"Konny? Konny? Can you hear me, Konny? Wake up! Konny!" he yelled while shaking her shoulders.

Everything went dark for her. She saw a few crimson sparks here and there. She felt a stirring inside her body. She thought she had been standing all the time, but then she found herself in a lying position. She gently lifted her head and saw her bare feet. Above them, exposed knees and a soft, white silky nightgown.

Well, this is something I don't have. Where did this come from? It looks nice on me, though.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she exclaimed, feeling her slightly altered voice echo back. Then the voice continued, a different, gravelly, deep voice.

"Don't be afraid," he said in an oddly rough, deep voice.

At that moment, her whole body stiffened. She couldn't move any muscles, joints, or limbs. Her heart started pounding rapidly, and tiny droplets of sweat began to gather on her forehead.

"I... I don't know who you are. What am I doing here?!" she asked, feeling utterly helpless and immobile.

She didn't get an answer.

"Can you hear me? Who are you?!" she asked again.

"Don't be afraid," he repeated.

A few moments later, she felt some hairs brushing past her foot. Now she couldn't lift her head to see who or what it was. Before he turned her onto her stomach, she saw long black claws brushing over her right cheek. She heard and felt the sudden tearing of her nightgown.

"No! What are you doing!?" she cried out, but she couldn't move an inch.

Although he entered abruptly, she didn't feel any pain. On the contrary, to her surprise, she found it pleasant. She no longer hesitated. She didn't resist. She surrendered to the strange pleasure. But everything happened so quickly. In less than a minute, it seemed to her, he let out a pleasant moan, and she felt a moist warmth deep within her. She turned onto her back. Now she could move; she was no longer stiff. There was no one behind her.

13 months later

"Hold him, please," said Konny.

"Pass him over. Who just pooped, huh, Koygo?" Max uttered in an endearing tone.

The child looked at him with a smile for a few seconds, aimlessly glancing around the room. And then, he burst into tears.

"Oh, come on, little one. You're just whimpering. Let's clean you up," said Dad.

Konny went to sit on the couch, watching her two boys successfully collaborate. Her heart was full of joy.

7 years later

"Did you take all the gear, Dad?"

"Yes, son, everything is here. Don't worry. Did you bring yours?"

"Yes, yes! I packed the hooks, sinkers, float rubber bands, spare floats, spare line, fish keeper, folding chair. You have the fishing rod and the worms in the little box. I also brought some corn, just in case," Koygo cheerfully listed his fishing essentials.

"Bravo, bravo. So, everything is here. Excellent. Let's go then," Dad replied and left a note on the table with the message, "Gone fishing. Will be back around 7 pm. Enjoy your time away from us J."

And so the fishermen set off to the river Sylva, 5 kilometers from Bringsborough. There, they found a nice spot under a weeping willow, and a convenient little oakwood boat awaited them. Their spot covered a river branch that formed a small lake—a perfect, yet not so well-known fishing spot. Fishing wasn't as popular in this area, much to the delight of our anglers. Due to the secrecy of the location, the lake was always teeming with fish, and they rarely returned with less than 5 kilograms of catch. Since they set off at dawn, the sun wasn't a problem for them. Max couldn't wait to settle into the boat and test his skills in the middle of the lake. Comfortably seated on small, but adequately cushioned pillows in the boat, wearing fishing hats with plenty of hooks on their heads, they awaited the first tug on the fishing rod.

"Ah, son. Me, thirty, you, seven years old, two guys spending quality time together. A true bonding moment between father and son, don't you agree?"

"Yes, Dad. I love fishing with you," the little boy replied, with his cap occasionally falling over his eyes, prompting a comical reaction of slight annoyance as he quickly pushed it back up. His father was so happy that he could almost reach for the clouds.

After a few minutes, Max caught his first fish—a 45-centimeter pike.

"You see, this fish has teeth. Do you remember what we learned? What fish does it remind you of?"

"Is it a zander? It looks like a zander to me."

"Close, but not quite. It's not a zander. A zander has easily recognizable dorsal fins with spines sticking out. Do you remember what I'm talking about?"

"Oh, yes, yes. Then it's a pike?"

"Pike, exactly. That's it. So when you take a pike out of the water, you must hold it by its eyes to open its strong jaws and immobilize it. Otherwise, you might lose your fingers. You have to handle this fish very carefully. No joking around with this one," the experienced angler said, hoping to pass on some knowledge to his inexperienced young fisherman.

