“May!” Steven yelled from the middle of the meadow. My body filled with relief when I saw him, smiling only the way that he could. I ran out of the woods towards him, my skirts making me trip. He opened his arms wide and I ran into him, hugging him fiercely. We only met in the meadow when we could. Everyone had to be careful now that the danger was increasing. I always felt so much relief when I saw him unharmed. His perfect blond hair and his blue eyes were everything to me, the only happiness in my darkness. I knew by the way he acted towards me that I was the same to him. “Hi May!” He said through my brown curls. “Hi.” “It’s good to see you.” “It’s good to see you too.” He pulled away to look at my face and then took my hand. I knew he’d be able to read my expression. He already knew what I was going to tell him. “Who?” He whispered. I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment, “It was Clare this time.” I could see that he was thinking. “I met her once and she was pretty nice. I wish it hadn’t chosen her.” He said it to himself. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I replied quickly, shoving the thoughts away. We started walking around the meadow hand in hand. It was really a beautiful sunny day. The early flowers were blooming with the touch of the sun’s rays and the sun sparkled off the dew that was still left from the early morning. I looked down at my shoes and at the dew I was destroying. I was destroying the dew just as the Thing had destroyed Clare. I shivered. He noticed and wrapped an arm around me. “I promise I’ll never let it get you.” He said. He was still dwelling on it just as I was. It was always in the back of our minds. I knew that he meant it but if the Thing really wanted me then it would find me no matter what. I would never say this to his face though. He looked down at me, “Why don’t we go down to the creek?” He asked hopefully, the sadness leaving his eyes. “Sorry but my dad is expecting me home soon.” I hated it when I did this to him. The light vanished from his eyes. “Can I at least walk you home?” He asked hopefully. “You know my dad would never allow that,” I replied. He sighed, “Same time tomorrow?” He said fiddling with my hair. “Yeah,” We hugged again. “See you tomorrow,” I said. He quickly kissed me and I walked back into the woods. I hated leaving him. It would take me at least an hour to get home. He lived in the next town over from me so we never got to see each other often. We met half way, an hour from each village. Since the deaths had gone up in the last couple of months we had seen each other more often to make sure that the other was all right. We were taking our chances but we didn’t care. It wasn’t nighttime yet. I remembered when we first met and I smiled to myself. It was when we were both picking strawberries. That meadow tended to have lots of those. I had seen his golden head on the other side hunched over looking for the berries. I’d gone over to see who it was and he had asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend. It had been abrupt but I had said yes. It was as easy as putting two pieces together. The moment we’d laid eyes on each other the pieces had connected. We completed the other. But sadly, my father hated it when I dated. I believed he was so hurt from my mother’s death that he never wanted to see me hurt in the same way. I knew it was the Thing that did it. But we never talked about it. Neither of us wanted too. I hurried home. When I saw our beloved log cabin I felt relief. Another long hike survived. “Dad!” I yelled. He reached the door in an instant and gave me a big bear hug. “Hi honey.” He said in his rough voice. I didn’t know how it was possible for my father to be an ignominy. They had blamed him for my mother’s death and a couple others. It made no sense. He was such a wonderful person. “Your friend, Alice, wants to take you on a picnic for lunch.” He told me chuckling. “That’ll be fun,” I smiled. “She’s good for you,” he remarked laughing. She was the most hyper person I had ever known and she never stopped asking questions. But I loved her all the same. I grabbed a piece of bread and sat on the front porch to wait for her. She would probably come early like she always did. And as I predicted she came trotting up into view. Her blond curls bounced as she came to stand in front of me while I finished my bread. She noticed and frowned. “You’re going to ruin your appetite.” She said. I then saw the big basket on her arm. “Oh.” I answered, surprised. “I’m supposed to be taking you on a picnic.” She said. “Oh, right.” She rolled her eyes, “You’re so oblivious.” “We should get going.” I answered quickly. “Right,” She turned on her heels and walked into the woods. She walked in the lead along a path leading into the deeper part of the forest. I followed not knowing where we were going. “Are we going in the right direction?” I asked tentatively. “You don’t trust me? Besides, I wouldn’t keep us out here after dark.” She turned to look at me. “No, I know.” I quickly said. She turned back around. “I found this little spot under a couple trees that I really liked. I want to eat there.” “Ok.” I replied and kept walking. It was getting darker the farther in we went. If we didn’t stop soon then I would make her. This was starting to make me