We waded through the flowers in the dusky cool of the coming dark. We spoke no words as we cautiously made our way, and my mind wandered, lost in the songs of the evening birds and the swishing of our movement through the waist-deep flora on the edge of the woods. 

Deeper in the woods, the insects were buzzing, but it was a strange, electric pulsing sound that seemed at odds with the beauty we were surrounded by. Distantly, as though in a memory, I became aware of a subtle-but-growing unease in the air brushing against us. She heard it too, and froze, wild-eyed and nostrils flared as she searched the twists of limbs and leaves and vines for the source of the sound. The pulsing grew stranger and stronger. And closer.

Shadows by the dozens flitted amongst the buzzing, filling our eyes and choking the air from our lungs. Out of the shadows crackled long, rope-like fingers that wrapped themselves around her body, immobilizing her, rendering her silent in her terror.

An umbral voice coalesced out of the shadows. “Ahhhh, soooo good of you to come! I’ve been waiting so long for one such as you. How would you like to choose?”

“Choose?” I croaked. “I don’t understand! What choice am I to make?”

“Why, yessss!” the voice replied. “Naturally, you must choose: her life, or yours! Understand that if you make no choice, it will be both. I do hope you make the proper choice.”

Though no bounds held me fast, I could only stand and watch in dumb horror as I lived the same torturous restraint as she, unable to will myself into action. “It is not a pleasant death,” the voice whispered in my ear, terrifyingly, intimately close, “and you will know every moment of it as she does,” it crooned with measured delight. Burning, savage blood began to seep from my inexplicable wounds, searing and sizzling flesh as it ran down my body. My desire to fight drained with each ragged exhalation and my thoughts whirled into oblivion as I sagged into the invisible restraints. Time stretched, and my heart beat slower and slower until I could at last see the horrifyingly welcome sight of the golden-hot end of my existence. With a trembling soul I reached for it, but it hovered just beyond my fingertips. “No,” the voice smiled wickedly, “this is where I leave you to your deliberations.”