Tom sighed as he picked his way through the forest.  He was starting to get nervous.  It was nearly dusk and if he didn’t find her in time everything would likely be lost.  

Pushing his way through the brush, he stumbled through the bushed, thorns and brambles catching on his sweatsuit, ripping holes in it here and there as he finally stumbled across the old, rusting storage container.  He rushed over to it, banging on the side.  "Sarah?  Sarah, open this door!“

"You shouldn’t have come here.”  He heard her voice, a frightened whisper from the other side of the door.

“I know why you’re out here.  It’s not sunset yet, please let me in, just for a minute.  I just want to talk.”

There was a rattling of chains and a soft clank, followed by the screeching of metal as Sarah poked her head through the door.  Before she could stop him, he had pulled the door the rest of the way open and hopped inside.

Within were a small battery powered lamp, a stack of magazines, and several huge bags of dog food, stacked up against the back wall.  A thick, heavy chain and padlock were just inside the door.

She grabbed his shoulders from behind.  She twitched slightly, her body full of nervous energy.  "Tom, you have to go!  I know you think you know what’s going on.  I know you probably think that I’m completely crazy but…“

"But I have to get out of here before moon rise?”  He chuckled, a little sadly.  

She stepped back, nodding.  "Please, Tom, I have this under control, I have a system.  I know you want to help me but you can’t.“

He sighs and slumps down against the wall of the storage container.  "I thought we promised, Sarah, no more secrets, no matter what.  I told you that I wanted to share everything with you, and you agreed to that when we got married, but still, you left every month, just disappeared somewhere.  I gave you your space, but I started to pick up on clues as to what was happening.  Finally, last month I couldn’t take it any more.  I followed you out here, meaning to confront you but..  I didn’t.  I couldn’t, at least not at first.  I wanted to see if it was true, so I watched, I waited, and I listened.”

Sarah looked nervously out at the horizon, the sun sinking low over the trees, taking on a deep reddish hue, “Tom, we can talk about this when I come home, but now, now you really need to leave, before it’s too late!”

Tom smiled softly and walked over to the doors, “I heard what happened last month, Sarah, I even opened the door a bit, the chains were loose enough for you to poke your nose out.  So I did what had to be done.  I wanted to share everything with you, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.”  Slowly, he pulled up the shirt sleeve covering his left forearm, showing the barely visible scar left from a mauling bite attack.

Sarah stepped closer, sliding her fingers over those smooth scars before reaching out and closing the door before chaining the two of them within and waiting for the moon rise.