Demon of Facade

By Ellie Lashbrook

The bitter cold wind shook the bare treetops, causing chunks of snow and ice to plummet down into the powdery ground below. On the edge of the grim forest stood an old, log cabin. Small grey plumes of smoke emitted from the stone chimney, indicating the family was home.

This family contained a stout, chubby father and a thin, short mother. Their children were Adam and Nathan. Adam was the eldest brother, his coal black hair in curls under his blue beanie. He sat at the table; his pale green eyes seemed to be frozen to whatever was out the frost covered window. He scratched his pale, freckled face.

Just then, he turned his head to the sound of his brother stomping down the stairs. Nathan covered his chocolate brown curls with his green winter hat.

“Alright! I’m going outside!”, he giggled excitedly as he bound for the door.

“Don’t play too close to the woods, there’s bears and wolves who’d love to eat up a kid like you,” Adam warned.

The six-year-old looked over his shoulder, his gloved hand on the door handle, “Yeah, yeah I know, I’ll be careful,” he then rushed outside.

Adam sighed and watched him play through the window. Just in the other room, Adam heard his parents starting to argue. He took out his iPod and put on his headphones, turning on some loud rock music to drown them out.

Outside, Nathan sat in the soft snow, playing with a Spiderman toy and a dinosaur toy. He buried the Spiderman in the snow with only its head sticking out. He giggled and made the dinosaur stomp towards the trapped superhero.

“Rawr! I’m gonna eat you Spiderman! I’m a big and scary dinosaur! RAWR!” he continued to play happily.

Suddenly, Nathan heard a dog bark from the direction of the forest. Just through the dark, frozen trees he spotted a white blur bounding around in the shadows. The blur stopped and turned its head toward Nathan. It was a fluffy white dog! Its fur was whiter than the snow and fluffier than the clouds above.

Nathan stood up quickly and patted his knees, “Here boy, come here!”

The dog didn’t move, it seemed like its paws were frozen to the ground. The boy then walked closer, slowly stepping to make sure he wouldn’t spook it. “You lost puppy?”

It only stared at him with shiny black eyes.

Nathan was now about three feet from the mysterious dog. He noticed that its front paws stood directly on the edge of the tree line.

“What’s wrong boy?” he asked, confused.

The dog just stared, its tongue now lolling out. It then turned and trotted into the woods, occasionally looking over its shoulder at Nathan.

“Wait! Puppy come back!” The young boy stepped over the tree line and went after the dog.

Adam currently was at the sink washing the dishes from breakfast, his headphones still over his ears. His parent’s argument had gradually turned into a loud fight. “This is normal“, thought Adam, “they’ll calm down eventually to plan dinner. Today’s Nathan’s birthday after all, they have to plan it out.” After about an hour, the elder brother went outside to check on his younger brother.

“Nathan! Come inside and warm up!” he shouted. He waited for a reply, but it remained unusually silent.

Adam walked around the house. He then noticed a pair of small footprints in the snow, leading into the forest. At that moment, Adam’s heart dropped into his stomach, “No…”

He bolted into the woods, following his brother’s footprints. He eventually saw another pair of footprints beside his brother’s. Paw prints, small but concerning. He panicked even more, hoping his little brother was safe.

At this point, Nathan was sitting in the exact center of the forest. He quietly played in the snow; the dog sat on a tree stump in front of the boy. It kept it’s gaze on the child, giving Nathan an uneasy feeling in his gut.

“Hm… I’m hungry, puppy do you have any snacks?” he asked.

The strange dog hoped off the stump and started digging in the snow. It then sat back and from the hole grew a small tree with a variety of fruits. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, bananas and grapes. All these were Nathans favorites. He scrambled toward the strange tree and picked off the fruit.

“Woah! You’re magic!”

The dog just blinked and licked its lips. Nathan started eating the fruit, he kept eating and eating and eating. No matter how much he ate, the fruit would always immediately grow back, and his stomach was never full. He couldn’t stop eating.

The dog sat on the stump in front of him, its face grew darker, slowly losing its innocent façade. Nathan was too busy filling his belly to notice. Standing on all fours now, the dog grew larger, its fur changed into a dark shade of grey, its texture now rough and matted in places. Its curled tail straightened out and grew longer, snapping in different directions. Its ears stretched out above its head like the trees around them. Its body thinned out and its spine cracked and arched. The small claws on its feet elongated and sharpened, its toes stretched out wide and it clawed the snow. At last, its eyes whitened and grew wide; the corners of its mouth stretched up into a sinister smile. Its teeth yellowed and grew longer and more jagged, as its long black tongue flicked around its mouth.

The boy, of course, did not see this transformation, his stomach growing larger as he consumed the fruit. Once the creature felt he had eaten enough, he pounced. One huge paw on the child’s chest, he stared down his long snout at Nathan. The boy just glanced up blankly, his eyes glazed over with a white film.

“Perfect…” the beast growled, saliva dripping from his wide-open grin.

With that, the creature lunged forward at the child, grasping his tiny throat in its teeth. Its fangs penetrating the skin with ease, tearing out its throat and vocal cords. It then pushed down on the boy’s rib cage and ripped open the torso, beginning to feast on his intestines and muscles. Pools of blood slowly formed in the sparkling snow, creating quite a gruesome scene. The beast continued to gorge itself until its belly was full. It stepped back from the half-eaten child corpse. The permanent smile on its face was coated with crimson, dripping onto the cold floor. Licking its lips, it walked away laughing to itself.

Adam kept following the footprints until he heard something like the laughing of a hyena. But that was impossible. He followed the ominous sound and came up to the scene. He stared at the shredded remains of his younger brother. Tears quickly forming in his eyes, he shrieked in horror. He fell to his knees and pounded his fists into the snow. A few feet ahead, the creature heard the older brother’s sobs. With that, its smile widened and it slowly walked back to the scene, its mouth watering and its stomach growling.