Finn drops me off at home after our encounter with Meg. Every inch of me is still tense with everything she said. Even when we got back to the car, the doubt in Finn's eyes as he surveyed my eyes, trying to see what Meg was talking about, but not saying anything as he likely saw the same green that has always been. But in the window behind him, the two bulbs of gold light shone back at me.

Before I'm able to walk out of Finn's car, he calls out and places his hand onto my arm. "Please don't tell me you believe what Meg said back there? It's nonsense, a myth conducted for little kids to scare them. You know that, right?"

I'm only able to nod as I know any verbal response won't match with such. Do you really know better? Do you not want to believe it's true just because it'd be easier then? None of this is easy. A part of me really does believe, but werewolves and magic? How?

Grandma sits on our weary couch as I walk inside, the television flashing some commercial across the static screen. "Hi, grandma," I place a kill onto her cheek and sit down opposite of her. "I'm sorry," the words breathe out of me. "I don't know how to explain it, but I needed to see Mom. I went to go see her."

A tear slips down as my conversation with her reenacts in my head, all of the spiteful words I said to her. "It's alright, sweetheart," Rose breathes a heavy sigh. "I'm just worried. I want to help you if you let me."

"Can you tell me about her?" The question stumbles out before I can think, knowing how much she hates discussing the past. She hasn't even mentioned my grandfather in years. But despite any struggle and debate in her mind, she speaks up.

"From what I've always known, your mother met your father in high school, not too much older than you are now. She started acting out and talking nonsense, all these impossible things. About a year later, she came home pregnant—with you." My lips suck inwards as she goes on. "I'm assuming she told your father and they fought about it, he was gone the next day with no trace. Even devastated, your mother's love for you never wavered. After you were born, your father came back one time to see your mother, but disappeared the same day once more. I never knew why. Abria tried to give you the perfect life until she couldn't anymore, and like I needed to make sure she was safe, I wanted to protect you as well."

A heaviness takes hold of my heart listening to grandma. My mother was hurt. She believed something so deeply it broke her sanity. My mother lost her life for me. Piece by piece she fell apart.

Placing her hand onto my cheek, her warmth sinking into my skin, she stands and goes to the kitchen to let me have a moment to myself. All of the stories I've been told today collide within me, fighting inside and causing a struggle for my lungs to receive any air. My body feels limp, on the verge of fainting, when the sound of branches breaking followed by heavy footsteps breaks me out of my stupor.

Walking over to the window, a shadow stands in the faint luminescence of the street light. The person tethered to it only a few feet from my house. Lapis blue eyes pierce through the window and onto me.

Join us.

The whisper entrances my body outside, my legs cooperating as they shuffle through the front door, yet my mind remains detached, aware. Keeping heedful as the shivers that inch down my spine warns me that any wrong move will result in misery. The whisper is one foreign to those I've heard before, and even with the darkened distance between us, each step tightens an invisible noose around my neck. An alarm in my mind ringing without pause. Something isn't right about this.

The moon's dull light outlines the shadow as I creep closer, yet every feature remains indistinctive as I walk. Fear boiling within and an ache throbbing through my limbs. A gamble for my life shuffling out in front of me, a dangerous game being played for when I finally reach the threatening being.

Right before I can approach them face-to-face, and like my more recent dreams, the figure shifts. A beast forms from the body of a person, a wolf now stands before me. And instead of the concealed features of their face, only their blue eyes glower at me.

Then it charges.

In a single breath, it closes the distance remaining between the two of us. Its lips rise into a snarl, a savage hunger reverberating through tightened fangs. Drawing backwards, my legs wobble as the ground beneath begins to shake. A scream that refuses to sound trapping the air inside.

Stumbling, I force my body to twist in the opposite direction, back towards my house. Run. That's all I can do. What I need to do to survive. Run.

Not one thought. Not one breath. Just one step prying off the ground after the other. Run.

A howl triumphs through the bones of the streets. A howl that beats against the air behind me. The sound pounds past my flesh and scratches an itch within my soul.

