Adalia
"Climb on board, we'll go slow and high tempo, light and dark, hold me hard and mellow"
I sang to the music playing in my car really loudly while enjoying the night air.
Today had been a nice day, I went to go visit my friend in New York whom I hadn't seen in a long time and was now currently on my way home.
I cranked the music higher and sang along to my favorite verse, "So we'll piss off the neighbors, in the place that feels the tears, The place to lose your fears, yea reckless behavior..."
While grooving to the song, I failed to notice that the car in front of me had stopped.
My tires screeched as I hit the brake so hard my entire body jerked forward.
What the heck, ugh. This highway barely ever has traffic so why the hell are the cars not moving?
'Accident reported on the road ahead'. My GPS chimed in as if to answer my question. Great, a major accident is what I needed on my way home. It also looked like it was about to rain.
I had work tomorrow at nine a.m and it was already ten p.m going to eleven. This was annoying.
'Take an alternate route to avoid traffic delays'. My GPS said again, directing me to take the nearest exit. I looked up at the sign in front of me and sighed in relief when the exit was just a few feet away from me.
I angled my car out a bit and drove to the exit when there were no incoming cars.
The alternate route was a rural and quiet city, and it looked like where people with loaded wallets resided. Soon, I'll have a house just like one of these, and best believe it would be magnificent. I was an interior designer after all.
The streets were dark and poorly lit, so I put my high beams on and slowed down a bit.
I don't think this type of city was where crimes happened, but just to be on the safer side I rolled my window up and left a little crack so I could still enjoy the night air.
It's been about fifteen minutes of driving, and it didn't look like my GPS was going to take me to the highway anytime soon. Instead, the more I drove, the fewer houses I saw and the more trees came into view.
Where the heck am I?
I increased the volume of the music just a little more to drown out my nerves. I wasn't scared of the dark or anything, but something about this place just gave me an eerie feeling.
I kept singing to my music, trying to raise my mood once again
'Be in the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day. Fuckin' and fightin' on. It's our paradise and it's our war zone...'
I gotta say, this song, "Pillowtalk", was really good. No matter how many times I listen to it, it doesn't get old.
Just then, a howl ripped through the night sky and I shivered.
What the fuck. Was that a wolf? This is unheard of.
I mean sure, I lived in New Jersey and it was more forest than houses, but a wolf in this part? That's ridiculous.
As if to mock my doubts, another howl rang, and this time it sounded like more than one wolves.
Adding more gas to my pedal, I scrolled through my GPS to see how long it would take me to merge back into the highway, or if there was another route.
I'd very much not like to run into a wolf.
According to what I saw on the screen, I should start seeing the highway in about five minutes. That's good, I could make it.
But just as I accelerated more, something big dropped on the roof of my car and I shrieked.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
I tried to steady my hands and return my car back to the road from where it had gone off course due to my fright.
You'd think I'd come to a stop to check what that was, but nope. I've seen enough horror movies to know that this is where you run faster - or in my case, drive faster.
Screeching noises that sounded like metal being scrapped came from the top of my car. Something was up there, and from the sound of it, it had claws.
Let's see, how do you get something to fall off the top of your car?
Oh, I don't know. In action movies, they usually drift to throw the person off balance, but I don't know how to fucking drift.
While I was freaking out trying to figure out what to do, my music just kept playing loudly, not helping my situation.
'Yeah, reckless behavior. A place that is so pure, so dirty and raw. In the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day...'
"I'd very much like to be in my fucking bed right now!" I yelled; the shadow of the trees making my anxiety worse.
I heard another howl, and then something big ran into my car from the side, tumbling it upside down.
A loud ringing was going on in my ear and I couldn't tell where I was or what was happening. As the ringing died down, several snarls and growls could be heard coming from around me.
Oh boy, I'm so fucked.
Pit pat. Pit pat. The rain slowly fell onto the car and down to my face, making it hard to distinguish if my skin was wet from water, or from blood.
"It's her for sure. She smells so delicious," A voice husky male voice said.
A human? Wasn't I surrounded by wolves just a minute ago? No, I still am surrounded by them. I could hear their snarls ever so close to my ears.
The foul odor permeating the air was enough to make me nauseous.
A hand wrenched me in a rough manner, pulling me completely out of the car. The throbbing pain in my head worsened from the sensation.
"Wow, she's good-looking too. We should give her over to the boss, he did say he liked her smell," another voice said.
What in the world is happening? Are these wolves or are these people? It was hard to tell anything apart from my blurred gaze. The rain was falling straight into my eyes and I couldn't wipe it off.
I felt something wet and slimy slide up my skin.
"She tastes really fucking good too," someone said.
