Mountain River Girl

Chapter 13: The Myth Of Sanity

THE MYTH OF SANITY

“Alex!” I gasped, instinctively taking a step back. “Are you out of your mind? Step away!”

“Go back inside, Seda!” The strong, low tone of his voice made it perfectly clear he wasn’t asking me to go inside - he told me to. Without even looking up at me, he repeated his earlier demand. “Inside! Now!”

My mind shouted at me to do as told, to make a run for it, but for the love of all that was good, I couldn’t. Frozen to the spot, I gazed at the animal in front of me. It seemed about ready to attack Alex when it suddenly turned sideways and stared directly at me. A loud howl escaped its snout, something I had only seen wolves do in movies. Fear washed over me and I shot Alex a helpless look. Instead of scaring the animal away or ordering me to go inside once again, he rubbed his forehead forcefully. This wasn’t the time to contemplate actions, the sole thing that needed to be done was to take action. We needed to get ourselves to safety. As I reminded myself of this, parts of shredded fabric on the lawn caught my eye.

“Oh good god!” I breathed loudly before raising my hand to my mouth. “It ate Kieran?”

At the sound of my high-pitched voice, Alex shot me a quick look before he released an exasperated sigh. “Explain it yourself!” He growled at the grey wolf while throwing his hands in the air. “I’m done with it. I’m out of here. Clean up your own mess!”

He turned his back on the wolf and walked in the direction of the house. He rushed right by me as I stood pressed against the barely-there doorframe. Hardly aware of the voices that rose inside the house upon Alex’s entry, I faced the wolf full on. My heart thumped loudly and was pretty much the only thing I heard. I felt my pulse in my throat, my chest, my ears and even the back of my head. Never had I ever been this scared in my life. The fact that the animal hadn’t jumped for my throat – yet – caught me off guard. It made me wonder. Did Donovan have wolves as pets? Was that why Alex felt comfortable enough to stand so close and talk to it? None of this made sense.

The wolf tilted its head to the left, and involuntarily I mimicked the movement. Then, the wolf eyed me expectantly, but I had no idea what it wanted. What was Alex thinking, leaving me alone with this animal? Was he so upset with me for putting his family in danger that he wanted me to get attacked? I didn't know whether to run or to stay immobile. After all, I knew dogs liked to chase. They saw it as a game, but if I were to make a run for it, I didn’t want the wolf to end up chasing me.

Another loud animalistic howl erupted, however, this time it hadn’t come from the wolf I had my eyes on. Instead, the sound seemed to have come from somewhere in the distance, from behind the trees that lined the end of Don’s backyard. Were there more wolves out there? Just then, my fears were confirmed when a bigger, darker, and -- most notable -- scarier-looking wolf slowly walked up to the grey one.Growls erupted from deep within the animals’ throats, something that bode little good. Whatever they communicated, the bigger one didn’t appear to agree. Releasing a growl that made my knees quiver, leaving the hairs on my arms and back stand up, the animal bared his teeth menacingly at the grey one while taking an offensive stance.I willed my muscles to do as they were told, to run, to hide inside, but to no avail. My body was dead-set on not moving. The lack of cooperation of my body and the violence that threatened to take place in front of me were too much. I wanted to move and I wanted to have a chance to calm myself down. I wanted the panic to cease, and I wanted to be able to breathe normal again. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare I was caught up in. Despite everything I wanted to happen, nothing did. The sole thing I could do was to observe the wolves as they were about to jump each other’s throats. When the biggest wolf launched for his opponent, I desperately wanted to close my eyes but I couldn’t. My full attention was on the scene that played in front of me. Out of the blue, and for no grounded reason, I was afraid for – and not of -- the grey wolf. The idea of it sustaining injuries, no matter how small, made my heart even beat faster.