There were three of us. Just three of us.

There used to be more of us, five, six of us. Or was there seven of us? Perhaps not, my memory fails to recollect what we once were. But that’s not what’s important here. What’s important is that the three of us, without fail, will survive. One second turns into two seconds of life lived, two seconds eventually turn into a minute which eventually turns to an hour, to a day, to a week, a month, year. Just one second was enough because surely enough the rest of time will follow.

As I finished that thought, I stood in front of the wooden door. This was our home, our little rugged cabin in the middle of the woods away from everyone else. 

Everyone else.

 Those words tugged at my head for some reason, but before I was able to give it any more thought, the wooden door swung open.

What met me beyond the splintered, rugged door were brown eyes that were equally as sharp as the wooden splinters, and tougher than any bark on a tree. She stood both feet planted on the wooden floor as if she had roots anchoring her into the house.

“Arlie.”

Upon saying her name, the imaginary roots on her feet lost hold as she shifted her body to the side before coming to life again and rooting her body back where it was, right in front of me. Her slender yet durable arms were crossed which was enough of a tell of her current emotional state.

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She was upset. Again.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

The earth fell silent as we greeted each other, the wind held its breath, and the trees and its branches along with its leaves became immovably ridged. Mother nature had taken a front row seat to see the nagging of a century. My only hope is that it would just be a nagging.

“You sure took your sweet time, breathing in the crisp, fresh air while we were both worried to death where you were.”

She laid her words out as neatly as you would put wood on a campfire.

In other words, a complete mess.

She looked like she was going to continue, but then she leaned her whole upper body back, slender arms still crossed. After what seemed like an eternity, she leaned forward and let out a large sigh. The earth resumed normal activity along with the wind and the trees. In short, I guess you could say Mother nature left disappointed.

“Whatever. You kept your promise yet again, so in all honesty I shouldn’t be angry at you.”

Is this reality? A dream maybe? An apology? Huh?

“Just…please don’t keep us waiting like that, it makes me…uncomfortable after a while... you got it?”

Cute.

I nodded my head.

“Good.”

She unrooted herself from the floor boards and moved on inside before swiftly turning around and rooting herself again in front of me and pointing to my right side.

“Also, after you bring that thing in clean up the steps yeah? I don’t like blood on the steps of our pretty little home.”

She unrooted for the last time and headed inside.

 I stood in front of the door. Confusion slowly began to haze my mind like a miasma.

What thing?

I slowly moved my head to my righthand side.

Blood. Fur. Flesh.

My entire righthand side was enveloped in it all. Moreover the “thing” that Arlie was talking about, I was holding on to it by the now empty eye sockets. Its body stretched from the front door down the three wooden steps of the cabin.

Ah.