A Beating Heart

Puzzle Piece One

"Where are we?" I ask when we come to a stop.

I hunch over, grabbing my chest; I'm unusually winded right now; I'll just chalk it up to being in the sun all day. She shifts back to her human form and I turn away as she grabs a set of clothes stashed behind a tree stump.

"My place." She says and smiles as I turn back to face her. I scrunch my face up in confusion and she smiles wider as she grabs my arm again and pulls me a little further down a trail. The sticks crackle under our feet as we walk the short length to a dark brown cabin.

"You live here?" I mutter, turning to look at her.

It doesn't look like anyone has lived in it for years.

"More or less." She shrugs and walks towards it. .

"Wait, is your family here?" I grab her arm at the elbow to stop her from walking.

"No." She shakes her head. "I live here alone... for now." She adds after a moment and start's walking towards it again.

"Wait what?" I stop her again. "But you're only like sixteen." I point out, like she doesn't already know her own age.

She chuckles and nods, "Yeah, I am." She starts walking again.

"Why are you living in this dungeon of a place all alone?" I ask as I jog to catch up with her.

"We all have to live here at some point." Is all she says as she takes a single key from her pocket and unlocks the door. "And don't judge it until you actually see it." She quirks a brow as she pushes the door open wide enough for me to go inside. "Do you need like an invitation or something?" She asks with a toothy grin.

I side eye her. "Don't believe everything you read in books." I step over the threshold and I'm taken aback by the beauty of the place. It's not dungeon like at all. "Holy crap." I breathe out, taking it all in.

"Hasn't your mother ever told you not to judge a book by its cover?" She puts a hand on her hip and cocks her head to the side.

"No." I deadpan with a serious face. "Cause everyone knows that nine out of ten times if the cover is horrible then the book will be too." I try to hold back a smile.

I'm not one for judging anything by anything because I for one am well aware of the fact that there are things out there that aren't what they seem. Take Shay and I for example; two seemingly normal teenagers... but we're anything but it.

She smiles and I follow suit. "Come on, I'll show you around." She pulls me and I shake my head at how demanding this girl is.

She shows me her room, the kitchen, living room and the back patio.

This place—to be such a shack on the outside, is actually pretty nice.

 "Do you want something to eat?" She asks and I shake my head.