6. Blood.

I swim in the darkness for what feels like forever, intoxicated by the feeling. Then the memories come flooding in.

I see myself returning from my morning run. I'm in my white trainers, yoga pants, and a tank top. Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ blasts in my headphones. I’m happy, loving the feel of the morning breeze slapping my face, and the wide smile on my face does not hide it.

I always run around the estate and go straight into the house to shower, but this time, for some reason, I decide to pass the house and head for the woods. I always thought the planted trees to be well arranged, and the little flowerbeds and bushes my mother added when she still had the strength to move about, add an atmospheric feel to the woods.

I breathe in the cool morning air, ‘today’s going to be a good day,’ I think. A walk in these woods always makes everything better, Father says, and even all Damian has to do when he is in a foul mood is take a walk in the woods.

I always wondered why my father insisted we have a mini forest in our backyard, but I'm not really complaining. With my headphones at full volume, I don’t hear anything until my breath gets knocked out of my lungs with a great force from behind.

The force is so great it throws me forward a couple of feet. I land on my side, scraping the skin of my elbows. Pain shoots from my shoulder, spreading all around my back. I look around me and see nothing, though my sixth sense tells me that whatever attacked me is still in the vicinity.

A scream escapes my lips as I try to move my left hand to investigate the source of pain in my right shoulder. Groaning I force my palm over my shoulder. My hand comes back covered in blood. The pain in my shoulder seems to double with the discovery.

I am reaching into my pocket for my phone when a terrifying animalistic growl makes the hair at the back of my neck stand. A chill runs down my back and my blood runs cold even as I feel my armpits pool with sweat due to the fear.

I hold my breath and freeze in place, hoping that perhaps if I don’t move the creature will leave me be. For a second, I hear nothing, and I almost sigh with relief, until I hear the growl right next to my ear, a cold breath ruffling my hair.

A blood-curdling scream leaves my lips as I turn around to face the creature. I only get a glimpse of bloodshot eyes with so much anger, that I feel the need to apologize before my head gets smashed into the ground, sending jolts of pain shooting from my temple.

“Wilda?” I hear my father's voice shout. “Wilda, are you okay?”

‘Dad!’ I want to shout, but my head is too groggy. The strength is gone from every part of my body. I catch a flash of white as my father's voice moves closer from the corner of my eye.

My head is lifted off the ground again and before, I can scream, it meets the ground with a greater force. The smell of iron and the taste of blood floods my senses.

As I lay on my side on the ground, growls fill my ears flashes of grey and white fill my bleary vision. I see blood pool around my head, the warm liquid making the ground where I lay my head lies soggy. ‘is this how I die?’ I wonder. Will I die without knowing what killed me?

A headache takes over my head. I am just so sleepy.

“Wilda!” someone is calling my name. but I am just so, tired, I will just close my eyes for a second…

“Wilda…” it's Kate’s voice.

I open my eyes to find her looking at me with concern in her eyes. behind her, on either side, is Damian and Fiona. I am propped up on a tree. Their eyes are bloodshot as If they have been crying, and Fiona still has tears in her eyes.

“What happened?” she asks.

I lift my hand to my head, as I realize that I am no longer in pain. My hair is matted with blood, but there is no obvious wound on my head. I lift my hand to my shoulder, finding the same. I look down at myself. My clothes torn to rags, leave me at the mercy of Mother Nature. The grass prickles my skin where my pants are torn. My shoes are gone, replaced by red mud.

And blood. I am covered in blood. I feel my breath come short as the panic kicks in.

“What happened?” I hear my voice ask.

The air I take into my lungs does not have enough oxygen. My heart races to supply oxygen. I look down at my hands to find them shaking. Where did all this blood come from?

“Where is Dad?”

Even as I ask, my frantic eyes meet the curled-up and mauled body of a human being closely resembling my father’s form. No, I say to myself. It cannot be. All that blood…

I crawl on my hands and knees towards the body even as Kate tries to stop me. I push her roughly away, without thinking of what I’m doing. I kneel beside the body and place a hand on my father’s shoulder.

“Dad?” he does not answer.

Why is no one helping him? I turn him around to face me and a gasp escapes my mouth. Blood. So much blood. A lot more blood than I ever saw in my life.

My father’s lifeless eyes stare back at me. Tears pool in mine as my heart breaks into a million pieces.

“Dad?” I call desperately. Why won’t he smile and tell me he is okay? I shake his shoulder nonetheless.

“Dad?”

Half of his body is missing, and my eyes find one of his legs just a few feet away. His stomach is ripped wide open, intestines pooling at his side. I find myself attempting to collect them and put them back into his stomach, the flesh sliding off my hand and my tears dropping onto his body.

My brother is at my side in seconds.

“Stop.” He says, pulling me away. “He is gone.” His voice is thick with emotion and for once, I get the feeling that he cares about someone other than himself.

Blood pumps in my ears. ‘We cannot leave him like this,’ I want to say, but no sound will come from my mouth. I let my hands go numb at my sides and cry.

“Wilda, what happened?” Damian’s voice is soft.

“I don’t know… I didn’t see…” A headache beats around the back of my head as I try to remember what I saw.

My hand finds my head again. No wound. No pain. My chest constricts, tears streaming down my face carelessly.

Damian turns me away from our father.

“Please tell me what you remember.”

“I was on my run… and then there was this thing… I didn’t see it… and then father called my name, and…” The intensity of my headache increases. I hold my head in my hands, pressing my palms against my temples.

“And what?” Damian presses.

And then blood. Blood, pain, and grey and white fur. And those sound… the growls… and I was wounded, I couldn’t see much… but I cannot say all that. How do I explain the lack of even the scratches I had often on my first fall?

“And then what?”

Even in my disoriented state, something in me feels the need to hide the truth. Either way, what did I even see? What do I know?

“And then I think I passed out, then you were here,” I answer.

I hear sirens from afar.

“Wilda!” someone is calling my name.

My eyes hurt as if I have been reading all day and I need a break. The smell of the blood intensifies, blocking all else from my mind. As I reach into my memories for memories I didn't know were there, I see fangs, a white wolf… with eyes that resemble that of a human… very familiar eyes…

My world rocks and I open my eyes to find myself in the car, Damian and Fiona looking down at me.