The air is cold, it burns her chest with every wild and frantic inhale she takes. Its too dark to see, with the dense clouds covering the moons light. Amelia trips over a large fallen branch, and quickly gets back up and keeps going as fast as she can, which is no more than a fast walk now. She glances back the way she came, but sees nothing but darkness. Her ankle throbbing from her fall, she now has a slight limp to her trot. Tears stream down her face from a combination of fear, despair and the cold biting her eyes. She has been out there in the forrest running from IT for what felt like an eternity now, but was in reality only about an hour. Her sense of time and direction were nonexistent as she told herself she had to keep going or it might catch up with her.
She ran until her lungs felt like they were on fire, until both her sides ached and pinched inside, and she was exhausted. She found a large shrub (found it by almost falling into it unintentionally). The branches scratch her cold arms and legs, but she is so cold she feels nothing. The shrub was next to a pile of large boulders and twigs and in between them was a space just large enough for a person her size to squeeze into. She wedges her way into the pit, and covers the opening with some twigs and leaves from around her.
She briefly thinks about the spiders and other insects that are undoubtedly under the wood and leaves with her, but she quickly dismisses the thought, for as afraid of spiders that she was; she was far more afraid of IT finding her. She was satisfied with being hidden here, confident she would not be found with the cover of the bush the twigs and leaves and the night and she doses off to sleep.


The next morning she wakes more sore than shes ever been in her life. She has slept in the most unusual way and her body is seemingly stuck in this position. She can feel large gashes in her arms and legs and blood drips from a scrape across her belly. And she is STARVING. She breathes shallow and quietly so she can be sure noone or nothing is around before forcing her body to get out of the hole. Grimacing, she looks at her surroundings and tries to determine which way to go, and where she could possibly be. It is useless, for all there is are trees, standing and fallen alike. She can see maybe ¼ of a mile in any direction before the fog swallows up the forrest. She has no clue where she is. And she is alone.
She fights the tears that threaten to fall down her cheeks, and eeny, meeny, miny, moes to get a decision on which direction to go and starts walking. She thinks about home, as the sound of her footsteps echo off the trees. There are a few occasional birds, but other than that the forrest is eerily quiet. Home…. The cliche white picket fence with the freshly painted shed. The flower bed with lilies and birds of paradise filled in with ground covering with tiny white blossoms. The porch where she would sit in her over sized rocking chair and read various books, depending what kick she was on at the time…..Regression Therapy, How to be a Successful Woman in a Mans World, and an occasional romance novel that would tug at her heart strings and make her vow to never read another. She hated being sad. Hated crying. Hated how she felt without him. Sam was perfect, supportive, her right hand, best friend, lover, the whole she-bang. He was irreplaceable. And he was dead.
She shook her head vigorously a few times, as if the thoughts and images she had just let in would be tossed out of her head that way, and continued her mental tour of her home. She opened the big red front door, and walked into her living room. It was an open concept set up. The A frame log cabin had tall ceilings and she looked up to the loft that took up the whole upstairs floor. In her mind she climbed the circular stairway that she just had to have when Sam and herself were in the process of drawing out the plan. He was good at that, architecture. He had a masters degree, but honestly could have stopped at a bachelors as he had had a knack for it right off. “Lets build it TOGETHER! Just me and you! It will mean so much more if we do!” she had said, unable to hide the excitement she had over the idea, and bounced up and down, clinging to his arm, as he lifted his right eyebrow at her, the side of his mouth curling up on one side ever so slightly. “You think me and you can build a whole ass house just the two of us? What do you even know about building a house, Lia? You cant just wing it babe, its tough work.” “I realize that hunny, but I have you. Ill do whatever you say, I promise. Can you imagine how it will feel to look around at the finished product and know we did this wonderful thing thats just ours? Please….” Amelia gave her best set of puppy dog eyes and he agreed, as she knew he would. He would’ve done anything she asked when it came down to it, and it was mutual. She felt so at home with him, and that was now over and she was now alone in so many ways…



