"Leaving the University of Washington and final exam behinds, Stacy was eager to spend the

winter break with her family and friends in Vancouver, Washington

Winter break w/family metaphor for they are already waiting for stacy in the afterlife and Stacy

believed it is just a winter break resulting from the trial simulation of Craft and Null(Stacy's

suicide resulting on a purgatory trial since suicide is a complicated issue in choosing whether to

go to afterlife or oblivion) alternatively if she didn’t commit suicide, she was about to attend the

funeral in Vancouver, alive and move on on living

Family died in a car crash while Stacy was in college, Stacy hasn’t visited home ever since and

now she thinks or hallucinates that she is joining her family on winter break

Mack's shortcut meaning is a cliff which Mack, her best friend, accepts her decision of

committing suicide

Stacy is in a trial of purgatory since she is the only one who committed suicide in her family.

Trial of Trusting a helping hand*Old man mirroring Mack that tries to help her mourn yet she

denied and just told Mack that she will commit suicide instead

Trial of letting go and accepting *Hits a deer with the car and their conversation came to a pause

just when she was about to ask herself why she is visiting her family ,mirroring her family's

death, that she should let go and continue driving, Old man convinces her aggressively that there

is nothing they can do to save the deer, Stacy realizes her stubbornness and decides to let the

deer go
 Trial of running away and neglect*Mom (Bear Play dead signifying Stacy not returning her

calls) Dad (Hiding from big foot signifying her dad being Persistent and adjusting to visit Stacy

in her university with her little brother while Stacy did not even bother to see) null/Little Null

creatures dragging her(horrifying)*mirroring her little brother which is her greatest guilt which is

only the one whom she really cares in the family

Trial of choosing/uncertainty(hardest)

The whole trial wasnt even a trial, but a decision, for her to make, for she is her own judge

Craft L. Mournez (Crafty son of a female dog)

Family, a mother, little brother,

(Lindow)

Purgatory . shift occupations for different trials

Void,End ,Inevitable, The Null

…pros and cons on opening the window

Eventually opens the window

Explains situation to the old man

Opens the hood of the car

 Old man checks on the engine

Asks the old man where he came from

Old man explains that his car was broken while he was leaving town and needed to be taken to

the shop, while Stacy looks back, she noticed the turn that she took was gone (foggy road) and

just realizes that there is a broken car on the other side of the road

Stacy’s car is fixed and they rode it together because the old man’s car is in worse condition

from Stacy’s

Stacy wishes to drive the old man to the nearest repair shop to tow the old man’ car

Paradise

The dusk settled in on the crimson edge of a fiery sunset flattened against a windless evening.

Driving into the Olympic Rainforest in Olympia, Washington against the backdrop of tall pine

trees creating green coats of branches against the sunset, the escaping light of dusk was soon

becoming the encroaching darkness of night. Stacy’s 78′ Chevy Sedan’s forest green paint job

blended with the array of forest growth. The thick foliage almost blocked out the dusk as slivers

of sunset peeked around the tall fir trees. Stacy was thinking about Mack’s detailed conversation

on why she should take the shortcut through the Olympic Rainforest. He was adamant that as a

shortcut to Highway 2, the 20 minute drive through the forest would save her at least 2 hours of

driving time to her home in Vancouver, Washington. Leaving the University of Washington and

final exam behinds, Stacy was eager to spend the winter break with her family and friends.
Her headlights illuminated the dirt road carved through the Rainforest as she drove slowing

down to 20mph to avoid any sudden deer or other animals darting across the road ahead. As

Stacy came to a turn in the road, her engine sputtered and died. The whispers of the Rainforest

closed in as she sat in her car in the middle of a two lane road with headlights now black on

black with the sudden settling of night. The cold quickly replaced the heat in her car as she tried

frantically to place a 911 call on her Blackberry. The no service icon illuminated a battery light

that was already half over when she heard the distinct sound of heavy footprints coming towards

her. Thoughts of bears, Bigfoot or some other large animal dragging her out of the car started the

screaming that permeated the forest. She was so hysterically that the knock on the driver’s

window drowned out the stranger’s voice outside shouting, "Ma’am, ma’am can I help you!" as

he gently placed his toolkit on the road next to her door. Stacy turned toward the friendly face of

an older man smiling and signaling for her to roll down her window. She started to

hyperventilate and began vacillating between wanting to trust her benefactor and wanting to trust

her instincts that kept her hand away from the lever that would open the window and her to

whatever would come next.

