If I Die Young

23. April

"FIRST DAY OF SPRING BREAK!"

I turned my head towards the door, watching as a small girl with bedhead and slippers on raced down the hall and practically threw herself down the staircase. Daisy was obviously excited to have a whole week off of school, I'll give her that much. A smile crossed my lips and I set my sketchbook down on my bed, following after her and finding the whole house buzzing with excitement. Elyse was clothed in her dandelion dress and Brandon was lounging around in shorts, the weather starting to get nice enough to enjoy it.

One thing that did catch me off guard was when I saw Ezra in the back yard, standing at the edge of the forest as if he was expecting someone to appear. Flashes of fur caught my eye and I saw a wolfish head push through the thicket, sniffing around until Ezra dropped to his knee and pulled something out of his coat. I saw red meat and the wolf took it in his jaws, but instead of eating it, he seemed to save it for someone else. Ezra whispered a few things to the creature before it nodded and disappeared back into the forest, and Ezra seemed shaken up over one thing or another. He kept looking over his shoulder as he walked back to the house, and this wasn't the first sign of paranoia I'd seen him express.

For the last month and a half ever since the wolves moved in, Ezra seemed to be gone a lot more often and when he was home, he was always looking around as if he expected something to leap out of the darkness. His glittering gemstone eyes were now ringed with the marks of sleepless nights, ones that mirrored my own. I knew something was getting to him and I had to get to the bottom of it before he ended up sacrificing his health even further.

"Hey, Ezra," I caught him as he walked back inside, closing the sliding door behind him, "can we talk?"

"Yeah of course." He smiled tiredly, and my heart felt heavy as I watched him try and feign ignorance. We walked upstairs to the craft room, finding it empty and spacious. I sat down at a table and he sat across from me, running a hand through his matted black layers.

"Ezra, what's going on?" I asked gently, and he seemed to deflate as he looked away from me. "You're not depressed, you're worried about something. What are the wolves telling you? What has you so scared?"

He closed his eyes tiredly, squeezing them shut for a moment before burying his face in his hands. After a few seconds he pulled them down and looked back at me, something shimmering in his gaze that resonated within my soul. He was scared of something he didn't even know.

"You said you saw something here, didn't you?" He asked and I nodded. "I've heard her. She's been in my room, trying to get me to go into the attic and look for something but I don't have the guts to. The wolves, they've seen something here that isn't right. A creature with leathery wings and black eyes, it comes around the house and it's out for blood. I think it killed that girl because it's obviously been here for a long time."

"So the wolves are warning you about it?" I asked in awe, feeling a shiver crawl up my spine.

"They don't like it and it doesn't like them. They say it reeks of death. It's far from human and it's dangerous." Ezra's eyes sharpened for a moment as he spoke. "Sable, we're not safe here."

There was a moment of silence between us as his words sunk in.

"I know."

I did just as he had before, hiding my face in my hands and taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart. A cold breeze brushed along my shoulder and I shivered, knowing we were no longer alone in the room.

"What's your name...?" I whispered without meaning to, and I hadn't been expecting a response, but I got one.

Cosette.