Forbidden

Chapter 5

“God Ev, how cheesy can you get?” The words burst from Jamie’s lips before she realised what she was saying.

Internally, I smiled as Jamie clapped her hands to her mouth, looking horrified that she had said something like that, just as I was starting to talk. It was just like the normal Jamie, not the serious person I had seen earlier. Externally however, I scowled at her.

“Just shut up and listen. Nearly five months ago, I had a fight with my mother,”

They both nodded. It had started to become a regular occurrence.

“Anyway, Rose heard us fighting. She got upset, and ran out of the house. I left my mum, and chased after her into the night. She ran… kept on running…I lost track of her. It was only for a few minutes, but in that time I heard… I heard…”

My voice trailed off and I shuddered. That night… Everything changed that night. I can remember it so clearly, so strongly… I tried to push the memories back, but they threatened to overwhelm me.

Kay moved next to me, and put a comforting arm around my shoulders. I looked up at her, and nodded my thanks.

I realised my cheeks felt a bit damp, and I put my hand to my face in surprise. I didn’t even notice I’d been crying. I can’t remember the last time that cried. It was something I stopped doing long ago, when I realised I had to be strong enough for both me and Rose. I wiped away the tears, and continued talking, a slightly harder tone in my voice.

“I heard Rose screaming. I raced here, to this park. You guys have no idea how it felt to be faced with the scene that met my eyes.

“The entire park was lit up like daylight underneath a full moon. Rose was standing backed up against a tree. In my concern, she was all I saw, as I started running towards her.

“Then I saw why he had been screaming. On the other side of the park, and slowly getting closer to Rose, was a huge animal. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before, not even in those nature shows.

“It was huge like a bear, but with features more like that of a dog. I was frozen in place, staring at that thing in shock. Until Rose screamed again.

“That… creature, or whatever it was, was close to 20 metres away from Rose. I closed the distance between us in seconds, and stood in front of her, guarding her. Without taking my eyes off of that thing, I told her to leave, to run home, but whether by choice or inability, Rose wouldn’t move.

“I half-turned towards her, and pushed her in the direction of the road. She still wouldn’t leave, and in that split-second, I knew I would do anything to protect her. I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance against that thing, but I could at least distract it enough for Rose to get away.

“I knew deep down, that as long as Rose got away from this park unscathed, everything would be alright. I also knew that I couldn’t let her see what was about to happen to me. It would stay in her mind forever.

“I was still trying to figure out a way of making her leave, when that thing reached us.”

If I hadn’t been so absorbed in the memories I was recounting, I would have seen the comical looks on my friends’ faces. Kayla had taken her arm off of me, and both were staring at me with identical faces. Both had a look of awe seeming etched on their faces, with a hint of disbelief visible no matter how hard they tried to hide it.

They were also leaning as far forward as they could possibly have been without actually moving their bodies towards me. The result was that they both looked like they belonged in a cartoon.

“I stood defiantly in front of Rose, but the creature just shoved me out of the way, intent on getting to her. I rolled back onto my feet in time to see the thing raise a massive, clawed paw against Rose, and knock her to the floor unconscious.