When I was eighteen, I left for college in California, to get far away from the snow and the cold and the thing that will kill me. I stopped sensing it everywhere. My heart stopped pounding whenever I walked alone at night. Maybe, whatever it was, it stayed in Vermont. Maybe it wasn't a thing at all. People in California laughed when I told them the story and it stopped seeming real. Just the ramblings of a tiny, ancient French-Canadian woman. It wasn't real.
When I was 27, a wedding invitation came in the mail. Tina was getting married! This was the first I had heard of it. I was still in California, and barely kept in contact with anyone from back east. It seemed like a past life.
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Michael Carten and Tina
Wait. No. She had... clearly she had the name in her mind. Michael Carten. And she sought him out. It had nothing to do with Luvia. Her predictions weren't real. They couldn't be. Clairvoyants don't exist. It's ridiculous to think that kind of thing happens in the real world.
I went to the wedding. Tina, Michael, and I laughed about the whole thing—the psychic knew! She predicted it! Of course she didn't. Tina and Michael decided it was nothing more than a funny story to tell their future children.
Just tell us if you run into some beast with razor-sharp teeth that's gathering skins, okay? Then we'll think it's more than just a funny coincidence.
I left the wedding as sure as I ever was that "the thing that will kill me" wasn't real. Didn't exist. I'd look behind the trees. Behind the cars. Nothing was waiting for me. Nothing was ready to skin me. I didn't know why I had been scared so long.
The best thing about Tina's wedding was that we got back in touch for the first time in a very long time. We were very different people than we had been as children, but we still shared more of a bond than we realized. She was happy, living in Vermont with Michael. She told me everything that was going on in our town. The population slowly increasing. The new schools they were building. The babies that were born.
lluvia Dying.
As the years went on, her calls and emails got less and less frequent. She always seemed to be busy. Soon they tapered off completely. I missed her, of course, but I had my own life. And I could check in on my childhood home whenever I wanted. One winter, I came into town to visit my parents for the holidays, and decided I'd swing by Tina's house. I'd normally never just drop by, but she was pretty bad about answering her phone and I really wanted to see her.
I pulled up to her and Michael's house. Two cars were in the driveway, so I figured they were both home. I walked up and rang the doorbell. Michael opened it, dressed in several layers and a large coat, as if he had just come in from the snow. He invited me inside. He looked very surprised to see me, and asked if I had talked to Tina recently.
Me: I haven't, actually. Not in several months. Sorry for the invasion, I don't usually just drop by like this, but I was wondering if I could see her?
Micheal: I uh, I figured you'd know. That you'd have heard. She left me. A few months ago. Just up and left. Hasn't spoken to me since.
Me: Oh god, I'm so sorry. I had no idea.
He took off his coat and hung it on a coat rack by the door.
Micheal: Can I take your coat
Me: Its alright I wont be staying long
I was shocked that she'd do something like that. He's a really good guy.
Micheal: I'm sorry, I was about to get ready for bed. I've got an early workday tomorrow..Do you mind?
Me: Of course I don't mind. Do you know where she went?
Micheal: I don't *his mouth was full of toothpaste* she didn't call until after she left.
Me: That's awful i'm sorry.
He started flossing, and when he saw me looking toward him, closed the door for privacy. When I heard the shower water start running, I pulled out my phone, figuring I'd take this time to look through Tina's last messages to me, to see if she gave any hint to where she went. Any clue. My phone fell out of my hand as I grabbed if out of my bag, and I saw it drop beneath the couch. As I felt around under the couch for my phone, my hand hit something else. A massive clump of long hair.
I pulled it out from beneath the couch. It seemed so strange, such a large mass of hair.
Brown hair, Tina's shade.
Hair with a piece of scalp still attached.
"The thing that will kill you is gathering skins."
I turned toward the bathroom door. Michael was still showering.
"The thing that will kill you is washing the blood off of its claws."
Flossing, brushing.
"The thing that will kill you is sharpening its teeth."
Sloughing off his outerclothes, his shoes.
"The thing that will kill you is shedding its skin."
Oh god. The thing that will kill me.
I heard the water in the shower stop. Movements from inside the bathroom.
I ran. Out the door. Slammed the door. Sprinted to my car. Shaking. Watching the door. My hands fumbled with keys. Shaking. Shaking. The door to the house opened. My car started. I drove. I didn't look back. I drove. All through the night. Through most of the next day. Only stopping when I absolutely had to. I had no idea if he was following me. I had no idea what I had just seen. My heart didn't start beating normally again until I was two states away. I went home.
This was months ago. I called the police. They investigated. Nothing turned up. They're sure she just left him. Moved away.
Maybe she did. Maybe she's far away. Safe. Maybe nothing's coming for me. Maybe Michael's just a poor guy whose wife left him. Maybe it's nothing behind the trees, in the snow drifts, underneath the cars. Outside my door at night. And the windows. Maybe it's nothing. Probably it's nothing.
lluvia's been wrong before.
Hasn't she?
A voice: The thing that will kill you, you won't see it coming
