Gone. My mother was officially gone. Standing by my father's side, tears streaming down my face, I tried to be strong. But I couldn't. My mother and I were never that close. Hell I was never that close with anyone my entire life. With both my father and mother in the Marines we moved around a lot. And because we moved around a lot I never got close to anyone, not even my parents. They were gone almost all the time, gone before I woke up, and home after I went to bed; and that's when they were home. My parents weren't always there for me in my life, and yet here I was balling my eyes out as if I had just lost a dog or best friend. But I hadn't. I lost a mother who I loved but barely knew and standing next to me, my father. Not a single tear could be seen on his face as if he didn't care. I know he did. I know he hurt probably worse than I did but if he did he didn't show it. And that just angered me.
My father rubbed my back, trying to calm me down, and get me to stop crying. He kept telling me that death happens and it's nothing to cry about. That we would all die one day. If I wasn't sad, and in front of a crowd I might have screamed, and yelled at him. But Instead I kept to myself, a hole in my heart, trying to keep myself from having an outburst.
Seeing the closed casket my mother was held in, I felt my tears starting to dry and crust on my face. I needed to be strong. Even if it was my fault my mother had died alone. I had been selfish. I wanted to leave, the smell of the hospital and death consumed me. I didn't know how I knew it was death, It just seemingly had its own smell... and my mother was reeked of it. I guess I always had a knack for 'smelling' death. It wasn't pleasant, but almost every single time I went to a zoo (usually with my school) I had smelled death. I even freaked my teacher out when I pointed to one of the lions and said that it reeked of death. The thought brought a chuckle and small smile to my face. Laughing about knowing when something was going to possibly die wasn't funny and I knew that but freaking someone out with it was. "You ready to go son?" My father asked.
"What?" I asked, looking around me. The graveyard was slowly emptying of the few friends and family of my mother who now laid in the grave next to her parents. Looking at their matching tombstones, a smile formed on my face. Although I wasn't close to my mother I knew she would've wanted to be buried by her parents. She wasn't the fondest of her parents, a.k.a my grandparents, hell they weren't even close but my father had told me how much she loved them even after all of the trouble they gave her.
"Everyone's heading back to the hotel and the house." He said motioning to the people I guess were my family getting into cars.
"Oh um, I didn't even realize we were done." I said no higher than a whisper. "I think i'll stay here for a little bit longer." I said trying to fake a smile in this sad time.
"Okay." My father gave me a sad smile back. "Well here, i'll take the truck so you don't have to walk back to your grandparents house. I'll catch a ride with someone heading that way." He said, tossing me the keys to his truck. Turning his back to me he flagged down one of the others who were staying with us up at my grandparents old house instead of the hotel.
Soon after, everyone was gone except me and the cleaning crew of the church we went through to do the funeral. Taking my suit jacket off, I unbuttoned the top two buttons trying to get some air flow onto my sweaty body. Who knew standing, sitting, standing, greeting family members and friends of both my mother and father, sitting, standing, and standing for five plus hours in a suit could make someone sweat so much!? Sitting down on the ground around the opened grave I let a few more tears fall from my face, their trails crusting where they fell.
Although my mother and I weren't very close, she was probably the closest person I had to a best friend. Which was kinda sad since we rarely saw or even got to talk to each other. When my parents could, the one thing they did make time for was church. Almost every sunday my parents would wake me up early in the morning, my mother would make some breakfast whatever we had left over from the night before for dinner if they were home the night before for dinner, we'd get dressed, and go to church. Now i'm not going to lie and say I believe in the whole christian religion. I didn't believe in god, it just made no sense to me. But what my mother and I did afterwards is what had made sunday's my favorite days. Although my father would usually have to go back to work, my mother and I would go to the movies.
Opening my mouth to say something, nothing came out. I wanted to speak but at the same time I didn't want to interrupt the beautiful and sad silence that surrounded me. "I uh... I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. No one deserves to die alone. Not even you." I tried to sniffle back the snot that came with my tears. "I love you mom, I really do. I know I haven't always been the best son to you, but I did love you nonetheless, even when I couldn't see that I did. I sat there for about another hour in silence, picking at the grass that grew around me and studying my mothers and grandparents tombstones. Her parents' tombstones stood tall, and looked as brand new as my mothers saying "Here lies Jacob & Joanne Beck Loving father and mother of-" and so forth. My mothers said the same thing except it was only her name and it only said loving mother of Taylor McBain// me. The dates of my mothers birthday to death day were also listed whilst my grandparents had no dates on their combined tombstone.
