Runaway

Arianna ran, dragging Blair behind her. "Ari, wait," Her seven year old sister cried out desperately. "Ok, hang on," Ari stopped running and picked her up despite her numb fingers. She continued on, her dark hair flowing in the wind of the storm. The frozen forest around them glowed in a dimly lit, serene beauty. Despite this, the threat of the woodland became evident to Arianna where she heard the first howl of the wolf on the horizon. It was a truly awful sound.

Have you ever heard a wolf howl, in the freezing night? No? Well, it it one of the most terrifying things you will ever hear. No words can describe it. Ari couldn't help but wonder how it had gotten this bad. Oh yeah, she decided that running away from her father's house in the middle of winter was a good idea. Well, to be fair, it's not like she had much of a choice. Her mother and father were getting divorced, but decided to drag out the process. Ya know, give her some time to get used to the new changes. She couldn't help but laugh at that. Her therapist said that divorce was fine, as did her psychologist. "It's what they want," they'd say, "they should have what they want." Oh yeah, Ari was diagnosed with a mood disorder, so she took meds, but she wasn't sure what, and to be honest, she didn't care.

Ari was brought back from the depths of her mind by Blair's whimpering. "A-ari, I'm cold," Blair managed to speak between her shivering. They had not been able to grab their winter jackets on the way out, Ari was only able to grab their windbreakers by the fireplace, where they had left them. Their jackets were at the front door, where their drunken mother and angry father were fighting. They had climbed out the window into the snowy unknown to escape. Ari set Blair down, pulled off her windbreaker and fit it around Blair. The cold wind was bitter against her skin. She sighed before grabbing Blair and rubbing her hands together.

Ari knew that she had to find somewhere to stay the night or else she would freeze. She knew where the nearest town was, her father had shown her over one of their frequent hunting trips, before the divorce. Her sneakers made weird, wet crunchy noises, as their soggy material hit her numb feet. Suddenly, Ari heard a snap. She looked to the noise, and, to her terror, there stood a full grown grey wolf.

It growled, before it lunged at her. Ari screamed and ducked out of the way just in time. She dove towards a huge bush and dropped Blair behind it before taking off. The wolf followed her jumped at her.

It's claws tore through her flesh, the crimson blood staining her dark blue shirt. Her blood bounced off the snow. The wolf landed on Ari and you could hear the gut wrenching crack of ribs snapping.

Then there was screaming. Ari didn't know how it was possible for someone to make a sound like that, but she felt bad for them. There were black dots that danced across her vision, and everything went black.

Suddenly, she was being awoken by the stabbing pain of her rib wounds being jostled. She grimaced as she opened her eyes.

"Blair," she managed to say through clenched teeth as blood pooled around her, "we have to get out of here." Ari tried to push herself up. She managed to get up onto her knees before she fell back. She cried out.

"Were going to die, aren't we." Blair's usually joyful voice was sad and hopeless, and honestly, Ari knew she was right. But she couldn't tell her sister that.

"No, of course not, tomorrow, we will wake up in the morning and make it to town."

"And then what?" Blair tilted her head, her blue eyes sparkling despite the frozen wasteland and hopeless situation surrounding the two sisters.

"I'll get a job. Pay for bus tickets to a town. We'll be free." Ari smiled and lifted her numb fingers up to wipe away the blood smudged on her sisters cheek. Blair hugged her sister. Ari wrapped her arms around Blair the best she could without aggravating her broken ribs. They fell asleep in the frozen wasteland, never to wake up again.

Their bodies were found by search parties the next day.