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I wrote this story from pictures I took, and an event that I saw. It’s definitely a fictional piece based on some true events. The photographs are the main focus of this piece, so the story is, what I’d call, VERY short!

A side note, “No animals were harmed by me. This was an act of animals in nature, so no one can be blamed. The blood is real, so please note before viewing. Some photos are quite graphic.”

On a cold February day, I went for a walk in the cemetery.

The lady of stone was dressed in a gleaming coat of ice. She, like myself, unaware of the harsh cold. No matter the day, her strength was always there in the stone. Nothing could rob her of her dignity, paid for with her human life. She gazed upon me, and me upon her. I was hypnotized by her hollow eyes. Empty, but full of a million stories. In those brief moments, we understood each other completely.

 Icicles beckoned me toward them. Stricken by their deadly beauty, I walk toward the woods.

I enjoy the sights of crystalline white on the blue Winter skies. It reminds me that nature is truly in control of life. No one tells the snow not to fall, or the skies not to weep. It’s a sign to slow down. Nature bows to no man.

Enjoy the moments of wonderment, even if they are your last.

I entered the place, known to all as “The Factory”, and proceeded with caution. Things happen here. All sorts of things. Dark things. Chances are, if you knew about it, you didn’t talk much about it. But still, with my goal of pictures in my mind, I moved on. The area around “The Factory” looked slightly abnormal. You couldn’t tell by looking, but you felt an uneasy stir deep within. As I crunched the harsh, frozen snow under my small, unstable feet, I grasped my opportunities with frozen hands.

It was beautiful. Like a faerie tale wonderland of ice. It looked rather strange to me… such beauty surrounding the grounds near “The Factory”. I took picture after picture with no thought of what I was about to see. As I shot rabbit tracks, deer tracks and my own footprints in the snow, I backed up and found a splatter of red near my foot.

I gasped as I turned around. It was blood, and a lot of it. Clumps here, splatters there. It was everywhere.

The bright red against the soft white startled my eyes. I stared at the strange prints surrounding the blood, puzzled by the markings. “A deer maybe?” I thought to myself. I stood there, frozen, trying to see where the blood trail led. It led there.

There, into the forest.

I followed and began to hear strange sounds coming from underneath a large pile of brush. I saw what appeared to be deer tracks leading to the same area. I dare not go in, but couldn’t help but be curious as to what lie beneath. And that sound. What was that sound? Was it grinding from “The Factory”? An animal crying out in pain? I couldn’t place it. I crouched down and waited. I thought if I went unheard, no harm would come to me. Little did I know, at the time, I was very much mistaken. I sat in the snow and waited to see if anything would surface.

After what seemed an eternity, I decided to give up and go back toward the cemetery. Just then I realized that whatever I was watching for had been watching me! As it lumbered out of the brush and stood there in the snow, I stared in amazement at this bizarre creature. It was not a deer like I had thought, but some sort of strange hybrid. It was like part man, part deer. The legs were long and skinny with hoofed feet. It’s entire body was matted with dried blood, ice and hair. It’s cold, black, cruel eyes met mine and I turned to run.

Through razor blades of ice I clawed my way to a large tree trunk. I tried to stand, but the ice gave way beneath my feet. I clutched for a branch, but the “Man-deer” snatched my waist, pulling me down into the ice! I was caught, but I still tried to hang on to the tree. On to something. The harder I fought, the harder it pulled at me. I felt the heavy weight of the cold pull me under and swallow my body.

I saw the sun shining brightly for the last time. And then, it was dark.

Now, through hollow eyes, I gaze upon you.