The Bravado of a Sacrifice

The townspeople waved as Anna walked down the road, collecting berries as she went. The men watched her, marvelling at how she grew from being a knee-high toddler to a blossoming young woman. The ladies cooking in their kitchen all paused to wave at Anna as she skipped past. Anna's best friend, Lauren, stopped her on the outskirts of town, where she had been sitting in the pasture picking flowers.

"Anna!"

"Lauren!"

Anna ran over to Lauren who pulled her into her arms. They were best friends since preschool, and Anna always checked in on Lauren since she was still reeling from the brutal death of her parents. Lauren handed her best friend some daisies.

"I picked these for you. They'll help you on your journey."

"Thank you, Lauren! I love you. I'm so glad I got to see you before I left."

"Well, you were not leaving without saying goodbye to me." Lauren chuckled, then with sadness in her eyes, "I'm going to miss you. I can't believe you're doing this for me."

"I'm doing this for the town, love. No one deserves to die anymore. I'll do whatever I can to prevent it."

"I want to go see you off."

"You know it's too dangerous. I'm just glad I got to see your face before I left."

A tear fell down Lauren's cheek, and Anna wiped it away. Lauren looked longingly into Anna's eyes and leaned in to kiss her. Anna giggled awkwardly and deflected it by turning her head and letting the kiss land on her cheek.

"It won't work if I'm not pure," Anna whispered.

"But I'm about to lose you," Lauren protested.

Anna started to speak, but the mayor, who was headed to the spot, saw her and beckoned for her. She wrapped her arms around Lauren for the last time and kissed her forehead. Then, she joined the mayor who took her hand and walked with her into the forest. They were met with the priest and several militiamen, who were armed with shovels and pickaxes. The men seized her and tied her arms and legs tightly. She struggled, mainly from necessity, until she was bound tightly with little hope of escaping. The men retreated to the bushes and waited quietly.

After about ten minutes, something emerged from the brush. Except for the glowing red eyes and the clear horns on its shoulders, it looked like a child that was pretending to be a ghost. It saw Anna and snarled, which made an eerie green jack-o-lantern smile across the sheet. It neared Anna, and she trembled. the creature's mouth began to extend to taste her flesh when it stopped abruptly and took a deep whiff of her. It snarled and backed up in horror.

"Whore!" it shrieked in an almost feminine growl.

"Your mama!" Anna yelled back.

"Who makes a whore a sacrifice!" the creature growled, punching a tree.

Anna rolled her eyes. The creature walked over and began to untie Anna, muttering about how far it had come only to have a cum dumpster for a sacrifice (among other things) when the men jumped out. Brazenly, they began to beat the creature until its iridescent purple blood was splattered all over the forest. A fleck of blood was sprayed on Anna's shirt (as she had fallen as the hot female leads often do in a struggle that has nothing to do with them) and she screamed.

"Eww! Get it off me!"

"Please, bitch. Like you aren't always wearing--"

A townsman drove a pickax through the creature's head, extinguishing its glowing red eyes before it could even finish its insult. The fatal blow splashed Anna with more blood, and Anna, shrieking, went running into the forest. She raced as fast as she could in 8-inch heels towards nothing in particular. She turned and dove into different trails until she saw the sparkling water of the creek. She sped towards it to wash her clothes off when her feet her pulled out from under her by a protruding tree root. Before she could react, she fell hard onto a rock and died instantly inches from the sparkling pure water.