The Forgotten

Chapter 1: The Life Changing Bite

The Forgotten

Chapter 1: The life changing bite

Mattie’s prov

     My eyes widened in fear unable to look away from his ticking jaw and clenched fists while hatred burned like a dark blue fire in his eyes. As he started moving towards me I turned on my heels and instantly sprinted to the safety of my room upstairs. I could hear the loud stomping of his feet only inches behind me as I reached my room.

I quickly slammed the door shut and flipped the lock just before his large fist started pounding on the fraile wood keeping the beast away from me for a little longer. I quickly ushered Knight into his kennel much to his annoyance before latching the protective cage shut and keeping him away from any harm.

Finally, the lock on my door collapsed against his weight and he stalked in cooly before his familiar face turned into an ugly sneer and he lunged at me. I screamed at him until his huge fist connected with my gut leaving me bent over gasping for a breath holding my already bruised ribs from yesterday.

I staggered before leaning on my dresser to catch my breath until my head snapped back and a stinging pain consumed my cheek. The loud slap echoed in my small room before he completely lost it and started throwing wild punches at me. I blocked some, but most just left me with a overwhelming amount of pain until I could not protect myself any more and just took the beating.

Suddenly, he grabbed my blonde hair by the roots and smashed my head against the solid wall before he let go and my body flew across the room like a rag doll. A piercing pain ripped acrossed my forehead and I knew I had to get out now before it got any worse. When I saw how close to the door I had gotten I almost believed in miracles before I sprinted out of my room and down the stairs.

I ran through the living room swiftly dodging the wine bottles littering the floor until I had the screen door in my sights. I heard the frustrated roar of my brother behind me, furious that he couldn’t finish what he started as I flung open the door. Tears pricked my eyes although I had no clue if it was from how bad my life had gotten or that I managed to escape tonight with just a few bruises.   

The frigid grass felt ice cold on my bare feet, but I didn’t care as my heart beat wildly in my chest and fear circled in my veins. When I heard the door slam against the siding I knew he was coming after me and I urged my feet to go faster as images of what would happen if he caught me circled in my mind forcing to my legs to pump harder. I rounded our house and blindly ran hoping to get away from him, my own personal devil.  

     I was breathing hard, but I had no intention of slowing down not even a little bit as fear ignited within my chest. The sound of my feet pounding rhythmically on the ground was all I could hear besides the echo of his own powerful voice behind me. This was my life and I had accepted it, this was not an everyday occurrence but whenever he got mad I would always run. He calls me weak and who knows maybe he's right, but when I know deep down in my bones I need to get away from him that's what I always did.

Soon I broke through the trees in my backyard and ran deeper into the forest. I was feeling sick and sweat soaked my pale skin, but I knew if I stopped I would be dead for sure. So I kept running until I could only hear my heavy breaths in the cool air, even though each one felt like razor blades cutting through my lungs. I breathed through my nose and listened for any noise or sign of danger. When it was still silent I leaned my back on a tree and looked around my surroundings.

I realized I  had never really been in the forest since I was a kid. I always ran towards the road when we were in a fight, but now I felt safe and silently wondered why as I walked deeper into the trees. Fall was just beginning causing the leaves to change bright colors, but keeping the air warm making the world around me seem perfect. I smiled a truly genuine smile for the first time in years and it felt good as I caught my breath.

Suddenly I felt something wet drip off the tip of my small noise and I blinked in confusion as I touched my face. As I brought my hand in front of my face sadness and anger burst through my chest when I saw my pale skin coated in fresh blood. Suddenly being in the woods didn't seem like such a good idea anymore, but I was too sore from today's beating and my adrenaline seemed to vanish leaving me almost helpless.

I slowly started walking again unsure which direction I was going, but hoping against hope it was away from the hell hole I just came from. When I heard the sound of rushing water I almost cried in relief as I changed my direction. When I stepped out of the last seedlings of the forest there was a small creek flowing with a few small birds flying around.

Not wanting to scare away any wild life I slowly walked to the water and sat down. I cupped my hands and dunked them in the water before I brought them to my lips and drank. When my lungs stopped burning and I couldn’t drink anymore I tore off the end of my long black sweatpants and carefully soaked it in the water before ringing it out to clean the blood off of my face.

I winced when I accidentally hit the deep cut on my hairline causing more blood to pour over my forehead and tears pricked my eyes. As the memories from earlier today were crashing back I heard a rustle in the bushes behind me. I instantly stiffened thinking he found me and fear seemed to paralyze me on the spot. My hazel eyes flickered to the sky as if to ask why when realized how dark it had gotten. The once light sky littered with fluffy white clouds had turned dark blue and the full moon was hovering just above the horizon as early stars started to dot the sky. When another snap broke the silence I turned my head in confusion towards the other side of the small stream.

I was awestruck at the beautiful light brown wolf walking towards the stream looking at me with her cream colored ears flat against her head and I saw horror flash in her light eyes before an excruciating pain ripped through my side and I screamed in agony. I looked back at the small, but gorgeous wolf and I thought it was ironic I was seeing a wolf as I died. Death, the thought flashed through my mind and a deep chill settled over me as I didn't fight to live I just accepted it. Another red hot surge of pain ripped through my skin making tears flow through my hazel eyes as they shot to my left side where my skin seemed to be ablaze with sliced nerve endings.

Beautiful calico fur and my ripped pale flesh doused with scarlet blood burned into my vision. My surroundings turned dizzy, but I held on trying to stay awake. A high pitched howl crushed my eardrums and my side ignited with more pure pain. Torcher was my life I had the scars to prove it, but this scorching pain on my side was more than I could bare and I could feel my vision get fuzzy. I looked toward the small wolf confused to why he stopped the attack as I felt nothing more than hot breaths on my damaged skin.

A set of dull amber eyes surrounded by light and dark brown fur looked down at me flashing with regret and concern making me cock my head to the side like a dog in confusion. Then a slightly bigger furry raven colored head came into my line of sight standing next to the calico wolf cub that had attacked me and looked down at me with its striking silver eyes drowning with sorrow. I swallowed trying to talk, but it was getting hard to breath so I tried to I look at them with nothing but warmth and understanding instead. I didn’t know why they stopped, but for some reason I knew I needed to soothe their worries maybe it was the blood loss making me delusional. I blinked and looked at the tiny beautiful wolves in front of me I cautiously raised my hands and buried them in their pelts. Trying to get them to understand it was okay while the first wolf I saw joined the two other wolves looking down at me almost guiltily.

My hazel gaze dropped to the wolf cub who attacked me’s injured  dark colored muzzle where a deep cut leaked crimson blood. A surge of concern and worry flashed through me before I helplessly let my arms fall to the ground suddenly feeling cold. I looked at all three of them in the eyes with pure acceptance and the happiness I had felt as I entered in the woods. Soon the pain became too extreme and all I could do was scream and I could have sworn they joined my agonizing yelps with their own howls that sounded almost sad until I was sucked into darkness and I finally felt numb.

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Thanks for reading!!!!                    XOXO Lyla