Did they just lick me? What in the hell? I felt disgusted, and my stomach churned. But I was too weak to pull away, I could only hang limp in their hands; completely at their mercy.
Just then, a loud roar resonated through the forest. It was so strong that the very earth shook beneath me. It didn't even sound like one of the wolves, it sounded like a straight-up beast.
A beast in extreme anger.
Whimpers and wails came from the creatures around me. The wolves sounded scared and even the people holding me were trembling.
"What the flying fuck is a lycan doing here? They don't live around this territory?!" One of them said in a panicked shaky voice
"Hell if I know man! We have to get out of here fast or we're all dead!"
"What about the girl, do we just leave her?"
"No shit, of course you leave her. Do you want to drag her while running? It's bad enough that lycans are three times faster than us already. Let's go!"
While the men were argued, my hands were released from their momentary distraction, and I hurriedly raised my wet clothes to wipe my eyes.
The moment my eyes opened, a huge figure landed right in front of us with a loud thump.
Everyone froze. No one dared to move an inch, or even exhale the breaths they were holding. They were all riddled with fear.
Not me though. I was also frozen, but this was for an entirely different reason. I was simply mesmerized.
The golden eyes that were staring at nothing but me, unwavering and undistracted, paralyzed me. It felt like the world had stopped. Even the rain droplets had seized.
A ravishing sscent overshadowed the previous foul one and the earthy smell from the forest.
The owner of those golden eyes was a beast. A beast with beautiful black fur that glittered in the moonlight.
I just knelt there, enjoying the smell that basked me and the eyes that sent shivers down my spine.
And then the beast took a step, then another and before I knew it, he was right in front of me. It brought its snout to sniff my neck and I groaned on contact, shutting my eyes.
Man, I'm supposed to be running. There's an unknown, dangerous looking creature right in front of me and I have no clue what was happening at this moment. But frankly, I was too tired to care.
"I'll be back, love," a velvety voice, with a hint of roughness, sounded in my ears. No, it sounds like it came from my head. Did I imagine that or did this beast just speak to me?
When I opened my eyes, I realized I was all alone in the woods. No human, no wolves, no beast. Just me, my busted-up car, and the rain.
Soon after, screams of agony and fear came from several direction in the distance.
I couldn't take it anymore. I had gone through so many shock in one night. My cold body shivered wickedly, and then I fell to the floor, passing out.
Before I completely lost consciousness, I could vaguely feel myself being lifted up by somebody. It felt like the person was trailing kisses all over my neck, face, and chest. And never has anything felt so damn good before.
My cold body was now filled with warmth, my aching muscles were calm and at ease. I felt extremely content at that moment, and so I let myself pass out.
***
I groaned as I woke up from my bed. My head was feeling light and my body was a little sore.
As I climbed down from my bed, the first thing I saw was a pile of wet clothes by the corner. It looked like the jeans and crop top I had been wearing yesterday. And then it hit me. A flashback of last night's event flooded my memories in one go.
However, I couldn't remember much. All I remembered was me getting into an accident that was caused by...wolves maybe?
How did I even get home? And wait...my car!
I ran out my room, and straight to the window of my living room. Pushing my curtain aside, I peeked out into my driveway to see the state of my car.
I was almost in tears thinking about the damage and insurance bills I'd have to deal with, but unexpectedly my black hyundai elantra 2022 looked just fine.
This couldn't be right. I literally wrecked it yesterday and it tumbled over and everything.
I slipped on my flip-flops and ran out to get a better view of my car, and nope I wasn't seeing things. There was neither a dent nor a scratch on it. It looked...just fine.
After several inspections of the interior and exterior of the car, I still couldn't find anything wrong with it. This was odd.
Had I dreamt the whole thing last night? But that was impossible. My sore muscles and wet clothes were evidence of what had happened.
Thats it! my clothes! I ran back into the house and grabbed the clothes laying on the floor of my room. Sure enough, it was still wet and had traces of blood.
I walked to my stand-up mirror to inspect my body, but to my surprise, there was no blood or large bruises. Only a little scratch here and there on my skin, and a...hickey?.
A hickey?! Was that a mother fucking hickey on my neck? How and when?! It wasn't even just one, but several of them.
No, maybe I'm overthinking this. It may be a bug bite or maybe bruises from yesterday's accident.
But I wasn't sure that there was an accident. My car was just fine and my body is too.
Was my pina colada laced with alcohol yesterday? Because I must have been really drunk, and maybe I still am.
Just then, my alarm rang on my phone. I picked it up to look at the time. It was eight-twenty a.m. I must have snoozed my seven o'clock alarm in my deep sleep.
I pushed my worries to the back of my mind and replaced it with a new one:
Fuck, I was going to be late.