The Alpha's Beta

Chapter 1

Guys, the first town mentioned isn't a real place. I made it up, just a disclaimer. It is, however, partly based off the town where I live - in real life.

Enjoy the new book, guys! :)

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I looked around my empty room. The room I had spent the last 15 years in. My entire life was spent in this house, and now we were just leaving. The pet cemetery in the back yard, the old tree fort my friends and I had built, just left behind to rot. 

Mom told me it was because we needed new scenery. Which was code for, "We have to get away from the memories of your father."

My dad had died a few months ago, in a car accident. He had been driving home from work when a drunk driver had slammed into the driver side of my dad's car. Both my father and the drunk were killed on impact. My mom hadn't drank alcohol since, and I never planned to.

But that was why we're moving to some middle-of-nowhere town called Twin Pines. Way up north in Michigan. Pretty sure it isn't even on the map. 

"Raven! It's time to go, honey!" My mom brought me out of my thoughts. I looked one last time at my room, and walked out of the door. Down the hall. And out of the house. Forever.

My mom stood in the driveway, next to our car. She opened her mouth to yell for me again, but noticed me. "Oh, good. Are you ready to go?"

"No. But whatever." I got in the car, put in my headphones, and tuned out the world. It would take 5 hours to get to our new house. 

We used to live in Monroe, Michigan. Where all my friends lived, too. We grew up together, went to school together. They were also getting left behind. We had exchanged hugs and tears yesterday. Such was the custom when the leader of your group moves away. 

After about twenty repeats of my ITunes playlist - my list was pretty long - we arrived into the tiny town of Twin Pines. There was a small gas station, a Subway, a McDonald's, a general store, and some houses. That was it for the town. I considered calling it a village.

"That's it! Right there!" My mom pointed out after another ten minutes. 

"Uh, Mom? You're pointing at some trees." 

"The house is inside the trees. It's really secluded, which means there is a lot of privacy."

"So, no neighbors?" All I saw out of the car windows were trees on either side of the road. We parked on the edge of the road, since the moving trucks had to get in and out of the driveway.

"Not real close. The nearest neighbors are about a mile or so away." We walked  up to the house and I marveled the sight. It was a one-story house, with gray siding and an all-black, sloped roof. There was a one car garage, and a small porch on the right side of the house. 

"Wow."

"That's what I thought." My mom smiled at me. "Well, we better tell these moving guys where to put our stuff before  they break something."

A few hours later, the movers left and we were unpacking boxes. The rest of our things were being moved tomorrow. I had claimed the room in the very right side of the house, facing the road. I had a mattress where my bed was going to be, since I was just getting a new one. My old bed broke a while ago and we never bothered replacing it. I was hanging up my clothes in the closet when something outside caught my eye.

I walked to the window looking at the woods, trying to find the glint of white that was there before. There was nothing white anywhere. It was early fall, so it couldn't have been snow. Must have been a bird, I thought. But when I started to turn away, it flashed again. Something furry and white disappearing into the underbrush.

Wild dog, maybe? Someone who had lost their pet? As long as it was friendly, it probably wouldn't be a problem.

Later, standing at the counter eating pizza, I asked my mom about it. "Mom, do you know if there are wild dogs or anything in these woods?"

"No, I don't think so. There might be coyotes, though. Why?"

"I think I saw one earlier. It was white, and a little bigger than a husky. That's all I saw before it disappeared." I admitted.

"They aren't supposed to come this close to the house. Normally, they'd just stay in the deep part of the woods. It was most likely just a dog. I'll ask around my new work, see if anyone has a lost pet." My mom worked for an office supply company, and this town happened to have a tiny building.

"Okay. Maybe someone at school will know." My mom was forcing me to start school as soon as tomorrow. To 'get used to the area.' This town only had one high school, Central Pines. Supposedly, it was the 'very center' of the town. Not hard to believe, I guess.

"Well, I'm heading up to bed. Get some good sleep tonight. You'll need it for tomorrow." She kissed my forehead and headed up to bed armed with the second lantern, leaving one with me. The power wasn't on yet, so we were stuck with flashlights, candles, and lanterns. 

I grabbed the light and walked to my end of the house, through the shadows. I got ready for bed and was half-asleep in bed when I heard the howling. Hopefully, it was the dog. And hopefully, there was only one.