Alia McBroon

In the Night

The peaceful cadence of crickets and katydids was disturbed suddenly by the crunching of withered and decaying leaves beneath a slow and heavy gait, followed by the dragging of a burdensome... something. The trailing object digs into the soft forest floor, scattering the fall pattern that had collected in the weeks previous. A twig snaps loud and crisp through the night, sending a startled fox scrambling though the surrounding underbrush, desperate for safety.