You're All I Have

Autumn let out a scream as the monster attacked the side of the other, sinking his teeth into his fur. Magnolia watched wide eyed and silently.

“They look like…wolves.”

“How can you watch?!”

“They’re way too…monstrous to be wolves, though.”

Autumn whimpered as the one of them howled in pain. From the light of the moon and the porch, Magnolia could see deep, red blood flowing down his sandy fur. She bit her lip, turning away from the window.

“Let’s just go upstairs and pretend we aren’t completely delusional, okay?” Autumn exclaimed, tugging her best friend’s wrist up the stairs.

As Autumn climbed into her bed, falling fast asleep, Magnolia watched intently as best she could without much light.

They fought for what seemed like hours, but in reality it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes.

The sandy-furred wolf had one, leaving the other laying in the grass. Magnolia looked at her friend, sleeping silently. She slipped out into the hall and down the stairs.

She slipped out the back door, leaning over the still wolf. His black coat of fur was drenched in raindrops and blood. She felt sad for the wolf, stroking his body gently, trying to avoid cuts. When she came across one, it whimpered, moving only slightly.

She was glad it wasn’t dead, but it was still badly injured. She moved to his head, where his eyes were blinking slowly, like he could go unconscious any moment. A crack of thunder overhead startled him a little bit, flinching.

“It’s okay. I’ll get help,” she said standing up. The wolf pulled on the leg of her sweatpants. “What? You want to die here or something?”

The wolf whimpered, pressing his nose against her leg. He pulled his legs up underneath him, slowly getting up and limping a few steps away. He turned to look back at her with dark eyes. She swallowed a deep breath of air and backed away quickly to the door. When the wolf disappeared, she dashed through the door and up the stairs.

She silently shut the door to Autumn’s room to find her asleep. She slipped out of her wet clothes, slipping on an extra pair or sweatpants that her friend had laid out for her.

She pulled out the sleeping bag she’d brought along, climbing inside of it. She closed her eyes, nearly falling asleep. A loud howl outside awakened her, keeping her up all night.

----

“Geez, Mags,” Autumn started as her best friend woke up, “You look like you got hit by a truck!”

“Thanks, Autumn.”

Autumn shrugged. “Just sayin’.”

She’d been up all night thinking of the wolf. It couldn’t be a normal wolf. It must’ve been mutated, like in a lab. She flinched at the thought of the horror of it.

Magnolia thought of the big, wide brown eyes that it stared at her with. She thought she’d seen eyes like that somewhere else, but her own dog had big brown eyes, so she came to the conclusion that she’d seen them there.

“You hungry?” Autumn said, stretching out her back. There was a loud crack in her bones and she sighed. “Much better.”

“Uhm, sure,” Magnolia said, following her friend down the stairs. Autumn’s mother was already making waffles.

“Chocolate chips?” Autumn questioned, pulling them out of the cabinet. Her mother rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Gimme them.”

“Yay!” she cheered, passing them to her mom, kissing her cheek. “I love you.”

“You better.”

Magnolia smiled. “Good morning, Mrs. Towers.”

“Good morning, Maggie.”

“Waffles smell good,” she commented as Autumn poured her a glass of milk for herself and her friend.

“Do you girls know what happened last night in the backyard?” she asked, pulling the waffles from the cooker.

Autumn and Magnolia looked at each other, then shook their heads quickly. “Nope. Nothing.”

She raised her brows. “There’s huge indents in the ground from some sort of animal and huge prints in the dirt. Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Autumn said nervously. “It’s not like there were giant wolves fighting back there or anything.”

Magnolia let out a nervous laugh. “Of course not.”

Mrs. Towers looked at both of them. “You kids are too weird,” she said, shaking her head.

“But you love us. Right, mommy?” Autumn wrapped her arms around her mom’s shoulders.

“Sure.”

Magnolia walked over to the window. “Wow. Those are big prints. Maybe it was a bear?”

Even though she already knew it was no bear. Not even close.