So, I took the last few days of last week off, per suggestion of some individuals in the comments, to make an appointment with a Shaman, and with a Hypnotist. My boss gave me this week off as well because I was visibly tired and my performance was suffering, so I am appreciative of that. I haven't slept well since that night, and now since receiving the text message from James I keep having this reoccurring nightmare.

The dream takes place back in the clearing, my limbs are locked in place, and no matter how hard I think or try to move them, they won't budge. On the other side of the clearing is what looks to be a deer or some four-legged animal. However, the head region is obscured and blurry, so I am not entirely sure what it is. There is an overwhelming sense of doom and darkness that seems to linger, even after the dream has long ended.

Friday I was able to meet with the hypnotist, the whole drive there I was incredibly uneasy, and in disbelief, this whole situation feels like a horror movie. Though, reality set it once I pulled up to her shack.

"I cannot believe I am doing this." I whispered to myself.

I parked my vehicle and then began to walk towards the building/hut, cautiously scaling up the wooden steps, and rapping on the door a few times. The Shaman opened almost immediately, and the sweet smell of incense assaulted my nostrils.

"Hello, you must be Mr. A?"

"Yes ma'am, thank you so much for meeting me."

"Absolutely, it's my pleasure, come in!"

I followed her inside where she closed the large round door behind me. The interior was not what I was expecting for the alternative practitioner. I had imagined dirt walls, fur rugs, potion bottles, animal bones, and a wicked green fire roaring in a cauldron or something of the like.

Rather, this looked like your contemporary doctor's office, albeit with a few ornate light fixtures, feathers, and framed insect carcasses on the wall, and a shelve with some herb filled glass bottles and CBD oils. We walked into her office where she pulled a chair in front of her desk and then took a seat behind it.

Sat across from me was an older woman, I'd guess late sixties, of apparent native American decent. She wore a couple of ornate bracelets and necklaces, but for clothing choice she wore a striped light blue button up, and black dress pants.

"I know we spoke briefly on the phone; you had mentioned being troubled by the disappearance of your friend. I first want to tell you how sorry I am, truly." She spoke.

"I really appreciate that." I replied.

She smiled warmly.

"Now typically my customer bases are looking for diet and nutritional advice, ancestral relationship building, or emotional trauma. I'd love to start my program with you if you are trying to recover from this experience and move on in a healthy and natural way? Grieving the lost is tough, and I must let you know that this process will take some time."

I swallowed hard, confessing to another soul as to what I saw, I knew I was going to sound crazy. I didn't want to come off as a lunatic and be told to take some herbs and forget about it. Beads of sweat began to form on my forehead, my palms began to perspire, I managed to choke out the first few words.

"I am actually not here for any of those options, I want to ask you about something." I muttered.

A look of genuine concern fell upon her face.

"Of course, what would you like to ask me about?" She spoke.

"Well, I was there the night, when James went missing. But I don't think he just got lost or hurt by some animal. Something that night tried to bait he and I into walking into a thicket of woods. It sounded like a little girl, but when it finally revealed itself, it looked like something out of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. An ungodly hodgepodge of animal and human body parts."

She only stared, her positive and happy demeanor shifted to one of disappointed and irritated. She folded her hands and cast her eyes down.

"The Yee Naaldlooshii, do you understand the danger you bring here by acknowledging the being? The Navajo do not share this information to outsiders for good reason. It is my professional opinion that you consider moving on from this ordeal, or leave, you only put your family and yourself in danger by prodding further!" She growled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend, but I can't just leave him out there, is there something I can do? A spell to cast to make it die and he come back? Can't it die like everything else?" I asked.

The Shaman practically leapt up from her chair and leaned across the table, bringing her face closer to mine. Wisps of wisdom mixed with her onyx black hair, and the wrinkles of time wriggling on her forehead.

"No Shaman is alive today that can reverse the magic those cretins have cast upon themselves; our best remedy is to forget."

Seconds of silence had passed between us before I blurted out.

"If he's alive I am going after him, can you help me or not?!"

With that she stormed off, for an older lady she sure had some speed. I sat twiddling my thumbs as I heard her rummage through things in a separate room. She returned with the fury of the gods and flung a brown satchel at my chest.

"Ow, seriously, what the..."

"White Ash, now leave, do not come back, do not say I did not warn you. Your people are a stubborn one, this is the only way you will learn, LEAVE!" She yelled.

The woman pointed, trembling with rage, at the rounded wooden door, I grabbed the satchel, and took my leave, not wanting to irritate her any further. I turned back once more as I stood on the balcony, she stood there, scowling at me before she barked.