Stacy calms herself down first and then thought about the situation, since she is stranded in a

rainforest without any cell network, she has no choice but to accept any help that she can get.

Stacy got a good look on the old man and she seems to trust him. So her decision all goes to

opening the window and trusting the old man. She pushed the lever to open the window and just

when she was about to speak, the old man interrupted her and said “Ma’am can you open the

hood of your car so I can take a look at it?”, Stacy replied in grateful tone “ Yes, of course, thank

you so much for helping me!” Stacy then pulls the lever beside her to open the hood and then she

exits the car so that she can also take a look at it. While the old man was fixing Stacy’s car, Stacy
asks the old man in a confused manner “Where did you come from? I didn’t see any headlights

from miles away.” The old man replied “You’re not the only one stranded here taking the

shortcut.” then he points his flashlight towards the other side of the road revealing a car on the

side of the road with mild smoke coming out from the hood. Stacy not only just noticed the car

on the other side of the road, but also notices that the turn she took a while ago was gone and

nothing could be seen but endless darkness on the opposite direction. The Old man then says in a

comical way “You know I didn’t think anybody else would take this shortcut, everybody else

seems to take the long and painful cut if you know what I mean” Stacy smiles and then asks in

return “how about you, why did you take this shortcut?” The old man replied in a grumpy tone “I

was on a hurry to get out of Vancouver and me and my wife had a bet that nothing bad would

happen to me if I take the cursed shortcut, I guess now she finally gets my golden dentures”

Stacy replied in a sarcastic and curious tone “Cursed?” Old man replied “Not everybody takes

the shortcut also meant not everybody ever arrived while taking it” as the old man then finishes

fixing the Stacy’s car, he asks Stacy to turn it on. Stacy tried turning it on more than two times

and finally on the 4th try, the car is finally turned on and seems to be working well enough to be

driven again. Stacy shows her gratitude to the old man by offering the old man a ride to a repair

shop on the way to Vancouver so that they can tow his car over there. Even though the old man

was heading on the opposite way he has no choice but to go back to Vancouver, so he accepts the

offer. On the way to Vancouver, Stacy asks the old man “Where were you heading outside of

Vancouver?” as Stacy keeps her eyes on the road while driving. The Old man replied “Yes, I

have someone to visit outside of Vancouver and scold him for not going home during winter

break. My son, who works as a teacher in the University of Washington, has not been returning

any of our calls and messages about spending a winter break with his parents” Stacy then replied
in a sympathetic manner, “I am pretty much just like your son actually, avoiding home, too busy

being out there in the real world, it took me just now to realize that the that family is a part of

the real world” She then feels a sudden migraine after asking herself why she is only returning

home just now. Then out of nowhere, they hit something that was jumping over the road that

startled both of them. Stacy then hits the brakes and asks the old man in a hysterical tone “Did

you see what I just hit, was that a person?” The old man then calmly replied “No, I didn’t see it,

but I saw it dropped on the left side of the road, I should go out and see, and you keep the engine

running”. The old man exits the car to see what they hit, upon looking on the side of road he

then shouted, “We hit someone alright!” as Stacy comes out, leaving the car turned on, filled

with guilt and tears slowly dropping from her eyes as she saw a deer barely clinging into life on

the side of the road. Stacy then runs back to the car and grabs a med kit in the trunk, just when

she was about to treat the deer, the deer has died. Stacy still then tries to save it by trying to put it

on the trunk and driving the deer to an animal clinic, the blood stains her clothes while she was

trying to carry it, but the deer was too heavy that she asks the old man to help her. Then out of

nowhere the Old man snaps her out of it by holding both her shoulders and aggressively shouting

“There is nothing we can do Stacy, Move on and look ahead! We can’t stay out here for long!”

just as when the old man was finished shouting, the rainforest suddenly went silent as to even a

single wind hits a pine tree cannot be heard and then the engine of the car stopped and its

headlights turned off. Stacy was scared more than ever to the old man and yet she was rational

enough to realize her overreaction towards an unfamiliar situation. Stacy then said that they

should bury the deer. When the old man returns to a calming tone, he told Stacy “You start the

car, I’ll get this deer out of the side of the road and then we go” as the old man slowly carries the

deer into the rainforest. Stacy obeys while wiping her tears and the blood from her clothes. Stacy
tries to start the car’s ignition, and she noticed that the moonlight doesn’t reflect the car interior

anymore so she has to turn on her flashlight from the med kit. As Stacy, tries to start the ignition

the second time, she noticed a sound blending in with the car stalling at the front of the car, and

on the third ignition, the sound was starting to resemble a growl. And then on the fourth ignition,

the engine is finally running and the headlights were turned on, but Stacy sees nothing on the

front of the car. Just when she thought it was nothing, the sound of growling is back but is

coming from her side of the window this time, Stacy points her flashlight on her window and it

reveals teeth connected to a very small silhouette of a four legged animal. And then suddenly

something else bigger tipped the car over to the side of the road while Stacy is in it. . Luckily,