The temperature was rising, and mid-day snd Amelia was starting to think to herself how astonishing it was for the night to be as cold as it was, and then for her to be sweating profusely now. It had to be somewhere around noon, judging by the sun that peeked through the much thinner cloud cover directly above her. It was sticky and the air was heavy, making it hard to breathe with her asthma. She had ditched her ripped and dirty t-shirt that had been matted with mud, blood and had more holes than it had covered anymore. She was a sight to see. A sports bra, leggings that went about mid-calf, and her converse tennis shoes that she wished had been her nikes right about now. Her hair was in a messy bun secured by a twig she broke off of a pine a few miles back. Trying to be optimistic, she was at least thankful she was wearing her leggings with pockets. She had brought her backpack that night instead of a purse because they were going to be walking home, since they had been drinking. Amelia was thankful for that as well.

Amelia came across a stream, where she washed her face and arms, and there had been some wild berries nearby where she filled her growling belly. She regained some energy and was feeling quite a bit better, almost forgetting the situation at hand. As she wandered through the woods she started to hum a little tune, Losing My Religion by R.E.M, The hum grew louder and before long she was belting out the lyrics “But it was just a dream, just a dream, just a dream, dream” The lyrics made memories flood her head with images. Singing with Sam in his truck, a little buzzed, neither one of them really in any shape to be behind the wheel. They decided to pull over and had laid in the bed, talking about life love and the pursuit of happiness and watching shooting stars until they both dozed off. They had awoken the next morning with a thousand mosquito bites and pounding headaches and she giggled at the thought of them headed home, itchy and nauseous.

Along the path she was walking, she came to a cluster of trees that had all been engulfed in vines. They twisted around the trunk and the branches like a boa constrictor trying to squeeze the life from its prey. She thought to herself how strange this occurrence was and how sad the big tree looked being eaten up by the merciless vines, when she heard a soft noise and a twig snap within the vines. Every single hair on her body stood on end and her heart tried to escape her body via her throat. She wanted to run but was frozen in place. Her breath was shallow and her eyes fixated on the vines. “What the fuck was that…. “ She thought in full words to herself. “What do you want to do Amelia, you wanna run? Or you wanna stand here and become dinner? Move your fucking feet what the hell is wrong with you you pussy. MOVE!” But she didnt. Her legs disobeyed her brain and she remained frozen there. The rustling got louder and a noise escaped that almost sounded like a…. Meow? Followed by a chattering sound. Her legs allowed her to move once again and she decided to investigate. As she neared the tree, a frightened baby raccoon jumped at her and hissed, trying to appear scary. It couldnt be any older that a few months and had an obvious wounded leg. The mama had most likely abandoned the baby, aware it would probably not survive.
Amelia laid some berries she had saved down in a line as she retreated a few yards away. She then sat cross legged as she watched the baby sniff at the food, then aggressively cram them into his face as if he hadn’t eaten in days. As he neared her, he eyed her suspiciously, and slowed his pace tremendously. She held the last of the berries out in her had, and he reached with his tiny human-like hands to grab the berries from her, then dart back into the brush. She giggled at this, then stood up and dusted herself off. “Well i wish you the best of luck!” she told him before continuing on her journey.

Amelia was very aware of the baby raccoon who was scampering from tree to tree trying to keep up with her and also remain out of sight. the air was getting a chill to it, and the sun was hanging low in the sky. She came to a huge hollowed tree trunk and decided this would be home for the night. she gathered fire wood and some large dried branches to weave together to make a covering for the opening at the top of the stump . After she had finished fabricating a roof, she went inside to smooth the ground and remove all the dead pine needles. Lastly she took the mp3 player from her pocket that no longer worked as it was broken into two pieces. she pulled the wires from the head phones and touched them to the battery until the sparks lit the needles on fire as she blew gently to keep it going. Before long she was laying in the stump drifting off as the fire warmed her cheeks.

The next morning she woke up a little chilled, but aware of a soft warm presence curled up next to her. without opening her eyes, she took one hand and gently pet the baby raccoon. She felt him tense up for a moment, then after a few seconds all the muscles in his little back relaxed. She chuckle quietly to herself at her new companion. It felt comforting having another soul, a warm body and a friend again. It had been only a few days, but felt like eternity since she had anyone around her. Her chest instantly ached at the thought of Sam, so she quickly pushed his memory from her mind before opening her eyes. Amelia squinted and struggled to focus her eyes on the view around her. She rather enjoyed this little camp she threw together the night prior. It could use some work but the position of the camp, the resources in the immediate area, and the hill located directly behind the hollow tree made it particularly attractive to her. She liked having the hill up against her back especially at night. Put her mind at ease some having the protection at least on one side, and didn’t lane her so exposed.

