Jake

Chapter 1 - Dreams

"Yeah, I don't know, I think I'll just stay in tonight" I told my best friend Melissa over the phone.

"You can't be serious Haven, you say that every Friday night" She protested as loud music bounced behind her small voice.

"I'm sorry" I sighed "I just don't want dad to come home and see that I'm gone"

"You care way too much about what your dad thinks"

"Uh, yeah, do you not remember what happened to my sister when she went against dad?" I reminded her as I sat at the oak desk in my dimly lit room.

"Fine, but next weekend I will be dragging you out for some fun" She told me before succumbing to the screams of excitement behind her.

I blew out a heavy breath of air before looking back at my laptop screen where my titled work sat empty, the black thick line blinking at me as it waited for more words. I'd been through this kind of English work before, and usually it didn't take me as long as it was tonight, but something about my mood kind of gave in surrender.
Completing my homework was easy and I found it a daily simple task most seemed to struggle with, yet here I sat, empty and blank as I leaned my head on my hand. I closed my eyes listening intently through the silence of my home towards the raging storm outside of my window. Storms in my hometown were I guess somewhat rare, at this kind of magnitude anyway. The rain was heavy, slamming against our tin roof with pure force as its remnants dripped down my window's foggy glass with small landing sploshes. Lightning lit my room up, the occurrence seeming to happen every 5 minutes followed by a roll of thunder.
I was enjoying the storm, the calming atmosphere and sound it created, but I couldn't help but blame it for distracting me from what needed to be complete two nights from now.
I shook my head, forcing my eyes to concentrate back to the screen in front of me as I sat entranced by my quiet serene surroundings and the emptiness of my mind.

The questions on my essay paper in front of me blurred together, my brain attempting to create the beginning of an answer when a strong knock sounded from downstairs against the hardwood front doors of my home. My head snapped up, I thought the sound were a delusion until it beckoned for a second time with a more forceful thud. Slowly, I got up from my chair and listened as it continued with more power. I dawdled downstairs and spied through a glass panel beside my front door with searching eyes when the knocking suddenly stopped.
My heart now raced with fear, my brain fully involved on the sound as I waited motionless behind the door.

This was the type of thing I saw in horror movies where an unsuspecting victim was toyed with through banging of doors and the flicker of lights, which I was now awaiting with frightful anticipation.

The pure silence around me stung and only made the waiting more intense, and then, another sound began to penetrate through the door, this time, it was scratching, like wild frantic fingernails digging into the wood. I jumped back slightly, bewildered. I swallowed, then moved forward again. I peered out the window intending to catch a glimpse of the strange sounds distracting me, scaring me. My eyes trailed along the patio where rain slammed down, water touching every inch of its wood. It was as my eyes roamed that I saw something unusual, a long white tail, still and long.

Slowly and carefully, I unlatched the door and sneaked it open a creak to spy at the culprit. Thunder began to roll and another flash of quick lightning created a jolt of light to the porch as it gleamed with moisture, that's when I saw what had now sparked instant fear throughout my body.

I had been expecting a dog, a fluffy white animal that had escaped its yard in fear of the weather, but instead, sitting courteously drenched in fresh rain was a tall breath-halting wolf - the kind you'd expect to see mauling someone in the woods on a reality survival TV show. I froze, and despite the fear coursing through me, the thoughts raging inside my brain, I inched the door open to view its entire being. My eyes raked over the creature twice the size of an average Labrador. My breathing was slow, my mind unsure, it's eyes were large, but not in a sense of aggression. He was shivering cold, soaked, he looked nothing like the killing machine animal planet made him out to be, even despite his size. Naturally, I should have closed the door quicker than I could blink, but instead, for some unknown reason, sympathy perhaps, I stood aside, half hidden behind the door. Before I knew what I was doing, what my brain was lacking of thought, I had allowed it entry, another roll of thunder urging it to step forward into my doorway. Rain began to drizzle inwards dripping on the floorboards as wind pushed forward creating a howling wisp.