Empty as my Heart

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The night settled into a thin current of blinding fog, whirling about in a dreamlike haze.  It curtained me, laying into my ebony curls and soaking me with ice.

I watched, my face clouded, as the wolf's snout shifted.  It shortened, hair seeming to thin out and either float to the ground or disappear.  The ears rounded and shifted to each side of its head, and its nose changed completely. 

Bones cracked as they changed form, popping themselves out of their joints and reforming into something new.  More hair fell to the ground.

Everything changed.  I saw claws retract, feet lengthen and stand up.  All changed, but the eyes.

The eyes remained glowing, almost yellow green.  They dazzled me even more.  I felt compelled to remain on the ground, unable to move, but found my arms and legs scrambling beyond my will.  I was determined to stay away from this beautiful creature.

This very transformation changed the wolf, leaving only a boy behind.  He was so ordinary, with black-brown hair arranged in a short mess on his head.  His skin remained coated in dirt and snow, and I saw that he was freezing.  But he didn't show it.

"Who are you?"  he asked me.

I just stared, unable to tear my eyes away from him. 

The boy frowned, fear digesting on his features as he watched me back.  Then he grabbed something off of the ground and ran.

The foliage rose and fell as his descending body came and went, and all I could do was stare.  My mouth was parted, ready to speak, but words were impossible.

He had to be a Hunter.  It was impossible for him not to be.

No ordinary human could transform into a wolf.  Not like that.

I'd seen people, around in the village back home, who believed they could become something else.  Written down as crazy, sent to the asylum behind the church.  Left to rot.

Now that I'd seen this, I didn't know what to believe anymore.  Only that this boy was something special.  He'd looked at me, confused.  Like he'd seen me before, but didn't know me.

Was it possible that he'd helped me?  Saved me from those cloaked things?

The thought sent chills down my spine and I thought of James.  Was he alright?  I leaned in, arms drawn over my knees, resting my head.  How could I be such a fool?  James was right.  We couldn't last long here, so why even try?  Yet he brought us through to the mountain side..

I scrambled upwards, legs shaking.  Walking would take days, but I set my mind, praying that I would see their faces again.  Hoping that I wasn't too late to find them.

The snow pressed against my hands as I crawled over the boulder that locked me into the valley.  I clawed myself over it, feeling only numbness in my hands and legs.  Hair drenched and limp.  I was running over the pure white ground, wandering aimlessly forwards.  The sky was already darknening, sun changing the sky from light blue, to a dusk's orange and pink.  Purple ended it, and I was left alone in the night.

The numbness was greeted with silence, and I walked still.  My arms nearly lost feeling, the cold pressing hearder still.  Water was present, yet frozen with the wind.  I could drink snow, but that only made me colder.

I'd made it, walking two hours, when I heard gunshot.