All Chapters of Enlightened by the Eclipse: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Clementine I was in a very wet forest. I smelled the moss and lichen growing on the trees and heard the creek at the bottom of the leaf-littered slope. My body itched and burned as I jogged. I heard a guttural growl that shook every cell in my body. My running shoes pivoted as I looked back to where the sound came from. What the hell was that? The crunching sound of my shoes resulted in the forest turning deathly quiet. Dad promised me that this track was safe to run, but as the light glittering through the trees dimmed, I began to think that maybe he had been wrong. I heard the growl again, picked up my pace. The loop I was on went up toward the river, turned, then circled past some old hunter’s cabin and then back toward home. As I passed a tree with an old broken ladder that went up to a dilapidated tree stand, I heard it again—that growl. Then, out of nowhere, an ethereal howl echoed and bounced off the trees. Shit, run! I sprinted as a large tawny wolf came out of the treeli

Clementine “Dad, I’m not a teenager anymore,” I grumbled, looking away from the pity bound to be displayed in his eyes. “I know, Clem. It’s just, people in this town can be cruel.” I raised an eyebrow. “I thought we moved here because this town would be good for Vinny?” “It will be.” “But you just said it can be cruel.” “Yeah, to outsiders, it can be.” “And I’m an outsider?” I watched as the tops of my father’s ears turned pink. He was getting stressed. “No, that’s not what I’m saying.” “Then what are you saying, Dad?” “I was just trying to be supportive,” he rushed out. “Your mom just died, you dropped out of med school, you moved to a new town where you don’t know anyone. I just want you to know I’m here.” “If people are cruel?” I added. “Something like that.” God, my dad could be weird at times. He was avoiding eye contact, and his ears were still flushed. He closed his eyes and appeared to be trying to calm himself down, before setting his gaze upon me once more. “There

Clementine Okay, maybe Blackfern Valley was a lot bigger than I thought it was. I swear I was lost. I really had no sense of direction. Where the hell am I? I kept walking aimlessly for another twenty minutes. Houses had started to thin out—not that they were very close and abundant to begin with. I could feel the sweat start to pool around the base of my neck and in the canyon of my breasts. God, this humidity is going to kill me. But I kept walking. The black tar seal had ended; now, it was mostly dirt and gravel. Okay, I was certain I had gone in the wrong direction. I turned around and smacked into something. Ouch, my poor nose! It was getting a hell of a beating today. I looked up and saw another large body obstructing my view of anything else, then took a step back. “Sorry about that,” I murmured, rubbing my nose. “You know, glasses are supposed to help you see, yet you’re walking into me.” His voice was smooth, but there was something cold about it. My defensive walls i

Clementine When I entered the house, I went straight down the hallway and into the tiny bathroom for a shower. I needed to wash the sweat off me and the disgusting, skin-crawling sensation of what almost happened. What kind of person threatens sexual violence against another? And what kind of person just stands by and watches? No, not only watches, but eggs it on. What the hell was wrong with those people? Then there was the wolf. I had never seen a wolf before. I grew up in central Vancouver, and wolves didn’t tend to come into the city. In fact, I was probably one of the only Canadians who could say that the largest and scariest animal they had ever seen had been a deer. The only other animals I had interacted with had been squirrels and chipmunks. I even avoided my friend’s cats and dogs thanks to allergies. And one time, when there was a bear on campus, I walked the opposite way than the crowd. I had an adverse fear reaction to anything that could eat me. Seeing that wolf had t

Clementine I raced out of that bar as fast as my feet could carry me. My hand was still tingling with a strange sensation, like hundreds of little water droplets were running over its surface. Liam must have some weird static electricity thing going on. It was the only thing that made sense. I had lost myself in the warm brown hue of his eyes and the gentle caress of his voice, but most of all, I had lost myself in his kindness. Guys who had god-like features like Liam were rarely nice. I was beginning to find myself laughing at his dry humour and wit. I felt comfortable. And then I looked around the bar and noticed three things: The first was that there was not one ounce of fat on any of the people in the bar. Every single person was slim and gorgeous. The women all looked athletically fit and like they should be on the runway for Victoria’s Secret. The men all had bulging muscles, their arms corded and their abs hard. There must have been a gym around here that everyone went to be