"Yes, Dad. I understand."

They fished like that for the next two hours, and then they decided to take a break for a snack. They paddled to the shore and beached the boat on firm, stable ground.

They opened the bag with sandwiches that Konny had packed for them the previous night and started eating.

"How do you like yours?" the father asked.

"I like it, I love this cheesy spread that mom puts on it. It goes so well with the bacon and pickles," Koygo replied, after which everything around Max froze.

"Oh no, not again!"

I haven't had any visions for 7 years. Ahh... I hoped they were gone. Why again?!

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

This time the vision was different. He felt it more from within rather than experiencing it through sight. He felt sudden weakness, as after vomiting. Unexplainable swirling in his stomach. He felt nauseous, but the pain was in his head. As if his blood vessels were about to burst inside his skull. In simple terms, he felt impending death. At some point, sharp pain occurred, and then he felt nothing. He saw a whitish frame leading into some dark tunnel. He was moving toward it.

He thought it was long, but he came out of it in no time. After the tunnel – a vast expanse of vivid colors full of nature. Plains and mountains, celestial dome and waters on the ground, treetops blooming with various bird chirps, vines hanging from trees adorned with flowers of the most diverse shades, the babbling of swift clear water streams, the living world pervaded the aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environment – paradise. There were people too. A multitude of different faces he didn't recognize. They all harmonized with nature. They socialized with monkeys, rhinos, giraffes, flamingos. They caressed eagles, falcons, vultures in their hands.

They helped ants by giving them fresh honey taken from huge natural hives attached to thick high trees. It was an indescribable harmony woven from the collective work of all living beings. There was no sense of predation in the air. There were predators too, but they were never hungry. Herbivores ate plants that would instantly regenerate. People ate whatever they wanted, there were self-service tables with endless supplies of anything they desired. If they didn't want to eat, they didn't have to. If they didn't want to drink, they didn't have to. They did whatever they wanted, but it never endangered other creatures.

This seems a bit unreal and unfeasible. But okay, who am I to question anything? I probably died since I’m here.

It didn't take him long to find Konny. She saw him from the midst of the bustling crowd and started running towards him with open arms ready for an embrace. And it was an incredibly passionate and fiery hug. Like fireworks on New Year's Eve. Love sparks were flying everywhere, occasionally reaching people who happened to be there, and with each spark, they would feel a new surge of love and closeness.

Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to say a word before she pushed him strongly back from the embrace, causing him to lose his balance and return through the tunnel into the interdimensional space. On his way back, he vaguely saw a man standing next to her with a contented farewell expression on his face. Both of them stood there so motionless, wearing that expression almost like a mask. The man seemed incredibly familiar, but he couldn't figure out who he was.

"Ahhh, no. Why did you do that, Konnyy!?" The expression echoed through the hollow of the tunnel, which rapidly narrowed to a point in the middle before completely vanishing.

"Dad? Dad?" Koygo asked, sounding worried.

"Tell me, son, what happened?" Max replied, looking bewildered as if he had just woken up prematurely from a dream.

"Well, nothing, really. You just looked weird, staring at a point, and it scared me," the seven-year-old said innocently.

"Nothing was wrong, darling. Don't worry," Max reassured, trying to comfort his concerned son.

And they continued having their sandwiches. Max occasionally commented on the beautiful nature surrounding them, reminding himself to spend more time in it as it made him feel fulfilled and free.

"An extraordinary feeling, isn't it, Koy?"

"Yes, it's nice."

After finishing their meal, they continued fishing from the shore, under the shade of a sprawling, melancholic willow tree.

"I need to pee," Koygo announced.

"You can go behind that bush over there, see?" Max pointed while speaking.

"Yeah, I'll go then."

"Alright."

Ten minutes passed, and Koygo still hadn't returned. Max got lost in fishing, but when he realized how much time had passed, he became very worried. He called out Koygo's name, but there was no response. He left his fishing rod on a branch and headed towards the bush where he had directed his son to go. As he got closer, he heard a muffled murmur.

"...so they bandaged it then?" a voice he didn't recognize said.

"Yes, there was no need, though. It was already healed the next day. They were surprised how fast it healed, but I didn't feel any pain, and I knew it had fully healed."

