What Hurts the Most

It was dark out, and the nighttime stars glistened in the sky. I looked up and admired them, searching for the only constellations I knew; Orion’s Belt, the big dipper and the little dipper. I managed to catch the big dipper…or maybe it was the little dipper. I always get them confused. I checked my cell phone and saw it was 9:45. I gotta get going otherwise mom and dad are gonna be extremely pissed at me. I quickened my pace to a slow jog. My house was almost in view; just behind the two small hills. The problem was that I would have to walk through them. Great, I hope there aren’t bugs in there. I hate bugs! I swallowed and zippered my jacket on tighter. I hate January. It’s, like, -2 fricken degrees here!

There was some small laughter from behind me. I froze and slightly glanced behind my shoulder. There were four or five guys not too far behind me. Hopefully they didn’t notice me. They looked drunk. Yeah, they were drunk. They all staggered as they walked and kept tripping. Then one of them, I think he was blond, I couldn’t tell, looked up and saw me.

Shit.

He smirked and whistled. How he thought I was hot, I had no idea. I was wearing a big, puffy, white, winter jacket with black gloves and a white hat. Blondie must be drunk. All of the others stopped and glanced at me and began laughing.

“Hey, you wanna come party?” One of them asked. It was a tall guy that was standing in the back. They all laughed again. I ignored them and sped up. They began running/falling towards me.

“We don’t wanna hurt ya!” A different guy called out.

I began sprinting towards the hills. Five feet away. I slowed down as the land began to incline. I rolled down on the other side of the first hill. I got stuck behind a small bush. I tried to pull myself up, but I was way too dizzy. They were gonna catch me for sure. I gulped as I saw the shadow of them reaching the hill. ‘Help,’ was stuck in my throat. I was too scared to let it out. I was such a coward. Now I was going be raped by five frigging drunk guys. Can’t wait to tell mom and dad that.

“There you are baby,” Blondie called out. “We were looking for you. Looks like you’re stuck. Let me help.”

He walked/staggered over to me and ended up falling on top of me. He laughed in my face. He reeked of alcohol.

“Oops,” he chuckled. “My bad.”

He started unzipping my jacket when I kicked him away. His friends all laughed. I struggled again, without any success, to get myself out of the bush. The tall guy came over and kicked me, hard, in the stomach.

“Ow!” I cried out in pain, and they laughed.

“Pin her, guys,” Blondie commanded.

The tall guy and the other three all laughed and each grabbed a part of me. Blondie lay on top of me again and sneered when I struggled to escape. I swallowed and closed my eyes. Just do it, and do it fast. Then, I heard a low growl coming from behind.

All of five of their heads shot up. Blondie finally got off of me and I opened my eyes. I tried to see past their heads, but I was still pinned to the ground. They let go of me and backed up with fear in their eyes. That’s when I got a good long look at it. I had no idea what it was. Maybe a mixture of a dog and a bear. No, more like a very large wolf. He had rust colored fur that shined in the moonlight. His teeth were bared and he was glaring down at the five drunkies.

“Come on guys,” Blondie called out. “Let’s go!”

”What about the girl?” The tall guy asked, not tearing his eyes away from the wolf-thing.

“Forget about her!” Blondie said, his words slurred. Gee, thanks. “Let her get eaten!”

They all tore away from the scene, leaving me still caught in a bush, staring in horror at the wolf. He closed his mouth and appeared to be, if it’s even possible, smiling. Smugly. My heart was pounding so crazily inside my chest that I was afraid it was going to jump out. He took a step closer to me and I backed away slightly. I attempted to get myself free from the bush, again, with no improvements. He was finally close enough for me to feel his breath, his warm husky breath, to brush past my face. And suddenly, I wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. This dog’s presence completely relaxed me. I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me. I even smiled a little. He had lovely brown eyes. The dog went over to the bush and, using his mouth, pulled my leg free from the bush of evil. I checked my leg over to make sure I didn’t hurt it, which I didn’t. I looked back up to thank him, but he was already gone. It was the strangest thing. I didn’t want him to leave. I felt comfortable around him, even if it was for only a minute. I wasn’t looking forward to walking the rest of the way home.

“Hey,” I called out shakily. “Don’t, don’t go!”

Silence. He wasn’t coming back. He was probably never coming back. I sighed and stood up. I walked up to the top of the hill, the one I didn’t enter in. My house was only a few feet away. I took one last look behind me, secretly hoping he would be there. But he wasn’t. Reluctantly, I made my way back to my home. Before I walked into my house, I could’ve sworn I heard someone or something howling.

(~8~)

I was thinking about that wolf for the next couple of days. I always spaced out in the middle of class. I almost received a detention in calculus. My friends eventually got annoyed with it.