Taking in a deep breath I looked up and stared at the darkening sky. After a few seconds I let the breath out and brought my head down to look at my mom's grave. "Well I better get going soon before dad sends a search team for me." I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Going to stand up and stretch I fell over. Groaning, I took out my inhaler and tried to gain my breath. I needed to learn to stop standing up so fast. After a minute or so on the ground I used my inhaler once more before slowly, and cautiously standing up. Once standing, I decided to give myself some time and stretch my numb legs from sitting down on the ground cross legged for the past hour or so before moving.
"Goodbye mom, I'll visit you soon I promise." I said kissing my hand and pressing it to her tombstone. Grabbing my jacket off of the ground, I noticed I was absolutely alone. Everything had been cleaned up, and it looked almost as if there had been no one there only a few hours ago. Turning to leave I heard something rustle in the bush from behind me. Maybe I wasn't as alone as I thought.
"Hello!?" I yelled, looking around for the source of the sound. "Is someone there?" I yelled again. Shrugging it off, I turned and started walking away again. It must've been a bird or some wild animal that ran about. But I didn't make it farther than five feet when I heard the rustling again. "Who's there?" I yelled, trying to make my voice deeper to scare off whoever or whatever was there. Standing my ground, I heard more rustling and then a yipe. This time curiosity got the better of me. Walking in the direction I heard the rustling from thoughts ran through my head from what if it was a stray dog stuck in the fence, or a bush. What if it was some poor critter that needed my help? With every step I took forward, my heart beat faster and faster. Finding myself in front of a bush, I noticed the rustiling had stopped. Instead there was a low rumble that had replaced it.
"Hey are you okay?" I asked in a soft tone, trying to let whatever it was know I wasn't there to hurt it. Slowly, I parted the bush to see what was inside. But it was empty. Nothing but a couple of dead leaves from last fall that were decomposing. "Um... okay then." I said puzzled. I could have sworn there was something just in here but I guess I was wrong. Letting the bush close, I stood up, my back cracking simultaneously. I shivered at the reaction. I hated the sound, the sound of bones, knuckles, sticks, anything that made a popping or cracking sound. But that was the least of my worries right now.
As I stood up, and my back cracked I saw it. There on the other side of the bush. It was a- a wolf. Wild and thin it was basically bones with fur. Looking up and down at the poor animal's fur and body, I tried not to make eye contact. The wolf had glistening black fur that looked almost purple and green as it reflected in the dimming sunlight. Even though the wolf was nothing but bones, it had to have been almost twice the size of any wolf i've seen.
Trying to avoid eye contact, I took a slow step back. Noticing what I was doing, it growled and got into a leaping position as if it were about to attack me. "Good doggy." I gulped. Okay, what did I know about wolves? They were predators, carnivores, and could easily kill a weaponless human... like me. They had far better eyesight, hearing and smelling, and they could sense fear right? Hell I was a hotspot for fear right now. I took in a deep breath trying to calm down. I couldn't die here. Not today, not anytime soon. I was too young to die, plus I didn't want to be the joke of a town I didn't even know. I mean how ironic was it to die in a graveyard?
"Very good doggy!" I said as I took another two steps back, making sure not to take my eyes off - shit. I made eye contact with the wolf. I could only imagine what it was thinking, if it was even thinking anything at all. All I knew was that if I wasn't careful I would be it's next meal, and let me tell you I did NOT want to be it's next meal. It pounced. Landing only feet away from me, it jumped to my side of the bush. The thought I was going to die, oh shit I was going to die ran through my mind over and over. Right next to my mother, and in a graveyard of all places. Who knew I would be the unlucky kid to get mauled by a wolf in a graveyard. Trying to calm my thoughts I saw the wolf slowly start to walk clockwise around me. It was stalking me.
