pass through quickly!”

“Well, I’ll take my chances. I grew up there and it used to be a nice place. I’m sure these are just stories.”

The attendant finished packing her items into the bag. He slipped in a silver cross as a gift. She later found it in the bag with a small note that said, “Please wear this gift.” For some reason, she actually put it on. It was small and elegant.

Clara continued her journey and almost fell asleep. She tried changing channels on the radio as well as rolling down the windows to feel the nippy fresh air. She passed through Big Walker Mountain tunnel. She often wondered if it had been named after an ancestor of hers. Then, she went through East River Mountain’s tunnel, whichused to be one of the first and longest tunnels in the world. She hated going through long tunnels. It made her claustrophobic. She breathed again upon exiting it.

She absorbed the landscape and compared it to her memory. Not much had changed, so far as she could tell, in this small town. Bluefield was a city on the borders of Virginia and West Virginia. She had grown up on the Virginia side and had attended Graham High School.

Her silent musings were broken by the howling of some wolves. Fear leaped into her heart. She had never heard such howling before. She rolled up her windows and turned on the heat. She put on soft music to settle her nerves. The crisp October wind bit sharper than she could