“Nat,” my best friend Holly asked me Friday at lunch. I was picking at my turkey sandwich. “What is wrong with you? I’ll be talking to you, but you’ll be in another world. You mind telling me what’s going on?”

I snapped out of my trance and blinked twice before I answered.

“Oh, um, not really,” I answered. She rolled her eyes.

“Well you better snap out of it. Winter Formal is in like, a month! You need to find a date.”

“That’s great,” I said distractedly.

“Ryan, talk to her please!” Holly commanded, fed up.

Ryan, my best guy friend looked up from his pizza. His brown hair did the flippy thing and was constantly in his face.

“What?” He asked. Holly gestured towards me. “Oh, right. Well, yeah Nathalie. You’ve been acting like a freaking zombie all week. What’s on your mind?”

I was about to tell him no when the bell rang. I looked at them apologetically and gathered my books. When school ended, I headed straight for my car. It was a crappy little blue cavalier. The paint was chipping everywhere and there was a small dent on the hood where my dad fell on it. Don’t ask. Long story. I got in and drove home, making sure to avoid any of my friends. I didn’t want them to know about my encounter with the wolf. They would have thought I was crazy. I pulled into my drive and ran into my house. I plopped my bag onto my couch and started climbing up the stairs.

“Nat?” My mom called from the kitchen table.

“Yeah?” I asked. I hope he didn’t want me to do anything. I was tired and wanted to lie down.

“Just checking,” she said. “How was school?”

”Fine!” I said back, relieved. I ran the rest of the way up the stairs. I jumped onto my bed and pulled out my English homework. Stupid William Shakespeare. He was so boring. I wanted to rip my leg off and eat it. Thank the lord it was Friday, because I fell asleep in the middle of reading Macbeth.

(~8~)

I woke to the sound of tapping at my window. I glanced out the window and didn’t see any light. Shoot, the sun must have set. I looked at my alarm clock and it said 10:11.

I got up from my bed and pulled open my curtain, nearly jumping back in surprise; there was a large dog sitting behind my window. No, wait, it was my wolf friend that saved me!

My heart jumped up in joy when I realized it was him. I quickly rolled open the window and stuck my head out. His rust colored fur blew ever so slightly in the wind. He was panting, almost out of breath. But he looked happy. His brown eyes had a certain little glow to them. I ran back to my bed and put my pillows under the covers. It’s dark, my parents would not be able to tell whether or not it was me under there. Or not. I went back to the window and climbed through to join my furry new friend. He was sitting on the small roof that rose above our porch.

“Hello,” I whispered happily. “I am so glad to see you again.”

The dog growled slightly as in response. It wasn’t a mean growl, but a small gentle growl. I giggled. He brushed his nose against my skin. It was wet and cold, just like any other dog. I slowly picked up my hand and gingerly touched his fur. It was long and warm. He closed his eyes as if relishing the moment.

“Do you have a name?” I asked quietly, looking for a dog tag. Why he would have one, I have no idea. Just checking. He nodded his head. “I suppose you wouldn’t be able to tell me, being a dog and all…” He whined. “You want me to guess it?” He licked my face. I giggled.

“Ok, does it start with an A?” he didn’t respond. I recited the whole alphabet until I got to the letter J. He barked excitedly.

“Shh!” I said, hoping nobody heard him. “OK, J then. Josh? James? John? Julian? Jacob?” He barked again when I said Jacob. I smiled.

“Alright! Jacob it is! Well, Jacob, I just wanted to say that I am very happy that you saved me a few days ago.” He nudged me again with is nose.

“You wanna know my name?” I asked and his eyes glittered. “Nathalie. Nathalie Hunter.” We practically spent the whole night talking, well, I did. He would occasionally answer with a bark or whine or nudge.

(~8~)

I yawned and stretched, wondering how long we’d been out here for.

“Hold on, let me check the time,” I told him, and he rested his head on his paws.

I climbed back through my window and looked at my alarm clock for the second time that night. Actually, it was now the first time that morning. It was 2:30 a.m. I knew I had to get some sleep, but I didn’t want to say good bye to Jacob. I stuck my head back out the window and smiled sadly at him. He looked up curiously.

“It’s 2 in the morning. I need to go to sleep,” I said quietly. He whined in response. “I know. I don’t want to leave you either. But you can still come talk to me tomorrow! It’ll have to be at night. I’m pretty sure my parents wouldn’t appreciate you being in the house, or me going out to talk to a dog. So, good night.”

He looked at me sadly and licked my face gently. I chuckled and rubbed him around his ears. He closed his eyes like he did before.

”Night,” I repeated, and kissed him on his head. That cheered him up. He stood straighter and gave a little bark. I smiled at him and closed my window. I wondered if he was really going to leave, or watch over me while I slept. It made me feel safe just thinking about the fact that he was watching over me, like he was my guardian angel.