The Gaurdians

Chapter 1

Monsters that's what I write about, cryptids, mythology, just about anything supernatural. I'm a writer, so I suppose I'm required to take inspiration from somewhere I stare out over the clouds from my plane seat. The woman next to me turns another page in her book, a book I wrote last year, one of my romance novels. I smiled sadly it had been based on my girlfriend at the time, and it was a shame that, though in the book we had a happy ending, reality is often not nearly as kind.

She had left me shortly after I'd started writing it she had her reasons I was too ambitionless for her. I had little drive to do anything other than write my novels and spend time with her. I wasn't spontaneous enough....I sigh.

"I wasn't enough..."

I whisper it like a prayer. It had been this way my entire life. I'd find what I thought was true love only for something to go wrong. I'd say the wrong thing or not say anything, which would ultimately lead to the same outcome....eventually, I'd give up on love , I stopped writing romance novels no point in tricking myself with that fantasy. I shake my head as I pinch the bridge of my nose. I can't allow myself to be consumed with melancholy.

It is a joyous occasion. After all, I'm flying down to Phoenix to visit my two best friends. I haven't seen them in over a year, not since they moved down here. I didn't like the heat, not to mention after my writing career took off. I was far too busy to take off across the country. I still remember the day they left. I had been standing there outside their old home. I felt a pang of cold, hard pain in my chest.

I should have waved and faked a smile. Anything to show them I was happy for them but I couldn't bear to lie. I simply stood there until the car vanished over the horizon. I sat down on the curb, trying to get up the motivation to go home, but they had been my home without them here. I felt abandoned.

Alone... I stared at the ground for a long time until dusk began to creep up on me. When I saw the moon above me, I finally rose to my feet and drove home. Though I didn't find solace, there was only another empty house. After my cat died, I hadn't been able to get another, and without her, it felt empty and cold. I glare at the plane wing.

Why do I do this to myself?

I get lost in self-pity until I barely recognize myself. Perhaps I should focus on the positive for once. I am after all visiting my best friends in their new home. I smile. At least I have something to look forward to.

I open my laptop, and the sound of it gives me comfort, the fans quiet hum. The click of the keys as I type. I decide I'll work on my current novel as I become engrossed in its pages I barely notice as we land. The woman next to me nudges my side with her elbow. I turn to her and then realize that we are, in fact, alone on the plane she smiles, her face splitting open to reveal jagged sharp fangs. I scream moments before she sinks them into me.

I open my eyes, gasping for air. I frantically check my neck for wounds, but to my relief, it was only a really bad dream. I sigh as I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Probably all the caffeine...or I'm going mad."

I get to my feet before taking my suitcase out of its place over my head. I look over toward the woman who was sat beside me her back is to me, but I can't shake the image of her jagged teeth in my dream. I shrug, no harm, no foul.

I walk through the airport on auto pilot. When I finally reach the exit, I sweat through my shirt.

"Forgot how much I hated the heat here."

The girl in front of me laughs.

"It's kind of a desert, dude. Where are you from?"

I smile at her she's pretty long brunette hair with bronze skin and dark eyes.