from reddened eyes, "You don't know how long I've waited for someone to free me," he said, softly adding, "Thank you," as the grip separating me from the black void loosened. 

And I fell.

***

Every inch of my body ached. I awoke beneath the bridge, the very place my journey began. It must have been a dream, nothing else made sense. I tried to grab my knife, but bony fingers gripped the handle instead. In panic, I tossed it aside and gazed at my hand in disbelief. Though I was so close to my village, I felt miles away from who I once was. My breaths came in ragged bursts. I had transformed, just like the man who tricked me. I attempted to leave, to return to my home, but something held me back. It felt as if invisible chains bound me to the bridge and the surrounding forest. I ended up right back where I started, tears streaming down my face as I collapsed to my knees. 

A black rabbit approached, sitting calmly at my feet. Horns extended from its head, curling down to its fluffy back. Although my ghostly hands phased through its fur, the sensation of its softness remained. 

Overwhelmed, I wept – for everything I'd lost, for the impending losses, and most of all, for my sister.

It must have been hours, perhaps days. The rabbit had stayed by my side, but I couldn't leave. I couldn't depart from this bridge. It had become my prison. 

My torment.

"I miss her," a sweet, familiar voice echoed above on the bridge. 

My breath halted suddenly. Like smoke, I passed through the stones and emerged on the surface. I wanted to see if I could talk to her, hug her, tell her I never left her. But I stopped when I saw Orianna with a man. "If you hadn't told her to leave that night, we wouldn't be where we are now," the man said, taking her hand.

A ring glittered under the sun's rays. I gasped. His black hair cascaded in curls on his face, and his gleaming dark eyes softened as he kissed her hand. My sister sighed. "I still feel guilty," she murmured, looking under the bridge. 

"She sadly left you, exactly as your father. But don't think of that dear, I will never do the same. I’ll protect you, I promise. Rage consumed me, a feeling I hadn't experienced in my lifetime. She lied to me. She had sent me out in the rain for a man. I lost my life because of her. I watched them depart from the bridge, hand in hand, her white hair blowing in the wind as they faded into the distance.

The bridge trembled with my fury. She had betrayed me, a deceiver who chose love over her own sister. I had thrown away my future, or rather, I had found a new purpose. I laughed, running my bony fingers through my white hair, as I made my decision.

"I'm not a ghost... I'm a wraith, and I will feast on the souls of every liar that dares to pass over my bridge."