Groundhog Day

They waited.

"Why are we standing beside a hole?"

"That's the burrow."

"Oh! So if it emerges..."

"...Then Spring is here."

"Wait, doesn't it need to see its shadow?"

It emerged then, almost too fast to see, coiled a fleshy loop around the slim form and dragged him into the narrow hole. It happened too fast for screaming; there was only the dull snap of breaking bones and a quick series of thumps and splats.

"No," the other replied to the now-empty air beside him. "It only needs to see yours."

He turned back to the waiting crowd. "The offering is accepted! The blood fills the earth! At last, the season shall turn!"

Cheers and cries of joy filled the first morning of Spring.