Now I'm not very good at math but according to my calculations I had a less than five percent chance of escaping here with my life, And that was just a guestamation. Standing as tall as I could, I puffed out my chest hoping it would get scared off. I laughed at that. A wolf? Scared of me!? I could only dream. I didn't know much about how to get out of a wolf attack, but I just hoped I was doing it correctly. The wolf started circling around me, and If I did know something it was not to let your back face a bloodthirsty monster.
Soon I was facing the wolf again, circling with it as it circled around me. The sky was almost dark now, the last colors of pink, orange, red, and yellow could still be seen as night was settling upon us. I started to grow tired. Spinning in circles with the wolf for the past five minutes, turning in a circle after circle had tired me out. I knew what it was doing. It was looking for my weak spot. It stopped, did that mean it found my weak spot? Or it couldn't? But I found out my answer. It stopped in the direction of my only chance at escape meaning it didn't find my weak spot but it knew where I had to go to escape. We were yards from the entrance, and if the wolf wasn't standing in front of me I would've had a straight shot towards it. Not that I could've made it with the wolf on my tail. Even without my asthma I don't think I could have made it, just one of the animal's stride was at least five of my steps. And it's leap was probably fifteen of my steps. As if it knew what I was thinking it took a step towards me trying to close the distance between us.
It was now or never. My heart was beating faster than it had ever beat it's thumping sound, the only thing I could hear. With every beat of my heart, time seemed to slow down. Looking at the wolf I saw the twitch in its body as it slowly moved it's leg, trying not to let me see it was about to pounce. As if time had really slowed down it attacked. I could see it's entire body lunging at me, its claws, and mouth wide open ready to kill. And for a second, I thought it did. Kill me that is. But it's jaws never came. Instead as if my body knew what to do like muscle memory I turned to the right just in time for the wolf to miss me, but I was inches out of grasp from the wolf. It's body moved slowly in front of me, twisting upside down ready to grab and flip me but it missed. Suddenly time seemed to move normal again, my pulse and heart started beating rapidly, and the wolf landed on it's back with a yipe.
As if taken by surprise, the wolf got up slowly shaking its head in pain and surprise. But no one was more surprised than me. How I had moved so fast, and without even thinking about it I did not know. However I had done it, I was thankful. Suddenly time seemed to slow down again. As if I didn't have control of my body I turned and ran towards the entrance. I didn't know how close or far the wolf was behind me, but I didn't dare look back for fear my clumsy self would trip and fall, and for fear I would see the wolf close behind me.
The smell of rain flooded my nose, filling me with happiness. Happiness for both the hope that the wolf wouldn't want to get wet, and because for some odd reason the smell of rain always made me happy. Unfortunately the rain didn't come, not yet. How I was able to smell the rain and yet it wasn't even raining I didn't know but it drained me of happiness and brought back the fear it took. The wolf wasn't going to leave now. Not if it wasn't raining. A growl erupted from right behind me, no farther than a few feet. The growling grew closer, and louder as I could feel the heat of that animal's foul breath on my heels. Inches away tops. Pushing myself a little harder, I was surprised I even lasted this long, and at the same time I wondered how I've been running for what seemed like minutes and I was still a good three or so yards from the entrance.
It barked, startling me. I suddenly saw the shadow of the wolf above me as it tried to pounce on top of me. But with time seemingly on my side, and my body somehow moving faster than I could even process, I grabbed its front paws that had just started to protrude into my skin and dived. With its claws still in my shoulders, I tried ripping them out while I was on top of it, trying to injure and crush it with my weight. But the roll only lasted seconds before I somersaulted onto my feet, running with the wolf still on top of me, it's legs digging into my sides, and it's front paw ripping at my shirt and shoulders. Using all the strength I could muster I threw it. I fucking threw it! It's body smashed into a tombstone, crushing the stone into pieces and causing the wolf to send out a howl and yipe of pain.
I couldn't believe what I just did. Just thinking about how I threw it like it was nothing was almost enough to make me stop dead in my tracks with surprise and shock. I can barely even pick up the side of a bed when I need to move it. But I kept moving forward as time 'sped' back to normal. I don't know if it was the adrenaline that made time 'slow' down, or my mind kicked into survival mode and everything 'slowed' down or what had happened but I was glad it did.