"Do NOT look it in the eyes!"

And promptly slammed the door with the strength of an ox.

I sped walk to my car and got in, key in ignition, and then placed the brown satchel in the passenger seat. After that ordeal, I was tired, and incredibly thirsty. On my way home I stopped by the liquor store for some alcohol, paying with cash and dropping the change into the make-a-wish bucket. At least a portion of my bad habit can go to a noble cause, right?

Once I got back to my apartment, I kicked my shoes off and put the alcohol in the fridge except for one. I shuffled over to the couch and sat down, beer in my left, satchel in my right. I sat the bag down in front of me on the coffee table and then opened the beer. I stared for a few minutes before taking a big gulp and then pulled out my phone to get on Google.

The Shaman said *White Ash* before she threw the bag at me, so I researched white ash and its uses for the next hour or so. From what I could turn up it could be used to hurt and even kill a Skinwalker. Some have made white ash bullets; others have made a paste and coated a blade with the substance.

I exhaled loudly, overwhelmed by everything, was I really going to try to fight this thing? Should I just give up? I was already five beers in and decided to go to bed. The weekend was another opportunity to sulk and think so I wanted to get a jump start by calling it an early night.

The dream came again, only this time the animal had covered a great distance between us. It was close enough that now I could make out finer details. For a lack of words, it was disgusting, fetid, it was in the *shape* of a deer, but had pink human skin, mottled and diseased. The antlers shaped like large bony fingers, nails torn leaking blood and pus, folded over the face of the beast.

Hovering above the ground in front of me, it was shaking and convulsing violently, limbs thrashing about, the fingers opened, revealing a mass of glossy white eyes. It opened an insect like maw, the lower jaw extending farther than any normal animal could manage. The jaw bones dislocated with a sickening pop and the skin surrounding tore like paper, it let out a hellacious bleat.

The terror was indescribable, I fought inside the prison of my mind for control of my limbs, but they moved to no avail. The acrid stench of sulfur and rot insulted my nostrils. The beast took a long phlegmy inhale and began to move towards me, twitching and writhing with excitement, I screamed.

I woke to the sound of my own screams, drenched in sweat; the cat shot straight up from his bed to turn and look at me. With a slow blink he hoisted up his leg, licked it, and promptly went back to sleep.

"Sorry to disturb you buddy..." I apologized.

I rolled over to check my phone to see it was only 3:00 am, there was no way I was going to get back to sleep, so I made some coffee and started my Saturday morning. I did a little more research on white ash and decided to opt for the ash-coated knife route. I have no experience making munitions, so this was my only option for defense.

I made the mixture of water and ash and put in a plastic bag. I had an old hunting knife around so I decided it would be the one I used. The rest of the day and Sunday was spent drinking and playing video games, not much else to note other than no nightmares each night. I got some decent sleep those days.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm at 6:00am, though my appointment with the hypnotist was at 10:00am. I spent the first two hours drinking an entire pot of coffee. I then hopped in the shower, got ready, and got in the car to go to the appointment. I haven't tried recalling that night for a long time, so I was a bit anxious to be reliving it all again.

I pulled into the lot and began walking towards the office. I sat in the waiting room for about thirty minutes, nervously bouncing my leg up and down. I was the only one in there other than the receptionist, I began nervously chewing my jaw, tasting iron in my mouth, as the door to the waiting room opened, and a balding, slightly overweight man stepped in.

"Mr. A?"

He looked around the empty room jokingly until our eyes met

"Ah, it must be you then!" he laughed.

"Looks like it!" I chuckled

The jest made me a little less tense I'll admit, he wasn't as scary as Shaman lady.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind following me to my office, we just need to get a little more paperwork done and then we can begin!"

I followed his lead.

He led me into his office, and thankfully no scorpions, rattlesnakes, or shrunken heads. The room was quite cozy, a nice gray leather sofa on one side of the room, an oak desk, and two blue leather chairs. A large ornate rug lay in the middle of the room, and I am not sure if he had sprayed air freshener, but it smelled like lavender. I took a seat on the sofa, he sat at the desk at the far side of the office.

"Our records show that you haven't visited with us before, is this your first time with Hypnotic Therapy?" he asked.

"Yes, it is!" I replied.

"Great, it's super simple, I'll dangle some swirly object in front of your eyes, say some magic words and you'll think you're a duck!" He laughed.

"Quack?" I sneered.

"Exactly, it's already working! But really, it's a little different than that, before we begin, I'd like to know the reason you think Hypnotic Therapy is right for you?"

I took a long pause, searching for the words.