“That settles it.” she said out loud to the baby, who jumped a few full inches off the ground at the unexpected sound. “We are going to make this spot permanent. At least semi-permanent anyways. Winters coming,” she continued, as to explain herself to the puzzled raccoon, who appeared was to be really trying hard to make head or tails of the words she was speaking. “…. we will need to gather food to get us through, water, weather-proof this place and what-have-you… but I think this spot will do the trick.” At this point, the little guy had lost interest in her explanation, as he had become very aware of his tiny empty belly; and now was sniffing her pockets in search of more berries. Giggling, Amelia said, “alright that’s enough! Stop that!” she tries to instruct, barely able to form words through her giggle fit as he crawled up her leg, around her belly and dug threw any pockets he found. “RJ! that’s quite enough!” she said as sternly as she could. The baby promptly jumped to the ground and sat, peering up with questioning eyes, waiting for her next demand. “Good boy! You like the name?” she asked as she pet his head to reward his obedience. “I remember this cartoon show my friend’s daughter used to watch. Something about being around a hedge? can’t remember exactly the name but it has a little raccoon that liked to steal food. I remember because the little girl had a stuffed animal raccoon that she named after him. Slept with it every night. I think it suites you well! Well, RJ, let’s go find breakfast.”

After searching for what felt like a long time when your stomach is growling, Amelia and RJ had rounded up some pine nuts, more wild berries, dandelions, and a few frogs. Amelia had just finished roasting the frogs over the fire , and they both sat finally putting some food inside their very appreciative stomachs. Amelia couldn’t help but worry about what they would eat when winter finally set in. How could she possibly find enough to get them both through the winter out here? She wasn’t a skilled hunter. She had fished before, but never without a pole. And furthermore, if she was successful in a kill, how would she store it? She had heard of people salting their food before there were fridges, but where on earth would she find salt out here? These thoughts troubled her indeed.
Amelia, lost in her thoughts, sat oblivious to her surroundings as RJ wandered about, exploring their new camp. He curiously chased a grasshopper, as it hopped away frantically from the baby raccoon. RJ mimicked the movements of the insect and each time it hopped, RJ gave a little hop hisself and tilted his head side to side in interest. Off they hopped until they came to the creek that lay about 15 yards south of the campground. The bouncy bug skirted over the water, and left the young raccoon pawing playfully at the water. Surprised at how cold it was, the baby took a few steps back. Then his eye caught movement. He stared intently at the water and then- SPLASH!
Amelia came running towards the water, calling out and looking for the baby. What she found caused her to gasp.


