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    I ran back into the house, putting Thomas back to bed, grateful that once he did nod off, he could sleep through just about anything. As I crept back out through the living room, Gordie started mumbling sleepy complaints about the recurring wailing, but never seemed to really wake and was asleep again before I even got outta the door.
    I hurried over to the far side of the yard, the howls getting slightly louder, more distressed. I broke into a trot but had to stop the moment I got into the woods to allow my eyes time to adjust to the almost complete darkness. In the day it was a nice place to be; at night it damn near frightened the life outta you.
    Slowly I edged my way forward, but the closer I got to that noise, the more confused I became. Something was definitely going on—some kinda disturbance, a struggle maybe—as well as the repeated howling, I could hear heavy, thumping collisions. For the briefest of moments the moon’s light filtered down through the branches and I caught a glimpse of something big and dark rolling across the forest floor. What the hell was that? But the light was extinguished before I could get a proper view.
    I crept a little closer, trying to be as quiet as I could, though with all the noise going on, the grunting and howling, I wasn’t sure if there was a need. It took me several seconds to realize that whatever it was, whatever creature was involved, had got to its feet and was now running my way.
    I couldn’t move, as much frozen by confusion as fear. Did it know I was there? Was this an attack? It continued to scream and howl toward me, but it sounded so crazed, so completely deranged, as if it didn’t have the slightest idea where it was or what it was doing.
    I did think about running, but whatever it was, it was moving a damn sight quicker than I could, and I realized I had no choice but to stand my ground. It was approaching at such speed, with such pounding heavy footsteps, I got it into my head that it might be a bull. I crouched behind a tree, fearing the worst as it got ever closer,that I was about to be crushed to death, but it thundered past with barely a foot or two to spare, those panicked screams of terror like some shrill squealing alarm.
    It was so dark in that moment, I still couldn’t say exactly what it was. I had this idea it had four legs rather than two, and it was certainly big and heavy, but more than that, I couldn’t even guess. I half-expected to hear something chasing after it; that it’d escaped its torturers and they were in hot pursuit, but there was nothing, just that endlessly repeated howl slowly fading into the night, occasionally coming to an abrupt stop, as if it’d fallen, or maybe even collided with a tree, then just when you started to hope it was over, it would start up again.
    Finally it was gone, absorbed into the deadness of night, and the breath I’d unknowingly been holding onto exploded out of me. What the hell was that? Why had it been so distressed? Was it running from something —or running from itself ?
    Whatever the answer, I didn’t want to spend another minute in those woods in the middle of the night. I headed back toward the farmhouse, keeping a real watchful eye out, and yeah, I don’t mind admitting it, spinning around now and then to make sure I wasn’t being followed.
    I can’t tell you how grateful I was to finally see a dull light straining through the trees. At the very moment that I emerged into the open, the moon came out from behind the clouds and lit up the whole night, as if to reassure me I was now safe . . . yeah, thanks a lot for that.
    I hurried back to the house, my footsteps the only sound on what now seemed to be an eerily silent night. Nothing else stirred: no distant owl hooted, no echoing unspecified grunt or call from somewhere down the valley. It was almost as if everything was as shocked as I was; as if they were perched in their trees and peering out of their burrows, the pounding of