The Crow and The Wolf

Chapter 21

21.

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Valeria's mother was always fond of her daughter's imaginative mind, the stories she would make, the worlds she would explore in her dreams, and how vivid they became when she would retell them to everyone, from her friends, to her mother, to her father.

But just like him, those dreams faded, and soon enough, it was like they never happened.

Valeria always thought of her dream as a gateway to other worlds, worlds she could explore and be whoever she wanted to be, worlds where she would always be happy, and for some time they were like that.

That was until she had her first nightmare; she could remember it so vividly, she mostly remembered the screams.

This didn't happen because she had watched a bad movie or seen a scary scene; rather, it was an odd dream that came with no reason at all.

That night, her father had read her a human story about a lady who goes to a ball—a ball she was forbidden to go to by her wicked stepmother—and there she dances with a prince. While telling the story, her father danced around the room, his body waltzing up and down her floors.

"And they danced, and danced, and danced until their feet couldn't anymore." The prince led this beautiful girl to the gardens, where they enjoyed each other's presence and the moonlit sky," her father explained, "but when the first chime of the clock tower struck, the beautiful girl realised she had run out of time and the fairytale she was living in would soon lose its power, so she ran."

She remembered how she was so eager to know whether or not this girl ended up with the prince or not, and she did find out eventually. Her father had kissed her on the head before leaving her to slumber, but she didn't know she would be plagued with such a nightmare after such a sweet story.

The scenery changed to an empty field, and the moon shone brightly above her, illuminating her. She felt cold and slightly nervous; she didn't recognise her surroundings, and she was too scared to call out into the darkness around her. She stood there and closed her eyes, wishing that when she opened her eyes she would be at home with her father and her mother, but when she did open them, she felt her fear double.

There before was a wolf—a giant wolf—bigger than her alpha and father combined, and it looked straight at her. It growled, and she remembered how she whimpered and clutched her hands to her chest, trying to be small.

She felt the need to run and run, but the words of her father to never turn her back on any predator were also ringing loud as bells in her head, as if he were right there telling her again.

She took a step backward, looking at it for a reaction, and another when the beast didn't make a sound. The wolf just watched her, and for a moment she thought maybe she was clear and that it would leave her alone, but it growled again, and this time it charged at her.

She ran, her little legs carrying her little body across the field, and she could hear the beast's paws on her heels, and her heart grew anguished.

There was a pause in the air around her before she was tackled to the ground by the beast. She stared right at the yellow orbs in its eyes, and her breathing was laboured as she looked around for anything to help. The wolf howled in triumph after catching its prey, as if to mock her. It looked down at her before growling whilst raising its paws, and she remembers how her screams echoed in that empty field as the beast tore into her.

Her eyes flew open, and there was her father looking down at her with worried eyes. Her screams broke through the vale of dreaming and echoed in reality, waking her parents.