Lucky Number V - The Owl House Story

Chapter 12

The sun was shining, the wind was brisk and the forest flourished with life as Audrey ran her way down the trail. It was just peaceful to her, which is what the young girl wanted as she flew through the woods.

With everything going on, she just needed to find time to clear her head. For her, the forest trail was perfect. In fact, she had been down the trail so many times she could probably do it blindfolded. But that wasn't what she was thinking at the current moment.

All of her attention was on what was in front of her, the path. Not her pace, not her breathing, not her father, her mother, or Luz.

Just the path.

Then as she rounded the next turn, her watch beeped, signaling to her that she had hit 3 miles.

"3 down, two to go," Audrey thought to herself as she worked her way through the forest. However, off to the left, she spotted some houses, mainly the backsides of them.

She wasn't sure which one it was, but one of those houses was Luz's. Audrey found it funny one of her favorite running paths was right by her new friend's house.

BARK! BARK!

Suddenly the girl practically had a heart attack when an unexpected creature leaped out of nowhere right at her. Audrey had no chance to avoid the attack and was tackled to the ground by what looked to be a dog.

However, it didn't seem to be completely normal.

Pinned down, Audrey rapidly started getting her hands under the creature to try and push it off. But with the not-entirely-a-dog literally trying to take a bit out of her, it seemed to be useless.

As the creature's mouth grew closer and closer to Audrey's face, however, the girl pulled her legs and kicked the thing away. It didn't go far, but it was enough for Audrey to get back onto her feet and break for the houses nearby.

"Help!" She screamed as she sprinted towards the houses. "Somebody help!!"

Her eyes never left the houses in front of her. She knew she couldn't look back. If she did, she would slow down, and if she slowed down...

Suddenly, she heard more barking coming from behind. As Audrey grew closer to a house, so did the barking.

Soon Audrey reached the backyard of a home, but she didn't want to risk looping around to the front as the creature was closing in too quickly.

She reached the back door and started banging.

"Hello!? Please?!? I need help!!!"

BARK! BARK!

Audrey whipped her head around and as if on instinct lunged towards the creature who was doing the same.

Audrey figured if she would be cornered, the least she could do was try fighting it off to make another escape.

Both she and the dog collided, but the dog somehow knocked Audrey back into the door. The girl felt the back of her head hit, causing her to drop to the ground partially unconscious.

From there, Audrey could vaguely make out the dog, which was getting ready to strike.

But then something else came into view. A woman holding what looked to be a sandal.

"Back! Get back! ¡Corres antes de que te lastime!" the woman shouted as she began smacking the creature left and right. The dog at first tried attacking, but the fury of the woman's sandal was too much and it eventually took off back towards the forest.

Audrey meanwhile lied on the ground as everything was still appearing fuzzy to her. She tried to get a good look of her savior and at first wasn't sure who it was.