Hunting Love

~ Chapter One ~

~ Chapter 1 ~

I woke up to the sound of a loud bang. I looked through my window in the direction of the house next to my own. Apparently the neighbours were throwing things out of their window again. The bastards. I look back from the window and snuggle into my bed. Something feels different. I look at where another body usually would be. Wait, where is Dane? I look around the house, but I can’t find him. I turn on all the lights, and there, on the table lay my favourite jumper of his, a small silver heart-shaped locket and a note. I immediately went for the note. It read, “I love you, but please don’t come look for me. Trust me, it’s for your own good.  And if I don’t come back, just promise you won’t forget me.” Oh no. Please don’t tell me he is going after the wolves. Or whatever they are. I grab hold his jumper and tug it close to my heart. I whisper to myself, “I don’t care what you say. I will come find you, and I will bring you back.”

I scrambled out of my pyjamas and tugged on some black jeans. I also put on a dark green singlet. I ran for my shoe rack and pull my black sneakers on. I looked at myself in a door-to-floor length mirror, and was grateful for my long black hair now. I had always wanted blonde, but now the blackness of my hair came in handy. Dressed this way, I know that if people like Dane are trying to go after the wolves in the forest, I’d be at least partially camouflaged. I open my closet doors to find my black backpack lying on the ground. I pushed some changing clothes in there, all basically the same colours as I am wearing now. I reach for underwear to put in as well, since I can’t be sure how long I’m going to be gone for. Hours? Days? Weeks?

I run across my house to the set of doors that reveal my backyard. I pull on the handle to the door leading outside. It came away easily, and I run over to the paddock and grab my horse named Lace. I put her saddle and reins on her. After I grab some food and water for both of us and place them in my backpack in what remaining space I have left, I hop on Lace. “Looks like Dane’s taken your stable mate, Ocean, with him.” It might be well into midnight, but nothing can stop me from finding Dane. I ride off wearing, close to my heart, the silver locket and his black jumper to keep me warm. I rode through what was left of the night, and eventually reached the next town. I head over to the town’s hotel. Seems more like a bed and no breakfast to me. I see the ‘no pets’ sign and huffed out a breath. Great. Now I have to go find someplace for Lace. A half hour later from finding Lace a place to rest, I head back into the hotel. I go straight to the counter and ask the lady working at the desk, “Have you maybe had anyone stay over last night? Possibly someone by the name of Dane?”

The lady then proceeded to explain, in a flat tone, “You just missed him. He left at, like, five AM this morning.” I let Lace rest at the paddock I had taken her to for the rest of the day, while I sat in a coffee shop and tried to figure out where he would go. At around four o’clock, I decided to head to the next town. Surely Dane wold be there. I just hope ‘they’ haven’t found him yet.

It was pretty dark for six o’clock, so I lit a flashlight over Lace’s head to see where I was going. I was heading into the forest now, nearing the place where I was sure Dane would be. On the dirt path I saw traces of hoof prints, so I decide to follow them. I have been riding for about an hour now. I’ve been out of the town for a while, and I don’t know where I am. And these prints aren’t going anywhere. They are just going around and around in circles. What if these aren’t Ocean’s prints? They look different...

The prints seem to lead into the bushes, but I’m not scared. Okay, maybe a little, but I might as well go have a look, you know, just in case. Half way through I lose track of the hoof prints that I had been following. Great, just great. Then unexpectedly Lace stops and I almost fall off her. She just stops, right there and refuses to go on. I hear a shuffle in the bushes behind me and I throw my head back to stare at the source of the sound. I see nothing, so I shrug and turn back around. I tried coaxing Lace to go forward, but she refused. She neighed in a panicky tone, and that was when I heard. A loud cry, almost like a howl, sounded directly in front of me. Then, whatever it was, it attacked. The thing jumped forward and over lace, aiming at my head. I ducked down into Lace, but not fast enough. It nicked me in the back of the neck, and I was thrown backward off Lace. The creature slashed at my face with its wolf-like claws. I tried to fight back, but it pushed me into a tree. It had pushed me so hard that I have no feeling in my right arm. And a second later, a stinging and burning sensation jolted through my arm, and I knew it was broken. The think lunged and jumped on me again, and it tried to bite me with its fang-like teeth. I screamed and tried to block its attacks at my face, my midsection.

The next moment, out of nowhere, an arrow shot right through the creatures head in front of me. The arrow went through the creature’s head and out the other side, and it was instantly killed. Thank god for friction, otherwise I’d be dead, too. I looked up, panicking, to see his familiar face staring back at mine, a mixture of emotions written across his features. I smile of relief swam across my face at seeing his dark eyes meet mine, but was rewarded by a sting in my cheek. I pressed my good hand toward it, and it came away red. Bastard thing almost tore my cheek off! But Dane! It was really him! I tried to get up, to race to him and throw my arms around his neck, but I tripped over the creature’s body and I hit the ground once again. Everything went suddenly blurry. I felt weird all over, and then there was nothing. I couldn’t see anything. Just black.