CHAPTER 3

She felt dead already. She moved, she breathed, she still spoke while dressing the trembling children but inside, she felt dead. The monster could have come now and eaten her too and it probably wouldn't make much difference to her.

What was left for her? He was gone. All the time until now, she didn't realize, she didn't want to realize what it really meant. She did everything to push all those thoughts to the back of her consciousness, focused solely on surviving and getting the children to safety but now, after Miss Pony's words, she couldn't deny it anymore. It wasn't just a nightmare. It was worse than that. It was reality.

She didn't even feel pain; only emptiness. She felt like her entire being was drained of any life, any emotions. She wasn't even scared anymore. She wanted to die and only the thought that the children needed her right now stopped her from getting off the carriage and going back to the orphanage. They were responsible not only for their physical wellbeing but for their mental health. They were still terrified, especially the three who were with her and saw the creature with their own eyes. Every now and then, they kept casting scared glances on the road behind them, to make sure that their nightmare wasn't chasing them.

Miss Pony didn't have to ask long to get them to describe what they saw.

"It... it looked like... an ugly lizard." One of the girls stuttered. "The ugliest in the world!"

"And it had a big head." The other added. "Like a..." She hesitated and frowned as her mind fervently searched for some familiar object to describe it, "like a big, long watermelon! But it was black, not green. And it had scary teeth."

The other kids were petrified but listened to ever word eagerly nonetheless.

They were near Tom's farm when they heard rustling noises coming from their right. The forest stretched out on both sides, even though the full moon was out, it was still dark and mysterious in the night time and they couldn't see a thing in the forest. But to their relief, it was only a wild animal that ran past in front of them, scared off by something.

Soon, they found out what had scared it off. Further down in the forest, between the trees, silver beams of light flashed between their trunks. But however much it had scared them at first, they calmed down after a moment. There was nothing unearthly about those lights, although they did create a bit of an eerie atmosphere. The answer was simple; it was just a group of men riding through the forest and using their torches to find the best way through for their horses. It wasn't long before they got to the road and they could see their faces.

It was Tom with seven of his employees, who went this far in their search.

It was easy to predict that the men wouldn't believe them at first, even when there was a detailed description of the beast. "Are you sure it wasn't a bear?" one of the workhands', a man in his late forties, mocked, when they heard their full story. "Women always exaggerate..."

But under Tom's scolding gaze they went silent and without any further questions they all offered to go back to the orphanage and take care of the problem, bear or no bear. It was decided that they should escort everyone to Steven's Farm for safety. Upon arriving, they immediately gathered more weapons. They looked like they were just about to laugh again when Candy insisted on also taking knifes, axes and any other farm or cutting implement they could find but they did as she asked. However, from the whispers that she had overheard, they only did this as a reason to tease her later, that this woman's hysteria forces them to think that they would have needed an entire army against one, poor bear. Even amongst themselves, they were already placing bets about who was going to fire the deciding shot and go back home carrying the bear's fur as a trophy!

But Candy only clenched her teeth together in silence. It didn't matter that they didn't believe her; she understood their reaction and the men were about to find out all too soon, how wrong they were. What really mattered was everyone's safety and getting rid of the danger.

She had no doubts about what she had to do. She had actually made this decision as soon as they met Tom and his men in the forest but she left announcing it until now. And as she did, a wave of protests raised from both women and men. "We've lost Albert, we can't risk your life too!" they tried to convince her. "You, with us? Ridiculous. How can a girl like you be of any help?" the men grumbled sarcastically. But she didn't sway and again, Tom's word had won the day. After all, she was a nurse. She could join them, for as long as she stayed aside and didn't interrupt.

Interrupt..? Candy grimaced. But she didn't say a word; there was no time for it. Besides, there was no point in explaining; no one could have fully understood. And she just had to. She was a nurse, yes, but she had another reason. Even if this was going to be the last thing that she did in her life – she just had to go back… For Him. To avenge his deathand perhaps to…

Without Him, her own life had lost any sense anyway.