The Old Bones

The Dreams

The old man stumbled out of the woods, catching himself before he could fall in the snow. He hunched forward, bracing his hands on his knees; his battered joints couldn't take much more strain. He had to stop for a moment, try to catch his breath at least, but the bleak winter air wouldn't grant it to him. The longer he stood there, the more unbearable it became to breath. Not far to go now. His exhausted mind thought gazing out across the vast clearing; heavy snow had fallen all day, blanketing the rolling hills, dense with trees. The snow was enveloped with blue under the moon light that peaked out from behind creeping clouds. The old man's small cabin sat in an open field at the bottom of the hill nestled in-between two ridgelines. Opaque smoke billowed out from a stone chimney and danced across the snow-covered roof; soft gusts of wind sent the smoke swirling into the sky.

There was rustling in the thicket directly behind him. His eyes widened. Shit. The old man hobbled as fast as his tired legs could take him toward the house, he never looked back, but the oak tree slamming to the ground was more than impossible to ignore. A whimper slipped from his mouth, arms flailing about trying to gain momentum to propel him through the snow. He was close now, less than fifty feet from the door, but it was gaining.

The sound of toes tapping across the cracks of the walkway were within arm's reach of him when he slammed the door shut. A heavy burst of air sliced through every crack of the doorway; the force rattled the pictures hanging on the wall. He pressed against the door with all his tired body could offer, after a few moments of nothing he felt safe enough to reach for the locks on the door.

"Charlotte? Charlotte!" The old man yelled for his wife. She hadn't heard him come in; her hearing had been fading for some time.

"What's the matter Samuel?" Charlotte asked, reaching for the damper on the stove pipe; distracted, she over reached the knob and burnt the tips of her fingers on the hot pipe. Charlotte quickly shoved the tips of her fingers in her mouth to get relief from the pain. She regained focus quickly and rushed to meet her husband at the door. She was a portly woman and looked older than what she should from the abuse of a lifetime of hard work.

"It followed me here Charlotte." Samuel said glaring out a small glass insert in the door. The heat from his breath fogged it over, nothing was there anymore, just footprints and drag marks leading to the doorway. "Where are the boys?" Samuel asked jerking a tattered toboggan from his head. Charlotte motioned toward their room, indicating they were already asleep. He nodded his head and made his way sluggishly to the nearest chair to the door; letting himself fall into its embrace. He covered his eyes and pulled at the white and grey hair on his head.

Sean, about seven years old, had heard the commotion from inside his bedroom. Not fully awake yet, the boy opened his eyes, closing them immediately; the gleam from the nightlight in the room hurt. Sean opened and closed his eyes several times, adjusting them to the light. He got up as quietly as he could, and crept closer to the door. "Samuel, you need to keep it down, you're going to wake the boys." Sean heard his grandmother say. Sean cracked the door open, just enough to peer out and see his grandparents conversing next to the living room door. He had to be careful that they didn't see light coming through the crack.

"I'm sorry, but the last thing we need to be worrying about is waking them up. Actually, it's probably not a bad idea to go ahead and do it, as soon as I know it's safe enough; we are getting the hell out of here." Samuel stood up from the chair and got closer to Charlotte's face, he whispered something into her ear. Sean was too far away to make out exactly what was said, but judging from the look on his grandmother's face it couldn't have been too good. What was going on? He tried to open the door just a little more, then maybe he could hear. The door creaked; Sean knew he was busted.