Max had come close enough to see the unfamiliar figure. It looked terrifyingly familiar – black fur, long black claws, yellow snake-like eyes, and jagged ram horns – it was the same creature he had seen in his vision back in his bed, with the sequoias and the slide, rocking the crib with a baby.

"Run, Koygo, get away from him!" he shouted and ran towards the ominous creature.

The boy didn't have time to react before Max reached the horned creature and knocked it down to the ground.

"I never intended to harm him... But your wife... Hahaha," it uttered through its sharp, long brown teeth and then smirked maliciously before turning into crimson dust, carried away by the wind.

"What are you talking about?! Don't you dare touch her!" Max stood up and caught his breath.

"What did you talk about?" he asked, still panting heavily.

"Nothing special. He asked me how I was doing. We also talked about the time when I injured my hand on the stairs. Remember when we went to the doctor, and they put a cast on my hand, and it was completely healed the next day? Do you remember?"

"Of course, how could I forget. Was there anything else?" he inquired with a serious, probing look, hiding immense concern that filled his mind.

"He said something strange to me, something I couldn't believe."

"What?"

"He told me not to worry about Mom."

"Why about Mom, what happened?"

"He didn't say anything else about her. Just not to worry."

"Alright, son. Let's get back home quickly. Pack your things as fast as you can and put them in the car. Let's go, quickly."

A heavy rain started soon after they left. They drove as fast as they could along the road. They parked the car by the entrance. They ran in the downpour and within seconds, they were soaking wet. They jumped over the polished wooden threshold and rushed into the house.

"Wait for me here, please. Okay?" Max told Koygo in the hallway next to the entrance. "Take off your wet clothes and shoes, sit on the stairs, and wait for me for a minute."

Carefully, he tiptoed into the kitchen. No one was there. The living room – empty. The bathroom – the same. He climbed upstairs. He saw white claw marks along the orange-brown wall, reaching deep into the plaster. The marks were so deep that they reached the mortar. All doors except for the bedroom were closed.

He approached the bedroom cautiously, prepared for anything. Or so he thought. Inside, he found Konny lying motionless on the carpet in the middle of the room. He was not prepared for this. He approached her and took a closer look. Her face was turned towards the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood. He knelt on the blood-stained carpet, tears in his eyes and adrenal packs ready to be pumped into his bloodstream, and he began shaking her by the shoulders.

"Konny, my love? Konny!" he shook her, then stopped. Carefully, he turned her face towards him. The horrifying sight forever etched into his memory. Bloody claw marks had created deep grooves across what was once a beautiful face, with pools of semi-coagulated blood filling the furrows. Her face was completely disfigured, unrecognizable. The right eye was marked by a deep gash, while the iris of the left eye was a bright red, filled with blood from burst blood vessels.

Traces of blood-stained cartilage were visible on her nose. The skin of her cheeks, chin, and forehead hung precariously on one side of her face. Her lips were torn apart to the point that it was impossible to recall their previous appearance. He didn't even bother to check for a pulse. Before, he couldn't see through the shock, but now he saw clearly. The blood vessels in her neck had been torn. Blood was still flowing slowly as he held her head slightly elevated. The blood created a small, coagulated pool around her neck.

He was utterly and completely shattered. Every cell in his body soaked in grief, helplessness, and rage. He knelt beside his dead wife, feeling overwhelmed by sorrow and anger, causing his face to alternate between a furrowed brow and a blank expression, eyes aged a hundredfold in seconds. Happy memories flashed in his mind, drowning him in overpowering emotions that swirled around and within him like an abnormal invisible whirlpool, unseen but felt by his heart.

In this abnormal vortex, he knelt motionless as waves of emotions crashed and churned around him. He didn't know where to go or what to do. He didn't know if all this was real or just another vision. Did this truly happen to him? He began slapping his cheeks, forehead, and chin, trying to snap out of the shock. He failed. Time still passed, and the metallic scent of congealed blood mixed with faded fabric softener continued to linger. The tightness started from within him.

Colors swirled before his eyes. His airways constricted. It felt like he couldn't breathe. A lump formed in his throat, accumulating like a small snowball on fresh, quality snow. It grew bigger and bigger until it seemed like his esophagus would burst, unable to swallow. He clenched his jaw tightly, squeezing his fists and forearms, then pounded his fists into the bloody carpet, splattering himself and the surrounding area with the ejected blood.