JOURNEY: Alpha Female

JOURNEY: Alpha Female 14

-14-

The next morning, I wake up at seven AM. Lukas is in the bathroom so I just get changed in his bedroom. We he sees me he gives me a sad smile, “Today’s the day.”

I hold back any tears and go to peck his lips, but I become greedy and linger for a minute longer than I planned, “I am so scared.” 

“Don’t worry, your father is waiting downstairs for you.” 

I nod, “Before I leave, I have to give you something. Whatever you do, do not look at it until noon.”

“Noon?”

“Yeah.”

“Got it.” 

I go to the nightstand, and pull out the brother leather-covered book and place it in Lukas’s hands. “Goodbye, Lukas,” I press my lips to his one last time before heading downstairs to meet my father for my ultimate demise. 

My father walks with me to the perimeter of the woods just before the parks starts, I stop for a second and give him a hug, “If I don’t make it through this just know that I love you, dad. I really wish I got to spend more of my life with you.”

“I believe that you can do this, I wouldn’t have you go out if I didn’t believe in you.” 

“Alright.” 

In my human form, I walk down about ten blocks to get to my mother’s house from park. To my surprise the house looks completely abandoned: no cars are in the driveway, the plants are unruly, and there are no lights on. The door is unlocked, and I jump back as I spot my battered mother on the floor. She looks so much weaker than she did in my dreams, am I hallucinating? So much for the most powerful witch... a force to be reckoned with.

“Put me...” - her coughing fit makes me more tense - “P-put me out... of my misery!” 

“Who did this?” 

“Him.” 

Before I get to see who she is referring to, I hear two loud bangs. The first one makes everything dark, but the second one is when I realize that the first sound was me getting hit and now I am on the ground. I lose consciousness in the next second; I knew that I didn’t stand a chance...

I wake up, but I don’t bother opening my eyes because I am afraid of who could be powerful enough to take down my mother. It feels like seconds ago my mother had used her witch abilities to set my skin ablaze. She could teleport, she was notorious for wiping out werewolves - my mother was a force of nature. Who or what could be stronger than her? 

I realize that it must be way past noon now, Lukas has probably opened the book to read my note and see the sketches. I feel awful for worrying him, but if this person or thing could hurt my mother that badly, I was hopeless. I was trained to fight my mother, not this person or thing that seemed to be able to easily take her out. 

I listened around the house to see if I could sense if anyone was around. I determined that I must be in the kitchen because I can hear my mother in the next room over and I last saw her in the living room. I must be in a chair pulled from the dining room - my legs and feet are tied together, my hands are tied behind the chair and my torso is tied to the chair. The tight rope is cutting off my circulation, but I don’t dare move. 

I can still hear my mother wailing. It wasn’t a trap, that is certain, but then why hasn’t anyone just finished her while they had the chance? Why am I tied up? If they could take out my mother, I obviously am not a big threat compared to her. Why haven’t I been killed? 

I doesn’t sound like anyone else is in the house. How do I escape? I have a chance. I can just run away, my mother will end up bleeding out in a few hours if she isn’t killed. If I escape. I try to untie the knots around my wrist, I remember that there is a nail in one of the legs of the chairs that pokes out because I never put it together correctly. I search around and I hiss when I feel something sharp hit my wrist, at the same time this is the best thing to happen to me today. I am able to loosen the rope around my wrists, but I still keep my eyes closed. I am afraid to open them. What if the killer is a ninja who is right in front of my face? 

I hear a door open and then slam shut. I quickly place my wrists behind the chair and keep them next to each other, to try to hide the fact that the rope will come off my wrists with one more pull. 

I hear footsteps headed in my direction. When they stop there is an awkward moment of silence as I pretend to still be knocked out. 

“I know you are still awake.” 

That voice... my eyes open immediately as I stare into his dark blue eyes that feed off of my fear. 

My only question is, how did this happen?