She threw off the covers and ran from the bedroom. She flung open the door of the trailer so hard that the spring snapped and the door crashed back against the trailer wall. She flew barefoot past the kennels and toward the trees in the direction of the dog’s yelp. The wind beat her like surf, throwing her off balance and tossing her hair in every direction. She came to the edge of the woods and crashed into the brush without hesitating; the leafy branches slapped at her face and arms, and brambles tore at her nightgown, trying to hold her back—but she ran wildly, frantically, trying to reach the echo before the last reverberation faded away.

She broke through the brush into a small clearing; there, on the ground, she saw the body of a beautiful golden dog lying on its side. She staggered up to it and looked down; its eyes were dull and lifeless and there was a dark pool under its head. She squeezed her eyes tight and clenched her fists; she threw back her head and let out a mournful wail, but the sound was instantly swallowed up by the wind. She sank to her knees beside the dog; she lifted its massive head and cradled it in her lap, stroking its soft fur and sobbing. Who would do this? Why would they take him away from me? Don’t they know that I’m alone now—that I have no one else in all the world?

She heard a branch snap and looked up.

She listened and heard nothing more, but she sensed a definite presence. Someone—something—was watching her from the woods. She heard the quiet crunch of leaves and then it abruptly stopped—like someone taking a cautious step closer. She gently laid the dog’s head back on the ground and struggled to her feet. She wiped her eyes and face, staring into the trees and listening. She felt her grief slipping away, and fear crawling over her like a creeping vine.

She looked back toward the trailer but saw no sign of it through the dense brush. She tried to remember how long she had been running— how far she was from safety—but in her panic she had lost all sense of time and distance. She took one tentative step toward the trailer and listened—

She heard another crunch from the woods.

Terror flooded over her like a breaching dam and she took off back through the woods, plunging madly through the brush, searching for the light from the kennels and listening for footsteps behind her—but it was all one cacophony of crashing branches and frantic panting and crunching feet. She imagined someone running behind her, matching her stride for stride, slowly gaining, reaching out his fingers, touching the fringes of the soft cotton gown fluttering out behind her—