Dawn

3

For the next week and a half, I stayed at home, Ryan coming home with the school work I had missed. I hated that I was missing the beginning of a new term, but what could I do? I was weak, recovering, and had an angry red scar plastered on my forehead.

"Do you need anything, Dawn?" Dad asked as he checked up on me for the tenth time that day. I was going back to school tomorrow, and I wasn't exactly ready for it. I was sure everyone would comment on the scar, and I would feel totally out of place. After all, I had completed my schoolwork, but I had nevertheless missed the lessons.

And I still hadn't told anyone about the wolf.

Every time I thought about it, the memory erased itself a tiny bit more. It felt like a dream now, like an imaginary scene that played out in my mind; it couldn't have been a wolf, I was over exaggerating. It was probably just a husky— one with jet black fur. That's not so unusual, is it?

"No thanks, Dad, I'm fine."

"Okay, well I'm off to bed. Goodnight sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Dad."

The light in the hallway flicked off, and I heard my parents' door shut. Mum had gone to bed ages ago; Sid was asleep long before Mum was, and Ryan was in his room. There was no way he was asleep, but he would be soon enough. That just left me.

I knew I had to get some rest, especially with me returning to school again. I just couldn't shake the thought that I wasn't prepared. That it...That it wasn't for me anymore. I couldn't explain it— it was as though I knew there was something more important than focussing on school again, than just leaping back into the ridiculous routine of ordinary life.

The eery glow of my bedside lamp was only serving to annoy me, so I hit the switch and watched the lightbulb darken and become a grey, empty shell.

From my place on the bed, the window across the room was directly facing the empty street. The lane was about a mile and a half long and housed only my house and the mysterious, supposedly empty property. But how could it be empty with dogs running around in the trees? How could we have not noticed any signs of inhabitance before?

My window was open and letting cool air creep into the room, drawing goosebumps to my skin. I eased out of my bed, careful of my hip and my calves. In the accident, my face had been scratched and swollen, but that had healed quickly. Now all I was waiting for was the huge, black and yellow bruise on my right hip— from where the car had hit me —and the weakness in my calves, to recede.

Slowly, I tiptoed over to my window, where I pushed my hand into the frigid air, grasped the handle, and slammed the window shut. I usually hated the darkness, but tonight I welcomed it. As my eyes adjusted, I could see everything in a whole new light. The sky was black, but somehow it was light. It lit up the Earth. And that was cool.

My eyes drifted back to the trees bristling across the street. It was quite a distance from my driveway, but I could see the entrance sign and fence posts as clear as day.

And then I saw something.

Flashes— like blocks filling in the gaps between the shadows and the trees, before disappearing in the blink of an eye. Brown, white...black.

Not again!

Finally, to finish it off, to end the display, a paw stepped out of the darkness. And the body of a wolf followed. Huge, black, daunting. It's bright white eyes glowed in the darkness, and although they weren't hazel like I had first seen them, I knew it was the same animal. The same...wolf.

"Fuck!" I cursed under my breath. I so wanted to believe that it was my imagination, my overactive mind building up an image that was originally just an ordinary dog. But this was not a dog. No doubt, this was a wolf.