Runaway (MxM)

Chapter ONE- Bad News

"Pepper, please dear!" my mother begged, her voice slightly muffled by the door I'd just slammed in her face. I didn't answer her, just sat on the corner of my bed, silent tears streaming down my face. I felt hollow and empty, betrayed, surprisingly not as angry as I expected I would be, I was just sad. I wanted to be alone, I didn't want it to happen, I didn't want to go.

"Where is he?" my father's booming voice growled out.

My tears fell even harder, dripping off my chin and leaving little dark spots on my shorts, like it did when it rained. I looked up at my white wash ceiling, no rain. I closed my eyes and bathed in my feelings, in the pain, not holding back the sob that bubbled up my throat.

"Stop crying Pepper, crying won't change anything." he told me in a sharp tone. He didn't sound guilty or sorry for his decision, slightly annoyed and short tempered actually.

"Come on Pepper, it isn't so bad." my mum tried to soothe me in a soft and calming voice, couldn't say it was working though.

"Then you do it!" I yelled, my voice coming out thick from my tears and breaking as I said it. I started to sob harder, letting my head drop forward, hiding my face in my hands as my body shook.

"You know I can't dear." she replied, her voice still gentle and caring.

"Open the door this instant Pepper, and stop that childish noise." father's hard voice ordered.

I hiccupped and sniffed loudly, wiping my face with the backs of my hands.

I slowly stood up, knowing my father would force his way in if I didn't open it soon enough.

I flicked the lock on the door and stepped back as it flew open, bouncing off the wall.

My father's unamused and stern face came into view but I just turned away, just looking at him made me want to cry again, my throat burning and eyes stinging.

I felt my mother's small and delicate hands pull me to her slender frame, I hugged her back and hiccupped again. I heard my father moving around my room, packing for me no doubt, the draws and wardrobe door being opened and shu with excessive force and i jumped and cowered more with each slam and bang.

"Do you want to take your books with you?" his voice reached my ears, what he said irked me.

"So I have a say in that but not who I spend the rest of my life with?" I looked at him with narrowed eyes, the anger I'd expected before finally rearing its head.

He stared me dead in the eyes for a few seconds before sighing.

"I'll take that as a yes, what about your paints?" he completely ignored my words and obvious glare, continuing to pack my things.

I pulled away from my mum and wiped my eyes roughly, stalking out of the room.

My mother called my name as I thundered down the stairs, and was still calling when I slammed the front door behind me.

I started walking into the vast woods surrounding the house. The quietness and calming smell helped me release some of the tension in my shoulders.

I breathed in the smell of the rich earth and heady smell of greenery and wildflowers.

My swollen and itchy eyes took in the extensive shades of green surrounding me, the occasional bee, butterfly and bird drawing my eyes for a second or two.

The soft and dark earth beneath my bare feet, I hadn't thought about grabbing a pair of shoes on my way out.

The cold and damp soil felt nice in between my toes though, the gentle breeze stirring my hair and tugging at my loose shirt. I stuck my hands in my shorts pockets and just walked, and walked and walked.

I walked until the sun set in the sky, until the mayflies and moths came out, dancing in the night sky, the distant sound of bats and their almost silent movement through the chilling wind.

Owls hooted from high up in the trees, hedgehogs huffed and rustled in the undergrowth, searching for tasty insects, and in the distance a fox let out an errie scream.

I shivered and wrapped my arms around my middle, it was getting cold, and my clothes weren't exactly warm.

I pulled them off and folded them, shifting into my smaller and much fluffier cat form. I picked up the clothes in my mouth and continued aimlessly walking, my cat eyes seeing the pitch black forest a lot better than my human ones.

We'd moved out here, to a house surrounded by a privately owned forest to keep me safe, my parents told me. They brought the house and land, they were the only people I've ever seen in person before. I did all my education online, I'd only seen other people on the tv, I'd never left my parents land. They said I couldn't, that it wasn't safe for me, but now they were giving me away to some stranger, how was that safe?

I'd been told all my life that people would want to take me away if they saw me, why move all the way out here if my parents were just going to give me away? I didn't want to be given away, did they not want me anymore?

I blinked away the rising tears and thought bitterly of my fathers words, crying wouldn't change my situation.

I kept going until the sun began to rise again, turning the sky a deep orange.

My legs ached now, I was incredibly tired, but I didn't want my parents to find me.

My father was set on me leaving, I could see it in his eyes and tell from how he acted, I was willing never to see them again if it meant I wasn't given away.

A few hours passed after that and I reached a small stream, I gratefully lapped at the cool liquid but froze stiff when I heard a howl in the distance, it wasn't my mothers or fathers.

I lifted my head and sniffed deeply, they were too far away to get a scent or were downwind. I picked up the pace, my soft fur decorated with leaves and small twigs. I rolled around some more, hoping to mask my scent. The stream wasn't big enough to submerge myself in and I didn't want to be cold and wet.

I carried on in a quick walk, my ears and eyes moving around constantly, my nose twitching often as I kept sniffing the air.

A while later my ears picked up something that wasn't part of the woodlands noise. A sour note distrupted the never ending song, a dry snap of a twig, it might as well have been a gunshot.

Birds took flight in a flurry of feathers and flapping wings, shaking the branches that had served as perches. Small mammals scattered, rabbits to the safety of their dens, squirrels taking refuge in the trees they call home.

I stood still and listened intently, rotating my ears to find another sour note, the woodland now holding it's breath, the silence deafening.

Something was coming my way, something a lot larger than me with four legs, and it was coming fast.

I looked around, dropping my clothes and scampering up a tall tree, my claws digging into the bark. I climbed high into the tree, stopping just before the branches got too thin for my weight. I laid down on my chosen branch and watched the forest floor below, waiting.