Trust Me

Chapter 2

The night is pitch black, and I finally make it home. Before I open the door, I lean down and kiss Luna's head. "If she kills me, remember I love you," I whisper.

I prepare myself for a monster of a mother when I open the door. What I find is...interesting.

I walk into the house, and find my entire family sitting in the living room, with panicked expressions on their face. The second they see me, they all jump up and run to me.

"If you ever scare me like that again, I'll kill you," My Mom says to me. My sister is pale, and she wraps her thin arms around me. My older brother just looks angry, but my Dad is perfectly fine.

"See, I told you she just got caught in the rain," He laughs. My Mom glares at him, and he stops.

"I love you all and everything, but can I go take a hot shower? I'm freezing, and so is Luna." I say through my chattering teeth.

They all back away, and for the first time notice how soaked I am. "Okay sweetie, go take a shower. I made spaghetti for dinner...no meat in yours don't worry." She smiles at me, and I head up the stairs.

I get my stuff ready to take a shower, but before I go to get in, I turn on my space heater, and lay Luna's bed directly beside it. "Luna, come here," I say, and point to the bed. She doesn't need much coaxing, because I can assume she is as freezing as I am. Her fur isn't very thick. I run down to the laundry room and open the dryer. Lucky me, there are some blankets that are still warm, so I steal one, and wrap it around Luna. Then I finally hop in the shower.

The hot water rejuvenates me, and I don't feel cold anymore. I don't get out until all of the hot water is gone. I quickly dry off, and put on my warmest pajamas. As I start to go down the stairs, I stop after a quick realization hits me. It's Sunday night, and I have school tomorrow. How I hate school. Well, at least Tiff goes to the same school as me now, that's always a plus. Unfortunately, so does Josh, the overprotective senior brother. Ugh. Did I mention Tiff and I are both in 10th grade? We are twins, but we aren't identical in any sense of the word.

I eat dinner quietly, only speaking to thank my Mom for cooking. I'm suddenly really tired, probably from overexerting myself on the way home.

I ran extremely fast, because I know all too well how the pumas roam the woods, especially at night. I've experienced it first hand...that's how I got the scar on my back. That is probably why my family was so upset at me being late. When I was attacked in eight grade, I would have died, had it not been for a mysterious stranger. One second, claws were digging into my back, the next I heard someone yelling at it, and I saw them chase it away, beating it with something, maybe a stick? Then I passed out, and when I woke up, I was in the hospital. Apparently, my brother had heard banging on the door, and when he opened it, I was just lying there. They never found out who carried me home.

That was when I decided to get a dog. Puma's are less likely to attack you if you are with another person or a dog. I know because I did research.

I go to sleep with images of the mysterious figure that returned Luna to me.

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I'm running away, but I hear it gaining on me, it's big paws pounding the ground. I hear it growling, and pray that someone saves me. Then I notice that Luna is running with me. "Go Home!" I yell, but she won't leave me. She could easily run faster, so why doesn't she?

Suddenly, the pounding of paws stop, and in a second, the puma is on me. Teeth sink into my arm, and I feel the warm blood flowing down. Luna pounces on it, and knocks it to the ground. Then, the monster gathers its wits, and pushes Luna down. It's about to go in for the kill, and then...

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I jump up in bed, in a cold sweat. Luna is lying beside me, and tears are falling down my face. "Everything's okay, Luna's okay," I whisper to myself.

I don't notice Josh open my door, until he is sitting on the foot of my bed. "You have another nightmare?" He asks. I must have screamed and woken him up. After all, his room is closest to mine.

"Yeah. I'm okay now." I whisper. I'm not though. Okay, I mean. I love running, and I love the forest, but sometimes it scares me that I could be attacked again. Or Luna could be attacked. Puma's can pounce out of a tree from 70 feet up to catch their prey. Wow, why do I even know that?

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks, an obvious note of concern in his voice.

"No, I'm fine. Go back to sleep." He doesn't listen to me though, but I expected that. "Ok, whatever. I'm going to sleep." He just stays at the foot of my bed, and I eventually drift off again.