“RJ!” look what you’ve done! “ The small raccoon was standing over a trout he had fished out of the water looking quite pleased. Amelia was very impressed, and a little embarrassed she had assumed he was just a helpless infant especially with his leg being wounded. As these thoughts crossed her mind she examined his leg. He actually was healing up nicely. And he had grown since they first met. How long ago has that been? A week? longer? She was sure it had been no longer than a week but then second guessed herself, as her sense of time was distorted. “Well you did a great job, buddy! Lets go cook this guy up! I for one could use some protein!”
They headed back to the fire, and Amelia started cooking the meal. As she spun the branch she had speared through the fish, she found herself daydreaming. She was back home, preparing the fish she and Sam had caught last summer. She battered them with cornmeal and seasoning and stuck them in the deep fryer. She stuck asparagus she had topped with lemon pepper, butter, and a squirt of lemon juice into the oven at 350 degrees and closed the door. Lastly she began mashing the potatoes she had just finished straining and added seasonings, butter, sour cream and cream cheese and mixed them together. “Mmmmmm baby, dinner smells amazing!” Sam said as he entered the kitchen. He leaned over, kissing her lips as he dipped a finger in the potatoes. Realizing he had distracted her on purpose she giggled and smacked his hand. “Get out of there.” she warned him, playfully. “Its not done yet.” She gave him the most stern look she could threw her smile and finished up the meal.
As she came back to the present she realized she had over cooked their fish, and she jerked the blackened remains from the fire. She caught RJs impatient expression out of the corner of her eye and his irritated face made her laugh out loud. “I didn’t do it on purpose…” but his gaze did not soften. She blew on the hot meat for a second before handing him a piece. He took it, taking uncomfortable bites and chewing exaggerated chews trying to keep from burning his mouth. “patience is a vitue” she reported. But if RJ understood what she told him at all, he sure didn’t show it and continued on.
The two picked off the edible parts of the charred trout, and then curled up next to the fire together and Amelia hummed “silver wings” lowly until they drifted off to sleep. Just before she lost awareness, Amelia thought once again how thankful she was for RJs company. She thought how lonely she would be without him there. If she had to do this alone, she admitted she might not have had the motivation to keep going. Yes, this little guy had saved her just as much as she had him. She was sure of it.
She awoke to two birds flying in circles around each other. Flirting and chirping in the most obnoxious way. “Goodness gracious. Get a room.” she requested grumpily. As she servayed her surroundings, she couldn’t help but feel something was…. off. She scanned the camp, searching for a sign that someone had been there while they slept. She saw nothing out of place. Yet the feeling remained. She stood up, and walked to the creek to splash water on her face. As she started back for the camp, she heard from somewhere far in the distance….. her name.
All the hair rose on the back of her neck. Maybe she imagined it. Then, for a second time it came “Ameeeeliaaa” Where did it come from? It had sounded so distant. “Ok Amelia, you are officially losing your mind. Thats just great. If you go crazy out here youll never find your way out.” As much as she tried to talk herself out of it, though, she knew she heard her name. From where, she didn’t know.