"I'm dealing with trauma from a particular event, and to move on with my life I feel that it would be healthy for me to embrace the entirety of that moment. Instead of drowning it out with alcohol or tasks, to face my emotions. But anytime I try on my own terms I end up having a panic attack."

He stroked his chin, tapped his pen a few times, and then jotted something down on his notebook.

"I see, the road to recovering from trauma is not one I would recommend traveling alone. Good news is that I believe I can be of use to you today. Now if you wouldn't mind lying down on that sofa, and just take some time getting comfortable."

I obliged, as I rest my head against the arm of the sofa, the doctor got up from his desk and walked over to one of the chairs. He began scooting it closer to me and then sat patiently.

"Now, what I want you to do is keep your eyes closed and begin focusing on your breathing. As you do this, I want you to let go of anything and everything in your mind, troubles, stresses, to dos, you left them at the door when you walked in. Focus on having an empty mind and take as much time as you need."

It took me a while, but eventually I was able to clear my head, I felt relaxed, calm, even a bit sleepy. It was when I began drifting off into sleep, he spoke softly into the silence.

"Now, in your mind I want you to envision where you were preceding the events of the ordeal, before the memories become inaccessible, imagine that you are there now both fully in mind and body."

Immediately the terror crept in, I began breathing faster, sweat building on my brow. In the theatre of my mind, the horror show began to play out just as it did that night. I spoke aloud the events that took place, and in the order in which they did. I got right to the point before the creature came out of the clearing and stopped.

"Okay, now, take a deep breath, focus, dig deep, recall to me the events as they come to you."

I took a deep breath, holding for a few seconds, the memories began to materialize amidst the mental fog. The creature galloped out of the woods towards us. We both took a step back; it began to swipe a claw at me when I saw James raise his hands, taking aim with a small handgun. James fired five times, the bullets hitting the beast in the neck and cheek area. Thick oily blood spurting, the creature spinning around to face him.

Guilt and regret crashing down upon my soul in a wave of sorrow, I recalled running as soon as the creature lost interest in me. Right before I made it past the trail leading into the clearing started, I looked back one last time to see James lying on the ground, the beast towering above him.

It stood on its hind legs and in a moment, it's ribcage splayed open in hungry gullet, it began to come down on James as he fired three more shots and trying to kick the monstrosity away. I turned away, and kept running, and running, my legs numb, and lungs burning.

I heard James scream then.

"HEY.... HEY...HELP....NOOO...AAAH!"

I recalled the bleating and gurgling on the run home, fumbling my keys in the lock, pushing the door open and slamming it shut behind me. I locked the door, ran into the bathroom, locking that door as well, and then climbing in the bathtub where I shook and cried until I couldn't cry anymore. Then I remember waking up in the bed.

I could feel the warmth of tears streaking down my face. My body convulsing as I fought unavoidable sobs, I opened my eyes to see the doctor holding out a tissue.

"You don't think I am crazy, do you?" I spoke.

"Not at all son."

"You won't tell anyone about this?"

"Doctor patient confidentiality, you don't have to worry."

I wiped the tears from my face and then began to sit up. I felt as though an enormous weight had lifted from my soul, in its place enmity began to kindle, for myself, but too for the beast. I turned to face the doctor who was scribbling furiously on his notepad to ask him.

"What should I do? I left my friend out there to die! That *thing* needs to be stopped, I owe it to him, it's my all my fault!" I shouted in between sobs.

"I can understand your frustration, it's natural to feel a sort of obligation or responsibility to the departed. What happened out there was a freak thing, you acted on instinct, you are not required to be a hero in those circumstances." He spoke.

"Animals act on instinct as well, I know that some male deer can be aggressive and territorial, and Kentucky is home to a few species of black bear, I know that the females can be very protective of their young. It's very unfortunate that some people can end up in the wrong place and time with these animals, and I would advise not to travel back to the area to search for him."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, my situation was being downplayed, I began to grow irritated with the doctor. I took a sharp inhale and then spoke.

It wasn't a bear, or a deer, it was something that could make itself look like an animal. So, what, you suggest I just forget about him, do nothing?!"

"No not at all, I can begin a program with you starting-"

"I don't want to do a program, I want my friend back, or that thing dead!" I interrupted.

I jumped up off the sofa and began to walk towards the door. On the way out, I turned to look back at the doctor, a look of empathy on his face.

"Look, I appreciate what you've done for me, and I'll pay for today's session. But my mind is made up, either this ends with me or *it*, and I'm okay with that."

With that I left the office and began to plan my next visit to our favorite spot once more.