Thread by @MahiriLeopard

I won't say you shouldn't be here.

I wouldn't have called to you if I didn't intend for you to someday find me. It begins as an insidious feeling beneath the skin. The urge to run away from the noise and crowds takes root until it lives within your veins.

You walk without a destination. Knowing only the way forward. The path has long since faded. The air is changing. The leaves turn bright and crimson. Then they curl and fall dead at your feet. You do not stop.

It was daylight when you departed. The night finds you now. You can't know how long you have been walking. Nor how far you've gone. But you know it shouldn't be snowing. Not this time of year.

Something tells you this isn't your first visit. Fragments of your life lay scattered. Objects of your memory, picked through and ransacked. I will help you piece them back together when we're done. But first there is the hunt.

You haven't seen me yet. But I'm sure you hear me by now. The scrape of antlers on the trees. The crunch of snow beneath my hooves. And the song. It lingers, breathless, in the back of your mind. You have to get away.

The forest is endless. Every step is one both new and yet, damningly familiar. You're not getting any farther away from my voice. I know where you are, and I will catch you. My prey does not escape.

I want you to run. Don't stop. Don't look back. Give me your best chase. I am ever closer. A shape among the trees, pushing them aside in my approach. Your heart pumps strong as my presence overtakes you. And then, the hunger takes hold.

I stand above you in the snow, a hand upon your throat. I cannot help but snarl. This is hardly who I am. This is the hunger speaking, wearing my body like a cloak. Your screams echo through the branches, but none are there to answer.

I wish I knew a better way. The hunger is always there. It is beyond hollow. I am sorry for your terror. But I need you. All of you. I will take you in whole, banish the cold from your skin with the warmth of my aching stomach. You are mine.

My teeth will only graze you. I could bite but I will not. I know you don't deserve this. But I hope you will understand. This is not a hunger like your own. It is sharp and eternal. Only you can soften it.

For a time you are safe. Simply captive within me. I would tell you to relax, but that would ring false. The craving does not go away. I am not yet sated. The walls begin to squeeze. Your body weakens. I need this.

I won't let it hurt too much. Sleep, now. Fade for me. Let me claim your meat and fear as the darkness takes your mind. Sleep within me and digest. You will satisfy me for a time. I sing a mournful song as I feel your final struggles.

When you awaken, you are whole again. The fire crackles near your face. All feels warm and safe until you remember the dying moments. The forest remains around you, empty but for us.

You hear a voice that in time will sound familiar. I am still near. I am grateful for your offering but the hunger has not yet faded. I am sorry. Maybe this time I will be sated.

I understand if you hate me. You did not ask to be me prey. But you are doing me a great service. Every time I consume you, I feel calmer than before. You get farther each time. I want nothing more than for you to make it.

If I offered you my hand, would you take it? There is no good reason to trust me. It is truly selfish to want for a peaceful moment together. But you have helped me with this burden, and so it is only just that I should help you with your own.

Speak to me. I understand. I will listen. I have seen what lives inside you and I know the ways you hurt. Will you let me carry some of that?

I know the fear still lingers in your veins but I will not lie to you. When I say that I won't hurt you another time nothing can change that. Not even the endless hunger.

It is warmer if you let me hold you. The icy air cannot touch you when I am near. We can stay like this. As long as you need, until you remember how to breathe. I will be your fire in the meantime.