Something lurked among the sugarcanes. Something so dark and vicious that made death seem like a viable alternative to its bloody grasp. Its dark ominous gaze, stared at the very soul to keep an eye on one-small-opportunity to strike, infiltrate and demolish it to the very core of its existence. Yet it could not be seen in the night and the light haze that had squirmed its way through the farmlands. Its presence though, was undeniable and back breaking.

Hiba brought her shoulders together and shivered. Mist came out of her mouth in a big white cloud and melted away with the wind almost instantly.

"Stop swinging around the lantern, Adil!" She snapped at her younger brother.

Adil marched ahead of her and swung his arms to and fro widely, imitating a soldier performing a parade and did a very poor job of it. Mist drifted away from his mouth at every step. In one hand he held a small oil lantern with metallic frame, high quality glass walls and a beautiful leather handle which twisted in his palm. In the other, he held a small piece of sugarcane. He would occasionally peel off its yellow red bark with his canines and take small bites, chew and spit the rest away. The way he had seen his father do it.

He stopped the march and crunched a mouthful of sugarcane, then looked back at his sister. "Aui Um a stholjur." He mumbled through the fibers, and juice dripped down his lips.

"Ugh, look forward Adil!" She cringed back her head. Adil spat the dry fibers and said again, " I am a soldier, Hiba. See, I am not afraid of the dark. I wil protect you, see?" He curled his arm and patted his almost non existent bicep with the tip of the sugarcane.

"Sure, you turned 7 last week." Hiba said.

"Yes!" He smiled proudly, not understanding what she meant.

" Just move quick, Adil. I am getting a bad feeling. Just a bit more left to Aunt's house."

She said, looking around slowly into the distant mist obscoured farmlands in the dead silent night.

Absorbed in her not so pleasant thoughts, her foot suddenly fell too low in a small muddy ditch made by some heavy tires in the middle of the track, and her foot twisted inwards. It slipped through the mud, and her face kissed the ground nose first. She cried a horrible coarse scream. Adil jumped and turned around, ungrasping his juvenile hold to his bladder, and the lantern.

Oil leaked out, and in the last fading flickers of the flame, Adil saw thick blood drip down and heard Hiba grasping for air.

He began to cry.

The pathway turned dark and the moon failed to penetrate the misty cloak. Adil couldnt tell if his eyes were closed or open. He whimpered and proceeded where he thought Hiba had fallen. He tried calling her but no reply came so he felt around with his hand and eventually found her, not moving.

Adil shook her, gently at first then as violently as he could.

"Wake up!" He whined but to no avail.

Just then, he realised he heard a click behind him. A snap of a twig perhaps. He fell quite, and his heart got louder, thumping against his ribs.

Another voice came. This time a low, deep and horrifically jarred growl. Adil's face turned ghastly and his lungs refused to take in air. His neck curled and burried itself in the shoulders. There was something behind him. A dog? Wolf? Bear? Whatever it was, Adil knew it meant to kill, but his legs wouldn't move.

He twisted his head slowly.

Two white glowing eyes and a pair of prickly jaws smiled at him through the darkness. It growled again, mockingly.

Then in a sudden jerk that accompanied the sound of cracking bones, darkness followed. Adil couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not, if he was standing or laying down, if he was dead or alive.