Soar

Chapter One

 Warmth seeped through my mittens as I walked down the chilled streets of New York City. My hot cocoa steamed after I took a sip. The loud noises of Manhattan screamed at my ears and I could smell the trash in the next alleyway. I wrinkled my nose at the rotting food in the dumpster.

I fumbled with my key after I tripped on the stairs to my apartment. Hot cocoa had spilled on my khakis, and I glared at the lock that wouldn't open. I stepped inside, and a wave of warmth hit me. I kicked aside the newspaper before I dumped my backpack on the couch.

"Hey sweetheart. How was school?" My dad looked up from making dinner at the stove.

I grunted. "Did basketball go well?" he tried again.

I grunted again, this time pulling out a glass of lemonade and draining again. "Coach says my attitude isn't good for the team. Apparently I'm not a 'team player'."

"Well, I'm sure that's not true. You're a good teammate."

We both knew that was a lie. I was the definition of a ball hog. And if I didn't get the ball, I just stood there until the other team got it. The silence stretched between us and my dad shifted his weight.

"I'm gonna go shower."

"Your Aunt Aggie's coming over. Please come out with a smile."

I looked at him like, I'm not doing that. He sighed.

I walked down the hall to my bathroom, and the scalding hot shower took no time at all. I pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants before going to eat dinner with my dad and aunt. My aunt wasn't there yet, but I didn't mind. I wasn't exactly known as a people person.

I switched the tv on. People screaming and running all over the place came on, and then a wolf, not full-size yet, leaped into view, crashing into a picnic table. It was a shaggy, black animal. It licked its chops and looked at the people around it. They screamed in terror and ran away, one woman almost losing her child before picking it up and running away. I watched with rapt attention as the reporter described the scene, then had to run away herself when the wolf got too close.

Someone knocked on the apartment door, and my dad asked me to answer it. "It's probably your Aunt Aggie. And please smile," he gave me a pleading look with his hands clasped together, and I relented. I plastered the happiest smile I could onto my face and opened the door.

The first thing she did was shriek and hug me, dropping her heavy bags to the floor with a thud, then tell me I looked like I was going to eat something disgusting. I sighed inwardly and let her in. She shrieked again, more loudly than before, and hugged my dad. My aunt then handed him a bottle of wine and started to talk about her month long vacation and everything exciting about it, which was actually really boring. The wolf on the news flashed into my mind. Why had a wild animal, one that probably hunted at night, come into the middle of a group of people in the middle of the day. There was no way that had happened without some reasonable explanation. Wolves hunted at night, I had run into many of them during my night time excursions. And they didn't approach people. It was a rule among all wild animals that with humans, the risk was greater then the reward.

"Carly! Your aunt asked you a question." My dad's deep, quiet voice penetrated my thoughts and looked up from my plate.

"Yes?"

"Did you get what you wanted for Christmas, dear? I'm very sorry I missed it."

"Mostly." She gasped. I poked the vegetables on my plate.

"What did you not get?" My dad shot me a warning glare.

"A puppy." I shot one right back at him. He knew this was coming, and I had begged all year and never gotten it.

"Oh. Well, it's not a puppy, but I did get you this. Isn't it beautiful?"

She pulled out a set of paints and brushes with about a hundred colors from the large bag by her chair.

"Whoa, really?" I gave her my first real, genuine smile of the day and accepted the gift. The only thing I was good at besides sports was art. My room was covered with woodland landscapes and animals.

"I was hoping that you might paint me one of those pretty paintings you do."

"Okay." I turned over the box of paints. It was organized by color and had its own pallet on the lid. The brushes were the special kind that didn't let paint clog or stain them.

My aunt turned away happily and talked to my dad for the rest of the meal, while I inspected my gift and finished my dinner. She walked out the door, her bags lighter than when she came in, with a smile on her face from having someone to talk to who paid attention to what she said. Not me, that's for sure, but my dad was the most patient person I knew when it came to people talking too much. My dad smiled as he closed the door, then sighed and turned to me.

"You had to bring up the puppy?"

"What, she asked."

"Why do you even want a puppy? They're smelly animals who track mud everywhere."

"That's not all they do, you know. They're trainable. And I want a hunting partner."

"Hunting partner? You haven't gone hunting recently, have you? I don't want dead pigeons around the house again." His attitude had switched from exasperated to accusing, then to relief when I shook my head.

"No, not at all. Haven't been hunting since we moved to the city." I turned away and made a mental note to be more careful about what I said later on. "Well, I'm real tired. Gonna head to bed." He just nodded and started to clean up.

I was flying again that night. It wasn't unfamiliar. The adrenaline from the wind pummeling my face and riding the drafts was pure joy. I called out and dived, spinning through the air and pulling up before I ran into a tree. I coasted through Central Park, swooping around trunks and ducking under branches. I chased a pigeon through the treetops and skimming over the water. I laughed out of amusement and gave up to instead do a couple of tricks through the park. I did loops in the sky, feeling close enough to brush the stars. I closed my eyes and glided along. Then I crashed hard into a tree and fell to the ground, struggling uselessly.

I picked myself up and tried to regain my dignity, even though no one was around to see me. I was picking at the grass when I heard a rustling in the bushes. I looked up. I could see a lot in the moonlit forest, but the bushes were kept in shadow. They shook more, and the rustling grew louder. I took a step back and prepared myself to fly, but before I could, a large beast jumped out. Its shaggy black fur was caked with mud and grass. It pinned me down so that I couldn't fly. I screamed, and its red eyes glared down at me with hatred. It opened its mouth and moved towards my head. Pulling my head away, I was unable to escape the stench of its breath and its jaws started to close down on my head.

Everything was dark. My t-shirt was soaked cold with sweat, and I peeled the blankets off. I rubbed my eyes. My phone lit up when I ran into the table. 2:13 am. I rinsed my face in the bathroom sink before crawling back into my bed. The covers were warm and assuring, but I could still see the massive wolf. I didn't feel as excited for that puppy anymore.

Hello, people! First book, so, yay! Please comment and vote. :)