The next few days were uneventful. RJ fished; Amelia picked berries and nuts and cooked. They worked on the tree stump to make it more cozy by taking moss and feathers and such and padding the ground. Amelia made a trap box out of branches tied together with switches. she then placed a few berries and a piece of fish (unsure of what she was even trying to trap she covered her bases with the bait) and propped the box up with a twig sturdy enough to hold the weight, yet unstable enough that if budged would fall. She was hoping she would be able to capture something that would have a hide she could use to make a blanket. Winter was close, and she already froze at night time.
She also found 5 very straight branches about half an inch thick that varied from 3- 5 feet in length. She sharpened each on one end by rubbing them against a sharp stone until they came to a sharp point. She needed some kind of weapon, should the IT find its way to their camp. These would have to do.
Amelia was weaving together thin branches to fabricate a hammok and giggling as she watched RJ pounce and play with a stone when she heard “Amelia….” “…….Sam?” she said out loud. “Sam? Is that you?” She stood up with RJ watching her curiously, and walked to the edge of the camp. “SAM!?” She yelled with her hands cupped around her mouth. “SAAAM?” Her eyes welled up with tears when she heard his voice once more “Baby, I miss you, ‘Lia” “Oh hunny I miss you too.” she sobbed, half at the sound of his voice, and half because she was quite certain she was indeed losing her mind. His voice had come from everywhere, from all around her. It had come from the ground, from the trees, from the sky, from the fire. Everything around her had spoken to her in Sams voice. She hung her head and without holding back, sobbed loud and uncontrollably until her throat was dry and raw, and there were no more tears left to cry in her. Without breakfast, she crawled back into her tree stump and went back to sleep, exhausted from the extreme sorrow inside.
her eyes opened and fell on the raw fish RJ had placed next to her. She glanced over and met his worried eyes and tried to reassure him, “its ok buddy” but his eyes did not relax. She crawled out of the stump, and glanced around the camp. She felt….odd. Almost as if she was drunk. Everything looked almost stretched out… something like panoramic view. And as she tried to make her way to the creek, she found that her body felt as if she weighed 5x what she did before. Her feet felt like they were buried in quick sand or wet cement that was starting to set up. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she struggled to reach the water. Just as she got to the edge of the river bank… the water ….moved! “What the FUCK!?” she said in disbelief. Before she made it to the creek, it disappeared from where it had been and reappeared two yards away. Amelia rubbed her eyes and blinked. Nope, its still in its new location. “You have to be kidding me” this continued on, and no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to get to the water.
Finally, she gave up and turned around to head back to the stump, defeated. She jumped, startled as she spotted her bed. It should have been at least a quarter mile away. She had been dragging her thousand-pound-legs to the water for at least half an hour. Even at her slow pace, she had covered at least that much distance. But when she turned to go back, she was but a yard away from the fire and the stump. this gave her goosebumps all over her body. She felt dizzy and confused like she had been drugged. A feeling of gloom and fear washed over her body. The world around her now appeared darker than before, even though there were no clouds above, and it was mid-day.
At the far side of the camp, a figure appeared from the woods. It was tall, and lurked within the shadows. She immediately knew it was the thing that had taken Sam from her, and the reason she was lost. She strained to make out any features of the shadowy figure, but failed. Even as it got closer, it remained a featureless shadowy figure. She suddenly was full of fear, and tried to yell at RJ and tell him to run. But her voice came out as if she was in slow motion. She could not make herself speak at a normal rate. It felt like everything was so heavy and so hard. She watched, helpless, as it approached them. The IT got right up next to the fire and for a moment seemed as if it was trying to decide who would be ITs victim, RJ or Amelia. After a breif pause, IT turned to face Amelia and started towards her. Fear radiated throughout her entire person. It burrowed deep in her stomach and forced bile up into her throat. Then, once again, Sams voice spoke to her. “ ‘Lia…. baby. Im here. Can you hear me?” She wanted so bad to call out to her husband, but she couldn’t. Everything felt so heavy still. Her tongue felt as if it were filling her entire mouth, as if it grew three times its normal size. “Ameeeliaaa…..” Sams voice called, soft but loud at the same time. Tears streamed down her face from frustration, fear, and longing.
The figure continued toward Amelia. IT reached her, and she could almost feel ITs breath on her face. RJ then sprung into action. He let out his most ferocious growl and leaped at the figure. Silently, the creature did his best to remove the animal from his neck. But he was struggling to succeed as RJ was slashing and biting with all he had. Finally, the figure flung the young raccoon with such force that Amelia heard a loud crunch as he landed. The baby did not move from the spot he landed. There was no movement what so ever. Inside, Amelia was sobbing, but outside she was still frozen in place. The shadow man turned back to look at the woman and again started towards her.
“Baaaabby…….. come to me Amelia. i miss you. Please come to my voice. everything will be ok hunny….”
Amelia could feel a pull at her conciousness. She looked at the lifeless baby apologetically, feeling horrible for failing to protect him but thankful for him sacrificing himself to save her. Then she let herself go to the pull….


Amelia blinked at the bright light that shined down onto the bed where she was laying. The light burned and she instantly felt a headache start behind her eyes. As she struggled to focus, she began to see shapes in the room around her. Beep, beep, beep…. a rhymic continuous sound from somewhere near by. People chatting in the distance. Her body still so heavy. And there was something in her mouth. These were the first things she was aware of as she came to.
“Baby?” Amelia turned to look to the person next to her, and finally she recognized his face. Tears streamed down both their cheeks as he kissed her forehead. “Oh my God, you’re awake. Thank God. Doctor? Nurse? Shes awake!” The medical professionals ran into the room to take vitals and ask her questions to test her memory and coordination. After they left, she took the small white board she was given to communicate, and asked her husband the one question she had been dying to ask; What happened?
Sam began the story of their night out. Their walk home. How a man with a bat had come from a shadowy alley and tried to rob them. Sam had fought back and the man swung his bat and hit Amelias head on accident instead. Just when the man had turned to Sam once again, a stray dog jumped from behind the man and bit him in the neck. He continued his attack until the robber ran off, bleeding and defeated.
“Come’ere boy. Come meet Amelia!” A big hound mix jumped up and put his front paws on her hospital bed. Amelia once again started to cry as she peered into eyes that she recognized right away. She had gazed into those eyes every day in her mind for the past month or more. Sam continued but she hadn’t needed the introduction he was in the process of completing, because she already knew his name. It was RJ.