Pam is seen running through the busy market, being chased by something.

Or to be more exact, someone...

While running she takes a turn for the forest and keeps going deeper and deeper, looking around her, she's just realizing how deep in the forest she is, the trees around her are probably at least a century old, their roots are huge and there's a lot of vegetation around her, but she has no time to admire nature's beauty right now as she's being chased.

Running, she's already really tired she's getting worn out her breathing is getting heavier and heavier by the second, she's moving slower and slower, but still going as fast as her tired body allows her to. She looks behind her to check if the person who's chasing her has lost her, yet he's still there, chasing her seemingly not breaking a sweat.

He seems to be getting closer, she tries to run faster but her legs won't let her, in a panic she trips over a large root, badly injuring her knee.

She's now deep in the forest, hurt and seemingly in danger, approaching her slowly and steadily just who is this person?

She's too tired to tell.

As the person gets closer she can recognize some characteristics, reminding her of a certain person.

'is it really him?' She questions herself, not expecting any answers.

As he reaches her, lowering himself, he looks at her angrily.

'Why did you do this to me Pam?' He asks calmly yet the anger in his voice remains.

'Tell me why you did it!' He asks again, even angrier this time.

She's at a loss of words, what can she even say in this kind of situation?

The person In front of her seems oddly familiar, yet she can't point out the person's identity at all.

Overwhelmed with stress, the person in front of her screaming at her, her wounds and exhaustion catch up to her and eventually everything goes dark...

Pam slowly regains consciousness again.

What happened? How long was she out for? And most importantly, where is she right now?

Looking around her, Pam is surrounded by people who are looking at her with deep hatred, she doesn't know any of them, so why are they all so...

Disgusted?

Just when she tries to move she notices she's tied up, the mysterious person comes out again, greeting her with a strange, arrogant smile.

"So do you want the pumpkin to stay or?" he says. He's referring to the carved pumpkin she wears on her head.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" she asks, her voice full of fear.

"That doesn't matter, after all, what will you do with my name after you're dead right?" says the stranger surrounded by mystery.

'Dead?! What does he mean dead?!' Pam starts panicking again, just what will happen to her?

"I see, you're pretty surprised over there, but did you really think I could forgive you after all you did?" he says, Pam doesn't understand anything, what did she do to him? She doesn't even know who she is.

"I-"

"No matter what you say now, you did what you did, so now you'll bear the consequences, I'd advise you to either a)say something meaningful or b)be quiet and accept the fate you can't change"

'Then I'm choosing silence' Pam thought, but she still didn't understand why all this was happening, just what did she do? She just wanted to purchase some ingredients at the market how did she end up like this?

"Well I see you made your decision, you didn't answer my question though" he says, and she looks at him questionably.

"Huh?"

"The pumpkin" he explains pointing to his head "do you want it to stay?" he asks.

"Yeah, let it be" she answers and says nothing else, there's no point to talk.

Nodding,he says "good night" with a smile and letting go of the rope he's been holding all this time the rusted blade falls, separating her head from her shoulders...

Pam wakes up in a cold sweat. Thankfully,it was all just another dream.

She's being having those kind of dreams lately and they're starting to get to her.

Getting up she tries to remember what her dream was exactly this time but no matter how hard she thinks she's unable to, like something is blocking her memories, the more she thinks about it the more she forgets.

After a while she gives up, it's just a dream after all, nothing serious,it still weirds her out though, she usually remembers most of her dreams but this time she feels lost, as if she's in a maze, blindfolded trying to find her way out.

Sounds impossible, no?

She gets dressed and makes her way to the kitchen to make breakfast.

When she's done she starts brewing her coffee.

Suddenly a wave of memories washes over her, but some pick her interest more than others.

" Why did I suddenly think of him " she wonders out loud, after all, it's been quite a while since then,she thought she had forgotten all about him, but that was far from the truth.

Remembering exactly how he liked his coffee, he liked everything to be as sweet as possible and his coffee wasn't an exception.

He also preferred adding rum to his coffee, "adds a little kick to it" he used to say, before offering her to try some from his.Yet here she is, pouring sadness into hers.

When she was done, she sat down at the table and started eating her breakfast, she wasn't that hungry anymore, not after all that memory reunion of her's that showed up unannounced.

Finishing her food she puts the plate aside and starred at the coffee aimlessly, losing track of time.

She's suddenly much more upset than she previously was. It's just coffee right? So why does she have so many precious memories related to it?

Sighing, she takes a small sip, it's still warm, not hot though, just the perfect temperature for her. lt calms her down, yet she still feels like she's in bed, having a nightmare of which she'll remember nothing of when she wakes up.

Ignoring it, she continues slowly drinking her coffee.she added so much sugar so why is it so bitter? It's like she was drinking something warm and bitter with no taste,yet somehow comforting, not really how coffee should taste, maybe it's all in her head.

Finishing her sweetly bitter coffee she washes and places the dishes away, when she's done with that she notices a spider on the floor. "how did that thing get in?" she says surprised, that spider was too big to have squeezed in from any cracks, heck, this thing was almost as big as her hand, how could it invade her home without her noticing?

And most importantly, what if lays eggs? even worse,if it has already done so?

Pam never really minded spiders,she liked picking them up when she was little,but this thing is too much even for her.

The thought of it laying eggs in her house makes her wanna burn it down all together with her belongings, one spider is enough,let alone hundreds of those, just the thought sends shivers down her spine.

"Now now, how do we get rid of you?"she says, skeptical, there's no way she's picking that thing up with her hands.

"Well, time to get the broom I guess"

After getting rid of the spider, Pam has already decided to sell the house, she's been planning to go look for the ancient artifact for a while now so the timing is perfect, besides, it won't take long to find a buyer, the house is in a good position, it has a great view, made from durable materials and it's big enough for a family of five to stay it could be selled at a high price, plus, she can just buy a smaller one afterwards.

This one got passed down to her from her mother for when she'd get married but she hasn't found anyone yet and she isn't planning to, there has always been one person for her and he's not here, she wants no one else.

She'll make the posters and start looking for buyers tomorrow morning, for now she'll pack most of her stuff and store them in a room, she can't carry all of them in the forest anyway, 'selling them would be a waste, I'll still need them when I come back.'

She'll come back......right...?

She decided to ignore the negative thoughts for now as they were doing more harm than good.

To distract herself she decided to go to the market to see if there's anything that catches her eye.

It's a great opportunity to buy some teas and herbs, right now they might be more expensive but it's worth it.

First she'll have to make a list though, since she already has some things in mind she wouldn't want to forget them, they'll be useful to her in her journey.

Getting a piece of paper she starts writing down her list.

After ten minutes, she places the pen down "finally done!" She says holding the list up in the air like she was expecting some kind of praise, but there was no one there to praise her child-like behavior.

Although a bit disappointed, she calms down after a while. Going to change into more appropriate clothing she stumbles across something she had long forgotten she had.

'A piece of art indeed' she thought as she looked at it,the longer she looked the more the picture came into life, this painting was from her father, he used to be a great artist in the past, he's not here now though...

In the canvas the view of a place in the forest could be seen, it seemed like a paradise, the old trees, the flowers and a deer munching on the fresh green grass, all while the sun was rising.

It was all too realistic, just like she was there inside the painting, watching nature do its magic.

"I should hang that on the wall, it's a shame to leave it here, well, time to go to the market now!" she said and got her bag, exiting the house.

(Author's note: I've been kinda busy lately so that's why this chapter isn't that long, I promise future chapters won't be as short, so please bear with me y'all and thanks for your support)