The sky lit up with a brilliant crack and flash of blue-white, startling me from my thoughts. A storm was rolling in. I guess I had zoned out sitting around the fire. The flames were a brilliant orange-yellow and the crackling of the fire was calming. That explains why I zoned out. The thick, gray smoke billowed into the air and I watched for a moment as the wind picked it up and swirled it into the background of the storm. The fire showed no signs of dying down, but the rain will put it out. I got up and began walking back to the house. It wasn’t very far, but tonight the woods made me feel uneasy for some reason.

In the distance the thunder, lightning and the giant black cloud accompanying it rapidly overtook the sunset. The sky had turned from a red-pink tropical to a deep purple-blue-black, like a bruise left on skin from blunt force trauma. The black cloud was starting to overtake the only light which was coming from the gray of the moon. The stars and constellations swirled together in a flickering bright white, tracing the silhouette of the forest in the background, but they too, disappeared in the blackness of the cloud. I shivered and suddenly felt very alone. I looked at my feet while I walked, afraid to look into the woods. Afraid of what might be staring back at me. The ground was soft and green and brown. If you looked at the right angle, you could see hundreds of white dots in the grass, which made my skin crawl. Those dots are actually light reflecting from the spiders eyes in the grass, but that’s better than what’s lurking in the woods behind me.

I made it back to the house just in time for the storm to begin. The rain started falling in heavy drops. I could see the fire flicker and dissipate as the rain got heavier. I sat on the porch under the protection of the roof and watched as the earth around me took her drink, still feeling alone. I glanced into the woods only to see the brightest red eyes glaring back at me. I held my breath. Another crack of lightning and a blink from my eyes and whatever was looking at was gone. Suddenly, I didn’t feel alone anymore.