I was in shock again, my crying had suddenly stopped as if someone had pressed a pause button.  Whatever "the thing" was had carved three letters into my soft skin, and those letters spelled out "run". 

     At that point it was far too late to follow the directions given by "the thing", so I just stood in place, wishing that Chris’ strong arms would protect me from whatever danger I was currently in. Of course, I was wrong. Chris could not save me from "the thing", and I wish I would have told him to run. Then he might be safe and alive.

     I felt a wrapping sensation around my neck and I started to gag, my lungs searching for air. Chris noticed my struggling and stepped back from me, and as he did he gasped. I was, and still am, clueless as to what was choking me. I figure that it was whatever was following me on my journey home. 

     I somehow croaked our "R-run," but before Chris could do so, he was caught by the ankle and dragged away from my dying body. As my consciousness slipped away, I could hear nothing other than Chris’ screams. Then I heard nothing, nothing at all. 

     My eyes flutter open and my body aches. How am I alive? I figured that "the thing" would have killed me at any chance it could get. I then remember my sweet Chris, and I spring to me feet and dart in the direction I figured I would find him. There are sticks lined up parallel to one another, creating a pathway. I decide to run on the path, thinking that Chris might have created this path for me to follow. As I look back upon this moment, I realize that I would have been much better off not following this path. 

     I reach the end of the path and look along the trees for my Chris. I then look down, and what meets my eyes causes vile to rise to my throat. Bones are lying in a circle around where I am standing. Human bones. My body collapses and I fall to the ground, in the center of the circle constructed from my husband’s bones. 

     My body shakes simultaneously with my sobs, and I throw punches into the earth beneath me. "Why me? Why Chris? You should have taken me instead! I could have saved him, I could have saved him!" I scream, hoping that whatever took Chris’ life would feel guilty for taking the most important thing I had, but I knew that it was not guilty in the least. 

      I’m not sure what brought me to do so, but I picked up what I knew was Chris’ arm. I pulled it to my chest and sobbed and screamed until my throat was raw and I was aching everywhere. I don’t know how exactly I managed to do so, but I closed my eyes and fell asleep. 

     I wake up suddenly and cry out loudly. I’m surprised by my surroundings, as I am somehow in my cabin. Someone is holding me tightly, and I soon realize that this person is Chris. Oh my, thank God that was all a dream. 

     "Chris, I had a terrible dream. Something poked my back, then it started choking me and something killed you! I exclaimed, becoming scared once again even though I’m now aware that I’ve only had a bad dream.

     "Carlie, it’s just a dream. Just a dream," Chris whispered pulling me into his arms. 

     "I know, I just got really scared at the thought of losing you," I said softly, tears falling down my face. I know it’s fairly immature to cry over a dream, but with the thought of losing Chris running through my mind, I just had to cry it out. 

      As Chris holds me in his arms, I feel safe once again. We both stepped back from one another, and I started to turn towards the kitchen. Before I could do so, Chris started to fade away. In a matter of a second or so, I am standing alone and Chris has fully disappeared. I feel a sharp poke in my back. My breath hitches as, once again, letters were spelled out onto my back. Those letters spell out "run".