In the Shadows

Viktoria sat on her bed in her room, getting ready to sleep since she was already dressed in her flannel, pink pyjama. She typed her good night to her friends on Facebook then shut the computer off with a slam. After she had set the computer down, she slipped under her covers and reached out to turn off her lamp on her wooden bedside table.

Just as she closed her eyes her mother's voice echoed throughout the house. "Vik, you have to go out with Yoda." Her mother spoke of her dog who was a German Sheppard and one of the most stubborn dogs Vik had ever encountered. They had owned two other dogs before Yoda but they both got ill and had to be put down, though they had been good dogs that actually didn't argue when they had to go back inside the house after a walk.

The twenty-three year old sometimes hated living with her mother mostly because she had to go by her mother’s rules and she didn’t have her freedom but ever since high school things had been going downhill for her. She had finished with straight A’s from Huntington High and got accepted into UCLA. She went to college for half a year until one of the professors; Mr. Douglas started asking her to stay behind one day. He had backed her up against the corners of a wall and would have forced himself on her if a student hadn’t opened the door. Though the student saw the wrong thing; thinking that Viktoria was in a relationship with one of the professors which wasn’t allowed so she got kicked out of the school immediately.

Right after she got kicked out her father passed away from a heart attack and her mother struggled and didn’t take care of herself so Vik moved in to help her mother.

That was three years ago and Viktoria had gone from being a responsible and independent young woman to acting like she was a teenager again. It was liked time had turned back.

Vik slowly rose up against the headboard, squinting her eyes tiredly as she groaned loudly. Not only was she tired but she’d been feeling awful all day, she was feeling really nauseas all the time and sometimes dizzy. "Mum, I'm really tired and it's late. Can't you do it instead?"

Footsteps boomed as she heard her mother getting closer to the room as the loudness of the footsteps increased. The door was flung open and her mother’s silhouette was lit up by the bright light from the lamps in the hallway.

"No, Viktoria. You're getting up now. I don't care if you don't want to or if you are too tired, that poor dog has been sitting inside this house all day." she stated as flicked on the lights in Vik's room. "Get up now. You have 2 minutes to get up before I ground you. I am in no mood for this today."

Viktoria sighed heavily as she let her head fall back against the padded headboard. She closed her eyes and rubbed them hoping that it would wake her somehow. Her hazel green tinted eyes opened and it did help a bit. She cursed under her breath as she pulled of one of the black rubber twist to tie her messy, light-brown hair up in a messy bun. Then she threw the covers off her and got up, shivering from the sudden change in temperature. Deciding that it would be best not to annoy her mum and just get it over with, she went over to her closet quickly. She pulled out her dark grey hoodie and made sure to only zip it halfway as she had put it on.

When she had gotten out of her room, closing the door she called for her dog by whistling. Vik knew that Yoda probably would be in the living room which was next to her room.
The dog happily ran to Vik as his tongue hang outside of his mouth, breathing heavily as he was excited. His tail swung back and forth, Yoda was like a ball of energy.

"Wanna go out boy?" Vik exclaimed with a small smile and bent down to pet the Sheppard who was waggling its tail even more now.

She slipped into her beige, furry UGG boots and tucked in the bottom of her flannel pyjama pants, knowing that otherwise they would trail and get ruined by all the gravel on the ground since they were a bit too big. Her dog already had a leash on, trailing behind Yoda as he ran to the door because he was eager to get out. Vik bent down and grabbed the end of the leash and slipped her hand into the leather hook of it.

The first thing she noticed when she had closed the door behind her was how the dark night sky was and it was illuminated by the big, light yellow moon. The moon this particular night was huge; it was like it had moved closer to the earth and its light reflected strongly against the pavement. It was really dark outside notwithstanding the moon's glow. Viktoria glanced around the neighborhood since it there was an uncanny silence; no lights were on in any of the houses which were unusual especially when it was eleven at night. An unsettling feeling appeared in Vik's gut, she started to feel a weird vibe from the neighborhood.

She shook her head, deciding to ignore it since it probably just was because she was exhausted and the horror flick she saw yesterday made her paranoid. Vik walked down the three, concrete steps with one hand holding on to the steal railing and the other tightly secured around the leash to keep Yoda in place. Yoda ran down the stairs, tugging the leash making Vik jump forward. She yanked the leash harshly, signaling Yoda to take it easy and calm down.

She walked out on to the side-walk and Yoda kept sniffing the grass on the neighbor's lawns. "Come on Yoda" she called as she quickened her pace, jerking the leash to make him keep up his pace with her.

An eerie wind blew past her, causing Vik to shiver and goose bumps to cover her arms. Some of her hair that had fallen out of the ponytail tickled her skin and face as the soft breeze blew by. She decided to pull up the zip to her neck on her hoodie, hoping that it would close in some of the heat.

They had been walking for ten minutes and Viktoria was growing annoyed that Yoda hadn't done his business yet, usually it took him five to ten minutes to be all done.

