She didn’t know what got into her. Scarlett was so tired of walking and doing exercise in general that she felt like if she were going to collapse. It was also raining very hard outside, and the whole backyard was muddy and full of deep puddles that she could fall into if she wasn’t careful. Her mother would be pissed if she found muddy footprints leading up into her room. But, then again, her mother didn’t care about her. She didn’t even ask how her day was.

She walked quickly across the room and opened her bedroom door. It made a creaking sound like haunted houses in horror movies. Taking gentle steps, she sneaked down into the living room, where her mother was watching TV. Or, at least the TV was on. Her mom was asleep, her mouth hanged open with the remote in her hand.

The TV guy was talking about the strange weather they were having and how the animals were becoming aggressive. It displayed various images of animal attacks, including birds and squirrels. Then, it showed some videos of zoo animals breaking things and acting so crazy that the zoo had to shut down for a while so they could figure out what was going on.

Scarlett thought it could simply be the weather, it did make her feel grumpy after all. She shrugged this off and quietly made her way across the living room and opened the door to her backyard.

When she opened it, the smell of humid and mud filled her nostrils. The rain was pounding strongly against the roof, and the puddles were splashing mud and water every. Somehow, she brought herself to take a step outside and immediately felt herself sinking a bit. Every step that she took she had to do effort, because the mud stuck to her slippers. It felt like if hands were pulling on her feet, trying to sink her, but she was strong enough to keep walking

The rain pounded against her back and it felt like tiny daggers piercing her skin. Her dark hair started to get drenched and sloppy, also a bit curly. The puddle was at the other side of the yard, and something about that huge puddle was enchanting to her. Like some sort of trap, maybe even hypnoses. She kept on walking across the yard, not breaking eye contact with the puddle. Literally, it was like if she was in a pool. But she didn’t even realize that she was drenched in water until she was face to face with the puddle.

What was it in that puddle that made her so curious? There were always puddles in her backyards, small and big, this one was a medium size. It took up at least 1/6 of her backyard, and she had seen almost her whole garden flooded. Why am I going outside in the middle of the night just because some voices told me to get closer to the puddle? She thought. It made no sense, and she told herself she was insane.

She looked at her reflection and her eyes widened with what she saw. It was her, but it was a weird version of herself. Instead of pijamas and her loose hair, she was wearing dark clothing and her hair had two braids. Her skin was a bit too pale, and it looked like she had a tattoo on her collarbone. She wasn’t completely sure, but it looked like a skull

“Yep,” she looked around as if she were looking for someone tell her she was dreaming. “Totally dreaming.”

She was probably asleep, just imagining things. But the way the rain hit her back so hard, the way the mud stuck to her slippers… She knew deep down that it wasn’t a dream, something odd was going on.

Scarlett took two steps back, wondering why the hell she went downstairs in the first place. She was so cozy in her bedroom, unable to sleep though. Those words echoed around the room, and she had no idea why they were there. It was all in her head, she was just imagining things.

She felt the hairs on her back rise when she realized that the same scent was back, and the wind was carrying it around her. It was a strange feeling she already experienced twice and was unable to explain. Even though she did have an idea of what it could be, but if she admitted it… People would think she was insane. And only one word appeared in her mind.

Death was the scent.