Author: Dinah Kolka. Dinah is the founder of Decadent Serpent and a graduate of Edinburgh Napier University with a BA(Hons) in English Literature. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Salisbury Review and The Mallard. She was also published in the Scottish Book Trust’s 2018 anthology Rebel. In 2023, Dinah self-published her own collection of short stories, The Search and Other Stories.

I was flying over the moorland, with the wind in my wings and the smell of the rain still hanging over the area. It was August, and the hills were purple with heather as they spanned across the horizon, seemingly without end. A few silent sheep were grazing, picking at the sparse grass. A small fox was running through the desolate land of Scottish hills, chasing after a mouse in a tangle of life and death. It was quiet, but the hills were energised with fauna. As I stopped for a moment to clean myself after the flight, I noticed three people coming over my way. I had to fly away to avoid getting stomped. I noticed the indent of the shoe in the mud, heavy military boots that crushed a solitary field flower into its premature end. I flew behind them, partly out of curiosity, partly out of boredom. It wasn’t a usual sight to see people going this far into the moorland. The couple looked at each other, behind the third person’s back, in a mutual understanding.

It wasn’t clear what they were doing here but I yearned to find out. Finally, the three people stopped and I could hear them speak:

‘Molly, I told you the moors aren’t far! Look how beautiful they are!’

‘I don’t know it’s a bit desolate. I didn’t want to go too far.’ Said the third person, clearly happening to be a young girl around 17 years old.

‘Trust me, it’s going to be lotsa fun’ grinned the man.

‘I’m sorry, I think I preferred the club more, I don’t understand why my friends couldn’t come.’

‘We just figured it’d be such a great idea to get to know you better! Come on, we’ll light a bonfire, drink some beers, it’ll be entertaining!’ said the woman.

The woman stopped and looked at Molly ‘Aren’t you a pure little thing. Without the baggage, without the damage, none of this stuff we are stained with. There is something beautiful in a lamb that is carried to slaughter.’

The man started picking up kindling for the fire. As he did so, the woman pulled out beer bottles from her backpack and opened them one by one with her teeth.

‘Here, that should make you feel better, Molly’ she said, grinning.

‘No, thank you, I don’t think I want any, sorry.’

‘Drink the fucking beer.’

I noticed Molly look up at the woman in terror.

I didn’t like what I was seeing. It was quiet, a little too quiet and even the sheep moved away from the people. Almost sensing they had bad intentions.

I decided to fly away and see if I could find some help. It took me a long time, at the end of the day I am small, but I managed to find my way to a small petrol station where a man was working. He looked like a good man, a rugged type who just accepts what comes his way. I flew near his ear. He heard the buzzing as he moved his head rapidly. I continued to fly around his head to confuse him. It worked; he stood up. However, as I noticed the newspaper in his hand, I sensed the danger. I flew up to the ceiling quickly, trying to decide on my next move.

As I flew up, he noticed the bonfire on the hills. That was my goal.

‘Those stupid kids, it’s so dangerous to light the fires there at this time of the year!’ He grabbed his hat and walked out of the shop with rage.

I succeeded with my plan. I flew back to where I saw the couple last. I was confused, however – I only saw two of them. There was the woman, and the man and Molly was gone. I flew low, trying to avoid the bonfire to see if I could find her. But she vanished. Instead, I saw fresh soil that was clearly dug in a rectangular shape.

Suddenly, I recognised the smell I could sense all this time. It was metallic and heavy. I flew nearer to the couple. On the ground, next to the bonfire, I saw a bloodied axe.

I was in a haze, hot from the fire coming from the bonfire and astounded by my discovery. I saw the man from the petrol station slowly walking over. But it was too late. Finally, I landed on the axe, unsure of what my next step should be.

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The couple was drinking beer and laughing together. Suddenly, the woman saw a fly resting on the axe. She smashed it with her foot. There was only a bloodied spot left on an already bloodied axe resting next to two rectangular heaps of fresh soil on the ground.