"Come on Yo-yo!" she groaned as she walked slowly along the side-walk beside the forest in the outskirts of her neighborhood. Yoda started tugging on the leash roughly as he tried to head into the forest, his paws slid along the gravel next to the side-walk as he moaned trying to go into the woods.

She hissed at Yoda, growing more ill-tempered by each tug and moan. "No, Yoda! No!"
It was then Yoda unexpectedly ripped the leash out of her hands as the dog used all of his force to hare into the dark forest, surrounded by tall pine trees.

“Yoda!” she screamed with shock and slight anger in her voice. Vik narrowed her eyes to see Yoda and she spotted his running form, she immediately took off to the forest. She stumbled slightly as one of her feet got stuck under a small tree root that was sticking up out of the ground.

Vik tried running as quickly as she could and not lose sight of Yoda but the amount of pine-trees increased and blocked her vision. She ran but out of nowhere tons of branches appeared in front of her, slapping her in the face as she tried to block them away with her hands. Her panic kicked in because not only had she lost Yoda from the distraction, she had no clue where she was and she couldn’t stop running.

She ended up tripping on something falling on the dirt and muddy ground but it didn’t stop there. All of the sudden she felt her body roll to the right and she realized that she had fallen over a small ledge. Her body tumbled down the hill, bumping against rocks, getting stung by sharp branches. It all happened so fast but to Viktoria it felt as an eternity. She just wanted it to end.

Once the turbulent ride had stopped Vik cracked one of her eyes open carefully. Her body felt as if it had gone through a meat-grinder. It hurt everywhere and her body felt as if it was on fire from where she had been scratched and got some small open wounds. She used her right arm which hurt the least to push her up into a sitting position.

“God damn stupid ass, fucking do....can never listen or do anything it’s supposed to…fucking….” She cussed under her breath when she tried getting up and stand on two feet. When she finally managed to stand without feeling like her head was spinning her breath hitched in her throat as she noticed her surroundings. It was pretty empty. It was like an uneven circle that was outlined by a bunch of pine trees and there were just a bunch of tree stubs or big rocks in the middle. There was barely any light, almost as if somebody had shut off the light completely and you could barely see the moon behind the tops of the trees.

“Yoda?” she called out, hoping that the dog that had gotten her into this trouble was nearby. She brushed the dirt of her pyjama bottoms and wrapped herself tighter in her hoodie. It was definitely colder this far out in the forest and it was way too quiet, Viktoria was getting creeped out.

She decided to walk a bit further even if her ankle hurt a bit. All she wanted was to find Yoda and get home to her warm bed and fall asleep, even if she had to limp after the dog.
It felt as if she had walked miles when in reality it was only ten steps. The tumbling down from the hill had drained almost all of her energy and she started feeling unfocused from the chilly winds blowing past every now and then. They worked as a sedative almost and made the tips of her fingers feel numb as well as her toes.

Fear started to push into her mind and body as she started hearing howling from a distance. She did not know if wolves lived in this forest and if they did, then it couldn’t be good for her. She didn’t know wheatear they would attack her, be able to feel her scent that the wind would carry with it. Her only goal was to get this done with even faster because she was terrified.

“Y-Yoda?” She stammered out loudly as she heard a crunch from around her. Her body twitched and she turned her head in every direction, snapping it quickly back and forth. Her breathing increased into irregular breaths and she felt herself getting more and more nervous.

She breathed out shakily. Her fingers gripped the rough fabric of her hoodie’s sleeves and intertwined them with it. Viktoria shook her head, realizing she might be paranoid.

“Yoda!” she managed to call out more sternly hoping that the dog would hear her and realize the seriousness in her tone, even if he was a dog.

Howls started to fill the empty silence and it echoed all around the woods. Even more but different howls started appearing as well and they all seemed to surround the twenty three year old woman. Panic and fear were on full high at this stage.

Viktoria’s palms were covered in cold sweat, she was panting heavily and the uneasy feeling she had in the beginning of the walk had blown into something even worse. She looked up at the barely visible moon and noticed that it was in fact a full moon. Wolves and full moons, it all seemed so cliché to her but as cliché as it was it made her even more terrified. She had seen movies where wolves had torn humans apart, piece by piece. In the flicks they had been ripping their skin off, clawing at them and sinking their teeth into their flesh.

“Y-yo-yoda” she stuttered out unsurely, not knowing if she should make any sounds now that she was positive that wolves were in fact within a mile radius. She inhaled deeply, feeling the cold air enter her lungs making it sting a bit. The breath she exhaled caused fog to appear in front of her and she knew how chilly it tonight.

The snapping sound appeared again behind her and she swiftly turned her body around. A silhouette of a hair dog stood in front of her and she believe it was her Yoda that finally had shown up.

“Yoda.” She breathed out in relief but tensed up as soon as she heard a growl emitted from the silhouette. It was rough snarl and sounded dangerous, the hiss in between could be heard as well.

