I turned around and ran like a rabbit too far from its hole– picking any whichever way suited my fancy at the time and passing ground at a speed fit to beat holy Jesus. Behind me the tiger crushed bushes as he followed. Just like the dream. The trees were circling– their bark black, their branches pointy. Along the ground brambles grew thick and their thorns caught on my tights tearing them at my ankles. The ground was thick and mushy and smelled like garbage. My shoes were smooth on the bottom and it was hard to keep from sliding. Twice I slipped on the mud and fell to my knees, all the while the tiger got closer.

I shot down another path, dodged trees that got in my way, and pushed further and further into the woods. It wasn’t too long before my feet started to hurt from the cramped room in the shoes. But I couldn’t stop running, no matter the pain. The tiger was getting closer. I dodged left, off the path and slid under a log, then waited. It was hard to listen for the tiger, what with my own heart beating so loud. The air was coming into my lungs too fast for the way I stopped running all a sudden and I tried to get it under control before the tiger showed up. I gulped it in again, held it and then let it out slow-like. I did that over and over until finally, my breathing was quieter.

I held steady under the log. 

I heard him first. He pushed through the trees just out of sight and I bit my lip while waiting to hear his footsteps move away. But they didn’t.  He slowly paced, the mushy ground squishing and sucking with every step. Then I saw his feet. They stopped right in front of me.

My skin started itching and I noticed bugs crawling out of the log and onto me- it felt like thousands of them. Some of them bit and stung leaving welts on my skin. I locked my jaw down harder to keep from screaming. Bugs don’t really bother me all that much, but they were making their way through my hair and some were close to my ears and mouth. I held my breath.

The tiger moved off. I listened as he made his way from the log towards the opposite end of the clearing.

Once I judged he was gone long enough, I crawled out. I took a second to swipe the bugs off of me and shake them out of my hair before taking off as fast as I could. I had long forgot which way would put me back with Aunty. So I just ran any way that took me farther from the tiger. I cut to my right and back to my left, hoping to lose him. I ran flat out until I was completely out of breath. I crashed into a tree and slipped to the ground gulping down air. When I looked up the trees were swirling, getting bigger, their branches reaching out. 

I heard a high-pitched screech above me. The big black bird was seated on a branch just over my head. It’s large wings beat the air, bringing the smell of the Dead Place. Beyond the trees, fog was rolling in, blue swirling on red, mixed with puffs of white. 

It’s eyes looked like pools of ink, or tar. Deep ... so deep.... all a sudden I felt lost… like I was falling into the bird’s eyes and drowning in all their darkness–trapped–I couldn’t find a way out. I couldn't break free of the awfulness…aloneness…

Far away the tiger’s crashing stopped and for a moment all was still and quiet. Nothing moved but the slowly rolling fog. 

Then the forest shuddered and the tiger was moving again, within the fog, answering the call. But even though I could feel it coming closer, I couldn’t break free of the bird’s dead eyes.

“Kelly run!”

I broke away. Unlike the dream, it wasn’t Sam calling. It was Chief. And he wasn’t calling from out where the bird could touch him. He was in my head.

“Run Kelly!” 

The bird's spell was broken and I ran full out, trying to put ground between me and the tiger. I ran as fast as I could, ducking around dark trees and pushing through the cold fog.

Behind me the sound of breaking twigs and branches was getting closer, no matter how hard I ran. My feet were already numb–I could no longer feel my toes. Then my buckle caught on a vine and I was pitched head first into the mud, twisting my ankle sharply. I pushed myself up and tried to pull free, but the vine wouldn’t let loose the shoe. I looked behind me, gasping for breath and my heart hammering in my head.

Just past the trees, within the swirling fog, a dark shadow grew. 

I ripped off the shoe and ran on. Sharp pain shot up my twisted ankle, but I let it go. I made it several yards before my second shoe caught up and I fell again. I pulled loose that shoe and tossed it aside. Then I was up and running down the trail. I didn’t turn around to see how close the tiger was behind me, this time,  but I swear I could  feel its hot breath on the back of my neck.

I left the path and cut through the brush. Thorns ripped threads from my tights. The branches tore at my dress, chunks of lace were ripped off in many places. The pink ribbons frayed as the forest ruined all of Maggy’s hard work. I pushed those thoughts aside and ran as the tiger gained on me with every step. The bottoms of my feet were bruised and bleeding, ripped apart by the same thorns and brambles that were shredding my tights and dress. My ankle throbbed.

I tried dodging to the side, but he grabbed me by the hair and shoved. My face hit first, sending mud down my throat. Choking and coughing, I tried to crawl away, but the tiger held me fast and slammed me down again, his claws wrapping around my neck. Then he shoved me over, onto my back. I shook. I couldn’t stop. 

The fog was coming. 

The tiger pinned me to the ground, his face inches from mine. I could smell his stale breath. His eyes shone red and gold.

“Make a wish,” he breathed into my face. “So that we can become one ... you and I ... and the power of the light.”

I tried to squirm free, but his weight held me down. I tried shoving him off with my arms but he took hold of them in one paw and held them to the ground above my head.

“Make a wish. You haven’t the strength alone, child ... together ... your power as well as my own ... we will be a force of reckoning!”

“Don’t touch,” I cried out around the tears that choked down my throat.

“We must be one, joined together ... I need a way inside.” It smiled and licked its lips. 

I screamed as loud as I could, over and over, and when he covered my mouth with a meaty paw, I bit down–hard–locking my jaw. 

