This is an ad by Better Help.

Picture this.

You're curled up on the couch.

You're cozy and ready for a perfect night in.

Therapy can feel a bit like that. Your comfort place where you replenish your energy.

With BetterHelp, get matched with a therapist based on your needs entirely online.

Designed to be convenient and suited to your schedule. Find comfort this season with BetterHelp.

Visit BetterHelp.com to learn more and save 10% on your first month. That's BetterHelp,

help.com.

I grew up in a rural community in the Squintna area of Alaska, a place that doesn't often appear on maps.

Its only claim to fame is being a place the Iditarod passes on the way to Nome.

It isn't a town or even a village, rather a scattered community of homesteaders,

Apocalypse Preppers, Lodge operations, and wealthy Southerners with summer

retreats, all spread for miles up and down the river.

It tends not to be a very frightening place, though it can be dangerous, whether from hostile

wildlife or smash and grab criminals. If you know how to handle it with a rifle,

there's nothing to be afraid of. Yet, as long as I've lived out there, I have had an uncanny fear of

being out in the woods alone. My family has a homestead nearby, a large marsh. Ever since I was a

child, I could see that expanse of grass and water outside my window.

It could be mesmerizingly beautiful, watching the wind ripple through that sea of grass.

But at the same time, there was always something off-putting or eerie about it, especially when night came.

Alaska is known as the place of the midnight sun.

...