The sun was going down, not that there was any visibility to begin with. All I had was my pocket light on a chain around my neck. At least Happy was here beside me. I had no clue where Ben was. How could I get myself lost in this dreadful forest? How long had I been walking? I got the impression I’d been walking in circles. Now and then, Happy would bark as if something were there.

“Come on Happy; we’ll find a way out of here soon.”

He made a little woof in response, with his tail wagging. I kneeled, patting him on the head.

“That’s a good boy!”

Out of my vision, I caught movement. I spun around to identify what it was. Was it an animal? A predator like a bear or a wolf? Another flash of movement caught my attention.

“Who’s there?!” I shouted.

I backed up a few steps when I fell backward, landing on my bare behind. Was there a log there before? My flashing light around my legs. To my surprise, I indeed find a piece of wood. I checked the path with my light, and surely the path I’d just walked was clear. That wasn’t there a few moments ago. Chills went down my back as the faintest touch ran down my mid-back. I quickly jumped around to my knees, shining the light in that direction. There was nothing here, not even footprints. An eerie feeling sank into my mind like something was watching me from the surrounding darkness. Then I realized Happy was gone again. I panicked. Where had he gone so suddenly? I paused before calling out his name again, but my instincts told me not to. There was something dangerous out there. The moon peeked through an opening in the trees, lighting the small area.

My stomach tightened when I witnessed it, and my body tensed up. A rush of fear swelled up inside of me. Two golden orbs stared steadily and unmoving back at me from the opening in front of me. It was hard to tell what it was, but it was taller than anything I had ever seen. It was mere feet away from me, just outside of the moonlight. I slowly brought my pocket light up to illuminate it. My heart was pounding fast, and I struggled to control my breathing. Sweat dripped down from my forehead, pooling around my nose and mouth. My lips quivered, and the taste of salt melted in my mouth. Sweat and mud drenched my entire body. My dress clung tightly to my body like a second skin. I trembled frighteningly with the moment my light was about to be cast upon it.

Whatever the animal was, it could move quicker than my eyes could track as it darted to the left of me. I frantically tried to see what it was the creature was, but it moved faster than any animal I knew of. If it was a predator, then I knew my tush was surely done for. Clouds briefly blocked the moonlight, which was my only other source of illumination save for my lighter. It was right on me the next moment, just inches from my face. All I detected in the darkness was the gold eyes of the creature. A furious breath of hot air tickled the hair on my face and chest. The animal-like creature had to be seven or eight feet tall. Its huge and bulky stature towered over me. A black mass of pure terror stood before me with wide shoulders and long, muscled limbs. I wanted to run, but how far could I get? What was this thing? The golden orbs lowered closer to my face. Something grabbed my chest, stroking my breasts heavily but delicately. Its sharp nails dug against my skin as it carefully squeezed one of my breasts so as not to break the flesh. A sticky fluid dripped down onto my stomach and thighs. I stood frozen as the creature hovered over me. It then forcibly turned me onto my stomach in one swift motion. Its clawed fingers slowly explored my back and bottom before a sharp pain burned my right inner thigh.

I flipped over, finding the creature gone. Happy excitedly barked as he hopped in my lap, licking my breast and stomach. He licked every inch of my body before he settled down. A rush of relief and a sense of happiness overcame me as I hugged him; I held him close to my bosom as he licked me. Whatever that animal was, Happy must have scared it off. I noticed we were under a weird tree that differed from the others and looked to be ancient. The way it looked in the moonlight gave me the creeps. I put that out of my mind for now. My thigh was throbbing with pain. I shined my light on my thigh to see five scratches. They were deep but weren’t bleeding. 

To make matters worse, my dress had been torn and shredded. My body had small scratch marks all over it, especially my breasts. My body was nude, and the torn fabric of what is left of my clothes fell off. 

Happy curled up beside me. He made me feel safe and comfortable with him by my side. He was unusually warm and seemed to have a lot more hair than normal. A drowsiness came over me suddenly. My body is coming down from the adrenaline rush I just had. I lay back against the eerie tree. Staying awake was hard, and drowsiness was taking me over, urging me to sleep. A funny feeling came over me for a moment. I wasn’t afraid of this forest anymore.

___

I woke up to Happy licking my face. My eyes were still blurry, but I thought my ears heard a man’s voice. I wiped my eyes, clearing them to see a figure. For a moment, I thought it was that wild animal from last night. A few more moments and my vision cleared. 

“Ben!” I cried.

“Hannah! What happened to you? I searched for you all night!” Ben said.

“I got lost here when I went looking for Happy.”

“What, that makes little sense? What happened to all your clothes?” Ben said, taking his shirt off and helping me into it.

“I dunno, some enormous animal attacked me, ripping my clothes up. Happy must have scared it away. He stayed with me through the night.”

Ben looked up, noticing the eerie tree I lay under. In the semi-light of the morning, it somehow looked even more strange than it had last night. The morning sun revealed just how big this ancient tree was. It dwarfed the others in height and thickness.

“What are you talking about? Happy ran after you yesterday, and I followed. We lost you after a while.”

“How? Happy run into the forest. He was chasing something.”

“Listen, what was the animal that attacked you?” Ben questioned.

“It was too dark to see it. But it was huge. I dunno what would have happened if Happy hadn’t come back.” 

“Hannah, Happy was with me all night. We couldn’t find you anywhere. I only found you just now after Happy picked your scent up again.”

My thoughts were stunned for a moment, and I struggled to believe what Ben was saying. He must have been mistaken or panicked because he couldn’t find me. Happy was with me almost the whole time.

