The Cabin at the End of Herrick Road. Derek Wachter

      Matt laughed. “Fair enough,” he said.

      The couple lay silent on the couch for the next few hours, talking with one another, listening to the sounds of the fireplace crackling. Christina had got up for a moment to put a couple more pieces of wood on the fire to keep it going, then sat back down again. Max, the dog, was looking frustrated at her that she had stood up and disturbed his slumber. Eventually the couple fell asleep there on the couch in the living room with the warmth of the fire lighting the cabin.

      The winds outside the cabin were picking up, whipping and howling through the grass field and pine trees causing an eerie whistling sound. However, off in the distance in the dense northwestern forest, there was another kind of howling that no one had heard in the home—something heavier than just the howl of the wind, something more menacing.