“Sweetie, what’re you waiting for? I mean, far be it for me to say, but y’all aren’t getting any younger.”

“Thanks a lot, Mom,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“William, I just want to see you happy. Life is a lot shorter than you think.” Her life with Johnny, her late husband, had been so much shorter than either of them ever thought it would be.

“I love Janine. I guess I was just trying to make something of myself again before I asked her. I want to feel worthy of being her husband.” Dixie’s heart melted when she heard her son say that.

She leaned over and touched his arm, being careful not to stand up in the unstable boat. Parkinson’s didn’t exactly give her wonderful balance. The last thing she needed was to fall head first into the marsh and get eaten by some creature lurking below.

“Now, listen to your old momma,” she said, putting her hand on his cheek. “You’re worthy of any woman. Janine would be blessed to have you as a husband, and you would be blessed to have her as a wife. Stop overthinking things, my handsome son. Love isn’t something to be thought about; it’s something to be felt and cherished.”

William smiled. “You should write greeting cards, Mom.”

“Maybe in my next lifetime,” she joked as she eased herself back down onto the small seat. “So, what’re you going to do?”

He looked at her and then out over the water. “I don’t know. I need some time to think, I suppose.”

“Just don’t think too long, William. Life just keeps moving on.”

The darkness was overwhelming. She walked along the edge of the wall, her back brushing against it as she tried to look around the corner. But it was so dark. So devastatingly dark. She couldn't hear anything over the wild beating of her heart. It wasn't like she hadn't been in situations like this a million times before, but this one was different. She could feel it in her bones, like a dark foreboding that she couldn’t shake no matter how hard she tried.

Her palms were sweating. The hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention like diligent soldiers waiting on their next orders. Why did she have to be alone? She tried to quiet her breath, but it felt like her throat was constricting. What if she stopped breathing? Her heart was beating so hard and fast that she wondered if a heart could actually explode. She didn't want to find out.

She inched closer and closer to the corner. Why was her hand shaking? She gripped the gun as tightly as possible, and she turned that corner, her arm straight up in front of her steadied by her left hand, ready to shoot. And then just as the monster lunged at her, she sat upright in her bed in a pool of sweat, her breath coming out in choked pants.