ʜɪꜱ ᴘʀᴇʏ || вαηg ¢нαη

Chapter 17: A New Chapter In The Book

ϕ҂⋆*ღ⊀ ❝Collete PᴥV ❞ ⊁≬≭೨⋆*

A murderous scream erupted, echoing throughout the woods. With my eyes tightly shut, I curled up a bit, covering my face with my arms. My breath hinged abruptly, causing me to hold my breath until a feeling of pain came. However, the only feeling that ever came was that of the forest floor beneath my disheveled body.

Puzzled, I loosened up my over-tensed muscles a bit. Staying vigilant, I removed my arms from my face, allowing myself to peek at the world around me. Finally, I inhaled. The feeling of oxygen filling my lungs felt like such a blessing to me. What was more of a relief, however, was the giant wolf who stood in front of me. My heart skipped around a little. The wolf looked familiar, yet also ready to rip the head off of any creature that dared to come near.

One of the wolves attacking bellowed a low growl, which resulted in an even more aggressive reply from the wolf in front of me. Now that I could clearly see them, these wolves seemed so much larger than average ones. They were at least the size of a Saint Bernard Dog, if not larger. All this thinking of dogs triggered my thoughts, almost like a reminder notification, to check on Baby Bread.

I whipped my head around and there he was, standing next to me in a defensive stance. If anything, he looked more adorable than intimidating. Shifting my gaze back towards the wolves, I couldn't help but shutter. They all looked so vicious and rabid. Blood stained their fur from their last meal, which by the looks of it wasn't very long ago. Their fur was thick and matted with all sorts of things, mostly dirt and mud.

That's when a realization hit me: the wolf who stood before me was clean. No blood, dirt, leaves, or even feces stained its thick, fluffy coat. Something didn't add up. How could it be so clean unless it was domesticated? I scanned the wolf from head to toe. Oh, excuse me- I mean how could he be so clean, my bad.

Before I could finish my train of thought, the two wolves on the left lunged forward. The wolf front of me pounced back, biting one on its neck and scratching the other one right across the face. The other two wolves on my right took this as their chance, charging in my direction. Feeling helpless, a million thoughts rushed through my mind until I made my decision. In one swift motion, I rolled over and out of the path of the wolves. One hit its head against the tree that was behind me, whereas the other one didn't look too pleased with my decision to stay alive.

Baby Bread being the quick witted fox he is, bit the tale of the alert wolf. Dragging the wolf by its tale, he let go and dashed into the woods. This must've created frustration for the feral beast because it took mere seconds for it to begin sprinting after the baby fox. With the few seconds I had now, I got up and ran.

With the time the dumbass- I mean the injured wolf that ran into a tree- took to recuperate, I was already 40 or so meters in front of it. The sound of a wolf whining in pain sounded from behind me, but I was too focused on trying not to die to look back. Home is 200 meters from here. If I kept running, it would be a straight shot.

I kept running until there was nothing but silence around me. That's when I stopped. Only 120 meters out and there was nothing, nobody around. This resulted in my curiosity prying me to check my surroundings until I knew for sure the coast was clear. And to my surprise, indeed it was. This whole situation felt like such a waste of time. Judging by the darkness that painted over the sky, night was almost upon us and I still wasn't home yet.

Grandma is probably worried right now. It's been hours since I left for the market. When she sees that I've returned so late and without our groceries, she'll for sure be upset with me. Unless I tell her there was a wolf attack, then she'll most likely be relieved that I made it out alive. I just can't let her worry like that though. If I did, she probably won't let me outside ever again. I'm not a little kid anymore, but to her, I'm still a child. "The woods are unpredictable," she'd say. "All stay aware of your surroundings and wary of strangers, especially if they give you a bad feeling."

Sometimes I wish I'd listen to her. Then I wouldn't have met Chan. Still, even after a week or so now, I can't tell if meeting him was a blessing or a curse. He deceived me. He came into my life, made me happy, and left as if nothing happened. Although, he made me so happy for the short amount of time he was here.

I coughed. What's left of the winter cold must've been getting to me because I suddenly felt queasy. It must've been from running so much today on very little energy. I mean, it's not every day you run from wolves in the middle of a forest, now is it? I sure hope not, my life would be hell if it was.

Speaking of running in a forest, where is Baby Bread? He had run in the opposite direction while distracting the wolves, he might've gotten lost. These woods are vast like an ocean; the trees are like the fish, there are so many of them.

I turned a full 180 degrees back in the direction of the cottage. If I didn't start walking back now, it was going to be too dark to see anything. By then, I'd probably get lost or eaten alive by more wolves. Believe it or not, being attacked by vengeful undomesticated beasts was not on the top of my to-do list.

With a deep breath and hopeful heart, I started my hike back home, only to stop again. The sound of a twig snapping behind me caused me to flinch a little. Turning around, I smiled as my eyes moved down towards the little fox who stood there before my eyes. Covered in mud with happiness glimmering in his eyes, Baby Bread ran up to me. Placing a paw on my leg, he signaled for me to pick him up. Part of me wanted to refuse the request in fear of getting mud all over my clothes. However, the other half of me came to the conclusion that I already had mud on me, and a little more wouldn't hurt.

In one lively swoop, I scooped the little fuzzball up into my arms before proceeding back home. As I walked, I went on and on about how bizarre the wolf attack was, all the way until we reached home. Baby Bread didn't seem to mind my mini-rants while walking home, which I was grateful for. If it weren't for the moonlight and stars, we would've never made it home.

Without any surprise, I let out a quiet laugh as I witnessed Grandma dozed off on the couch. Her Memory Journal where she documented important things remained open on the coffee table in the center of the living room. Lately her Alzheimer's has been getting worse, so she probably forgot to close the book before falling asleep.

"Classic Granny, always forgetting stuff," I chuckled to myself. I set Baby Bread down on the couch, letting him curl up next to Grandma while I disappeared into my room to change clothes. There weren't many options in my clothing drawers, so I tossed on the first two things I could reach: a plaid shirt and a pair of black cotton sweatpants I received as a birthday gift from Grandma four years ago.

A heavy breath escaped my lungs. I stopped in place to fix my hair a bit. What sounded like Baby Bread barking prompted me to stop what I was doing. Speedily walking out of my room, Baby Bread and I exchanged glances with each other before I looked at the front door. There was a knock. Not even a knock, it was more of just a single tap noise from the other side.

This time Baby Bread didn't bark. He stood up, hopped off the couch, and stood next to me. Together, we slowly made our way to the front door together. I placed my hand on the knob and looked at Baby Bread. There was a sort of look in his eyes that helped him communicate with me. Right now, that look was telling me to do it, to turn the handle and open the door. So, I did as he suggested. I turned the handle carefully. Mentally, I counted to third, then swung open the door and fast as I could.

No one was there. Grass, trees, sky, stars- everything was here except for whoever knocked.

Am I going crazy?

It wasn't until Baby Bread pawed at my leg again that I finally realized what was going on. Just as I was about to look down at him, I gasped in shock at what laid in front of the open door. There, on our doorstep, were the groceries that I had gone out to get before being attacked. Everything was there and in perfect condition. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

Baby Bread yawned. I did too. It was so late, I must've been tired from such a long day. I put my hands to my eyes, rubbing them vigorously in an attempt to wake myself up. When I stopped, the groceries were still there, which confirmed that my theory was false. This is real.

I guess the question now is: Who did this for me?