Fever

After his promise, I felt a weight leave my chest. I also tried my best to avoid the living room when the news was on, only because I didn’t want those images to feed my worry. Although he had promised to stay out of the forest, I was still worried about everyone else. There hadn’t been any word that the bears were coming into town, but I could see it on people’s faces. Even Jasmine’s mother, who was usually very lenient on letting her daughter out, had taken to instating a curfew. She even sent Kennedy and myself home early so that we could make it home before dark.

That weekend, Jasmine and I were too caught up in our homework to realise the dying sunlight. Her parents were out at the annual winter celebration, one that even my parents had even agreed to attend. Every year at the first snow fall, the adults of Forks would hold a party at the only hall large enough to fit the whole town where they drank eggnog and ate traditional Christmas food. This year, our first snowfall occurred in the first week of December along with a major temperature drop.

“I think my brain has turned to mush,” Jasmine groaned with her head in her textbook.

“Welcome to my world.”

“How do they expect us to remember all of this? It’s impossible! I don’t even remember it and I just read it.” Jasmine rolled off the bed dramatically, letting the book slide close in her lap, “I can’t do anymore reading.”

“Jaz, do you want to fail the year?”

“Who needs Math anyway? I’ll go on to be a famous actress and I’ll never need to know any numbers but those on my pay check.”

I laughed, “How about we quit now and continue tomorrow night?”

“Fine,” she grumbled, “I swear, if he assigns us any homework over the Christmas break, I am going to die.”

I tucked my books back into my bag and begrudgingly rose to my feet, “All right, I’m off. I will see you tomorrow.”

“Aren’t you going to see Jacob tomorrow?”

“In the morning, yeah, but you and I need to get this into your thick skull,” I stopped at the door, “otherwise your mother will never let you see daylight again, you know that.”

“Whatever, tell your boy toy I say ‘hi’.”

“Bye Jaz.”

I wrapped myself up as tightly as possible in my scarf and gloves, stepping out into the frosty night air. There were little flurries floating through the clear night sky with a light wind carrying them along for the ride. The road, having been cleared only hours ago, had a thin layer of snow across the tarmac, hiding all the ice that littered the road. I walked slowly, not at all too enthused to return to an empty house, and enjoyed the tingle of the snowflakes as they melted on the tips of my nose and caught in my eyelashes.

A single flake began to twirl in its descent and I paused, tilting my head back and sticking out my tongue, ready for it to land and melt. But a sudden gust of wind pushed it off course and bit at the tender skin on my cheeks. I tightened the scarf around my neck and pulled my face into the soft material, but the wind was breaking through and stinging the warm skin beneath.

I brought my hands to my face and continued on against the wind, deciding that perhaps an empty, warm home was better than a frosty walk home. I was waist-deep in my winding thoughts that I hadn’t noticed the patch of freshly frozen ice that my foot was coming down on, and with a jerk, I lost my balance and dropped my bag. I reached for it quickly before the snow could soak through the material, thus ruining all of my class notes and on loan textbook. A spot of moisture stained the corner of my bag and I knew that it had penetrated only a little. The sooner I got home, the sooner I could remove those books and let them air dry.

I tucked the bag back into my shoulder, shoved my hands in my pockets, and made a move forward, but as I raised my eyes to the road before me, a giant black shape stood in my way. My heart stopped for only a second or two before it began to race frantically, and from the size and the way it stood, I knew that I was the next face to be broadcast on the news. I had never paid any attention during ‘Bear Safe’ talks and had no idea what to do but back up slowly. My legs were stiff from slipping and I managed to guide them inches backwards, creeping away from the beast.

But as the shape moved forward into the streetlight, I saw that it wasn’t a bear at all. It was the size of a bear and could have easily passed for one, but it seemed to be a wolf of some kind with narrowed blue eyes and a head full of coarse black hair. Something in my gut told me that this was far more dangerous than a rabid grizzly and I found my legs stretching farther to get away. The giant wolf advanced on me, one of his steps equalling a dozen of mine. I was about ready to just turn around and run when my foot met the same, slick surface it had moments ago, and I fell to the ground, my bag sprawled and by back shooting with sharp pain.

I tried to scramble up, but my legs kicked away the snow from the patch of ice and I was scurrying nowhere. Just as the wolf was only one pace away, it stopped and looked past me, moving back a few steps to its original position. My breathing was erratic and I peered over my shoulder at another shape moving just beyond the shadows. The next streetlight welcomed another wolf of uncanny size, but it was a russet brown colour with deep, dark eyes. It did not glance at me, but seemed to have its eyes frozen on the other wolf.

Both of them bared their teeth at each other, their growls shaking the frozen ground. Their giant paws dug into the snow and ice, and they crouched down low, ready to spring into attack. The air around them seemed to get heavier and their steamy breath rose into the air like clouds and mist. The black one was the first to act and leap high into the air, the brown one followed and met him halfway, knocking him onto the ground. The wolf skidded to a stop only meters from my feet, spewing snow and gravel onto my legs. I stared wide-eyed as it stared at me with its icy eyes, as if trying to talk to me. I could feel my hands shaking in my lap, fear starting to overcome the surprise and shock of the two beasts fighting in the streets.