I felt something wet start to drip down my shoulder, and seep into the rental tux by father and I got for the funeral. It was blood. But whether it was my own or the wolves I couldn't tell, and I didn't care. Not the slightest. Now I was only feet from the entrance. Five feet left, four feet, now three, only two- I heard growling. Lots more of it. My pulse started racing faster, my heart thumping louder, my legs pumping harder. I made it. Not in control of my legs, I ran to my fathers truck. Jumping and sliding over the hood with ease I went to grab the keys from my pocket, but they weren't there.
Looking around I saw something silver glint in the last of the sunlight out of the corner of my eye. Lying right in front of the entrance were the keys. Shit. Mumbling curse words to myself, I took my chances as I jumped back over the hood of the truck and ran to grab them. A low rumble sounded in the darkening sky above me, thunder could be heard in the distance, and the smell of rain more profound now. I was going to make it.
Racing towards my keys I looked around my surroundings to make sure I wasn't about to be attacked. There, standing over the falled wolf stood a pack of wolves; maybe five or six all had different colors and shades of fur. If I were in a different situation say they were behind a fence in a zoo or I was somewhere they couldn't reach me I might have been in awe but as of right now I was petrified. Making my way to the entrance, I hoped that they didn't notice, or at least attack me. Only five feet left. Running, I fell to my side and skidded to my fathers keys like a baseball player would a base. Once I felt the key ring around my fingers, and the keys in my hand skidded to a stop, using my leg muscles to push myself to my feet. Looking up to look where the pack of wolves were, I saw them still surrounding what I assumed was a rogue wolf who was trespassing onto their territory.
Walking slowly backwards, careful not to disturb whatever they were doing to the rogue wolf I was spotted. A light gray colored wolf with black tipped ears and a black tipped tail with sparkling blue eyes noticed me. Comparing it to the others, it was probably one of the most alluring wolves out of the bunch. Breaking from the pack, it barked at me, but not making any move to attack me. This was enough to make me turn around and run, run and not look back. Pit pat pit pit pit pat pat pit pat pat pat. It started to rain. In a hurry, I picked up the keys. Quickly, I found the truck key and fumbled to unlocked the stupid door.
This was the classical horror movie scene. Main character gets attacked, then they somehow escape and run toward the vehicle, and when they get there they just have to fumble with their keys and finally, and finally they barely get in the vehicle. I could start seeing black spots cloud my vision as I started the truck. Trying my hardest to breath, I took out my inhaler. I couldn't ever remember a time when I didn't need one. I was basically raised with it. After my vision cleared up, I shifted the gear into drive, stomped on the gas, and drove to the house trying not to have a panic attack as my body started aching from where the wolf had clawed itself into me.
Looking down at my arms, I noticed they were covered in fresh bruises, covering old ones that I had managed to gain from a variety of random and stupid things. But the sight of my arms didn't affect me like they would have any other person. I know I know I should be all What the hell!? But hear me out. Ever since I was born, I have always bruised easily. I've always hated it, because I could have been playfully punched, or a plastic cup fell on my foot and a bruise almost instantly appeared. Same with my bones. Doctors said I have weaker bones than usual which caused them to break my whole life.
Probably the most embarrassing broken bone I got was when I was in middle school, and we had just moved to Arizona. About two weeks into the school year the entire class was invited to a birthday party which my mother made me go to. I was on the edge of a bed, watching a few of the kids play video games on the new gaming console the birthday boy had gotten when someone decided to jump on the bed knocking me off and sending me to the floor causing me to have three broken ribs and a fractured wrist. Let me remind you the fall wasn't any higher than two to three feet off the ground.
I was going to wait till later this week but it's Easter so I might as well as publish this for you now! 🥳 happy Easter 🐇🐣 !!!!
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Dear readers!
Thank you for deciding to read my book. I have been trying to write this book for about a year now, and this is probably the most favorite book of mine that I have tried to write. I plan to get this published as soon as I manage to finish writing this book and your guy's support would really help me! I hope you guys like this, and If you liked this chapter, leave a like, comment, share, and don't forget to read more!