Damn! They’re gaining on me. I try to paddle faster. The oar breaks. Rotting wood. I slam my foot down in frustration and it goes through the canoe and it sinks. Fuck! I jump out of the boat and swim as fast as I can without looking back. Lucky fir me I was a competitive swimmer in high school. The water is freezing and my pursuers get closer, but I’m faster. Suddenly I come up to a waterfall. I look behind me and grab onto a rock. Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look down. The forest looms over me and I hear a wolf howl in the distant. My heartbeat grows increasingly faster. I dive over the water praying the water isn’t shallow. Lucky for me it’s not. I hop out of the water soaked and freezing. Next to me a man who looked to be in his late 50s sits outside of his tent by a fire.

“Need a towel?” He said.

“Yes.”

“Warm up by the fire while I get you one.”

The heat feels nice on my ice cold body. I reach into my pocket to feel for the locket. I sigh in relief when I pull it out. I open the gold heart locket and look at the picture of the little girl in it.

My precious Rose. I will find you.

The man comes back with withered towel.

“It may not look the nicest but I promise you it ain’t dirty.”

I take the towel from him, graciously.

“You hungry?”

He hands me a sausage on a skewer. I let it roast over the campfire.

“Tell me, what’re you jumpin’ over that waterfall there?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I got nottin but time.”

“Okay, then. It started back when my wife died when my daughter and I moved to West Virginia.”