Take: Chapter 1

My drive home from work was always less than thrilling. There was a small town on the other side of the forest, and in that small town I was their artist. The school there paid me to design logo's for their basketball teams, cheer leading squad, and all other manners of things. When somebody needed a drawing, they looked to me. It wasn't because I was the best in town, I daresay it was because I was the only one nearby.
Everything about the town was strange. The kids there were strange, the adults were strange, and the animals were strange. But if there was one thing stranger than all of that, it was the forest.
As soon as they were old enough to listen, the adults told their children but one thing. "Whatever you do, don't go into the woods." It was to my understanding that there'd been many abductions that took place in that forest, mostly children, but some mature as well. Nobody knew what took them, or where they went, but when a child who'd ventured into the forest went missing, they were declared dead. I'd only been around for one abduction, but it was enough.
I was from California, and I'd just moved here a year ago. I was on a limited budget, so even the cheapest house in the small town was too costly for me. A student who just came from college couldn't afford much of anything, so I settled on the log cabin on the other side of the forest for a home. When I say 'log cabin', I don't mean to sound harsh. It was a lovely house, perhaps bigger than it need be, but still soft and warm. And it was very inexpensive as well. After I'd settled down as the towns artist, and got a somewhat-steady income between my artistic roles to the town and my never-successful books that I still published, I'd fallen into a peaceful state of mind. Up here in Maine, it was always cold and dreary, something that was new to me. In all my time in California, an entire 18 year span, I'd never seen snow but once or twice. Now I saw it most all winter, and sometimes even a little in between.
To sum it up, things were very different here. It was a small town with unimportant people, and I was one of them.
However, on the second Satudary in November, things weren't quite the same as they always were. Every second of my day was spent drifting back to that last stormy night, seeing that mysterious stranger garbed in black. It had been like this for a few days now, and I felt distracted and distressed. Part of me urged myself to leave and go back to California, telling me that it was too dangerous here. But that other half insisted on staying regardless of the hooded man.
And there was that one small sliver that wished he would come back.

And so he did.

I stared around my bedroom with tired eyes, trying to make out anything in the dark atmosphere. I'd fallen asleep late that night, because the sounds of the storm had kept me from slumber, and was now annoyed that something had the nerve to wake me again. I glared around, but couldn't see anything.
I reached over and flicked on a very dull lamp, and tried again. I froze.
He was here.
I got out of bed as fast as I could and stood. The same black hood, the same blue glint from the lamp-light. He seemed surprised that I'd been so hasty, and he took a step back.
Some little bell rung in my head. This... thing, it was scared as well. I'd pondered the idea that he'd been the thing that had abducted children from the woods, but he was scared... just like I was.
He eyed me, and the realization of how tall this thing was came back to slap me in the face. He had to be nine or ten feet tall, towering over me like a tree. But I hardened myself. If you can't face him and show him that you aren't afraid, he'll never leave.
I advanced, slowly, trying to remain calm. The shadow backed away, making no noise but silence.
I stopped, confused. "Who are you?" I asked in a hoarse whisper.
I stared at him for a moment longer, but he did nothing but back as far against the wall as he could. One thing I knew about animals and unknown creatures, one thing I knew never to do with them, was to corner them. Things became distressed when you trapped them, and that could mean you leave with scratches on your face... or you don't lave at all.
But by this point, I was close enough that I could reach out and touch him. My curiosity had overpowered my sanity, so now here I was, trying to make friends with something that could easily kill me.
The blue glint disappeared, and I pictured in my mind his face turned away, eyes closed. Was there any reason for him to fear me? It was one of those things were you just wish you could know.
"Can you talk?" I whispered, lifting up my hand and stretching it out to him. The glint came back, and he looked down at me again.
He didn't say anything.
But then... I saw his hand move. The one parallel to mine. He slowly lifted up his shaking appendage and reached closer to me. My heart pounded in my chest, and a fierce wave of adrenaline flowed through my veins.
He brought his hand up, and the cloak fell away. I cringed away, taken aback by the long, thin white fingers of the creature, and the coldness that radiated from within. My eyes closed voluntarily, and I fell to the floor as my foot collided with something lying on the ground.
I gasped and looked back to where he would've been, but he was gone.
I cursed.