Murder in the Mist

A Story by Rachel

A killer stalks a woman in the forest.

It happened on a Tuesday. It had been raining that day, so the forest floor was wet, but she decided to go foraging anyway. When she started out, every thing was fine. She didn’t suspect a thing. I could tell this was going to be easy. The forest was filled with misty fog, so as I followed a few paces behind her, she was barely visible to me, so I knew that she wouldn’t be able to see me. She walked on for a while, stopping now and then to examine plants and put samples into her bag. She never would have known I was there, except that a bird picked me as its target, and dove at me so that I had to kneel down on the ground to avoid being hit. She obviously heard all the noise I was making in the process of doing this, and she stopped dead in her tracks to look around. After a few minutes of us both being perfectly still, she began to move again, but I could tell she was more alert now. I couldn’t afford to take my time on this anymore. The first time she stopped fully to rest, I crept up behind her. I hid behind a tree for a few seconds, but I no longer had the element of surprise on my side. I walked into the clearing. She turned, saw me, and shrieked with a look of pure terror on her face. I couldn’t wait any longer. I brought out the knife I had been hiding and silenced her screams with it. She dropped to the ground, blood pouring out of her throat. I left her there for the animals, ran out of the forest, and never looked back. I have killed many people since then, but none have ever been as difficult as that first time.