Desperate

The mutt-wolf-thing stared at me slobbering, water draining from his mouth like a water fall. Ewww!

Why the hell was his mouth watering like that!

Halie, focus! I reminded myself. It stared, his eyes still connected with mine tracking my every move. With every breath I took, I inched away, I couldn't be eaten tonight. I'd just gotten to Cascade Falls two day now, I wasn't that weak to not survive a dumb story. Pft, how the hell did I know that whatever it was, was actually real? Could be a disgusting guy in costume. Just saying, this world was filled with creeps with weird habits.

My hand reached back, crunching a leaf behind me, causing the slobbering beast to charge forward, so close I thought there was no way he'd be able to brake in time before not slamming into me. Within those few minutes I saw my own death announcement headline.

Girl found dead, squashed against a tree, perpetrator still at large.

My eyes tightened close, bracing for the impending impact as I heard skidding, only opening an eyes to find the mutant still staring, his eyes wide and large, fangs begging for my blood.

"Okay, " I state getting annoyed. "Is there anyway you could not look this gross? I mean, it's obvious you're not real. " Reaching out, I attempted to touch it, my body retracting suddenly as he snapped at me.

Oh real, definitely real. Need to leave now!

Growling and pissed off, it strutted forward again then stopped, his head snapping behind him, as if sensing some unwanted intruder at his dinner party. Paws dug into the earth beneath him, before his entire body turned in the direction where he'd recently looked off to. His ears fall back against his body releasing a full on growl, that ripped through the stilled night.

Curious me, shifted to the side, his head snapping me back in position, as he momentarily glared back at me, daring me to move.

I'm lunch, I get it, don't move.

Honestly I couldn't fathom what got the mutated thing into such a frenzy. I still couldn't decipher what it really was. An over sized mutated dog that was experimented on, that maybe went crazy and ran into the forest to hide and live out it's long life? Because this couldn't never be a wolf. Things like what I saw in Twilight could never be, wolf's that huge? Never, dogs that huge? Maybe, it was slightly believable. They mixed each breed so much anything was likely possible. Wait, so if it was a dog, that meant it probably belonged to someone right?

Shit! Maybe whoever was out there was his owner.

I watched amazed as the little mutt crawled off, still growling, maybe a howl sounding in the distance.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I mumbled watching another mutt crawl from the shadows, both animals having a growl stand off. Mind you he already forgot about me. One minute they were growling, the next each were biting, snapping, clawing at each other, tumbling all over the ground.

My eyes zigzag in every direction trying to keep up, pulling my legs in as they danced under the bloody moon light.

Distraction Halie!

Distraction!

My mind kept hinting to me but I was too wrapped up in everything to pay attention.

Another howl and I snapped back to reality. In every direction a howl sprang, each colliding to create a roar that made my hairs stand on end.

Enough of the show, time to move! Standing on wobbly legs, I slowly slid back, going backwards, praying I wouldn't alert them to my leave. When I was sure, I was far enough, I sprinted, running as if my life depended on it. Running as if there were a hundred mutt-things chasing me down. A few falls, hitting my head across a tree branch and a dozen scars to the face, I finally made it to the clearing, the sight of the house bringing tears to my eyes.

I made it! I could almost hug the huge building if I wasn't so terrified of probably being dragged back to the forest by one of them.

I was never the best at climbing, but I moved up the drain pipe like I was Spider-Man incarnate. The moment I crawled through the window, closing it down and sighing, Moi stirred, her eyes blinking open, still sleeping.

"What are you doing at the window Halie?"

"Ah, was just looking at the moon, " I said pasting a smile, before darting my eyes to the window checking if I was being followed.

"Get back to bed, " she grumbled turning over in the bed. My bed. Even though it was her room but it was still my bed.

"You can't order me around, " I say taking a deep breath.

She ignored me as I walked from the window and brushing off myself crawled into bed hugging my best friend. God, it felt awesome to be alive.

****

A bird chirped in the background before there was shuffling around the room. The sound growing louder with each passing second. The next thing I knew, my eyes were open, a scowl on my face while I huffed. The room was enveloped with the bright light of sun rays, my not so great best friend having pulled the thick curtains away.

"Good morning!" She bellowed from the window and I pictured my hands choking her to death.

