Escaping from the wolf
14

I rolled down the window immediately.

"Kara, what happened to you?" I asked.

"Please, just let me in!" she pleaded. "I'll answer anything, I just don't want to be outside, please."

"Anne, let her in," Carolina murmured behind me.

I nodded and unlocked the back door. Kara climbed into the car right away, slamming the door shut. She glanced out the window at the forest, as if to make sure whatever had frightened her wasn't following. "Alright, now talk," Carolina said, turning to face her.

"Drive, I don't want to stay here," Kara almost begged. I did as she asked, driving at a moderate speed.

Maybe Kara had seen the wolves, and that was why she was so scared.

"Talk," Carolina repeated.

There was a brief silence. I glanced at Kara in the rearview mirror; she had her head down, lost in thought.

"I... I was going to your house, Carolina, to convince you to join us because there's no one else to fill that spot... But on the way..." she began but was interrupted.

"Wait, where's your car?" Carolina asked.

Good point. Silence.

"Actually, I came with... Thomas," she replied. I tensed. "He said he had something to do around here too, so we came together. But halfway, he dropped me off saying he had to go alone on that road that leads to Kayler's house. I begged him not to leave me alone in the middle of nowhere, but he didn't listen. I had no signal on my phone, so I started walking alone," she took a deep breath, and I could see a tear escaping. "Then I heard footsteps in the forest, so I ventured in a bit to see what it was... I saw a guy, he was eerie and dark... He was with a..." she stopped.

"With what? Speak, don't stop."

"It was a wolf... A huge wolf and... They were fighting... That guy wasn't afraid, and then, in a second, he disappeared... He wasn't there anymore... I don't know if I'm crazy, but at one point, I looked at him, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone," she sobbed. "The wolf looked at me and growled, so I got scared and ran, I fell, I tripped until moments later I saw a car, and here I am."

I looked at Carolina. She looked back at me. Kara had seen the wolves and Clark. She had seen him disappear, and maybe she could be a problem because she might spread the word at school, and everyone would know there are wolves, which could lead to something worse. For some reason, the werewolves had kept this secret. They hadn't allowed themselves to be seen by any other human because they knew people would realize they were not ordinary wolves. "The guy's gaze was... cold," she murmured. "Eerie."

I swallowed hard.

"Kara, you must have hit your head and hallucinated," Carolina told her.

She shook her head.

"No, I know what I saw."

"And what do you think you saw?" Carolina inquired. "That a guy was fighting with an ordinary wolf to prevent it from harming him? That the guy ran off when he saw you, thinking the wolf would go after you?"

I knew what she was doing; she was trying to implant in Kara's mind that this was what had happened. Kara didn't respond; she just stayed silent, thoughtful.

We were leaving the forest and entering the town. After a few minutes of silence, she answered:

"You're right. That's what happened."

She didn't seem very convinced. She adjusted her hair and returned to being the same old Kara. "You can drop me off here," she almost ordered defensively.

I rolled my eyes and stopped the car. Kara got out, and seconds later, I drove off.

"That was close..." Carolina murmured, placing a hand on her chest and taking a deep breath.

"Thomas took her?" I asked quietly, more to myself.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that Kara almost discovered the secret of the wolves, and I was thinking about Thomas, about how they were in the same car. Well, the fact that he had left her stranded was funny, but because of that, they were almost discovered.

And what was Thomas doing in this place? Did he know I'd be here? Or was he just confronting Clark?

"Hey, calm down. She probably didn't give him much of a choice."

I stopped the car in front of my house.

"It doesn't matter. Thomas and I aren't even friends."

"Uh-huh."

We got out of the car. The lights inside were off, so I assumed Dad wasn't home.

"Well, Anne, see you tomorrow at school, okay?" she raised an eyebrow.

I nodded.

