Draft Chapter One

Hey guys,
this is the first chapter of a book I'm writing. I still don't have a title for it.

Chapter One

"Fuck" the man murmured under his breath, but in the dead silence that was surrounding him the word sounded like a gunfire. An owl hooted somewhere near him and he continued cursing in his mind. 

If he wasn't such a soft hearty he wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by god-know-whats and risking to break his neck with every step. But no, he had to get attached to that stupid dog of his sister. And of course it had to run away in the most inconvenient of time. 

The moon was barely visible at this point from the density of the three branches that were looming over him. Something brushed quickly against his leg, but whatever it was by the way it ran away so fast he judged it was probably a cat.

It wasn't that he was afraid to be alone in the woods during night time. It wasn't even the fright of loosing his track and getting lost. He had practically grown up in this forest, he could find his way with his eyes closed no matter where you put him in it. But it was that goddamn feeling in his stomach that something was wrong. He wasn't a man of superstition, or even someone who would lead his life on intuition, but fuck it since the moment he ran after the stupid dog he was almost sick from the pit in his stomach. 

He tripped on a root and fell flat on his face. His mouth filled with dirt, he spat it out, but there was an after taste that lingered. His anger and "that" feeling were making him clumsy, and that wasn't something he could afford right now, so he tried to focus as much as possible. Even his damned lamp had abandoned him. At least he was thankful he managed to talk his sister out of going with him. 

He heard a bark. It was his dog. It sounded like it had gone to the west side of the forest. With fingering and almost crawling he headed towards the sound. Then his dog started barking uncontrollably. Something it never did. The uneasy feeling grew inside of him with every bark. 

For a moment the thought about leaving the dog and going back crossed his mind. Even stupider dogs than this have ran away and found their homes back. Why did he had to chase his? Hers? The moment he corrected the mistake over the ownership of the dog the idea died - he couldn't come back home and tell his sister he didn't even tried because he was feeling funny.  And he didn't want her to cry again. 

Since their parents died eleven years ago they were all they had. He was the one who had to take care of her even before that. And after the incident there was no one else to do it. She was only ten when it happened.

The blackness was surrounding him, and the only thing that was his guide was the sound of barking. He was slowly making progress. The trees around and over him began to become more sparse with every step until the moon made an appearance again and he could partially see.

He had reached the meadow he used to play in. He would spend hours in here lost to the world. Nothing existed in it for him in those early days of freedom. A cloud surpassed the moon and  the meadow was illuminated with a silver glow. 

He gasped.

On the outskirt of it lied a single lone figure, wrapped in itself. His dog was barking at it, but the figure wasn't moving. His heart stopped, thinking someone had perished here. He trotted towards it, and as he approached he realized that it was a woman, or a girl. He couldn't tell the age as she was with her back towards him. Her black braided hair was in a striking contrast with the whiteness of her dress and her skin.  

He shushed the dog. It didn't listen.

"Hello, are you all right?" he felt stupid for asking, as it was most probably a corpse that he found, but in case it wasn't he didn't want to startle her. No sound. He pivoted around her to face her. His heart sank.

She had blood over her face, her hands were clutched around her as if preventing her from breaking down, but clearly there was a life in her. A moon ray was falling directly unto her. "Hello" her eyelids fluttered and she opened them with difficulty. 

He would never forget the emptiness in her eyes until the day he died.