Eyes of Ice

Tense

He was vigilant about his state of mind for a while after that night, expecting to notice weird dreams or blanks in his memory or something. He'd felt sick when he heard on the news that the animal had killed someone, but he was relieved when it turned out to be game hunter called Bob Jackson. He mentally kicked himself for being insensitive. He knew Jackson. Maybe all the solitude and worry was finally getting to him.

"Maybe it was your subconscious trying to live out your fantasy of rescuing and getting it on with a pretty stranger," Foley teasingly suggested one night when they were out at a bar with Ben and Ali, "Did you fuck?"

The conversation had turned to discussing weird dreams they'd had. That was all Ronnie could make of that night now. A weird dream.

He shoved at Foley playfully. "We didn't fuck, asshole. I was kinda busy worrying he'd die of hypothermia." He sat back. "God, it felt real."

"You said you thought it was the animal at first?" Ben asked. No need to clarify which animal anymore. Even if some still thought it was a weird myth, everyone had heard of the victims, one every winter for years, found painted to the trees and snow. There were never more than bloody bones left to bury.

"Yeah, before I found him I assumed it was attacking him."

"I had a dream about finding it once," Ali said.

"The animal?"

Ali nodded.

"Me too," Ben said.

"Really?" Ronnie wondered if everyone had nightmares about it occasionally. It had certainly made winter a scary time for everyone living out of town.

"What kind of animal was it?" Ali asked him, "It looked like a huge white bear in my dream. It was a bit around the time Jones was killed, remember that? He'd bragged about a white bear pelt he got the summer before."

Everyone nodded.

"Anyway, I found the bear and it killed me. I was a mess for the rest of the day, it was horrible."

"Did anyone else think that pelt looked kinda small?" Ronnie asked.

"Definitely," Foley said, "Had to be pretty young when he killed it."

"Probably didn't want anyone else to get it first," Ronnie guessed. He looked at Ben. "What about your dream?"

"It was a stag in mine," Ben said, "Fuck-off massive antlers. It had teeth like a wolf, though. It gored me and then ripped me apart. Actually..." His brow furrowed. "I think that was around the time the animal got Thomson. He used to love showing off the antlers from his kills."

"Woah," Foley said, awed but grinning, "That actually is kind of spooky. There are some serious parallels there." His smile faded. "Shit."

"What's up?" Ronnie asked.

"Well...it might sound stupid."

"Well you have to tell us now," Ben said.

"Um...I had a dream where I was swimming in the lake. Big Red grabbed my leg and pulled me under."

Ronnie remembered Big Red. He had been a huge fish that lived in the lake until a few years ago. In reality, he had never attacked anyone. He was actually a pretty popular attraction.

"There was a lot of blood in the water," Foley continued, "He kept biting off pieces of me and pulling me down. Fucked me up for about a week."

"It wasn't around the time..." Ronnie didn't need to finish his question.

Foley nodded. "The same winter the guy who killed him was found."

They all became silent. Odd nightmares were common around here, but some coincidences just didn't sit well.

"Welp. That's put me off meat for the rest of my life," Ben announced.

"You're vegan," Ronnie said.

"Yep. And now I see that I've had it right all along. You guys are fucked."

The tension disappeared as the conversation lightened and Ronnie told himself he was overthinking it all.