What I saw in the Mist

The pale mist coates the windows and trees

It seems to be dancing

A noise cries out in the distance 

A chill runs up my spine

The snow covers my costume

And hers, and his, and theirs

A short girl drifts past me 

Drifts?

I turn quickly 

She’s gone

No wait 

There she is 

A scream is etched on her face. 

Her hair matted down the sides of her face

She is nearly translucent 

“Look” I say 

“I don’t see anything”

I leave the group

I slowly make my way toward her

She walks through the crowd

Gasps ring out as she passes through people

“Did it just get colder”

“I suddenly got a headache” 

She walks into the mist close to the old oak

I follow 

I turn 

I hold in a scream

Translucent figures wander aimlessly 

Winding around the thicket of trees

A tap on my foot

I look down 

A skeletal hand gropes out of the ground 

I scream 

She is lost in the horde now

No 

She is running at me

Eyebrows pulled in

Grotesque features twisted into something resembling anger

Cold

Ice cold

My eyes flutter shut

I fall as if in slow motion

I feel hands from the ground

Trying to pull me down further 

Then it stops 

I open my eyes 

I see the canopy above me

I sit up 

The figures start to dissolve

In a swirl of wind 

They turn into a fog that fills my lungs

So heavy it’s hard to breathe

I turn and run 

I’m back in the group

I look over my shoulder

I see her 

She smiles with pity and disappears