Stacy wore a seatbelt but still hit her head on her window. Stacy felt lightheaded afterwards and

is upside down in the car. And then she saw the Old man flashing his flashlight towards two

bears, while shouting “Ill distract them, Go Stacy!” as he was running on the other side of where

Stacy is. When the large bear’s attention went to the old man, Stacy exits through the broken

window on her left and then ran into the rainforest, she then hears the old man screaming in the

distance as she ran further into the rainforest. Even though she got away, she still hears the

crunching of leaves and the snapping of twigs following her. Stacy thought of something that

could help her escape the bears, she suddenly remembered that playing dead is a way on

avoiding a grizzly bear. Even though she has not seen clearly on what kind of bear it was, she

still chose to do it. As Stacy lies there on the ground motionless and holding her breath, the

sound of light footsteps came closer and closer. The Bear cub sniffs the body of Stacy slowly in

a cute and curious manner, then the sounds of heavy footsteps came closer and closer while

Stacy can’t hold her breathe anymore, she took one breathe and smells a very familiar perfume.
The Huge bear sniffs the body of Stacy and then flips her over to see if she is dead. The bear

bought it and left with her cub towards the deeper parts of the rainforest.

Even though the bear left, Stacy was still left in shock and took her a while to gain the courage to

stand up. Stacy looked around if it is safe to go back to the car then she hears a familiar voice

echoing coming from the deeper parts of the rainforest, she leans her ear closely to the sound and

on the second echo she has no doubt now that she hears her mom’s voice, she ran towards the

voice without hesitation, as she kept running with tears on her eyes, she reached the car instead

even though she ran the opposite way. Stacy saw the old man on the road unconscious. She

quickly goes to the old man and tries to wake him up. Just when Stacy was about to get the med

kit from the car, the old man suddenly wakes up calmly and Stacy was never been more glad to

see that they were both fine. The Old man said “I must have fainted” and Stacy replied “I almost

fainted while pretending to be dead” as they laughed together in relief. Stacy then thought about

what she heard in the forest and then decided it was probably just nothing. Although none of

them sustained any major injuries, the car is tipped over on the side of the road surrounded by

nature and then the Old man cracks a joke by saying “At least your green paint job finally paid

off”, Stacy then replied sarcastically, “Thank you for noticing the paintjob” and now they are

both left with the option of walking to Vancouver to get both their cars towed. As the night

progresses, Stacy and the old man were only left with two flashlights, toolbox and a med kit and

a complete void behind them. While walking, Stacy just realizes that she didn’t even get the

chance to ask what the old man’s name was because of the deer, so she respectfully asked “Sorry

I didn’t get ask earlier, because of the deer and the other things, but what’s your name again?.

The Old man then replied “My name is Craft Mournez and I insist being called only by my first

name, Craft. Because my last name sounds like a serial killer’s”, Stacy was left in a short
awkward silence, suddenly Craft says “I’m just messing with you” as he laughs heartily, while

Stacy just laughs nervously slowly turning into a legit laugh. Just when she was about to

introduce herself back, she suddenly realized that the Old man already knows her name yet she

didn’t even mention her name to him before and he already called her by her first name a couple

of times and she is certain that all her identification is on her wallet. She dismisses the idea and

thought to herself “Whatever we got bigger things to deal with”. As they continue walking, they

start to see the end of the single road and then finally reached a forked road with four paths

ahead. Craft then mentioned “That is why not everybody takes this shortcut you know, because

of the confusion of which road you choose to take” Stacy lights ahead each one of the four roads

and sees that the first two of those roads leads straight to a cliff and the other two seems to be

intact. Stacy nervously says “They should really put up signs on these”, Craft then replied

“Unless some people prefer to take those shortcuts, am I right?” Stacy just responds by shaking

her head in a disagreeing manner. Stacy then remembered Mack’s instruction to take the third

road so that is where they are heading since this is also where Craft came from.

As they continue walking, Both Stacy and Craft slowly notices the presence of pine trees getting

significantly higher by every step