I remember sleeping for a long time. I didn’t dream until the very end. I dreamed of lush forests and deep valleys. I saw mountain ranges that spanned the horizon and rolling green hills and plateaus that followed them. Unspoiled meadows filled with flowers and grassland that stretched out forever.

What finally woke me was the deep moist smell of dirt and the faint bleating of sheep. I opened my eyes and found myself in a field. My hands worked their way through the undergrowth and came back wet with dew. It was twilight if the stirring birdsong was any indication. Looking around in the growing light I found the sheep white and black blobs working their way through the grass. A small house to the side of log fences, as tall as my waist, stretched around the field. It had a thatched roof that had sunk into its frame. It felt homely, like a log cabin for all that it was in bad shape. The field was overgrown with wildflowers and weeds. I would never let my garden get to this state. No, I ruled my garden with an iron fist. I controlled nature, or at least as far as my pruning shears could reach.

There weren’t many people here. I would of called this place it a farm, or a homestead, if not for the obvious state of disrepair. As I neared the house I didn’t see any sign of electricity. Instead, there was a well and firewood stacked up high under a lean-to off to one side. This place must be off the grid. Rusted tools lay around the house. Brown and flaked farming tools, buckets and even an old wheelbarrow. A flash of light from the well blinded me for a second. A sword leaned off the stone. Unlike the older farm tools these looked new and reflected light. What were they doing here? I picked up the sword and heard a noise like the gentle tinkle of wind chimes.

“What the hell was that?”

I dropped the sword and it impaled itself in the dirt. I scanned my surroundings but didn’t see anything. I felt a shiver run through me. I was getting creepy vibes.

A bucket hung above the well and I drew up some water hoping to wash my face and to sate my parched throat. I did not expect to see what I did in the still waters. It was me, just younger. Vivid blue eyes looked back at me wide open and in shock. Gone were the wrinkles that adorned my face and my hair, a shining blond, was a colour I hadn’t seen in years. I swear I am wide open sixty-three years old but here I was, looking not a day over twenty.

I don’t know how long I stood there looking at myself. It was like a magic portal to the past but I knew it was me. a piercing howl shook me from my stupor.

“What now?” I groaned.

A wolf, larger than any dog I’d ever seen bounded towards me. The frightened bleating of the sheep shook me into action. I dashed to the log fence. There were no people on this piece of land. That much was evident. Hopefully, the surrounding area was not as deserted. I couldn’t through remember the last time I felt my body burn through the oxygen I was pumping into my lungs. That all ended when I tried to jump over the log fence. Instead, I slammed headfirst into a wall. I fell prone, dazed and scared as I imagined the wolf coming closer and closer.

I don’t like to remember what happened next…

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Waking up in the same field that I died and in the same situation was a Kafkaesque nightmare. I sat up and scanned my surroundings for the… second time.

Twilight? Check.

Sheep? Check.

Wolf that kills me? Nowhere I could see.

That was either a good thing or I hadn’t seen it yet. I made my way back to the log fence, not in the mood for another mauling. As I reached my hand across the threshold I found my hand pressed flat against an invisible wall. It was strange. I could feel the wind blow through it but my hand could not pass. I walked around the length of the fence trailing my hand above it. My heart sank.

“Shit.”

There were no gaps in the ‘fence-field’ as I started to call it. I was trapped in a cage. Why me? And who is the sick and twisted monster that would do this to me? Was this punishment from the sins of my past? Was this the afterlife where I would spend eternity suffering? The crushing weight of hopelessness surrounded me as I fell to my knees. I could feel tears threatening to burst from my eyes but I willed them back. No matter what I did the result was the same. I would die only to awaken and repeat the cycle.

“I wish Robert was here,” I mused, “He would know what to do.”

But he wasn’t here. It was just me in limbo for eternity.

It was not a good time to hear the tell-tale howl of a wolf and the scared bleating of sheep. I was scared. Scared for the position I now found myself in. Scared that if I kept dying that I would sink into some deeper nightmare I couldn't crawl out of. That I somehow deserved it.

I did the only thing I thought I could do at the time. Though trembling limbs I moved.

I dashed to the well. There was a sword there, my one salvation. I could see the wolf get closer each time I glanced back. Reaching the sword, I grabbed the hilt and whipped around. My neck tingled as I imagined its stinking breath on my neck, behind me, always right behind me. Time seemed to slow as I held the sword two-handed and pointed it at the bounding wolf. I stabbed at it when it was inches away. It sidestepped to the right and with one last leap closed its maw around my throat.

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The third and fourth time wasn’t better. Five minutes after waking up the wolf would appear and hunt me down.

So the sword wasn’t working out. If anything it was the wrong solution to the wolf problem. What was I even thinking of trying to fight a wolf the size of a bear? It was like a red herring, too obvious and not to mention this up I’ve never even held a sword before today. No, whoever set this up wanted me to take the sword. So I should stay away from it.

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This time I decided to hide in the house. From this new vantage point, I'll be able to see the wolf before it sees me.

