20bel0w on DeviantArt
They hear you before you see them.A child crying on the ice. A woman calling your name from the trees.Your own voice, used wrong.The Kushtaka doesn’t hunt with teeth.It waits.It lets the cold do the softening.If you follow the sound, the forest closes behind you. Snow swallows your footprints. The river forgets you ever crossed it. When they find you, your face is calm, your eyes glassy, and your smile doesn’t belong to you anymore.Some survive.Those are the worst ones.They come back changed. Too quiet. Too kind.And when winter gets bad, they start whispering for company.In Alaska, the cold doesn’t kill you.It introduces you.
