A Haven

         There he was.  Bleeding.  Lifeless.  With this horror-stricken face that will forever be etched into my memory for as long as I live, which won’t be long.  We’ve been hiking in these woods since we starting dating over two years ago.  It is our haven from the realities of the real world.  Even the stillness of the night was wonderful.  That was a time to make love and pass the night away as we dream of a life beyond our current situation of school, internships and part-time jobs.  All of that shattered when I saw that thing’s shadow in deep in the woods.  We had just made love.  I sat up in our tent to get some water when a shadow fell on the tent.  He must have seen it too, because he was up and out of the tent without even putting on his boxers.    His scream was as deafening as it was short.  A loud crash, like bark being ripped of a tree rang out and he crashed back into the tent, bleeding…and dead.  I can hear the heavy breathing of that thing out there.  And I can see its shadow rising.  It’s hideous face…