“Maybe he went back and forth between us yesterday, trying to lead us back together.”

“No, babe. We were searching for you on the other side of the highway and I dunno how you got to this side. It was sheer luck we picked up your trail.”

“I can’t explain it either,” I said.

“Let’s get you back to the RV. Are you hurt, anyway?” 

“Just my right inner thigh. It scratched me there.”

Ben looked it over, checking my wounds. All he found were five thin lines that looked nothing like it had last night.

“I swore it was a deep gash last night!” I affirmed.

“Honey, we’ll see more about it back at the RV.”

I nodded my head, still shaken up about things. The hike back to the RV was long, and Ben carried me most of the way. How had I run through all this brush and rocks on the ground without cutting my feet up? Ben was silent most of the way. I’d gone so far into this forest. It took well over three hours to reach the highway. From here, we walked at least five miles back to the RV. The walk back was almost awkward. My mind fought to wrap my head around what had happened, what I had seen, and what Ben had told me. Was I going crazy?

As we made our way to the camper, I noticed the cabin door to the living area was open. Ben noticed it and stopped walking abruptly.

“I know it was. Before I left this morning, I closed the door. I must have forgotten in reality. My mind was a mess, and I had to find you as quickly,” Ben said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said.

“Let me check things out first.”

“Oh, okay.”

I stood out in front as Ben checked the interior of the camper. A few minutes later, he returned to escort me inside. He studied me for any more wounds again. As before, he found nothing. In fact, I had no scars at all, either. My skin was silky smooth, with no blemishes or any marks. Not that I had a birthmark, but Ben seemed puzzled. He knew my body better than anyone else, as we were highly sexually active together. What surprised him the most was my feet. When he examined them, he found they had no cuts or bruises at all. I had no explanation for it and just looked away when he had that questioning look he gets.

I recall it was freezing last night, and I needed a shower while Ben waited in the front compartment. I turned the knob for hot water on, standing as far away from the stream of water as possible. Our shower was small but big enough for two people. Using my hand, I gauged how cold the water was until it reached a temperature that would be comfortable. I wanted the water to be hot, and I stepped into it when steam came from the running water. A steamy sensation flowed over my body as the water scolded me until I adjusted to the heated water. 

How was I able to get lost so quickly, and why did I see Happy run off into the forest? I hugged myself. The whole situation baffled me, and I had no choice but to doubt my own memories. I knew I had chased Happy through the forest, and I knew a creature of some sort attacked me. Why would I willingly rip my clothes off in the middle of nowhere and imagine Happy was with me? Shaking my head, I took a bottle of shampoo from the shower shelf and put a healthy dose of it in my hair. I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling out any debris from the forest. I had not realized just how much crap was in my hair. Before I put the conditioner in, I thoroughly washed everything. After I had finished with my hair, I cleaned all the soapy water out of my eyes and washed my body. I lathered soap over my breasts, checking them for any cuts.

The creature fondled and ravaged them last night, and I remembered how sharp its claws were. I ran my hands over my buttocks, feeling for any breaks in my skin. I paid close attention to my thighs and calves. The creature had its way with me, and the thought of something much worse could have happened ran through my mind. That’s when I noticed a blackish hair around the drain. Long black strands of hair that didn’t belong to Ben, Happy, or me circled the drain. A shiver ran down my spine as the black hair could have come from the creature that attacked me. How did it get intertwined in my hair? It never got that close to getting its hair in mine? I washed the mud smeared on most of my body, more of the mystery black hair stuck to the dry mud along with tiny broken twigs. Ben must have noticed all of this when he found me.

From the front of the RV, Ben called out to me from the front of the camper, “Let me give you a few more checks and a little medicine in case you might have gotten your wounds infected. Out here in the middle of nowhere, a minor scratch can mean the difference between life and death. Not only that, it was cold last night for this time of year. I am not wasting any effort to make sure you’re okay, honey!”

I turned back towards the kitchen. “Okay, I appreciate that!”

Ben was standing in the hallway, looking back at me. I just stood naked while he looked at me with worried eyes. I wanted him to know I didn’t need her to worry about me, but I doubted there was anything that would ease his worries.

“I’m gonna get dressed and I will be right there.”

“Sure, take your time, sweety.” He smiled as he sat down, out of sight.

I turned back to our dresser and looked through the drawers with my underwear when I realized they weren’t where I had left them. Confused, I searched through all the drawers in the bedroom cabin. After an exhausting search, I resigned myself to the fact that I couldn’t find any of my undergarments, and I paced around the cabin, wondering how I misplaced them. Most of my clothes had disappeared except for a handful of short dresses, and I couldn’t find any shoes or heels I had packed. None of this made any sense because I knew for sure my clothes were here yesterday. With no other option, I put on a pink dress similar to the yellow one I wore yesterday. In fact, the other few dresses were the same type. That’s kind of odd that these are the only dresses I can find. Maybe Ben moved them.

I returned to the front with Ben, and he started the RV up as we headed out.

“Hey, did you move my clothes around? I couldn’t find any underwear and most of my clothes disappeared,” I asked.

“Wait, you mean to tell me you can’t find any of your clothes?” Ben asked.

“No, just a few dresses like this one.” 

Ben stopped the camper, going back to the bedroom without speaking. He spent the next hour going through everything inside and outside in the compartments. The only items missing were mine. Not just my clothes but a few other things like my comb, my dirty bath towel from the other night, and used tampons. This freaked me out. Someone was inside and took my personal things!