Every nerve in my body is on fire, the path around me blurs. Gravity becomes heavier with every stride, the odds of ever making it free against me.

It's playing a game with me. This wolf could have already killed me, but it's taunting me. I'm it's toy.

The burning pain spreads from my legs to the rest of my body, my chest scorching as the last remaining pants in my lungs huff out. But my home, my sanctuary of freedom, is so close in sight, only a few houses away. I need to keep running. I can make it. If I stop, even a slight hesitation, will surrender me to the fate inside of this wolf's jaws.

Then life reminds me that hope is a pipe dream for the chance of ever making it inside vanishes. Not by the wolf behind me, no, that's not what stops me. There's a second wolf.

Red and black eyes emerge ahead of me.

Surrounded by the nature of two maleficent wolves both behind me and in front, there isn't any other step or move I can make to escape. I halt, blue eyes and red eyes brimming closer and closer, bridging the distance from their prey—from me. These are my last moments.

My knees collide with the grass beneath. My eyes lock ahead in the empty space of night ahead, unbearing to look upon those eyes anymore. They can't be the last thing I see.

The battering of footsteps thump closer and from my peripheral vision I can see the blue-eyed wolf pounce, mouth agape as it leaps to deliver me to my death.

With one final breath, one final acceptance, my eyes track up to the sky above, meeting with the constellations that hang heavy tonight.

This is it, and my eyes close with the stars being the last thing I see.

But death never arrives. For the second time, I manage to avoid death despite its tight grasp at my throat.

Silence. No footsteps, no growling. I shiver as the air around me goes still. Everything is silent.

Was this all a hallucination? A delusion like the one my mother had so long ago?

When my eyes open, will this have all been some dark figment of my mind?

Though, before I can open my eyes to reveal what I hoped to be some delirium, all my questions are answered as the growling resumes in the distance.

As my eyelids flutter, the world blurring back into view after having squeezed my eyes shut so tightly, I can just make out the figures of the two wolves up ahead on the other side of the street.

When my sight clears, my gaze locks on the street ahead, a brutal brawl commencing between the two wolves. Dark silhouettes rustling amongst the lawn grass, the enchanting lambent of their eyes lucent against the dark of the night. The blue-eyed wolf ambushes the other wolf from behind, but the red-eyed wolf manages to match the attack and send the wolf back, landing underneath the faint light emitting from the street lamp.

You can't protect the girl forever. Her blood will be the next to spill. After yours.

The whispers hush as the austere voice of the blue-eyed wolf thunders through my mind. A heavy silence pursues in my head as the wolves continue to tear into one another. All there is left is the sound of the heavy thumps of the wolves bodies as they beat against the ground, the dirt and blades of grass crushing beneath their weight. The shredding of claws ripping into flesh, and their bright three-inch pale canines in a tight snarl, a guttural growl breathing between their clenched jaws.

The carmine of blood oozes under the warm light, painting the concrete red, as each wolf attempts to land that final bite. My body becomes stiff as the battle goes on, freezing me to my spot on the ground. I can't sit here waiting for my turn. But every muscle in my body is engulfed in a cold fear, unable to do anything but watch.

Watch as the two hunters encircle around one another, their eyes locked on the other. Shadows that tumble through the darkness. Untamed jaws open wide, merciless fangs starved for the taste of blood. Two beasts fighting the way soldiers do in war. Leave no enemy alive, only stopping when you're dead.

Now's my chance.

Rising up from the ground with a steady stillness, careful not to make any hasty movements as not to draw any attention onto myself, my eyes never break from the wolves ahead. As my back straightens out, I take one short step to the side. Please don't notice me. My lungs strain as I try to hold in my breath, but a quick gasp of air stutters out of my mouth as the wolves thrash against one another.

One foot after another, my steps begin to widen the further away I move from the fight. Tearing my eyes away from the wolves, I look behind me to see how far the safety of my house is. Two blocks down. You can make it.

Stepping up onto the curb, I hope the grass will muffle my footsteps as I begin to quicken the pace. Still walking backwards, my head bounces back and forth to keep my sight trained on the wolves while seeing how far the house is.