She walked into the darkness, and in a second, she transformed into that little wolf with white fur and blue spots, disappearing into the night. I turned towards my house. I entered and turned on the living room light; the silence was eerie, but being alone at home was normal for me. My brother lived at the university, Dad rarely came home to sleep, and I never talked to Mom. She was always traveling from one place to another with her new boyfriend.

I left my coat on the couch and climbed the stairs to my room. I opened the door and turned on the light, letting myself fall onto the bed and closing my eyes. I was tired, very tired; my eyes felt heavy... So in a moment, I fell asleep.

***

I opened my eyes suddenly as if something had pushed me to do so. The darkness blinded me. How strange, I thought I had left the light on. I looked at the clock on my nightstand, but it was off. Had I left it unplugged? Or had the power gone out? I searched for my phone and turned it on, the brightness stinging my eyes.

It was 3:30 a.m.

Three in the morning? I had never woken up at this hour. The room was dark, and so was outside. There was no moon. Everything was in total darkness, and it scared me. I adjusted myself in bed, pulling the blanket up to my chin. I didn't feel alone. It was as if someone else was in my room... with me.

I didn't like that feeling at all.

I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but footsteps in the hallway made me alert. Could it be Dad coming home at this hour? But they weren't hurried, confident steps; they were slow, as if someone were wandering the hallway. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight. The room lit up, giving me courage. I got out of bed and headed for the door. I grabbed the doorknob and turned it. I opened it a crack, shining the light down the hallway, but there was no one there. So I opened the door wider and stepped out. I shone the light in both directions but found nothing. Could it be a burglar? My hands started to tremble.

I was alone in the house, there was no power, and maybe a thief had broken in.

"Dad?" I called out in a trembling voice.

Nothing.

I walked towards the stairs, occasionally shining the light behind me to make sure no one was coming because I started feeling a tingling at the back of my neck. "Dad?" I called again.

Nothing again.

I stopped at the top of the stairs, shining the light down. Should I go down or not? I stood there, debating whether I should go down. Then the footsteps started again, now in the kitchen. They were heavy and firm. If it had been my dad, he would have responded by now.

"Dad...?" I left the word hanging as I felt a hand cover my mouth from behind and an arm wrap around my waist.

"Shhh..." someone hushed me as I whimpered. They led me to the nearest door, and we went inside. It was the bathroom. The man who had me closed the door very carefully.

My heart was pounding. I was shaking, and the light from my phone was darting all over the place due to the tremor in my hands. I was being held captive.

"Don't scream, little Anne," they whispered in my ear.

A wave of relief washed over me as I recognized Thomas's voice. Slowly, he removed his hand from my mouth, and I turned to face him. The light from my flashlight illuminated him; he looked tired. He took my phone and turned it off, leaving us in darkness.

"What's going on, Thomas?" I whispered. "And what are you doing in my house? Who's the guy downstairs?"

He moved closer to me, trapping me against the wall, placing his index finger on my lips to silence me. Oh God, his body was pressing against mine, and I didn't know how to react. He removed his finger from my lips, and I felt his breath against them. My skin tingled.

The footsteps grew louder. The man was coming up the stairs. With Thomas here, my fear disappeared. Thomas was very close to me.

"Nervous, little one?" he whispered very softly.

"No," I replied in the same tone.

The footsteps stopped right in front of this door. Who was that guy, and what did he want? The next thirty seconds were absolute silence until the footsteps receded. I heard the front door open and then close.

"He's gone," I said, seeing that Thomas hadn't moved.

"I know," he replied.

"So why aren't we leaving?" I asked, but my tone wasn't threatening.

"Because I like having you close to me like this."

The butterflies in my stomach went wild at those words. I was thankful there was no light, or else he would have seen my blushing cheeks. I bit my lower lip unconsciously... But wait, he's a wolf; he can see perfectly in the dark. Great.

"Why are you doing this, Thomas?" I questioned.

"Simple, little Anne," he whispered very close to my ear. "Because you are mine."