Chapter 4
Emmett doesn't come back.
I fall asleep on the couch, waiting for him, and at some point in the middle of the night, I wake to the sound of thunder crashing nearby.
The storm has gotten worse, rain pounding on the ceiling. I sit up on the small couch, glancing over at the fireplace. The fire is still going, but just barely.
I stand and walk over to it, grabbing the fire poker and moving some of the wood around. Once I've got it going again, I set the poker down and straighten.
My eyes catch on something out the small window by the front door.
It's dark, well past midnight, but when lightning strikes again, I see that there's a figure out in the dirt driveway, standing behind Emmett's truck, right against the dark treeline.
Fear lances through me. I'm in the middle of nowhere, and Emmett is gone, and there’s a man outside.
I squint harder into the darkness and realize… the man is Emmett. I recognize his flannel, the shape of his body, his broad shoulders, his wet hair, slick against his neck as he just stands there in the rain.
He's not looking at the cabin. He's turned away, looking into the distance.
Then something odd happens. He hunches over, and his body twists in this strange way, an unnatural way. He's on all fours, and I watch, horrified, as my husband begins to change.
I can't see much in the shadows, in the pouring rain, just the shape of him moving and turning, until he's not Emmett at all. He's a monster.
I have to be dreaming. I must be dreaming, right? Or hallucinating. I do that sometimes when I go too long without sleeping. I start to see bugs on the walls. That has to be what this is.
Except those hallucinations usually only last a second, and this is not going away.
That monster is still standing in the driveway, like a dog but so much bigger. His face whips toward the window, eyes glowing, and I gasp and press my back to the wall so he can't see me.
What the fuck just happened?
I wait, listen, to see if that thing, whatever it was, will try to break down the door, will claw at it to get to me, will come in and rip me to pieces.
But nothing happens.
The storm rages on, and I stand there, trembling, for five minutes, ten. I don't even know how long.
But when I look again, when I finally find the courage to inch over to the window and glance out, the creature is gone.