The tiger howled and tried to pull free, but I bit harder. The metal taste of blood started me to choking, but I held on.

The tiger’s claws came slicing down, smashing into the side of my head so hard I thought my eyes would pop out. He clubbed me again until I had to let go. His bleeding paw came at my neck and held tight. 

He growled into my face and his eyes blazed. “Don’t you know what I am! You chosen bitch!” he snarled. “Make a wish and be damned like the rest of them- you whore of the Way!”

His claws tightened around my neck and I felt my mind cloud over. 

“I wish you’d go away,” I choked out with what was left of my breath. My lungs were empty and my head dizzy. Stars danced in front of me as I drifted towards the darkness.

The tiger laughed. “I way indeed.”

He pulled his bloody paw away and held me down with the other. I felt my tights dig into my legs before pulling free ... then my underwear....

The fog was thickening. He was crushing me and I couldn’t get enough air to breathe. I was quaking as my tears drenched the sides of my face. When he pulled up, for a better grip on my dress, I gulped air. Then my dress was gone. I was so cold. I tried to go inside like last summer. Deep inside myself where it was warm and safe, to hide and wait for it to be over. But his eyes held me, glowing through the fog.

“The three of us will join in this fight ... Katherine,” he whispered. “It’s been so long ... the ache never left me. Your torment has never been vanquished. You have left my soul ripped ... it is you who will mend it, once the Power is mine. And the Way is at hand to destroy them...” The tiger closed his eyes, his face knotted up with pain at whatever he was remembering. I tried to squirm free but couldn’t cut loose of his grip. The tiger opened his eyes and stared at me, eyes now cold and dead, even the fire was gone. He had the bird’s eyes now… and somehow that was worse. I shut my own eyes tight.

I felt his tongue on my cheek, slobbering a wet streak down my face, licking my tears. “Open your eyes," he whispered. "We must join, our souls must be one. Our power to be shared.”

I shut my eyes tighter.

Claws gripped my neck. “Open them!”

When I did, he smiled and shifted his weight on me, pushing my legs apart with his knees. I tried to keep them together but the tiger was too strong.

His cold eyes locked onto mine. “Relax. It will be over soon ... you belong to me... you’ve always belonged to me.” Again he shifted, pinching my legs in the process.

The tiger flew off of me all at once, its black eyes wide in their sockets as he disappeared behind the curtain of fog. 

I pushed myself up from the ground and sat, listening as noises of a battle struck out from within that mist. It thinned and I watched the tiger fly through the air and crash into a large oak at least ten feet away, scattering the bark like chicken feed. Again the fog shifted and I saw Billy standing over the tiger. Billy grabbed him by his neck fur and slammed a fist into his snout.

Bones shattered. Blood spurted from the tiger’s face. Billy attacked again, this time smashing a fist into the tiger’s ribs, then two just above his belt. 

The tiger dodged Billy’s next punch and landed one of his own into Billy’s stomach. Billy fell backwards against a tree. The tiger was on him then. Smashing his fists into Billy’s sides and face until Billy was covered in blood. The tiger tried for another strike to Billy’s face but Billy grabbed the fist in time. He shoved it back, pushing the tiger with it. Billy twisted the tiger’s arm until he was behind tiger, then shoved hard, pitching the tiger into the mud. 

Now, Billy was landing the punches, slamming a fist down into the tiger’s face–blood spurted and the tiger roared. He tried to get back on its feet, but Billy held him in place, while he beat him in the sides and face with his fists. Billy jumped free and the tiger staggered back to its feet. They came at each other again, but the fog moved in blocking them from me. I could hear the thrashing beyond the haze. Cries of pain came with the breaking of bone and snapping of branches.

With no warning, the tiger came crashing through the fog to land not more than two feet from me. He was covered in blood, with heavy gashes and dark blotches rising on his face and arms. He rolled over and locked his eye onto mine. His lips came up on one corner showing his fangs dripping blood. 

The tiger pulled itself along the ground towards me. I tried scooting away, but my legs and arms were numb and I had trouble making them do what I wanted. The tiger reached out, bloody claws stretched. It had my ankle.

Over his shoulder I saw Billy. He was bleeding, but not near as bad as the tiger. He had a deep gash just above his eye and he wiped away the blood that dripped so’s he could better see the tiger. He breathed from his mouth to avoid using his bleeding nose. Spit dripped at the corners of his mouth and Billy’s eyes were wild like the day we made him draw the bleeding tree. It was the second time I saw that look on Billy and I can honestly say it was the last. But at that second, I was afraid of Billy.

Billy grabbed the tiger by the back of the neck and yanked him from the ground. It looked like the tiger weighed next to nothing in Billy’s sizable arms. Billy smashed him with his fists. Over and over, in the face, in the ribs and in the stomach. I watched as the tiger was thrown around like one of Maggy’s old rag dolls during one of her crazy fits. It crashed to the ground among the trees and brambles. Its arms were scraped and turning purple. Its fur was soaked with blood.

The fog covered them up as it rolled along the ground steeling the afternoon heat and bringing cold frost in its wake. I pulled my legs to me for warmth and I called after Billy. My voice cracked as the fog rolled down my throat. Billy couldn’t hear me through all the grayness.

So I tried again, “Billy! Please stop!”

Through the fog the noises of their war went on as branches came crashing off of trees followed by grunts and growls of the tiger. 

Billy didn’t stop.

“Billy!” I screamed. “You’ll kill him. They’ll hang you, Billy. Please stop!”

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