One Dark and Misty Night

There is a place inside the woods where I wound up one night. Way up in the mountains where I went to get a bite. Circumstances led me there the day my car broke down. I thought I’d get a meal as I was stranded near the town. It was a lovely autumn day, the trees were crimson red. It was their last hurrah before the leaves were dried and shed. The yellows and the oranges were mingled with the green. The sight was so breathtaking, the most lovely that I’d seen. The back roads were the prettiest and so I went that way. My camera was my passenger and chronicled the day. But halfway through my journey my car heated up and died. My cell phone had no signal and nowhere was there a ride. That’s when I saw the smoke emerging from a chimney top. Way up in the mountain where I thought there’d be a shop. And so I started climbing as the day had turned to dusk. Even now, I still can smell the pine trees and the musk. Echoes in the misty night surrounded me with fear. Something was behind me I could feel that it was near. I started walking faster as my heart began to race. The eerie sounds of creatures filled the earth and every space. I finally reached a clearing and the lights that were up high. I screamed into the darkness with no answer to my cry. That’s when I heard the howling of the wolves into the night. And when I felt the burning of the teeth sink in and bite. I screamed in pain and horror as I fell onto the ground. I started crawling to a house, the closest in the town. But just before I reached the door, I felt a bite again. I know that I was saved but don’t remember how or when. The people in the cabin took me in and made me well. A few days later I was healed, the bites no longer swelled. But now each time the moon is full I roam the woods til light. All because my car broke down one dark and misty night. For Gail Doyle's 'Stranded' contest, by Samia Ali Arroyo