Everything was still and quiet. Sara called out, hoping someone else might be in the park nearby and able to help her. "Hello? Hello??!" But there was no answer, just the sound of her heart pounding wildly in her ears, a low earthly drum.

She had started to feel obscure and untraceable, like her whole existence had been snatched up and hidden away here in the forest.

From out of the eerie stillness came the deep sound of a fog horn. It was a sign, however unsettling, that she wasn't completely alone in the world.

Sara looked out through the trees and could make out the shape of the river in the mist. There was a narrow little trail cutting off from the main path and she followed it, coming out of the trees onto a sandy beach. The river was a dull gray, its cold fingers licking the shoreline. The horn blew again, this time louder and nearer, and the blast reverberated down to her bones.

Appearing out of the thick fog on the river was a large white fishing boat, the sails furled and packed tightly away, a lone mast jutting up sharply. It was old and worn— monochrome and pale, like the fog.

As the ship pulled up to the dock (a shabby string of wooden boards with broken planks and gushes of water shooting up through the holes), Sarah could see a scant crew working aboard; the sound of metal clanking echoed in the air like the sky was one large metal dome.

The men were also monochrome and pale, like the ship, like the fog. Sara called out to them — "Excuse me! Hello?! Does anyone have a phone I can use? Excuse me!" — but no one responded. It were as if they couldn't hear her, as if she wasn't there. She was about to call out some more when she noticed another figure out on the water, shrouded by fog, floating in mid air.

It took her a moment to realize that the figure was actually standing on the remaining pillars of another dock, already decomposed.

It was a woman, and she too was monochrome and pale, like the ship, like the men, like the fog. She was wearing a plain dress that fell down to her ankles, and her hair was long and whitish-blonde, hanging all the way down to her waist. She was like an apparition that had appeared out of nowhere.

Suddenly the woman jumped, leaping from post to post, making her way to the shore. Her movements were swift and graceful, landing on one post from the other like a bird of prey swooping to catch a mouse, her dress like wings trailing behind her.

When she at last reached the shore, she stopped and looked directly at Sara, making eye contact. The moment was brief, just a flash before she ran away into the tree line.

Sara had been spellbound by her movements and even more captivated by her face and eyes. "Wait!" She called after her, running to catch up. "Please! You have to wait! I need to talk to you!" Her voice was strained and desperate.

Intent on following, Sara was taken down a narrow and winding trail through the brush, and the further she went, the darker it became. There was a sudden steep hill that she nearly tripped going down, and at the bottom was an enormous tree hollow.

From out of the darkness of the hollow, the strange woman reached out and pulled Sara inside, her cold hand over Sara's mouth, her other arm around her waist. She shivered at the woman's shallow breath on her neck.

"The Stealer is coming," she whispered in Sara's ear, her voice wispy and soft.

As soon as she said this the dim light around them faded to black. The darkness felt weighted, thick and heavy. Sara heard a deep voice echo through the dome-like atmosphere. The sound seemed far away and right next to her all at once.

"Sara..." came the dark voice. "I've been waiting for you."

Sara was thoroughly creeped out now. What the hell is going on?

The woman gripped her tighter around the waist, and Sara could feel her delicate frame against her back. The pale woman's breathing came in short little gasps, like the drip of water from a facet in another room.

As suddenly as it had come the heavy darkness dissipated and the dim light returned. The woman released her grasp. "The Stealer will return. The Stealer will return..." her eyes were glazed as she mumbled these words over and over.

"E-excuse me? Miss?" Sara tried to approach her, but the pale woman just continued her mumbling.

"Do you know what's going on?? Look, I don't know where we are and I-I need to get back to my kids. Can you show me the way back to the parking lot? I think I just got lost." Sara looked around the large tree hollow and out into the mist outside. She couldn't tell what time it was, because the fog was so thick that the sun wasn't visible. There was only a slanted dim light, barely illuminating anything.

The woman didn't respond.

"I'm... going to go home now." Sara started to leave but the woman shot out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back into the hollow.

"The Stealer will return," she warned, her eyes gray and dim, like the light.

Sara glanced down at her wrist in the woman's cold hands. "I have to get back home, it's really important."

But the woman's grip on her wrist just grew tighter.

"Hey! Stop it! That hurts! Let go!" She tried to pull away.

"He already stole you," the pale woman said in a whisper, her voice airy and trembling.

She finally let go. Sara rubbed her throbbing wrist with her other hand, anxiousness and frustration clamping down even harder on her chest than the woman's grip on her wrist had been.

"What are you talking about?? Who is the Stealer?? I was just going on a walk and I got lost. I honestly just need to find my way back, but I can't in this fog."

"Please, don't go out there..." The woman's gray eyes were wide and desperate.

"Listen, I don't know what you're talking about. This is Avery Park. The parking lot should be just down the main path. Why don't you come with me and we can get someone to help you, too? You seem like maybe you've been... out here for a while."