uncomfortable. But she finally stopped under a couple of big pine trees. She was right. It was very pretty. We quickly ate a late lunch after the tiring hike while sitting on the soft pine needles. We lay down on our backs looking at the large branches above us. The sky was invisible to us in this part of the woods. “Did you hear about Clare?” She murmured to me. “Yeah, it’s really terrible.” I replied. I couldn’t help thinking about who the Thing would take tonight, for it only came out at night. Maybe it would take my father, one of my friends, or maybe even me. “I’m going to take a quick snooze if you don’t mind. You keep watch.” She said closing her eyes. “Fine,” I said rolling onto my side. I would stay awake while she took a quick rest. I would be able to sleep later anyway. I opened my eyes and it was slightly darker out. No! I had fallen asleep. I quickly rolled over and poked Alice. “We have to leave, now!” She looked around her and then her eyes popped wide. She started grabbing the remains of our food while I headed towards the way we had come. Soon she was leading us out of the forest. It felt like no matter how far we walked we were still in the same place. We walked faster trying to find our release from the woods. I was starting to get the creeps. But then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like a shadow had shifted. I looked harder but there was nothing there. Now we were at a steady trot. But it kept getting darker and darker. I kept tripping over rocks and roots. Then I saw it. It was black and it was huge. “Alice!” I shrieked. She looked over and saw it. Her eyes widened, but she was on the ground. She had tripped over something. I didn’t have time to stop so I fell on top of her. I quickly rolled off of her but my chin hit a rock and I spit out a tooth and blood. I looked up and it was closer. I could see it more clearly now. It was huge and hairy with a hunched back. I wasn’t quite sure but I thought I could see horns. What I really saw was the huge claws that glistened when they hit a patch of moonlight. The worst part was the eyes. The small beady red eyes stared with intense anger and hatred, like they were looking into my soul. I quickly got to my feet but Alice wasn’t beside me. She was clutched her ankle. Her face was screwed up with intense pain. I got back on my knees to try and help her when the horrible claws swiped the air right where I had been. It was on top of us. It roared a huge deep roar and turned his head to the sky like a wolf would to the moon. It reached down and grabbed Alice from the ground as I scrambled away. It arched his arm back and threw her like a baseball. She flew at least forty feet until she hit a big rock with a deafening crunch. Her neck snapped. I gasped in shock and recoiled behind a bush. It crept towards her on all fours menacingly. I ducked behind a tree, panting. Alice was gone. I was shaking so hard. The adrenaline was rushing through my veins. I felt cold sweat dripping down my face and I wiped it off with my sleeve. I carefully peeked from behind my tree. It was gone. Alice’s body lay at the base of the rocks crumpled and deathly white. I looked all around me but it was no were to be seen. I silently stepped out from behind my tree. It didn’t appear. Then I ran to Alice. Her throat was ripped open and one of her arms was broken. I could see it through her skin. A sob ripped out of my throat. I couldn’t cry now, I had to be strong. I silently picked her up and stumbled through the woods with her. She weighed a ton but I wasn’t going to leave her back there. I fell twice with her, but there was no way I could hurt her anymore. Then the trees spread out and I entered the village. People stopped and stared. Terror and horror entered their eyes as they looked at me. I gently lay her on the ground in front of them. “Monster!” One shouted pointing their finger at me. I looked at them confused. “Ignominy!” Another shouted. I shook my head, “No!” They started to chant, “Ignominy, disgrace, monster!” I started backing up, “No, no I’m not!” Then they came at me, a hoard of dark figures. I ran and ran. There was only one place for me to go, only one place I was always safe. I kept running. My throat was sore and my legs screamed for mercy but I kept running. I finally reached it. I broke through the trees and the meadow appeared before me. Steven was there. He saw me and looked at me with concern but then his eyes widened as he saw the crowd behind me and the blood that covered my chest. I collapsed at his feet. He knelt down next to me protectively, wondering what was going on. Then the crowd came. “Back away from her, she’s an ignominy!” “Why? What’s going on?” He replied in an angry voice. “She’s the murderer!” A woman yelled. I felt him stiffen and I looked up to see his face. He hesitated and I saw the pain in his eyes. He looked away and stood up, his decision made. “Do you know her?” A suspicious voice asked. “No.” He said and backed away from me, away from everything we had made. So he would save himself and leave me to die. I knew that he wouldn’t have been able to stand up against these people without being killed. But I thought that he’d care about me, just a little. After all this time… Another sob ripped through me. Then they were upon me. They were just as bad as the monster.