Falling Hopelessly

Chapter 1: I remember when

"You're beautiful, you're smart, you're kind-"

"But you love her", she cut him off. She knew, she knew damn well in her heart that it's going to be Josie.

She choked up. "I understand. I understand why it would be Jos-", she couldn't bring herself to finish. Tears started pouring. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, drawing in a deep breath, fixing a smile and she took his hand, "Go, go tell her".

"Thank you, Hope", he smiled,squeezed her hand and ran into the school.

So much for epic love she thought.

There, right then she felt like she couldn't breathe, like there's this large weight on her chest, blocking her from breathing in, making it hard to inhale.

She felt the emptiness swallow her. The back of her spine tingled as she lets it consume her. She needs it, she needs to let go. She felt the ground below her shake, like it's about to come undone. She felt if she stood there any longer, she would hurt anyone who comes by her next. Her eyes blurry with tears, her ears felt hot and she tried to control herself, but it was like everything inside her is going to burst out any moment.

I need to go, she thought. I need a release,I need to do something. Before she realized, her legs was taking her to the woods beyond the cemetery. Each step getting lighter, faster and faster. As she ran deeper into the woods, her vision started changing, she could see every single detail, hear every sound, feel the ground as her paws padded the ground, gaining more speed each time. She didn't realize she had transformed during the sprint, her mind balnk. After running and making her way expertly through the woods in what felt like hours, she hopped up to the large boulder sitting by the stream. She climbed onto the spot, used to be a marking of somebody's name but now worn off by the number of times it had be stepped on.

Hope howled as loud as she could. Howled so the night would echo with her, howled so whatever pain she felt would come out of her. Howled longing for her parents, so she could tell him about this boy she loved, how he didn't choose her. She howled till her voice cracked and faced down at her reflection on the stream. She settled down on the boulder, letting her mind drift through as she watched as the gentle stream flowed.

A twig cracked nearby, and in a swift motion, she turned around, seeing another black figure stand by the trees behind her. It was a black wolf, slightly bigger than her, yellow eye-d staring right at her.

Oh my god, Rafael! She thought. He'd probably caught her scent in the woods and followed her. She knew what he he's here for.

She can't change back here, her clothes are somewhere else. She moved closer to him and whined. He gently nudged his head on hers and started to run the other way. She followed after him, making their way through the woods.

Raf stopped at the cabin, moving to the side so that Hope could enter the doorway. She quickly padded her way upstairs. She found Rafael's clothes scattered on the ground of the top floor. Chnaging back to her human form, she covered herself with his Salvatore School blazer from pile. She wiped the dirt stuck to her face and fixed her hair in the stained mirror, grabbed grabbed his jeans and T-shirt, ran downstairs and kneeled infront Rafael. With a touch by the side of his ears,she whispered the words that brought him back to his human form. He remained kneeling and smiled at her so wide, her heart swelled with relief. She could really use the company tonight. She has never felt so alone in such a long time. And today, all of that came back to her.

She cleared her throat and turned around so Rafael could change.

"Glad I found you", he said. " Begining to think that I was gonna be stuck in wolf form for another 2 months". He pulled his shirt over his head and made his way towards Hope.