The Cabin they built served them well, and stayed near the wall even as the wall moved further away from campus. They were happy there. She could not have children, so she got a pair of sibling cats. Unusually, one was pure white, while the other, black as shadow, and they were never far from her heels. They were happy. They were ageing. They grew old together.

They we’re self sufficient, and she attributed her long life and incredible health to the fresh vegetables she grew in her garden. Sometimes they came out a little strange… like everything did at Elsewhere.

Over the years, the campus grew distant. The Woods arrived, and the couple were happy still, if not a little lonely. If not a little tired.

Oscar, her husband, retired in the 70’s, although well after his own 70’s. Diet, exercise… it did wonders for the life span, they often said to each other. She soon followed him, so it had been quite a while since they had any obligations.

They needed for nothing. They had a well, and a large vegetable garden. Sometimes, she would walk into visit the library, or the convenience store. Never the Dennys.

But even a long life comes to an end. Oscar had not gotten up from his bed in weeks. She had encountered a man in the library, fussing over a lamp in a reading room. He liked the light, and he wanted a bulb that made more of it. Incandescent light bulbs were so rare nowadays, but she had a healthy stock in her cabin. He insisted on a trade, after all, they were both inhabitants of Elsewhere. He listened and he offered her a thought. He offered her help. He offered her time.

She gathered up the hair of her own cats, as instructed, and in a week, he produced a ball of silver yarn. Shining in the light. It felt itchy, but if she made something with it, it would last one year, and it would be one year more than she would have without it. And a year can be such a long time! A long time more with her love.

Oscar did not know how to knit.

She tried to teach him, she tried to help him. He kept on saying it was his time. He was ready. She was not ready. She was not ready to be alone.

The woods were dark when he collapsed. She needed a doctor. She needed to leave campus.

She did not want to get lost, so she grabbed the yarn, and attached it to her front door. If she got lost, she would follow it back. She made a path, a trail back to her home. She made a path out of the yarn. A year is such a long time to wait for a doctor.

Angelique wandered for a year, and a year in The Woods can do a lot to a person.