Vik’s voice trembled with dread as she whispered to herself. “That’s not Yoda.”

Her bottom lip quivered and she nibbled on it nervously, slowly taking a step backwards. The moon was more visible now than it was a couple of minutes ago. The black shape stepped forward and the moon light cast on it, revealing its almost glowing yellow eyes boring into Viktoria’s olive ones. It was a wolf and a big one.

The wolf was easily twice Vik’s size if it stood on the back of its paws and it screeched of authority, even she could feel it.

“Oh no…” she told herself feeling tears well up in her eyes.

A vicious snarl left the wolfs snout and its sharp canine’s bared. Its golden, yellow eyes narrowed at the woman in front of wolf. He had been lurking around in the shadows all night, watching Viktoria as she had been chatting online with her friends. All from the moment she left the house to walk with Yoda, until he had tricked the German Sheppard away by a barely audible sound that only dogs could hear.

It was a full moon and the wolf had known that ever since he had set eyes on the green eyed girl that she would be his for the night. Both in pleasure and pain.

The wolf’s head tilted upwards and it released a loud howl into the night sky. Viktoria took another step backwards thinking that the wolf might not notice her, but she was wrong. Its head turned sharply towards her and its paw gently placed against the rough ground as it took a step forward. Not seconds later Vik could her more cracks appear from around her again.

Her head turned in all directions as she saw four more wolves, all in different sizes and fur colors. She was surrounded. She was shaking like a leaf and a tear slipped down her cheek. Desperately Viktoria looked for a way out of the circle of wolves she was trapped in between. She breathed heavily and fast, barely getting any air in as it left.

The black wolf’s head tilted to the side as if he was curious to what the woman in front of him was thinking. Then it took a step forward. That’s when Viktoria t found an escape and quickly jumped out of the way, running with all of the power she had in her and as much as she could manage with a limp. Several growls were heard as she made her escape and she could hear heavy paws pouncing on the ground after her. Snapping twigs, crunching leaves into small pieces.

She wouldn’t give up, no matter how badly her ankle hurt. A fallen tree appeared in front of her and she opted if she should go under it or jump over it. The option that would take less time seemed more rational to her.

A cry left her lips as she landed on the ground almost face down after she had jumped over the tree. The least time-consuming option had been the worst because her ankle felt ten times worse than before and Vik couldn’t help but to let the tears flow. Even though her vision was blurry and her ankle hurt, she could hear the wolves gaining up on her and she didn’t want that. Though she also found it weird that they had to catch up with her when they were wolves and ran faster than her, also they knew the forest better than her but right now it some hoe worked in her advantage.

She had no clue how long she had been running but all of her powers were drained and she could barely breathe. The wolves, she believed had lost interest in her about ten minutes ago because all sounds of them seemed to have disappeared yet she had continued on running to be completely on the safe side.

Now she had managed to reach an old abandoned cabin next to a small lake in the middle of nowhere. She decided to see if her chances of seeing somebody else in the cabin were there.

Her leg was almost being dragged behind her as she pulled herself closer to the cabin. A whimper left her as she managed to bend her ankle in an awkward position. She was all out of tears and didn’t have the strength to cry anymore.

When she reached the small cabin which you could see time had worn out since the wooden boards were splintered and the color from them had faded.
She leaned against the wall of the cabin and slowly slid down in, not caring if she would get splinters.

She exhaled loudly and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall allowing her to rest. Her whole body ached everywhere. She felt sore; it was recognizable by way of muscle soreness but hundred times worse.

Viktoria’s eyes snapped open and her body jumped at the sound of a twig snapping. She had fallen asleep from the exhaustion and now she was scared that the wolves were back.

A man clothed in a red checkered, flannel shirt with its sleeves ripped off, revealing his arms covered in tattoos. He kneeled down in front of her. She noticed that he probably hadn’t shaved in a while since a part of his face was covered in brown stubble. His hair was long, but not that long just probably an inch long and it was brown. He had a cap on his head and the look in his eyes was gentle.

The moon shone brightly and the man didn’t seem harmful as Viktoria inspected him.

His eyes were golden and as soon as her olive green eyes connected with his she felt a magnetic pull towards him. Her breathing slowed down and the man placed his large hand on her left check, stroking it with his thumb. She smiled softly at him and her fear faded.

Vik was mesmerized by him and was feeling hypnotized as she gazed into the man’s eyes. Never breaking their hold on each other. He leaned in closer, parting his lips slightly. She took a deep intake of air as he got closer. It was just something she felt should happen though she wasn’t sure why but she felt calm about it.

His lips ghosted over hers, barely touching as he pulled away. He looked into her eyes and she looked into his. She didn’t know what made her do it, but she quickly re-attached their lips in a hungry kiss and slung her arms around his neck.

The man smirked into the kiss. Things were going according to plan. She didn’t even suspect that the man with the golden eyes was the same wolf from earlier this night that was here to finish what he started.

But first pleasure, then pain.