The Beast - Part 5

Beast

My whole body hurts. Every single muscle is aching and I can’t breathe properly. I never imagined I would die this way. I never actually imagined my death ever. I didn’t have time to think about it.

I see little black dots in front of me and I immediately know that I’m about to pass out. I have to breathe!

The black wolf seems to see my troubles with breathing and stops his administrations. The second he stops I can breathe again. I take deep breaths in and out trying to calm myself down. The aching is still there, but I think I’ve just strained my muscles too much. Nothing serious. But the question is:

WHAT WAS THAT?!

Let’s think again.

After pushing me to sit on the bed, the black wolf lay down in front of me and after a minute of staring at my bloody feet he started licking them clean. As soon as he slid tongue over my feet I yelped and scrambled back on the bed, trying to get away from the weird sensation.

It wasn’t really painful, I’ve had worse, but it made my body react in a strange way. My feet felt “tingly”, I think that’s the word, my breathing shortened and my stomach muscles started aching after trying to control my body’s reaction. I think I’ve experienced that before, but can’t really remember when. Though, I specifically remember the tingly feeling.

The black wolf did not seem to like me getting away from him, so he got on the bed with me and blocked my legs from moving by putting his front legs over them. Then he started to lick my feet again.

When he decided they were clean enough he stopped for a while. However, my reaction to whatever he was doing seemed to amuse him, so he started it all over again, locking my legs with his. He repeated the process a few times and each time I was more tired, breathless and achy.

The wolf, though, seemed to really enjoy this little game of his, as he would often nip at my toes with his teeth or bite them gently.

I lie on my back and try to regulate my breathing; thinking about what just happened here, whatever it was and observing the black wolf.

He sits on the bed, his huge form taking almost the whole thing, making it look smaller than it really is, and watches me get back to normal. Well, as normal as I can get. I look into his eyes and see amusement with a little concern. The depth of his gaze is fascinating to me; I’ve never seen an animal with so much emotion in their eyes. It’s as if he can convey any message he wants simply by looking at someone. But, it doesn’t really work on me, as I haven’t been around people or animals for years, so I don’t know how to read someone, or something in this case. I can understand some things, and the longer I am with this wolf, the more I can read from his eyes.

I slow down my breathing and struggle to keep my eyes open. The exhaustion from the last few days finally catches up to me as I lie on the soft surface. The little bit of rest I got earlier was way too short to replenish my lost energy.

But I can’t sleep. I can’t afford to fall asleep. I can’t allow myself to be vulnerable in a place I don’t know. I have to stay alert, and to do it I need to be awake.

The black wolf apparently notices my train of thought and lies down next to me, licking my face. He pushes his head under my arm, and I wrap it around his neck. Feeling the softness of his fur I snuggle closer to him letting his warmth engulf me.

There is something unexplainable about him that makes me feel safe, for the lack of a better word. I let my instincts overrule my mind and close my eyes.

Suddenly a thought hits me.

Where is his owner? We’ve been here for a while now and I still haven’t seen or heard any people here.

The more I think about it the more questions I have, one of them constantly hitting my brain like a hammer.

What if people were never here to begin with?