Anna's Magus

The magus which arose from the shadow of the big oak tree, dripped a black liquid onto the ground. It seemed to hover above the ground like a banshee and did not seem to be affected by the immense winds of the storm. It was a dark figure who appeared to be dressed in a black cloak which covered all but its face and arms. Its limbs looks as if they were just bones wrapped in grey skin which looked like it would be leathery to the touch.

Anna, only 5, stared at the demon with fear. She couldn't move, she was almost completely paralyzed with dread. She could barely hear her mother and father screaming and crying over the loud sounds generated by the winds of the hurricane, and all of the debris hitting the side of there house. They were all holding onto each other, sitting in the bathtub of there bathroom in there house. Threw the open window, Anna remained fixed on the magus.

As the tree began to shake more and more violently, it began to uproot. The winds were increasing with every passing second making the roaring sounds louder and louder, to the point where Anna could no longer hear her parents. She tilted her head up to look at them and saw that her father was holding her mothers head to his. He seemed to be saying something, maybe praying, but all she could hear was the screaming of the wind and the thrashing of debris crashing into the side of there house.

Again she looked onto the creature which still remained almost motionless under the almost flying oak tree. She stared onto it with wide gaping eyes, its lose cloak danced in the storm. As she stared, the creature came more into focus until she could make out its face. It too was covered in the leathery looking bone tight grey skin. Anna could now see that the creature looked almost human, but if it was human it was horribly disfigured. Missing its lips and exposing its yellow and black rotted teeth, they creature showed no emotion. Where the magus' human nose should have been were just two black large holes. A cloth was tied around its eyes and tied to the back of its head, his eyes were not exposed, but Anna could feel its piercing stair straight into her soul.

Anna felt as if she was going to throw up with all that was going on. She gripped her mothers red dress tight and grabbed the loose slack of her father's pants and pulled herself into them, trying to feel the comfort of being with them. It didn't help. As Anna kept her eyes on the magus, she noticed its arm rise from it side. Then it extended it's bonny index finger and began to point right at her.

The hurricane like winds started to pull the roof off of the house and larger pieces of debris were striking the house. Anna terrified out of her mind screamed at the top of her lungs, but she couldn't even hear herself the thundering noises around her were so intense. Here ears started to hurt and the house began to shake. She watched as the flailing tree was picked up and carried off in the immense wind. So much was being carried threw the air outside, she almost couldn't make out the magus anymore.

Tears rolled down her face and her hair blew everywhere, still screaming she gripped her mothers dress and fathers pants even harder, she began to grip so hard she broke the skin on the palm of her hands with her own nails and blood started to soak the two fabrics. Her vision blurred and her heart racing, she could no longer see anything threw the window except the wind which seemed to dance like an roaring black and brown fire. She shut her eyes as hard as she could; keeping them shut because she didn't want to see what was going to happen next. She jumped as she heard a huge explosion threw the already thundering sounding wind and debris, it was a car that had been thrown from the street into the room on the other side of the bathroom wall.

This was it, Anna knew it was the end. Her throat soar from screaming couldn't say a thing, her upper lips just trembled as the tears from her eyes ran over them. She could feel her parents holding her tighter and tighter.

The roaring started to soften, eventually the roaring turned into whistling. The winds began to die down, the debris stopped hitting the house as often as it had been, Anna realized the storm was passing, but she dared not to open her eyes.

Less then an hour later, the storm had passed, and Anna and her parents emerged from the pile of wreckage that they once called there home. Anna was carried out by her father, she was barely conscience due to the fear that her young heart had just endured. Her blood began to pump more and the color returned to her face, she looked up at her dad and smiled. As Anna's father rested her down on the grass outside, her head faced the small hill where the magus had been. Her father then ran back to assist his waif who was screaming and crying at the sight of there home.

Her heart still slowly racing, Anna made herself sit up. Her hair was frizzed in her face, here eyes were swelled from crying and her vision was slightly blurred. Here ears were ringing, but she paid no attention to them and she forced herself to stand up. She kept her hands in loose fists as they hurt and were covered in dirty, dry blood. She couldn't breath threw her nose, it was stuffed up from all of the crying she had done and her thought and tongue were soar from the screaming that they throbbed with every breath. Her leg hurt from how she sat in the tub, so as she stepped, she limped heavy on her left leg. She wondered if what she saw was real, she needed to reach the top of the hill to investigate, to see if there was any proof. She had no idea what the creature was.

Was it a demon out of hell, Death itself maybe, or could it have been an angel? Although she was afraid, she did not remember whether she felt like the magus wanted to hurt her as it stared and pointed at her. Could it possibly have been something trying to protect her and her family, even though it looked so terrifying? She had to be crazy, she thought.

Anna reached the top of the hill where the old oak tree had sat, now only a giant hole remained. All around were pieced of debris that the storm had left behind. She looked around and saw no evidence of anything. The figure was gone. Again weak, but trying to remain focused she thought of more possibilities of what she saw; maybe it was just the shadow of the tree, maybe it was actually a person hanging on a branch trying to outlast the storm. It was possible that it was nothing but her imagination running wild.

Feeling somewhat relieved, she limped back over to her parents where they were examining the remains of the house. As she left the hill, directly below where she had stood was a pile of what looked to be dried puddles of black tar that had set fire to the surrounding grass as it had been dripped. The tar was fresh and was giving off heat, so much so that it smoked as the cool air rush over it.

With no reason or cause, the tarry substance began to crack and break apart into pieces no larger then the size of pennies. Slowly the cracks covered the whole face of the dried puddle. The cracking shot small pieces of the substance into the air. Before the small pieces hit the ground, they too seemed to break apart and turn into dust which was carried off by the wind. Once the dried puddle stopped breaking apart, only half of what once was there remained, and if one was to look upon it, it seemed to look like writing. Almost as soon as it had stopped, what was left of the tar on the ground broke down and turned into dust which again was carried off in the wind, leaving no evidence of the message that read "Next Time."