Pity joined anxiety and frustration's wrestle for space between her ribs, the way kids do when they're all shoved into the back seat of a car together.

The pale woman crouched low to the ground and shook her head, her long hair swiveling back and forth.

Sara grit her teeth and turned back to the fog. She almost left the hollow, almost stepped out into the mist, almost tried to forget any of this just happened, almost. But she didn't. Instead, she sat down next to the pale woman and sighed.

The woman stared out of the hollow, as if waiting for something; her pale lips slightly parted, her cold hands clasped in front of her, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

Sara wasn't sure what to do. She was still anxious about going back out into the fog and being unable to find her way back to the parking lot on her own; and, in a very strange way, she felt compelled to stay with this woman, like an unseen force was drawing them together.

She leaned her head back against the wall of the tree and closed her eyes. Thoughts of Alice and Ellie sprang before her mind. She could see their smiling faces so vividly, hear their laughter, feel their sweet hugs.

A pang of longing stabbed her chest. They felt so very far away now, worlds and centuries out of reach. I'll make it back to you, I promise. A tear spilled out the corner of her eye.

A heavy thud in her lap startled her out of her thoughts. She looked down to see the woman had fallen asleep and was laying across her legs, her blonde hair blanketing them both.

Even though her face was washed out, she was still very beautiful. Her features were soft and delicate, and she was overall very much like a white clay figure before it's been put in the kiln. One wrong touch and perhaps she would crumble away into dust.

The light outside had turned a faded blue gray. The mist had thinned a little. It was nighttime. A fresh surge of panic burst through Sara's veins. I have to go pick up the kids now! They will be so worried!

She gently moved the woman's head from her lap and carefully got up.

Stepping outside the hollow, the moist air gave her a cold hug. She turned and took one last look at the pale woman, sleeping on the ground. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

At first she just followed the narrow trail back up to the beach where the same old dock floated limply in the dim light, its broken planks just as useless as they were before, but the ghostly ship was nowhere to be seen.

Sara made up her mind to follow the beach around until it met up with the parking lot, instead of using the path, that way she wouldn't get lost. As she walked, the water eagerly lapped the sand on her left, and thin fog clung to the tree line on her right.

After trudging for some time, another dock came into view. Except it wasn't another dock, it was the same old dock, with the same broken planks.

What? No. This can't be right. This isn't— No!!

Sara ran. In a panicked frenzy she ran through her tears, sludging through thick sand, on and on until she came right around to the old doc once again. There was no doubt about it now. She wasn't just lost; she was trapped on an island.

She slumped to her knees in the sand and started crying. Why is this happening? Where am I?? I just need to get back to my girls. She buried her face in her oversized sleeves and sobbed.

But it wasn't long before rage overpowered anguish and she lifted her face into the cold misty air and screamed.

It was one of those screams that originated not from the throat or the lungs, but from the stomach; guttural and coarse, released as all the muscles contract at once, as all the veins bulge from the strain of it.

The metal dome sky echoed her scream back to her, like a boomerang intent on slapping her in the face.

The scream had stopped her tears. Her face hardened. She was a dry blaze now, ready to burn her way through the unburnable.

Brushing the sand off her pants, she got up and followed the first little trail she came to, which brought her out onto the main path again, the fallen leaves a dim yellow, the wispy mist swirling around the tree trunks.

Despite her renewed determination, the path still didn't take her to the parking lot, but instead brought her to the gates of a large, black mansion. The old house stood on the slopes of a small hill, giving it the illusion of being even taller than it already was.

On the stone pillar next to the gate was an inscription:

Hillside Manor
A House For The Lost

The gates were already open.

A house for the lost? Maybe this place will have some answers.

But before she was able to enter the gates, the blonde woman lept out in front of her, her pale face almost translucent in the dampened moonlight.

Sara jumped. "Oh my god! Don't startle me like that!"

The woman just shook her head, her gray eyes wide and foreboding.

Sara hesitated. "You're saying I shouldn't go in there?"

The woman nodded.

"Okay, well... can you help me find my way back to my car?"

The woman just stared at her blankly.

Sara prodded again. "Do you know who can help me?"

The woman's eyes widened even more. "You... should be afraid of him," she whispered.

But Sara was too determined to feel fear, and looked up thoughtfully at the dark mansion. "He's... the only one who can help me, isn't he?"

There was a pained and terrified look on the woman's pretty face and her breathing became shakier. She grabbed Sara's wrist again, trying to stop her.

Sara jerked her hand free. "You don't understand, do you?! I can't just stay out here like you. I have to go home. I'll do anything... I just have to get home."

"Please... don't go in there! I need you, please stay with me!" The woman's strained voice called after her, but Sara was already walking past the gate, up the hill, and right towards the front door of the estate.