| abstract | - He had long since heard the story about the demon on the tree. The rumors had been going on and on. Everyone knew about it. They all knew, yet few would speak of it, let alone go see for themselves. The story would thrill him more and more every time he heard it. But what excited him the most was the fact that the specific tree was just a block away from his house. Many times he had wanted to go see the evil creature, but he had always flinched due to the warnings of the danger. But not that night. He had thought to himself, “What harm can be brought from a demon residing so close to me, but has not yet harmed me?” So, he gathered all his courage, driven by his endless curiosity to witness the existence of the creature. As usual, he would take his dog for a walk late at night. He had his plan ready to ensure his safety. He would watch the tree standing across the street, on the corner with the old house. That house had a stone wall around it covered with ivies. He was sure that having his back covered by the wall, nothing bad could happen. Yes… he was ready. He had been ready for months. Taking the stroll down, towards the house, he felt his heart beating with impatience, his whole body shivering from excitement and dread. What he was about to witness was beyond his imagination. Standing across the road, as planned, he waited for a sign, a movement, anything. He was grasping upon the slight movement of the leaves in the air, letting his imagination fly away, only to be disappointed shortly afterwards. He watched his dog’s reactions carefully, waiting for its sixth sense to catch the presence of the demon’s ethereal existence. Nothing. He was now convinced that the myths were just bedtime stories parents told to their children, to keep them in the house at night. “I was an idiot,” he said to himself. ”Let’s go home." As he was about to take his very first step, he heard the ivy’s leaves behind him rustling. He just barely turned his head, only to see the grey demon, grinning, with his empty black eyes staring at him. He knew at that final moment that he had made a grave mistake. The last things he felt were the evil creature’s claws upon his shoulders and its nightmarish laugh through his frozen dead body.
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