''''Dad, catch!" a young girl, barely 5 years old, yelled behind the sweetest of innoct giggles.


    "Good one, baby," a young, cheerful man said in return.


    "Now you''ve got to catch it."


    It was a game of catch and toss yed betwe a father and his daughter. One of the fondest andst memories the daughter has of herte dad is from before she ev understood death. And now it was looking into her eyes and reaching out for her soul.


    And while she knew death was chasing her, she allowed her mind to ruminate on those long, distant thoughts, feeling the warmth she had felt wh she was actually there. Letting it take over her body and drown out the fright. She felt so good.


    Is this the joyous 7 minutes we experice before brain death? Is this what we see before we die? Is this what it means to have life sh before your eyes?


    °°°


    Laughter like an evil scream pierced the ears of the fall girl, jolting her out of her slumber, blood still covering her face and pooling beath her on the g. The girl rose from her position in the dirt and looked a, the world spinning in her view, and began to creep towards a tree for support.


    Theughter, although it was the loudest it had be, didn''t seem to matter. All she could think about was the sharp pain and the metallic taste of blood staining her tongue. She tried to stand up straight and walk, the deafing sound of theughter bing more appart, but only walked about half a step before copsing back into the grasp of the tree. Th she noticed something.


    The rocks were gone. She was back where she started, in the middle of the woods, with no idea how she got there or how to get out.


    And with theughter growing stronger and beginning to ring in her ears, she tried to run again, in the same direction she had before, but she didn''t make it too far before crashing back into the muddy dirt. She began to drag her dead weight, trying desperately to crawl away from where she was, wh she noticed a dark figure in the corner of her eye.


    It was standing behind a tree, moving in such a fashion that it seemed as if it wereughing, the shoulders bouncing up and down in a rhythmic way, as one''s would wh they wereughing hysterically.


    The girl froze yet again, staring eyes wide op at the shadowy figure just to the right of where she wasying, and began to scream a shrill of a scream at the top of her lungs and turned in the other direction, dragging herself as fast as she possibly could, which was not very fast.


    The blood was still staining her eyes, making it difficult to see as it was now gushing from the wound and making ev the driest dirt turn to mud. And the searingughter stopped, so all the young girl could hear was the sound of footsteps.


    Now, instead ofughter, she was trying to evade the stride of the shadow, but at the speed she was going, it was unlikely that she''d be able to evade anything.


    The girl stopped moving tirely at the sight of the shadow. It''s feet were now directly in front of her.


    She slowly began to wrch her head upward, looking at the face of the silhouette, and just as they made eye contact, the shadow reached it''s hand out towards the girl''s face, grabbing at the torn flesh on her forehead and ripping it from the bone with fierce force, peeling from forehead to chin, not ev leaving her lips behind, causing the girl to let out a scream of sheer pain that could only be heard in nightmares.


    The shadow dropped the skin of her face directly in front of her, and with what little sight she had left, she was able to make eye contact with the eyeless holes in her skin, and with that, all of the might left in her frail little body urged her to turn a and keep crawling as quickly as she could. But it wasn''t quick ough.


    With blood spurting from her face, it really didn''t matter how fast she moved; she would be dead either way. But the shadowy figure wanted to be the one to take her out, and he would be.


    The shadow grabbed her foot and began to drag her backwards, her skinless face scraping against the sticks and rocks on the g, causing the most immse pain yet.


    Once she was back in the very spot she was before,ying beside her face, the shadow rolled her over, looked her in the eyes, and ripped at the skin on her neck, causing ev more blood to spurt out, falling like rain on the area a her. She screamed, cried, and whined sounds she didn''t know she could make, her consciousness slowly leaving her at the same rate the blood was.


    Just as the young girl thought everything was over, she heard a shrieking sounds followed a sonic boom.


    Boom!


    Something mmed against a stone in the distance.


    ''''Shriekkk!"


    Th the monster wailed, the hollow shrieked miserably before breathing itsst the young girl believes.


    Just as the child was wondered who her saviour was, she felt something hot getting sshed on her face before it became warm and slowly but surely she regained her sight.


    Her beautiful amber eyes met a pair of striking gold eyes and a head full of gray hair.


    ''''How are you feeling now?" He asked as he offered his hand, Lilith abstmindedly took that hand and tried to stand up albeit with a difficulty. The young child waited patitly, he ev helped him to stand on her feet by putting his arms a her delicate waist.


    ''''Easy, take easy, I''m here and my father just killed that thing, you don''t have to worry about it anymore, you''re safe now.'''' The boy blurted, trying to reassure her.


    Lilith''s tse body rxed and she started crying. This was their first meeting.