Night Delinquent

Chapter 1: A Grizzly Reunion

Twigs were snapping with each passing second, followed by dead silence from the forest critters all around. Birds stopped chirping, insects stopped buzzing. I couldn't even hear the distant howling of wolves.

Soft gushes of wind brushed against pine needles every now and then, enhancing the feeling of sharp coldness as beads of sweat trickled down my spine. At this moment, I could feel my adrenaline shot up to a fight or flight response.

'You've got to be kidding me,' I thought. The possibility of being surrounded by two predatory animals at the same time were extremely low, but not impossible.

A low guttural growl emitted right after those rustlings ended.

Not wanting to lose sight of the bear, I didn't look back to see what the other creature was. Apparently, whatever emitted that growl must've been worse than an adult grizzly, because the bear perked up its ears before it took off running towards the opposite direction, abandoning its freshly killed prey.

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

Refusing to waste anymore time, I whipped my head around to see what animal it was and before I could see it clearly, my peripheral vision caught sight of a large black silhouette from the trees behind. But by the time I was fully facing those trees, it vanished.

And with that, noises from woodland critters continued as if nothing happened.

"For fucks sake," not wanting to spend another time lingering around the moose carcass, I began to walk back towards the cabin.

I was several steps away from where I originally stood when those rustlings continued. Ending up as bear chow wasn't one of my bucket lists.

"CARSON?!"

The familiar sight of my blonde childhood friend never felt so good. He was grinning like a madman as he opened his arms, anticipating for a hug after two years not seeing each other.

Well, in person at least.

"I'm here alright," he laughed once I threw myself into his arms.

"You have no idea how freaked out I was a minute ago," I squealed as he enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug, lifting my smaller frame off the ground.

"Why? What's wrong? It's not like a bear's gonna eat you or something," he teased with a knowing glint in his frosty blue eyes.

"Wait WHAT?! You knew?"

"You're serious?" He stopped and set me down, "it was just a wild guess."

"We gotta ditch this place. That bear will return for its food," I glanced towards the partially eaten carcass located not far from us.

Carson mumbled something under his breath before grabbing my arm and ushering me to follow him back to the cabin. It was supposed to be at least an hour walk, but instead, he took me through an area I've never seen before.

"Are you sure this is the right way? I've never-"

"We're taking a short cut. It's not safe here," he grumbled, not sparing me another glance.

My eyes scanned him from head to toe as he led our way back home.

Over these couple of years, Carson Juddings didn't change much. His dirty blonde hair grew until it touched his shoulders and his 6.3 ft height was still towering over my 5.8 ft self. Carson was a big guy. He was built like an ancient Nordic viking. Yes, I used the word 'viking' because a few years ago, he was actually offered as a secondary male lead for a viking TV show which he politely declined. Plus, my friend did look like a beardless viking with all those muscles he gained.