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I am all alone.
I smell like fear. Hell, I probably reek of it, and this monster can do whatever it wants to me.
I have no way to get away. I have nowhere to go. That doesn’t stop the scream that escapes from my mouth. I’m shaking, and the flashlight is shaking, and I scream as loud as I can, drop the flashlight, and start running.
I didn’t mean to drop it, but there’s no going back now.
I shout, crying out as I run as fast as I can on the forest path ahead of me. So this is it. This is how I die. I lost my kids and now, after everything I’ve gone through, I’m about to lose my life.
Somehow, when I pictured my future death, I thought it would be surrounded by friends and family members who loved me. I thought that readers would flock to my funeral to celebrate the writer they’ve all grown up adoring.
I didn’t think I’d be mauled by a wolf in the middle of the forest.
I didn’t think that.
The wolf’s claws hit my back and I fall to the ground. I cry out as I hit it, and suddenly everything hurts.
“Please!” I scream. “Please don’t hurt me.”
I don’t know why I’m arguing with a wolf, though, and I don’t know what good it’s going to do. My back hurts from where the wolf’s nails dug into my skin, and I can feel the cold air spinning in the tears on my shirt.
But I don’t die.
And the wolf seems to vanish.
At least for a second.
Then I hear the screams: it’s fighting something. It’s howling and there’s...oh shit, it’s a bear. I recognize the sounds of the bear’s growling and I roll over, somehow, and look over. The moon shines down and I can see them battling. The wolf and the bear are fighting one another, but it’s hardly a fair fight. There’s a little dog, too, and it’s barking at the wolf. Okay, so that creature is on Team Bear. Got it.
I slowly start to scoot backwards. I need to get out of here because as soon as this fight is over, I’m going to be eaten alive.
Scoot.
Scoot.
Scoot.
I push myself backwards, farther away from the fighting, but the little dog seems to notice me. I look over just as the bear bats the wolf away for the very last time. The wolf flies through the air and falls, unmoving. I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Bear is the winner.
The dog comes over and barks, alerting the bear to my presence.
“Please go away,” I find myself whispering.
Everything hurts.
My entire body hurts.
My throat hurts. My ears hurt. My back hurts.
Everything is sore and I don’t think I can even contemplate trying to fight a bear.
“Please,” I whisper. “Please, no.”
The bear approaches, but to my surprise, it doesn’t attack me. It comes closer and closer, and I’m ashamed when I close my eyes and finally start to cry. Again, this isn’t how I saw myself dying. I didn’t think I’d be bawling in the middle of the woods at night. I didn’t think I’d be killed by a huge creature.
I didn’t think a little dog would be the one who led me to my death.
But I don’t die, and I open my eyes.