As I entered the house I saw simple wood furniture and a fireplace. On the table stood a bowl of bread. I handled the bread. It was dark and dense, made with many flours and filled with different kinds of seeds. It wasn’t hot and steamy like it was fresh from an oven but it also wasn’t stale. As I lifted it to take a bite, I gasped. It was like I never took the first one out. Now I had two loaves of bread. My brain kind of stopped working at this point. So… magic bread bowl. How could I use this to my advantage? The wolf appeared, my five-minute time limit was up.

I rushed to close the door thanking whatever gods that existed here that it was the only entrance to the house. I overturned the table sending the bowl of bread flying and with it, a cascading waterfall of bread. I rammed the table against the door then all the other furniture I could find went on top of it. Amongst my pile of bread, a thought occurred to me.

“I can wait for the wolf to starve!” I shouted “I have bread. So much bread!”

My glee was short-lived as I heard the wolf kill its first sheep.

“But the wolf has sheep,” I groaned.

I watched from a small window as the wolf killed all the sheep and proceeded to tear into the bloody meat. It was a grisly affair with its blood-soaked jowl and voracious appetite. The beast made it through two sheep before it happened. The other five dead sheep started to shimmer and turn into a black and white twirling smoke. In seconds they were gone, only the carcasses of the devoured sheep any sign that they existed at all.

Were the sheep also magic? Did the wolf eat magic sheep?

I stayed in the house until the sun reached its midpoint. The bread sated my hunger but I didn’t have anything to drink. I wished I brought in some water from the well. I could handle a little rust if I could outlive the wolf. My dry throat reached a breaking point a few hours later. I stopped hearing the wolf sniffing around the house a while ago but I couldn’t see it from any windows. I decided to get the water. There was a bucket right next to the well, it’d only take less than 30 seconds. 30 seconds of pain now to escape this hell.

I took it slow with small cautious steps and made it to the well. It was after I drank my fill that I heard a scraping sound behind me. I turned to see the wolf staring at me. I didn’t make it back to the house.

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It was the fifth time I woke up and I acted fast. I ran to the house, grabbed the bread bowl and went to go lure some sheep.

“Heeeere sheep sheep sheep sheep sheep!” I called as I turned the bowl upside down and made a pile of bread. The sheep drew close, no doubt curious and hungry for anything other than grass. They started on the bread pile but to my dismay, I may have made it too big.

“What? No! Go over there.” I said as I threw the bread towards the house.

Only one sheep ended up following me, but one less sheep for the wolf means more survival for me. I trapped it in the house and brought the wheelbarrow to the well. I started to fill it up with water. My arms burned with the effort but I was glad when the wheelbarrow was full. After bringing the wheelbarrow into the house I boarded the door in time for the wolf to appear. The waiting game had begun.

I wasted my time feeding pieces of bread to the one sheep in my possession. She seemed to calm down a bit as I kept her fed and drew my fingers through her wool. It was slow progress and time went at a glacial pace. By nightfall, with the sheep sleeping across my legs like a living blanket I heard the ring of wind chimes again. It startled me, but it didn’t seem that it had alerted the wolf. My sheep didn’t stir so I settled in for the night.

I spent the next few days in a daze. Half my time sleeping, hoping the hours would pass by faster when I wasn’t conscious. The other half I spent wound up more tightly than a piece of rope. One that was beginning to fray. Sometimes I could hear scratching and huffing around the house. I'm sure some of it was real but I didn't trust my mind to not play tricks on me. I spent as much time forcing myself to be still and quiet as I did trying to calm down my sheep.

During the day the beating sun heated up the house and I worried for my ration of water. It was getting low considering it had to sate both me and the sheep. I looked out a window at the well, thoughts of my previous attempt to get water played back in my mind. Past the well, I spied the wolf. It lay on the ground in the middle of the meadow with the hot sun shining down on it. You could see its ribs as it panted, its skin taught against its body. A few minutes later it lay there still and, presumably, dead. I waited in the house suspicious of the circumstances I found myself in. A while later it began to turn into the black and white smoke like the sheep it had killed. The smoke billowed and writhed in the air like a living thing. It coalesced into a ball, getting smaller and smaller until it ceased to exist. In its place was a glowing white portal. It's light blinding even in the noon sun.

I went to investigate followed by the sheep I saved. Peering through I saw a road leading to a town. Stone streets and wooden buildings against a backdrop of lush green forests.

It was a way out of here. Out of this nightmare. But to where? Was this the next layer of my own personal hell? I shook my head. It didn't matter as long as it wasn’t here. The sheep next to me baa’d.

I looked down at the sheep next to me.

“Oh, sorry. Did you want to come too?”

She started up at me.

“I’ll call you Molly.”

Molly Baa’d.

“It is a good name, isn’t it,” I said, rubbing her woolly head.

“C’mon Molly,” I gestured to the portal, “Let’s see where this road will take us.”

I stepped through the portal as I heard the gentle ring of wind chimes.