Mist rolls eerily across the water; a lone tent sits vulnerable on the cold ground. 

“My friends have…dd..d.. disappeared.” A woman speaks quietly, shivering, staring into a camcorder.

“I don’t think I’ll make it through the night…they…c..c..came for B..B..Bette first…Omigod…I’m soooo…soo…cold…They took the others soon after…”

She looks up from the screen, her eyes wide with fear.

“Omigod! What was that!”

Nearby voices can be heard in the background.

“Omigod…they’re coming!”

The tent shakes around the now sobbing woman. 

The zipper slowly lowers as the woman watches.

“Alice? What on EARTH are you doing?” Helena’s head popped through, looking at her strange friend.

“Dammit Helena!”  Alice turned off the camcorder, “I was filming a scary scene.”

Tina’s head appeared next to Helena’s, looking inside the tent curiously. “Al, I think that’s been done before.”

“Fair enough.” Alice shrugged, allowing her friends to help her to her feet. “It’s too fucking cold anyway.  Why is it cold?”

“It’s evening, the sun’s down.” Helena earned a swat for her obvious observations.  “Besides, it’s a bit chilly from that storm off the coast.” Helena waved in the general direction of the radio, where Bette and the others were listening intently. “Looks like we’re going to get rained on pretty badly if we go out tonite.”

Bette looked up, shook her head. “There’s no way guys. Sorry, I think we should go tomorrow morning instead.”

Tina shrugged, then moved inside the house to check on Angelica. Helena followed close behind.  She noted the awkwardness of the situation, but shrugged it off.  After spending a day with Angelica’s various phases of sickness, Helena figured they had gotten past all the nonsense. What mattered was that the vomiting had ceased. Little else was of concern.

The little girl slept peacefully. Tina turned and looked at Helena. Both women held out their hands helplessly.

“She seems fine.” Tina said. “Who knows what that was about.”

“Once she had her afternoon snack, she was nearly fine.” Helena whispered. “She’s just tired from losing every meal before that.” To her credit, Helena had no qualms about the whole process. She’d been through Winnie’s morning sickness, and various flues and colds with their kids. Her memories of being sick, growing up, involved various nannies and caregivers, but never her own mother. She wouldn’t be that hands off with her own children.