He lay in the darkness in a puddle of mud. He pushed around slipping as he
sat up. He didn't know if he had been placed there, or if he had fallen. His
bones ached, and he felt as if he couldn't breath.  He sneezed, and mud flew
from his nose.

  He started to shiver, as he realized he was naked.  In the darkness he
could see trees. He had no idea where he was at. He pulled himself up and
walked in circles to see if he could gather his bearings. There was nothing,
not even a single cricket could be heard, he thought.  He started to walk in
one direction, and then turned around and walked the opposite direction. It
was almost as if someone, or something was leading him.

He walked for what seemed like hours. His bare feet had started to bleed, but
the cold had numbed them to where he could barely walk. The swamp had been
silent the whole while he walked it. Where were the swamps creachers, he
thought? He stood still for a moment, hoping to hear atleast one rustle in
the bush. Nothing came to him as he started to walk again.

It seemed like hours before he made it to a small clearing. A wooden shack
appeared before him.  He limped slowly over, when all he wanted to do was
run for shelter.

"Hello?" He crackled, talking for the first time. He cleared his throat and
tried again. "HELLO?" He said, and knocked on the door. The door opened
slowly, and he walked in. The small place looked like it hadn't been lived
in for years.  Spiderwebs were in every corner.  The bed, it looked inviting.

He sat on the edge of the bed and took in the view of the room from there.
He was so tired, he though. Tired and cold, he pulled a blanket over himself
and fell asleep.

----------------------

He woke up hours later and found that the sun had risen. He looked around
the now lit room , and hoped he would find some clothes or just a decent
pair of shoes.  His stomach growled as he searched, and he prayed that the
cabinet was full of something to eat. Finding no clothes, or food, he stripped the
blankets off the bed and tied them around his waist. He ripped a few pieces
of cloth and tied them around his feet as shoes.

A flash of memory came to him, and he fell back against the wall as if he
had been hit by a grown man with a strong arm. A big white house, with a
field in bloom. IT sat by the edge of a forest. He sighed and wondered what
it meant. Was he supposed to go there, he wondered? Was this where he was
from?

He walked outside to look for food, anything to offset the painful hunger in
him. Black Berries from a thorny bush is all he could find. He found a pail
and filled it half way as he started to walk along a stream. He closed his
eyes and listened to the sounds.  His feet started to move under him, as if
they were going on their free will.

Why did this feel like a dream, he wondered? The berries stained his hands,
as he continued to eat and follow the stream. He had a feeling if he followed
the water, that he would find that house he had seen in his vision. He
started to move faster, almost run. The pain in his feet was overrun by the
need to find something that he hope existed.
------

He stared at the house a few hours later, hoping that another memory would
come to him. He closed his eyes and could see people around him, talking to
him. Then one moment they all were lying on the ground as if all dead. He
opened his eyes with a start, and realized he was alone. Am I going mad, he
wondered?

The silence was loud here too. It was as if everything was holding it's
breath. Even the house that stood before him was silent. He walked around
the house to the front, and almost screamed at the sight that he came upon.
On the porch a body was hung. It swung back and forth, and finally a sound
reached his ears. The sound of rope on wood, and a heavy body attached. It
was a most awful sound.  The body hadn't been hung long, he thought as he
stood watching the body swing.

He walked past it, and up to the house. "HELLO, Anyone in there?" He asked,
as he heard the echo of his own footsteps on the wood. He looked through the
window and could see the house was torn to shreds.

He turned to look at the body, suddenly feeling he was being watched. A
woman stared at him from the bottom step. Where had she come from, he
wondered? He blinked , and she was gone. He walked down the steps, and
looked in either direction.  He wondered if she just another vision.  He sat on
the steps hoping she would return, if she wasn't. He had so many questions
to ask, he thought as he sat his pail of berries on the railing.

-----------------------------
Two sets of eyes peered through the window at the man sitting on the porch..

"He's returned." the woman said, as she looked at the other person nervously.

The man said nothing, as he stared silently out the window.

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