Early morning birds fled to the safety of higher grounds, trees and rooftops. Rabbits scurried away and even the light of day stood still. The humidity would be higher today than it had been in many years. To those that were unfortunate enough to witness the heat it would be a day to regret. The air meant to breathe was choking, thick and the moisture stuck to the skin like sap to bark. The ground could not hold more moisture. It sweltered up in the form of steam coming off of the leaves and mud puddles left by the blinding fog the night before. Nothing could be seen moving about in the dense blackness of night and fog but the sounds were so evident that they could not be denied. Ghastly howls and screams filled the fog as if the fog had life that stayed with it, afraid of the day, afraid to be seen, choosing the cover so to hide its deeds. The howls echoed through the woods off of trees and rocks and traveled through the forest touching everything that hid there. Nothing moved. Not even those animals with keen vision could see and those with keen hearing could not decipher where the sounds came from. They bounced around in the fog spreading themselves all over it, not showing where they originated from. After nightfall all that could be seen this evening were the shapes of treetops and the skyline. The young man and the young woman cowered near their horse, sitting beneath a tree, next to large boulders, mending their wounds and watched the fog as it glowed in the moonlight and sift over the hill, surrounding black trees that did what they could to show their tops. The wave of fog moved fast like flooding water as it crept as if alive. The young man and the young woman forgot about their trusting horse and their pains and could do nothing but watch and wait, cover themselves with blankets and bed in for night. They cuddled in each other’s shaking arms. They were afraid that the thick, white fog would hit them like rushing water. It found them and their trusting horse and lost them in the world. Now they were engulfed in invisible woods, but stop, it did not. It stood feet high and spread beyond view. It did not stop for the horse that disappeared first in its depths. Next were the burning logs that sizzled the moist air and sent out its own dense, soot–filled smoke. And finally the fog found the quivering blanket. It washed over it and the young man and the young woman but did no more harm that the changing of a breeze. They stayed beneath the blankets, feeling the coolness on their outer areas but the young man nuzzled up to the young woman, creating enough warmth to amply carry them through.