The frozen lake cracked beneath his feet making that distinct and eerie sound like a bullet traveling under the water and echoing off the banks. He immediately knew he had ventured on to the lake unawares. He tried to quickly size up the distance back to the shore and which direction that shore was since it was pitch black dark outside. In his attempt to get away from whatever or who ever it was that was pursuing him he had lost his sense of direction. He knew this lake and how to navigate it but had only done so in the daylight till now. He stopped and with his vision straining to see anything that would give him direction he dropped to his hands and knees hoping to distribute his weight across a greater surface. Gasping for a deeper breath and hearing his heart beat in his ears he whispered a very simple prayer, “God please help me!”

Trying to remember and make sense of the events that caused him to abandon his car and run wildly through the woods, his mind was full of questions. “What was that? Was it real? There must be a logical answer. Maybe I’m over reacting” Suddenly the sound of cracking ice broke through his thoughts, this time it wasn’t under his feet but rather about a hundred yards away and it wasn’t being caused by him. Another burst of adrenaline and hoping he was heading the right direction he jumped back to his feet and ran as fast as he could with out good traction and his feet slipping occasionally. Running fast enough now that the wind passing over his ears was louder than his breathing and heart beat, hoping he was heading towards shore and suddenly the ice gave way under his foot. Anticipating going under the ice cold water and freezing or maybe being trapped under the unbroken ice in a watery grave, he was actually relieved when his foot only dipped about six inches causing him to fall on the hard ground of the bank. One wet foot and a few bumps and scratches were better than falling through in the middle of the lake. Looking back in the direction he had come from he was certain he saw two greenish yellow eyes now heading towards his location and was convinced he could hear the fast steps of whatever it was that was pursuing him. With no time to celebrate finding the bank, he jumped to his feet and began running again. After a hundred feet or so he found himself out of the woods and on a trail. A barely visible sign on a post had directions to a boat landing. He knew where he was! And he knew the road he had been on was just a short distance away. He ran towards the road while thinking in his head “maybe if I can get back to my car whatever it is will be gone and I can escape!” A visual flash in his memory played a scene. It was him driving when suddenly something jumped in front of the car. He slammed the breaks to try to avoid it but hit it nonetheless. He was thinking it was a deer and hoping it hadn’t damaged the car too much. Then, in that split second memory he saw a horrific looking creature stand up in front of the car with the headlights illuminating it. It appeared to stand on two legs but had very long arms with a membrane growing from them and attaching somewhere on its sides, almost like bat wings. Two glowing eyes stared back at him and the sound of a growl or snarl could be heard. Whatever it was grabbed the front of the car and shook it violently from side to side with so much force the wheels were coming off the ground making it impossible to move. That’s when the idea of jump and run came and was acted upon. He reached the road and froze for a moment. “What if it had circled around as well and was waiting for him ahead on the road?” As he stood there in the wide open thinking, his thoughts were interrupted by a “whoosh, whoosh” sound. Like the sound of a large bird flying above but larger than any eagle or buzzard he had ever seen. He dove for cover and stared towards the sky. Stars, lots of stars but wait there were two yellowish glowing orbs moving among them as well. “Oh no, it’s him or it looking for me”. The glowing orbs moved down the road in the opposite direction of his car and so once again he ran! Heading towards the car but stopping and looking closely into the sky about every 100 feet. A little further and there it was, the car. He could see the glow of the headlights still on, or at least one of them. It seemed like an eternity but he finally made it to the car. Hiding in the woods directly by the car he stared into the sky again..over there! There they were again, the glowing orbs coming up the road towards the car. He hid himself deeper in the thick growth on the side of the road even wondering how he gotten through the dense growth when he ran. There was the whoosh-whoosh sound again, going over top of him and past the car, the sound disappearing and the glowing orbs fading from sight. Now was his chance. He dashed for the car and jumped in through the already open door. The interior was trashed. The seats torn from what looked like the slash from a bears claw. A Sulphur smelling shimmy goo dripping from the steering wheel and stuck to the windshield. The car wasn’t running but the keys were still in the ignition. Shutting the door he turned the key. The engine turned over but did not start. He tried again and again it just would not start. He turned off what was now only one headlight, the other apparently broken from the impact with this “thing”, thinking it could be draining the battery. When the lights went out, about fifty yards in front of the car, even through the smelly slime you could see those glowing orbs and they were fixed on the car and getting closer at a rapid rate, at about ten yards you could hear the stamping feet and for the first time he saw its mouth. Open with sharp stained teeth and a tongue like a snake flickering and slinging slimey salavia. Oh please!, he turned the key again..the car door flung open and the creature reached in a grabbed his shoulder shaking him like a rag doll. He thought he was passing out and was certain this would be the end of his life. But instead of passing out it was like he merely passed from one reality in to another. He opened his eyes and jumped as he could make out the familiar face and shape of his mother. She had him by the shoulder and was shaking him saying..”Bobby Caldwell you better get up boy! You slept through your alarm again and your going to be late for school.” Bobby jumped up trying to shake off the dream state he was still in and made his way to the shower. With the hot water running over his head he was thinking about how real that dream had been and reviewing all its details in his mind. He got out of the shower put on some clean clothes, deodorant and cologne with enough time that he wouldn’t be late. Feeling pretty proud of himself for making such good time he went to get his mom’s keys so he could drive to school. His mom held the key reluctant to hand them over and said “ I don’t know what you and your friends did down by the lake the other day but it looks like someone blew their nose on my windshield. You clean it up and don’t forget to get that headlight fixed from where you supposedly barely tapped your brothers bicycle last week”. Bobby just stared at her like he was looking through her, going over some of the details of his dream in his mind again. “Are you okay Bobby” she asked causing him to break his stare. “Yea, I’m fine, I was just thinking about something” Bobby answered. “Hey mom, you ever had a dream that just seemed so real it left you confused?” asked Bobby. She responded, “yes but not in a long time, now get going” Bobby went to the laundry room to put on his shoes only to find one of them soaking wet. “Hey mom…”