Better Off Dead

I crossed my arms and scowled at the bare, dirty wall in front of me. Even though I knew I was acting like a five year old, I was stubborn. I should have been home with my mom…With Braxton. Tears sprung to my eyes and the walls of my throat instantly clenched. My fingers curled into fists and I gripped so hard that my knuckles turned white and my nails dug painfully into my palms. I gritted my teeth and willed myself not to cry.

The man stared at me in curiosity, his brown eyes on my broken, vulnerable body. His head cocked to the side as a dog’s would, his thick brown hair falling in front of his chocolate-colored eyes. When he noticed me staring, his eyes darted away. A sense of familiarity washed over me as I looked at his eyes…Where had I seen them before? Braxton and a few of my friends had had brown eyes, but theirs weren’t as bright and magnificent as his.

He cleared his throat, disturbing the almost awkward silence that had fallen since I had awoken. When he spoke I couldn’t help but shudder; I had no clue why but I felt almost connected to him. “I’ll, um, be right back.”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “Where?”

“Nowhere in particular,” He raised a brow and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll be back soon.”

I was about to protest (My leg was feeling worse, the wound near my knee oozing pus and other nasty fluids) but he had already been out of the cave and into the darkness, not even taking a flashlight. I muttered to myself in confusion, thinking aloud. Why he would just leave me there was beyond me. Would he just keep me in the cave forever? If I didn’t see a professional doctor, the injuries would only get worse.

I bit my lip. If I wanted to leave, now was my chance. My eyes searched at the mouth of the cave, trying to see if he was anywhere near. Taking a deep breath, I grit my teeth in pain as I gripped a rocky edge on the wall above me, using it as support to lift myself off the ground. I cried out in pain and fell back down, making my butt crash to the ground.

I bit my inner lip in pain, not even daring to shout swears as I usually would in pain. It would be too much of a risk if he was near. If I even managed to get myself out of the cave, I would find the nearest road. I could tell that it was almost dawn by the lightness of the sky, so by the time I made it out of the area, I would be set.

I took another deep breath before trying again.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I hissed, my legs throbbing. Taking several gulps of air, I inched toward the entrance of the cave, feeling the coldness from the nighttime forest with each step I took. The breeze tickled my skin, making gooseflesh appear on my arms and legs.

I squinted into the darkness as I spotted a black shape move in the shadows. “What…Is…That…?” I murmured, gripping onto the wall. I leaned forward, watching the shape move closer. Frozen in my spot I gasped when the firelight caught its entire appearance.

It was the black wolf.

The wolf that caused the car crash.

My legs wobbled in fear as I stared at the wolf like a deer in headlights. It took a step forward, no signs of aggression in its expression. I screamed in pain as I toppled to the ground. This was the most inconvenient time to be a klutz. It cocked its head and took a step forward, almost as if it were in concern. I scooted back, my butt dragging on the rough floor every time it would come forward. It growled lowly as if in annoyance, and walked forward until I was cornered to the wall. I whimpered in fear as it leaned further until it was only an inch from my face.

It was between my legs, the useless things only preventing me from darting out of the cave out of instinct. The wolf sniffed at the wounds on my face, licking it tenderly. I gasped in both aw and relief, since it hadn’t decided to rip my throat out. It inspected down toward my injured leg and whined in either disgust or sadness. He had known that it was getting worse too, I realized.

Suddenly, it jogged toward the mouth of the cave. After a second, I noted that it wasn’t going to come back. I was immensely confused. Why not kill me if it saw me? Wasn’t it instinct or something for them?

Not even a minute after the wolf had left, the mystery man came back. My eyes hardened.

“Where did you go?” I demanded.

He raised his hands, “What, I was only gone like, ten minutes!”

Had it really only been ten minutes? When I had been trying to escape, it felt like an hour.

“Well, when you were gone, a wolf came! I could have been killed!”

He grinned in amusement. “Yeah, right.”

I threw my hands up in the air and exclaimed, “I’m serious!” It was then I became aware of the raw meat in his hands. I raised a brow. “What is that?”

“Dinner,” He said curtly, sticking a large stick through the center of it. He raised it over the fire and turned it occasionally.

“That’s not…A squirrel or anything like that right?” I said in a weird tone, staring at the raw meat above the fire.

He shook his head. “Nope.”

I sighed in relief.

“It’s rabbit.”

“I am not eating that,” I said immediately, scooting closer to the wall.

He shrugged. “Fine. No food for you then.”

“Fine,” I said, attitude behind my voice. I crossed my arms and scowled at him when he smirked in amusement. After a few minutes the poor rabbit was fully cooked, the perfect shade of brown. I licked my lips in hunger. He propped the stick between his legs and tore off a slice of the meat. He groaned in appreciation when he took a bite.

“Juicy,” He muttered, winking when I scoffed at him.

When the pain in my stomach grew too unbearable, I snapped, “Fine. Give me a piece of that.”

He shook his head. “What’s the magic word?”

I wanted to slap the look off his face. “Okay, now you’re just being an ass.”

He chuckled and tossed the stick in my lap. Savagely, I dug into the meat, not even noticing the horrid taste until all of it was cleaned off the stick. I burped shortly after. He gave me a disapproving look.

“Excuse me,” I said sheepishly, blushing slightly. He smiled sickly sweetly. I tossed the stick aside and placed my arms across my full belly, staring into the fire.

“Look…Brian,” I said, meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry. I was an immature bitch even though you saved my life.”

A smile graced his lips. “Apology accepted. Now, get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day.”

“What’s going to happen tomorrow?” I asked, furrowing my eyes.

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just go to sleep.” I looked at him for a minute more before sliding down to the damp ground and covering my body with the colorful blanket I had tossed aside earlier. I turned to my side, facing the wall closest to me wondering what he meant as I fell into dream land once again.