It Feeds on Grief

It arrives after a disaster, when grief remains strong and tears flow in plentiful currents. It chooses its victims with care, though not with any sensible criteria known to man. Once the choice has been made, only its prey may sense the creature's presence.

With a clay-like body it imitates the human shape, with the left side of a man and the right of a woman. One half screams in a fit of endless rage, while the other wails a harrowing cry, driving mad all who hear it. Dry clay cracks as its mouth stretches unnaturally wide, while tears of wet earth flow down from empty sockets.

Night after night, only when the world goes quiet, it begins its haunting. When morning comes and people awaken, and the chores of the day demand attention, the creature quiets once more. Days, weeks, even months it continues its cursed cry, drawing out all want and fear, hate and regret from its victim until nothing remains and the body collapses, unconscious in restless sleep. When nothing remains, their prey will hear the call. Their steps, slow and unsteady, head into the woods for one last time.