Sure enough, 2 am rolled around, and her growling stomach woke her up. She still felt shaken from her dream, the adrenaline, thankfully, draining from her bones. Now calm, Evelyn tried to roll around and ignore her stomach, but 5 minutes into the hunger pains, she decided enough was enough. Begrudgingly, she dragged herself out of bed and lumbered over to her door and quietly eased it open, as to not wake her parents. She stumbled down the fuzzy steps and almost fell as her foot skipped one. When she reached the bottom, all the sleep was finally gone from her eyes and she wearily started her quest to find something to eat.

“Leftovers?” Evelyn muttered questioningly. But when she looked at the cold fried chicken, her stomach flipped, and she decided the best course of action was yogurt. She picked an old plastic neon bowl to use from the cabinet and gently set it on the counter top. After scooping a heaping portion of the pink yogurt into the dish, Evelyn shuffled over to the breakfast nook that looked out to her backyard. Her head was starting to grow heavy and soon she was starting to nod off in between slow spoonfuls of strawberry yogurt.

She almost smacked her head into the table as a garbled meow came from the backyard, startling her from her doze.

“Tobi?” she asked instinctively, shaking her head once she realized her mistake.

You’re just hearing things, she reassured herself. She quickly gulped down the rest of her 2 am snack and set the bowl and spoon on the counter. As she turned to leave, she heard the strangled cry again, and the sound sent shivers down her spine. She whipped around and jogged towards the glass door, her heart beat escalating rapidly. Evelyn gasped, but her hand muffled the sound. Her chest started to heave, and tears started to well up, blurring her vision.

Standing there, was Tobi. He...he looked so mangled, and bloody, wounds open on his back. She didn’t know if she should run, because this couldn’t be her Tobi. But...it was. She quickly unlocked the door and slid it open as softly as she could, closing it behind her. She dropped to her knees and knelt in front of her cat. Hesitantly, she extended her hand to him, fingers outstretched. He purred and nuzzled her palm. The sound was almost broken, but she didn’t care.

“Tobi!” she cried out as loudly as she dared. A remorseful smile spread across her face and she started to gently pet him. When he leaned into her touch even more, she started to cry, out of happiness and confusion.

“How? How are you alive? I swore...I-I buried you. D-Does this mean I buried you alive?” she choked out. A wave of regret and remorse washed over her, and her smile faded. She could feel the pressure building up again behind her eyes, and suddenly Tobi was howling in pain, blood oozing from his wounds. He writhed and hissed, and Evelyn jerked her now blood-soaked hand away from him.

“What? Tobi, Tobi, Tobi, no, no, no, no, stay with me please, what’s happening? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her voice cracking at the last word. She didn’t dare touch him and possibly hurt him even more. All she could do was sit there and watch as his eyes rolled back, and blood poured from them. She saw his front paws twitch once more before he took one last heaving breath as the life left his body. He lay there, on the ground, drenched in the crimson liquid.

Evelyn sat there for a moment, lungs gasping as she tried to process what just happened.

“He...he was right there...and...was alive this whole time...how did...what just…?” she cut herself off as she stood up and bolted across her backyard. All her limbs shook with terror, and her breathing was ragged. She didn’t know why it was her instinct to run, but rounding the corner of her house, she already knew she was heading to the lake in the middle of her neighborhood. It was the only place where she could think. Tears streamed down her face. She was so confused, angry, and hurt, running was the only thing that made sense right now. It had always helped her calm her mind on a primitive level.

Her ankles felt a jolt as her bare feet met pavement, the soles of her feet scraping against the rough rock of the road. She ran to the opposite side of the road and stumbled through the grass, and was rewarded with the smooth concrete of the sidewalk. Evelyn pumped her arms with all her might, propelling herself through the dark shadows that threatened to engulf her. The crescent moon was high in the sky, but it hardly illuminated anything in its normal pale glow. She stepped on twigs and leaves and scared bunnies as she zoomed past them, nothing but the sound of the rushing wind on her mind. As she started to tire, the pounding steps reverberated through her skeleton, and it only helped fuel her adrenaline.

She finally got to the lake, and felt the shock of rough pavement as she crossed the road once more, but found herself relaxing when she got to the other side and felt the soft greenery between her toes. Collapsing to the ground, Evelyn curled up on herself, and rocked back and forth, letting the tears flow. She couldn’t comprehend what just happened.

She knew that Tobi was killed when the car hit him. She had held his cold, limp body in her arms. And if he wasn’t, how did he crawl out of the grave? She never got a good look at his grave before she took off, and she felt stupid for not thinking to at least glance at it. And how did the blood thing even happen? Poor Tobi was there one moment, and gone the next, covered in his own blood. But the really unnatural thing was, he hadn’t just bled from his wounds...it had spilled from his eyes too. Her breaths came out in short hiccups at the image, and she tried to push the thought to the back of her mind. She closed her eyes, but she still saw his scarlet soaked body through closed lids.

Evelyn let her mind wander more, turning the same ideas and images over and over in her mind. After a little time had passed and her limbs steadied, she pushed herself up into a standing position, and shuffled to the edge of the lake, standing on the bank. She looked longingly at the house across the water, the one that she’d always wanted to live in as a child. All the lights were out, and she finally realized how late it was, and how it was not safe at all to be in the open, alone. She also was struck with the memory of the fire burning along her carved heart into the tree. A whole new wave of questions hit her, crashing into her calm mind and knocking it over, her legs becoming tremulous again. How was that connected to tonight’s events? Her fingers started to tremble as her heart slowly made its way into her throat.

“Too many questions...too many…” she whispered breathily, moving closer to the water’s edge to sit. She took a tentative step forward, and felt safe when her heel was secure on steady ground. As she took another stride, her foot slipped on a slimy rock, and she felt herself careening forwards into the unmoving water. She felt the pressure behind her eyes flare up again as her arms shot forward instinctively in a failed attempt to stop her fall. Into the water she went.

Dang it.