.

And as fast as they came, a snicker interrupted her tears in the darkness around her. Ella jumped, with terror. She slowly came to her feet, and voices grew closer and closer, waddling into the night.

Large bats, wicked and limping crawled on the floor under the tree, towards Ella. They were arguing and cursing, fighting over the jacket that the Prince had been wearing earlier that day. The claws at the ends of their wings were gnashing and tearing at the jacket. The bats were growling, biting their fangs at one another.

Ella sharply inhaled at the sight of them and as she did so, the bats took sight of her. One by one, they soon released the jacket and set their eyes on Ella. They approached, slowly at first, picking up the pace, until they were at full charge. Screaming, Ella stumbled backwards falling over a rock, scrambling to quickly pick herself up again.

She ran so fast that she lost her shoes, continuing in bare feet slapping the earth. Her heart was beating faster than ever before. The wicked bats were fast in pursuit. Flapping their thin wings, they screeched and screamed at her. Half wheezing, half whimpering Ella continued down some unknown direction.

The bats followed every once in a while dipping through the branches trying to claw her. The screeches grew louder as the night sky began to show the first signs of morning.