The silhouettes darken as the wolves tumble between the lawn and the separate street lights, but their eyes never dull no matter how far away I move. Just keep moving. Don't slow down now.

The red-eyed wolf surges forward, a quick bound for them to get the advantage over the other wolf. As the blue-eyed wolf attempts to recoil against the attack, the red-eyed wolf finds a weak spot and sends the wolf onto their side. As they press their front paws into the ribcage of the blue-eyed wolf, they inch their face down to theirs, teeth bared ready for the battle to be won.

Run. Now.

My hips twist as I turn to sprint the remainder of the way. I only get in one step, though, as my foot kicks a hidden sprinkler concealed in the tall grass.

Fuck. Please, don't let them hear me. My teeth grind together as I suppress the painful groan that burdens within my throat. Steadying my balance, I take a quick pause in hopes that the wolves are too far away to have heard anything, but as my gaze turns to the wolves, red-eyes peer onto me.

My breath hitches inside of my chest. There's no way I can make it back before the wolf catches me. There's a shiver that runs over my skin, sending chills through my blood, as I wait. And wait. But those red-eyes never move. The wolf only stares.

My head tilts slightly to the side, my sight interlocking with the wolf as in that moment, time wavers. Their eyes scan my own, as if the wolf is checking on me. Almost as if they are making sure I'm okay, dark eyes with a veil of... warmth? Steel-colored fur lights under the subtle light, making it undeniably clear that this is the wolf from my dreams. The wolf from the forest. The wolf my mother is so fearful of. Yet, all they do is stare.

Then there's a cry.

As both the wolf and I freeze in that second of time, the other wolf takes advantage of the distraction and digs their paw into the chest of the red-eyed wolf. The wolf falls, their side hitting the grass beneath and the blue-eyed wolf pounces upward. Sapphire eyes replacing the red as they now are the ones to peer deep into my own, only there's no warmth masking over them.

Leaving behind the red-eyed wolf bleeding out on the lawn, the wolf dives towards me. Its large nature makes the distant gap I made between us close in a few strides. Again, my feet are rooted to the ground below.

A harsh batter beats closer. The pumping of my heart strains as the black void of the wolf's mouth becomes all I can see. That and its sky eyes. All I can bear to think is why. Why does this wolf want me dead? The question burns along my tongue, wanting to shout it out as if the wolf would even answer.

Only a few feet away, the wolf quickens. But before its one last stride, there's a raucous whimper. Gray fur brushes across my vision, the red-eyed wolf surprising the wolf from the side as it knocks it off its lethal path.

Standing between the blue-eyed wolf and me, the wolf shields me from any further attack—proof that for whatever reason, they are my guardian.

The blue-eyed wolf takes a step forward, further challenging the wolf in their battle. Despite shaky balance, the red-eyed wolf doesn't stand down, but rather stands taller in defense.

Without advancing any further, those blue eyes halt where the wolf stands. There's nothing but silence and still air. Not a single whisper looming as if also awaiting the wolf's next move.

Their blue eyes shut closed, its head tilting up as their lips part in a crying howl at the moon. Then the wolf's gone. It vanishes into the darkness of the town's streets, leaving only me and one more.

Though the worry lingers of it turning around to kill me, the wolf only remains ahead. Its head turning back to look at me, its red eye illuminating under the moon's gleam. Worry within me dwindles as all I can do is marvel at the deadly beauty that stands in front of me. Those hints of recognition tying in with the security I can't help but feel with this wolf, that quiet voice inside telling me they're here to protect me at all costs.

It's an eternity of us staring at each other. The moon overtakes the both of us as it hovers just above. And soon enough, the wolf simply walks away. Leaving me here, sitting in complete awe at everything I've witnessed tonight.

Then all I can do is stare. Not into the distance, and not into the darkness. As the blue-eyed wolf had done before, my sight locks onto the moon above.  

***

Pictured at Top : Aryce Bade

Until then

-Xxx