RAQUEL

She had been running in circles in the woods without finding an escape route. The forest seemed to be in a maze.

Raquel was a brave woman, but when going round circles, with constant chirping of the birds, she could hardly say she wasn't scared. She didn't even know the way back from where she came from, not to talk about making her way out from the place.

When night descended, she had to look for somewhere to hide. This was because she was afraid that the beast might come for her like he did while she was in the woods with her fellow soldiers.

Raquel found a tall tree in the middle of the forest, but she had no choice but climb up the tree to lay for the night.

Actually, all this she was able to do because she had been taught in the army. Climbing of a tree became easy for her to do, and that was where she passed the night.

But unfortunately, she had a terrible nightmare.

In her dream, it seemed as though the beast who took her to the strange castle began shaking the tree she was in. She was so frightened, specially when his eyes changed it's colour and it growled loudly.

It also seemed as though, his growls made the wind blow inside the forest, thereby making the tree she was in waving as if it was going to break off from its root.

In the dream, she tried jumping from m the tree she was to the other, but she couldn't because the tree seemed to be successfully falling off to the ground.

While she was screaming because she was scared, the big black wolf with brown eyes seemed to be staring at her in amusement for some reason. She continued screaming until she woke up to reality.

She almost jumped down from the tree with the force at which she woke up. Seeing that it was bright and she was safe in the tree, Raquel immediately held on to the branches, breathing very heavily.

She decided to continue looking for ways to get out from the forest, but as usual, she still found herself wallowing inside the maze, without a way out.

At some point, Raquel became so frustrated that trickles of tears began running down her cheeks. For the first time in her life, she actually cried because she was helpless.

How was she to survive through a thick forest without food and water?

She also wondered if their general was looking for her. She wondered if they stopped the search because they couldn't locate the maze, or maybe they were just as lost as she was.

If that was the case, then there's no doubt that they were actually in real danger and the beast whom they so seek is out there ready to kill them one by one.

Raquel became so weak that she stopped looking for a way out because she knew she would never find one.

All what she hoped for now was a miracle. She really wished someone would actually come save her from the claws of the wild beast. While in the woods, she fortunately found some fruits, which she fed on while in the woods.

It didn't take long before night fall came again.

Since she could not find the particular tree she slept on last night, she decided to look for a new one in the search for a new tree to sleep on. She suddenly heard a large growl from somewhere distant.

At that moment, her blood instantly ran cold. She thought the beast has begun his search for her, and she was done for. This was because, the beast would surely know his way around the woods, unlike her who had no idea about the place, since she had never been in this part of the woods before now.

Raquel began looking for means to hide. She was scared of using the tree because she thought he would come growling at the tree as it did in her dreams. But there was practically no place she could hide away from him.

She began contemplating on what to do just in case he sees her. Maybe she should just surrender to him and let him devours her to shreds? She shook her head. That seemed to be a bad idea, if only there was a way out of this mess she had created for herself.

Maybe she shouldn't have left the castle in the first place. What if he plans on killing her quietly, by talking to her nicely.

Wouldn't it have been better to die in the hands of a beast who was smiling at her, than to be killed by an angry beast.

Raquel began walking inside the woods, with no idea about where she was heading to because she thought she would find her way back where she started again.

It only dawned on Raquel when she walked into the presence of the beast she had been running away from, for days, more than a day now.

She saw it staring at a wild panda and she shivered. She wondered how it has been possible for her to be in the forest, without encountering a single wild animal on the way. This was extremely strange to her.

She wanted to run away, but at this moment, running away won't bring her any good, she might only make her death faster.

She decided to stay quiet and watch what the beast was going to do.

Suddenly, the beast walked closer to the panda who seemed to still be alive. She watched the beast open his mouth wide, and sunk his long protruding fangs into the neck of the Panda, thereby killing it instantly.

The thought that this was how the beast was going to kill her, suddenly made her gasp, forgetting that she was in front of the beast. Just as she realized that she actually gasped aloud, the beast slowly lifts its head up and tilted it towards her direction.

At that moment, Raquel's finally accepted that she wasn't as brave as she was.

“Run!” Was the next words that cane out from her lips, and as if her legs could hear her, it took her on a race on its own accord.