🐺Wolf Creek:Volume One🐺

Chapter Eight: Attack

"You know, you could have had one of these too if you hadn't been so stubborn in the past." James enlightened me after we had driven for a while. He had decided to show me a back way that didn't go through the middle of town. I laughed in response, but I knew what he was implying. I crossed my arms playfully and quirked a brow at him. He glanced away from the road for a moment to look at me expectantly. There was a mischievous glint in his eye that made me laugh even more. I finally shook my head and answered.

            "I'm afraid I'm too stubborn in the present, too." I playfully scolded.

            "Worth a try." He shrugged. A quiet chuckle fell out of my mouth as I nodded in agreement. I thought about asking exactly how his family made their fortune, but I shook the idea away. Even though I was sure he wanted me to be I still didn't feel close enough to him to ask such a personal question without it feeling rude. Instead I kept my mouth shut and stared out the window. I recognized my surroundings as James turned onto the road that my driveway was on. We remained in a comfortable silence the rest of the way, only talking when we had finally come to a stop in front of my house.

            "Thank you so much for this. I had a wonderful time." I turned towards James.

            "No, thank you for coming. I wanted to make it up to you after leaving you at the hospital- I was selfish and ignorant for not appreciating that you woke up at all. But memory or no memory, I've missed this. I've missed you so much. I can't believe you're here after all this time. I missed you so much." James repeated himself. He was leaning so close to me that I could feel his breathe on my collar bone, but he didn't come any closer. It was as if he was waiting for me; gauging my reaction to his closeness. I didn't jerk back, but I didn't lean in either. Instead, I spoke once more.

            "Thank you again for the perfect evening. Have a goodnight." I murmured. Then I slowly leaned back, gently pulled on the door handle to open the car door, and climbed out. I stood still for a moment, my hand clenching the top corner of the door. James' words were running-no- flying through my head a million miles per minute. He had missed me so much. He couldn't believe I was here, but I wasn't, was I? At least not entirely.

          The girl he had missed for so long had disappeared along with my memory, and I was what was left of her. We were the same person, and yet I felt like I was living someone else's life. Whether or not he appreciated my being here I could still sense that a big part of him was still holding onto that other girl. If he kept trying to connect with her through me then he was just going to end up disappointed. I frowned slightly. I didn't need him abandoning me a second time. My fondness of him had grown so much in one evening that I wasn't sure that I could take him leaving me after I let him stay long enough to realize that I was all he was getting.

            "Goodnight." James said in return. His voice cut through the dark thoughts in my head and quieted them if only for a second. I gave him a wry smile, closed the door, and tried not to think of anything as I walked up to the front porch. Focusing on the sound of James' car as it got further away, I hurried through the door and closed it with a tiny thud. I leaned against the door, feeling the cool wood press against my bare shoulders. Gran came around the corner and into the living room excitedly, but noticed my appearance and immediately became somber.

            "Kelsey, what's the matter?" Gran fretted.

            "Nothing at all," I lied. "I'm just letting myself relax after such a busy day. I couldn't be happier about how it all turned out." I finished it off with a tired smile to exaggerate the 'busy' part and make myself seem less worried. Gran's excitement returned instantly, and she beamed at me before turning and disappearing into the kitchen to get something. I took that as my chance to let my smile fall and take my heels off. Luckily they hadn't caused any blisters, but they had tired my calves out. I made my way to the couch and let myself sink down onto the cozy cushions.

            "Alright, now I'm going to put some cat food out in the carport for the raccoons, and when I get done I want to hear all about it!" Gran gushed as she passed through the living room and went out the side door. I nodded as I wiggled back and forth to get comfortable while I waited. The sound of Pumpkin's kibble hitting the metal pan outside sent him galumphing down my side of the stairs. Suddenly the food stopped pouring, but Pumpkin kept on until he poked his head out of the open doorway. I heard Gran whisper something that sounded like my name. Then silence. I slowly leaned up to listen more carefully. Something was off.

            "Kelsey..." I finally heard Gran shudder. Suddenly Pumpkin arched his back and hissed. It sent a shockwave of fear from the bottom of my spine and up to my heart. I leapt to my feet and began carefully treading to the door. As I rounded the corner a low growl pierced the air, and I froze. I spotted Gran next to the metal food dish. The bag of cat food was still in her hands, but she had stopped pouring. Instead she stood frozen as well, bent over, and staring at the tree line. The feeling of fear pushed her eyes wide open and made her breathing slow to a near halt. Pumpkin hissed again, sending another pang of fear through me so strong that my chest ached.

            "Don't look it in the eyes, Kelsey." Gran breathed. Look what in the eyes? I shakily followed Gran's gaze to where the light of the house had nearly faded to darkness. Moving my head even slightly caused another growl to emanate from the shadows of the forest. That was when I caught notice of a pair of light green eyes reflecting the car port light. They weren't small like a coyote or a stray dog-they were big and wide like a bear's. My eyes finally began to adjust to the light, and my entire body froze in fear.

         Standing at the edge of the darkness was a giant, grey wolf. I finally let out a small gasp of air, causing the wolf's muscles to tighten and yet another growl to permeate the night air. My eyes flew to the ground in front of its feet before I froze again. I began to rack my brain for anything that could help in a wolf attack, but no such luck. Whether or not I could remember anything on wolves I would have to do something soon. I could almost feel the wolf's appetite growing with every second we remained still.

          I began to move slowly towards Gran. She cautiously shook her head at me, but I continued nevertheless. The wolf let out yet another unsettling growl, and I slowed down even more. Yet I still inched my way over until I was in front of Gran. I kept my eyes at the wolf's feet to keep track of where it was, but I didn't dare look it in the eye as Gran had told me. Every hair on the back of my neck stood up and caused a chilling sensation. I was barely breathing as I finally began to cautiously creep backwards and towards the door. The wolf continued to growl, but made no move to attack.

          Gran was finally able to step into the threshold of the house, but she kept her hand firmly on my shoulder as I backed up. My foot bumped the raccoon's food dish, causing a sudden, loud scraping my noise. I jerked my head up in fear to look the wolf in the eyes, and I knew that moving slowly couldn't save me now. The wolf's eyes widened and its mouth opened in a horrifying snarl as it lunged forward from the edge of the woods. I spun around, darted inside, and almost had the screen door closed when the weight of the wolf slammed into it. It threw itself in my direction, and snapped the mesh out of the staples as I screamed. I held my grip against the door for dear life!

         The solid door that went over the screen one was tucked against the wall, but hadn't been moved in months. Gran shoved it as fast as she could, but the carpet wrestled with the bottom of the door to slow it down. I jammed my foot down at the bottom of the screen door and reached with one arm to grab hold of the other door, and together we slammed both shut and instinctively locked the solid one. Then we hurried to snatch every curtain over every window closed. I spun towards Gran, my head reeling from what had just happened. We stared at each other wide-eyed and in bewilderment. The wolf was still clawing at the door, but it didn't budge.

         "Do we have a gun?!" I yelled.

          "You always preferred to keep your grandfather's! It's upstairs in the bottom drawer of your dresser!" Gran shouted back. I ran into the kitchen and past the only windows that didn't have curtains. I ran a little faster past those, and scurried up the stairs. I tripped a couple of times, but I kept going until I dove into my room in a complete panic. My breathing was heavy and dry as I yanked on my bottom drawer so hard that it flew out of the dresser. I stared down at the gun before grabbing it and picking it up, sending a camera that was also inside flying across the floor.