Sarah ran from the house, her petulant in-laws calling after her with the same accusations she’d heard before. Her children were missing and they continued to berate her as if she knew where they were.

She turned down the side path away from the old farm house her late husband had grown up in. The small white stone path felt cool beneath her bare feet in the misty morning air. Tears rushed down her face as her yellow sundress moved around her in a frenzy.

How could they…how could they think anything other than what was true? Matthew and Kinsey were only ten and eight. They were all she had left of the small family she and Chris had built together.

Minutes went by as she ran. Sarah realized the path continued on longer than it normally should and slowed to a walk. The air stood abnormally still and she noticed the mist had become thicker. Moments later, Sarah couldn’t see more than five feet in any direction. She shivered at the cold.

“Mom!” A voice echoed from somewhere in the mist. It was Kinsey’s voice, Sarah thought to herself. She was out there! She put a foot off the path toward the voice.

“No!” A second voice sounded out. This time it was Matthew. The command was filled with worry and so Sarah pulled her foot back.

“My babies…what do I do?! I need to find you!”

“I’m here mommy!” Kinsey’s voice rang out. The tension built as silence followed. Sarah placed a foot off the path toward the sound.

“No mommy! No! Keep going!” Matthew pleaded.

Sarah recoiled as she saw the most swirl around her bare foot. The air there felt like she’d dipped her toes into a frozen pool. Something was very wrong there. Had something in this mist taken her children? No…no…that was crazy. She’d been controlled by grief for too long. And yet - she turned and hurried down the path like Matthew had said.

A while later, the mist took on new sounds.

“Honey…you can come out here! I’ve found them! We’re safe!” It was Chris…his voice called through the mist like a distant friend calling down a long hallway. The pain overwhelmed her and she pulled of the path.

Matthew called out again…but it wasn’t enough. Her love and her children all together. In one place. The mist swirled around her like a glove, tightening and freezing her in place. Just ahead, Sarah saw the silhouettes of her family just out of reach. She wept and screamed and pulled at the mist but found she could not move.

Carolyn, Chris’ mother, opened a heavy wooden door to Sarah’s room as she wailed in protest. Sarah Sat perched in a chair facing the window overlooking the misty field her family used to play in when visiting. Her feet curled beneath her and tissues littered the floor.

It’d been one month since the accident that had claimed her family but left her miraculously alive. Her world had frozen that day and every day since had been a battle to move forward. Suddenly, Sarah screamed as she reached out in front of her towards an unseen person crying to be with her family.

Carolyn rushed in and held her tight. “I am here! I am here. We will get through this together.” She hugged her tighter and Sarah realized the apparitions weren’t there. She laid her head on Carolyn’s hands.

“I’ll stay on the path, Matthew. I’ll stay on the path.” She said and held onto Carolyn tightly.