I was still exhausted from last night's trip, feeling as if I'd only fallen asleep like an hour ago. Groaning, I jumped from the bed ignoring her, hearing her footsteps following me to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

"Why are you so dirty?" She asked eyeing me curiously, before touching a scratch on my forehead, making me jump.

"Space, Moi!" I screeched wincing from the burning sensation.

To say I escaped that death trap last night was a absolute faust. I had every evidence to prove I went out, with no excuse to plead my cause.

"Well?" She asked peering into my face. "You look like you got caught in a cat fight and we don't have cats. "

I sigh, washing my face with water from the tap, moving to tap dry it with the towel. I was still trying to understand whether what I saw last night was actually real, the only thing that proved I hadn't been dreaming was the numerous scratches that lined my face from the tree branches I'd ran into. How am I supposed to tell my best friend that her story was true? The same story we had both claimed never to believe in. I mean, my mind could have been playing tricks on me. A red moon, big mutt- bear things. Come on, no one would believe my story.

"I fell down the stairs, " I finally say moving past her exiting the bathroom.

Her mouth fell open in disbelief and shock.

"What'd you mean you fell down the stairs!" She shouted. "Halie answer me, don't walk away! "

I thought about everything that transpired and came to the conclusion that none of that was real or really happened. I saw an animal last night if anything and the one that almost attacked me was only being territorial nothing more. There was nothing strange about the forest, no mythical beasts crawling about, wanting to hunt me, eat me or drag me away. And the red moon, I figured was maybe an eclipse. A lunar eclipse.

I looked it up and yeah, their common, approximately occurring every ten thousand year or so, but they occur. It's called the blood moon. So there, a natural occurrence, nothing phenomenal. Which gave me an excuse to stick to my fallen stairs story and not let Moi know that I'd been out in the middle of the night or I'd never hear the end of it.

My eyes snapped to meet hers, feeling her heated glare from across the table. She knew I was lying, but she couldn't prove it and that made me smile. She hated being left in the dark, but I wasn't gonna chance being seen as crazy by the one person's opinion that mattered most to me. I stuck a tongue out reading her, death crawling to her face, and I laughed. It was so refreshing to tease her.

My mirth however, was short lived feeling a hand in my hair. I bristled like a female lioness uncomfortable with the approach of a mating male. And that was exactly was Lorenzo was, a predator and Moi's annoying twin brother. Though thanks to genetics they weren't identical. Having a douche like him with the same face, would just be a sin.

"Well lookie here, " He says next to my ear. "My lil sister's pen pal. Spending the summer with us this time?"

"Well I mean since I have to spell it out you dunce, " I say, eliciting a giggle from his sister. "Yeah I am, why haven't they trapped you in some boys rehab yet?"

Lorenzo smirked walking over to grab a orange juice from the fridge leaning over on his elbows gazing at me.

"Relax babe I know you miss me. "

I scoffed. "In your dreams. Don't you have anything better to do than harass us?" I ask folding my arms frowning.

"Aww, you look so cute" He says and I instantly gag. "I'll save you a kiss later. "

Officially want to vomit!

"Actually I do" He says standing straight giving his sister a glance for the first time since he walked into the room. "I've got a party to plan. "

"You can't Lorenzo!" Shouted Moi. "Another one, are you crazy! You know what mom and dad said about thrashing the house. "

"Relax Moi" He says rolling his eyes before flexing that all too ripped muscles of his. "We're not going to trash the house. It's just clean fun. "

"You don't know clean fun" I say matter of factly.

"Actually the only dirty fun I'd like -"

I held up my hand stopping him in his tracks not needing the trauma.

"Save it, " I say very much uninterested in his line of conversation.

"Relax sis, I've got it under control" He says laughing before he cleared the room.

I sighed. Not knowing how I'd be able to live with a character like Lorenzo for this long. But one glance at Moi and that feeling wore away. My solider girl best friend.

"You wanna go shopping?" She asks a bright smile on her face, erasing the annoyance of her brother's presence.

"You know I hate shopping. "

She scoffed grabbing my hand.

"It's just a cover just in case the idiot was listening. There's no way I'd waste my money buying you a dress. Do you even know what's called a pump?"

I smiled. "No, but I know sneakers".