But the brown wolf did not hesitate to pounce on the other, pushing it into the line of trees that opened up into the surrounding forest. I could hear the splinter and crackle of the trees as they broke away and toppled with the weight of the creatures. Their snarls could still be heard as they echoed through the dense trees, following by another snap and another falling tree. It took me a couple seconds to bring myself out of the daze I had settled into and for once, I felt movement in my limbs and I grabbed my bag and I ran.

I sprinted down the middle of the road in my winter boots, the rubber bottoms slipping slightly in the fresh snow. The sound of my ragged breathing and the pounding of my boots disguised the fight that was being left behind. I kept running, faster than I have ever run, with my bag flying at my side and my eyes burning from the cold. I skidded to a stop, stumbling onto my knees, when the black wolf launched out of the trees and landed dead in front of me. I stared at it, unable to process what I was supposed to do.

Its lips appeared to curve and I swore the wolf was smiling at me. It sent a chilling sensation down my body, reaching even the tips of my fingers and the base of my feet. It didn’t crouch offensively; ready to shred me up like it did to all the other bears. It looked like it was trying to saunter over, taking its time to approach. The wolf must have been only two of its giant paws away from me when the resonating sound of tree splitting in half reached us, and the russet brown wolf sprinted out of the woods towards the opposing animal.

With bared teeth and claws swiping violently, the two wolves rolled and gnashed their canines at each other’s throats. The black wolf was at a size advantage in comparison to the slightly smaller brown wolf, but the two were evenly matched as they fought across the tarmac. Fearfully, I watched each wolf rip at the other’s skin, chunks of hair landing on the street and blood splatter staining the snow. And all I could do was watch, with the snow soaking the legs of my pants and numbing the skin on my hands. I watched each wolf try to kill the other, ripping and slashing and rolling.

The brown wolf had the last shot, digging its teeth deeply into the shoulder of the black wolf. It howled in pain and released the other wolf, crying like a dog in pain. With a sickening crunch, the brown wolf let go, watching with burning eyes as the other wolf limped off into the forest, silently this time, with not even the sound of branches breaking.

The remaining wolf turned its chocolate eyes on me, watching me with a look that I felt I knew. Those eyes, so rich and familiar, reminded me of my dreams that I used to have. With the raging fire and the wolf and those eyes. I stopped my train of thought as it was starting to drift towards Jacob. I was not in the right state of mind. There was a giant wolf in front of me that almost killed that other massive wolf. How did I know I wasn’t next? I wanted to say that the aura of this one was not threatening, but I didn’t know what much was anymore.

It stepped to the side, looking into the woods where the other one had disappeared. My eyes darted past him where I contemplated running. It would catch me the instant I moved. I could see its ears twitching as they focused on the other creature that was in the mist of retreat. I couldn’t just wait here for the wolf to kill me. I had to at least try to save myself. I pushed myself to my feet and took off, my books lying in the snow behind me, looking at nothing but the corner where my street laid. My feet would slip every now and then, but I kept running with the wind and the snow pushing against me.

The wolf did not swipe me down or cut me off, I just kept running until I turned that corner and ran up into my house. I struggled with the handle for a moment before I launched myself inside, turning all the locks and shutting the blinds. I ran to the back of the house to double-check the back door and tugged the curtains tight over the rest of the glass. I leaned against the counter and gasped for air, trying to calm my raging pulse. My body was shaking from the adrenaline and as hard as I tried to just stop, I couldn’t. I wasn’t even sure what had just happened.

A loud, sharp knock echoed through the house. My eyes snapped towards the front door where the rapping sounded once more. Wolves didn’t have knuckles, let alone hands, did they? I moved forward slowly, trying to make out the silhouette from the adjacent windows, but the figure was hidden by the front door. They knocked again. I placed my fingertips against the door and held my breath, moving to look through the peephole. The breath I had been holding was released and I stepped back, removing the locks before I opened the door.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Jacob, who was standing in nothing but a pair of rolled sweatpants.

He moved past me into the house, pushing the door closed. He made his way through the house, checking every room and peering through every window. The house was dark, disguising the look on his face. I followed him, trying to get him to stay still long enough to tell me what was going on, but he kept darting in and out, not sparing me a moment.

“Jacob, seriously, what is going on?” I called after him loudly as he made his way into the kitchen, his final stop.

I watched as he pulled back the curtain and examined the backyard, ignoring me as I padded into the room behind him, “Jacob, I-“

But my voice was caught off as the moonlight from the backyard draped itself onto his figure. There were shallow cuts along his shoulder and arm, cuts that were long and wide. The pattern was straight and parallel to the others, almost like – no. I took a tentative step forward, reaching out to touch his shoulder gently.

“Jacob?” I questioned, my touch seeming to break his concentration.

He turned around, with the moonlight illuminating the side of his face. The light spread down his body, catching the perfect four lines that were slashed across his chest. When my wide eyes moved back to his, my stomach dropped to my feet as those dark eyes were upon me once more, “No…”