- [John] I thought I'd seen the worst disease ever created

in the cancer that ate away my dear Emily.

I thought watching her change

into a brittle, twisted creature

that bore no resemblance to the woman I married

was the worst thing that would ever happen to me.

I was wrong.

The only thing I had left of Emily was her wedding ring,

which I wore around my neck on a chain.

Instead of a diamond,

the ring held a purple gem.

Purple is her favorite color,

or was her favorite color.

After the funeral,

I drove out to our cabin on the edge of the forest

despite pleas from family and friends.

I just needed to be alone,

and I kinda hoped to recapture some of the joy

Emily and I shared in the early days.

After all, the cabin was where I proposed.

Perhaps some echo of that moment

still lingers among the ancient oak trees

and leaf-littered dirt paths

like a shaft of sunlight piercing through

the dark forest canopy.

But the cabin had fallen into despair

during Emily's illness,

and all I found was wood rot and bad dreams,

reoccurring nocturnal visions of Emily

withered to a molted skeleton,

shambling around the mossy planks of the cabin.

When I reach out to try and touch her,

she crumbles to ash in my hands.

I went on evening walks to try and avoid the dreams,

and it was on one of these walks that I discovered the pond.

A reflection of the full moon

was shining on the water's glassy surface.

As I approached,

the sound of crickets chirping

and chittering night birds fell away to silence.

A cold breeze whispered around me

as if urging me forward.

I stopped at the water's edge

and took a deep breath of the fresh night air.

And the second I exhaled,

a sense of calm I hadn't felt in months washed over me.

I just stood there appreciating

the serenity of this hidden place.

It was a scene that felt as though

it had been created just for me,

and no one else.

And that's when I saw her.

For a moment,

I thought I'd fallen into another one of my dreams,

but the Emily I saw standing next to me

in the water's reflection

wasn't the wasted wrath I'd come to know in my sleep.

No, she, she was beautiful again.

The full bloom of health glowed in her light brown skin,

like bread fresh out of the oven.

I quickly spun around,

expecting to see my wife standing next to me

at the edge of the pond.

But save for the watchful trees, I was alone.

When I looked back at the pond, she was still there,

smiling up at me with joyful tears in her eyes.

"John," she said, "How I've missed you!"

I was speechless.

She looked absolutely perfect.

I had almost forgotten

how the flash of her smile could melt me.

"Emily?

"I've, I've missed you so much," I finally managed to say.

She smiled and said,

"Touch the water, love, and we can be together again!"

I felt tears spring to my eyes,

and I almost couldn't help myself.

I was gonna, I, I nearly leapt in the water.

But something stopped me.

It was something about her voice.

It really was Emily's,

but at the same time, it felt so unfamiliar.

Something was off about it.

There was this tinkling quality,

like the sound of wind chimes in an ill-tempered wind

hid behind the kindness in her voice.

It was her, but it wasn't.

When she saw my hesitance,

she reached out of the pond and slipped her hand into mine.

I gasped.

I had actually felt her fingers

intertwining with mine,

the soft warmth of her skin pressing into my palm.

"Please," she whispered,

and when she did, I could feel her breath in my ear.

"I can't lose you again."

All notions that I had fallen into a dream

were gone in an instant.

It was real,

and I thought it might be my only chance

to get back the woman I loved.

I raised my foot,

ready to plunge into the dark waters, come what may,

but then I heard a low growl

coming from the other side of the pond.

I froze.

With a shiver running down my spine, I looked up.

I saw dark shapes hunched over

on the far shore of the pond.

Several pairs of eyes shone out from the darkness

like infernal lanterns.

One of the shapes stepped into the moonlight,

and my blood ran cold.

Even beneath its charred flesh and sharp-toothed maw,

I could see that the creature crouched before me

had a horrible human body.

Lifting its face up to the moon,

it unleashed a terrible roar.

I heard the legends of the Woe Bones,

monsters in the woods that are drawn to your sadness.

I thought it was just another story,

like Bigfoot or, you know, a lot of rumors,

but no real sightings.

I swore it wasn't real, until now.

I tried to run,

but my feet tangled beneath me, and I fell.

Rocks dislodged in my terror

and tumbled into the pond with a loud splash.

A single droplet landed on my cheek,

where my tears had so recently run.

Without turning back to see if Woe Bones were following,

I ran all the way back to the cabin

and locked myself inside.

Riding the surge of fear and adrenaline,

I pushed the couch in front of the door,

barricading myself inside.

Out of nowhere, a wave of dizziness struck me.

Before I could take another step, I collapsed.

I woke up on the floor.

The side of my face was burning.

I got up and found a mirror.

Where the water from the pond had touched my skin,

black veins had sprouted and ran down toward my neck.

Then a whole chorus of howls rose from outside.

Peeking through the curtains,

I saw the glowing eyes and dark shapes of the Woe Bones

skittering around my cabin like wolves.

But they didn't attack.

It seemed like they were waiting.

Exhausted, eventually I had no choice

but to try and get some sleep.

I tossed and turned the rest of the night

in the grip of an awful fever.

Fire burned at my muscles

and my bones seemed to twist in their sockets.

I found some sleeping pills

and hoped to escape the pain for a while.

But when I finally fell asleep,

I had dreams of chasing a man through the woods,

running him down

and ripping his flesh with my teeth.

As his warm blood trickled down my chin,

I looked at his face.

It was my own.

I awoke to darkness.

Again the howls rose in a tragic unison outside.

The pain had subsided when I got up to go to the bathroom,

but the face I saw in the mirror was not a human face.

Dark animal eyes stared at me out of my own sockets.

I didn't have teeth.

There were fangs jutting out from my mouth.

A sudden hunger stabbed my belly,

and I fell to my knees.

The cries of the Woe Bone outside pressed in on me,

nearly driving me to madness.

The monsters outside the door

were waiting for me to join them.

I grabbed the old hunting knife from the closet.

The blade was a little rusty, but the edge was still sharp.

I went out to the porch and sat down

in the old wooden rocker with the knife.

The Woe Bones howled and cried,

but I knew they wouldn't come for me.

That was my choice.

I held up my wife's wedding ring.

Its purple stone shimmered in the darkness.

Perhaps there was a way I could finally see Emily again,

one quick, sharp stab of pain.

You know, the howls from the monsters in the woods?

They sounded so beautiful, so welcoming.

I realized it was a song.

The Woe Bones were singing about their sadness,

holding it up to the night sky

like an offering of fresh meat.

The hunger growled inside me,

filling my head up with delicious, bloody thoughts.

All my pain was gone,

and my fear was ebbing away like a bad dream does

shortly after you wake up.

So I decided to wait a little longer.

I wanted to hear the end of their song.

There'd be time enough afterward to decide what to do,

so I decided to wait.

(sinister music)

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