James was, for the second day in a row, having the worst day of his life.

Honestly, the day hadn't been all that bad right up until only about a minute ago. This last minute or so had sucked like a demon-possessed shop vac. But before that, it had actually been pretty cool.

Visiting the fabled mansion where Samantha used to live with her best friend was something of a dream come true. He'd been here once before, years ago as a little kid, dragged along for a party or something and never really got a good look at the place. But he remembered the way Samantha used to talk about it, and her stories used to fascinate his imagination. Riding the neighbor's horses in the fields and trails behind the house, playing hide and seek in the woods or board games in front of the fireplace while drinking hot chocolate; it all sounded like a fairytale to James. Even the little things she used to gush about, like coming down the stairs on a Sunday morning to the smell of David cooking breakfast for everyone, James remembered her stories vividly and had fantastic pictures in his head of what the place must have looked like and felt like.

James had always felt the happiest when Samantha was around, and he got the feeling that Samantha had, for the first time in her life, been truly happy when she lived here. So by the associative happiness principle, Evelyn's Cabin therefore must have been the happiest place on earth.

He knew that reality never matches our fantastical expectations, but honestly he wasn't disappointed at all. David's cooking was every bit as amazing as she had said it was, and the main room with the giant fireplace where they spent the night would have fit right in as the main hall of an inn from any magical fantasy land.

Today when Samantha told him to come help with the chores, he actually got really excited. He had been wanting to explore outside and see all the stuff she used to talk about, but he was afraid to go out there because of all the animal attacks. Doing chores, though? He knew that he'd be just fine outside as long as Samantha and David were with him. Plus, the chores honestly weren't bad. It was hard work, but it was all new and interesting which made it kind of fun. He also enjoyed the new fact that he was now stronger than Samantha: as they worked side by side, she was now politely asking him to lift and carry things instead of the other way around. James felt pretty good about it all.

James has been super curious about that crazy greenhouse, but none of their chores involved the place. So when they took a break to find out what David was swearing about, James figured he'd take a quick detour and check it out.

Once he got close, he heard some sort of animal hissing, but he had no idea what it was or even where it was hiding. He backed away and turned to run back the way he came from. He screamed with fright when something fast darted out from god-knows-where and ran towards him from behind.

He tried to get away, but it was on him in less than a second. Massive, needle-sharp claws dug into his sides as a furry creature the size of a small dog crawled up his back. It growled and hissed and gnawed at his sides all the way up. He screamed and ran and fought trying to get the horrible animal off his back. He reached around behind to try to grab it but it moved and bit at him, snarling and scratching the whole way. As it reached his shoulders he felt its wet teeth scraping the back of his neck as it searched for some spot to bite down. With terrified visions in his mind of it clamping onto one of his arteries, James reached his left hand behind his head and managed to grab the thing's paw. Instead of letting up, the terrible beast bit down hard on his hand, its teeth cutting into the tendons that move his fingers. James screeched in pain and tried to withdraw his hand, but the animal didn't let go. Instead, it thrashed back and forth like a dog with a chew toy. With each thrash and pull it worked its teeth deeper into his hand and tore into his knuckles, breaking his fingers and separating joints.

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In desperation James simply fell down on his back onto the animal. When he fell, he tucked his head forward and arched his shoulders back so as to land with his full weight directly on whatever was attacking him. They hit the ground with a crunching, meaty thump as all 150 pounds of James's weight smashed the animal into the ground. He felt its bones cracking underneath his shoulder. It yowled in pain and annoyance, giving James his chance to pull his hand free.

As quick as his tired body could move, he staggered back to his feet, but the animal didn't hold still either. By the time he was standing, it had already attacked again. This time it went for his leg.

Even though he could see it now, he couldn't identify the thing. Its fur was coarse and matted with mud and blood, both dried and fresh. In the mess he couldn't make out its color; red or gray or brown perhaps. It moved so fast and frantically that he never got a good look at its head. Nor did James particularly care what kind of creature it was: It was a horrible, angry thing; that's all he really needed to know right now.

It dug its claws into his thighs and bit him everywhere it could sink its teeth into as it climbed past his knee. James panicked as it chomped down between his legs, and with another terrified scream he punched the beast in the head in a desperate attempt to fight back. When he struck it the second time, it seized onto his hand and began to climb up his right arm. In half a second it already passed his elbow and reached his shoulder, almost within biting distance of his face. Its claws had torn deep holes into his arm all the way up.

Without realizing it, James had been slowly backing up as the thing attacked, as if stepping backwards would put some distance between him and the little animal. He only noticed when he felt the wall behind him. At that point, the true horror of his situation finally became clear. James was alone. Completely, hopelessly alone. The house, David, and even Samantha were all on the other side of that wall. The wall was more than twice as tall as him and it was highly effective at blocking out sound. Nobody could see him, nobody could hear him, nobody was coming to rescue him. Either he had to find some way to fight the animal off him on his own, or it would literally eat him alive.

And then it started biting his face.

His jaw, his cheek, his nose; the animal didn't hold back in the slightest, gnawing on everything it could reach. When he turned, it bit his ear. When he screamed, it bit his mouth. It was relentless fury incarnate. It was a monster in the body of a small woodland creature. It was twenty pounds of hate wrapped in muddy, bloody fur.

It bit a small chunk out of his ear, and he felt the blood dripping down his ear canal. He couldn't tip his head to keep the blood out because that would put his face closer to the thing that was eating him. It went for his eye but he managed to push its teeth away with his bloodied and broken left hand. It chomped down on his fingers but that hand was already too far gone for that to even matter.

His hand, his arms, his back, his legs, his face, everything was slick and sticky with his own blood. Just a minute ago he was having a pretty good day. A single minute, probably less. And now he was getting literally eaten alive by some tiny Demon Of The Forest. He was losing, hopelessly losing a fight to the death against an animal that was only a tenth his size.

It went to bite his eye again, but for a second time he managed to pull his face away. With a quick pull of its claws, the creature skittered past his defenses and opened its mouth to finally claim his sweet, sweet eyeball.

He screamed.

And then it fell.

Its paws still held tight to his arm, the claws embedded over half an inch deep into his muscles. But those paws were no longer attached to an animal.

James opened his eyes just in time to see Samantha drop from the sky like a meteor, like some kind of goddess-superhero raining vengeance from above. He felt the ground shudder with her landing, barely three feet in front of him. Before he could even react, she had the animal by the throat, held firmly at arms length.

It growled and hissed at her, it bit at her hand as it tried to wiggle out of her grasp, and it tore at her arm with its remaining two paws. But she only glared at it.

"You again!" she hissed at the thing, furious recognition in her narrowed eyes.

It struggled in her grip for a few seconds longer, and then Samantha's eyes flashed a brilliant and confusing shade of green, like the afterimage of a strobe light.

And just like that, the wretched creature died.