III. Glowing Eyes

Cara

DAD CAME INTO the home office, a yellow file in his hand. The broad smile on his face fell when he saw me and what I was holding. His body instantly tensed visibly. The file in his hand fell to the floor.

The tears I'd been holding in came down.

"What's this?" I asked. He approached me, reaching out for me but I moved back before he touched me.

"I can explain..." I saw something in his eyes, something like fear but payed no mind to it.

"Then by all means please explain...e-explain why yo-you never told me about this?" I stuttered out, demanding an explanation as to why he'd kept something like this from me.

As the letter stated, he had been keeping me away from my mother, denying me the choice of whether or not I wanted to see her.

I was angry at him. Furious even.

For a very long time I thought that she abandoned me and never wanted to see me but according to the letter that I now held tightly onto, she did want to see me.

We agreed when I left that I was not to even come near her ...

I read the letter out loud to him," W-We agreed when I left that I was not to even come near her ... "

"You agreed! That she wasn't to come near me. Why?"

All these years I assumed that she wanted to leave me, a part of me even thought that I wasn't a good enough daughter for her but now I realized maybe I had it all wrong. Maybe she never wanted to leave me but dad made her leave.

"Cara, you don't understand-" he began.

"You're right, I don't understand. Make me understand..." I cut him off before completely breaking down. The tears flowed like a river, running down my cheeks and wetting my sweater.

"She couldn't stay...she was...not well..." That caught my attention.

"Not well? Was she sick?" He kept quiet.

"...Not the way you might think. You have to understand. Cara, this was not like a cold but she was not herself so...I had to...had to..."

"H-Had to?..."I paused, unsure. Then a question came to mind, something I did not want to know the answer to. But I had to ask.

"Did you make my mother leave me?" I stared at him through the tears. My vision was blurry.

He remained quite as if he was suddenly dumb. This only answered my question. He did.

My heart fell. This was too much for me. The air was thick, unbreathable. Nausea ran through me like a wave. Looking at him made me feel even worse.

I ran past him and he followed me.

"Don't follow me!" I was out the back door and had soon gone past the fence into the woods.

I kept going, paying no attention to where I was headed.

The rays of the setting sun broke through the canopy of the trees lighting the way.

I went till my legs gave out and I fell to the ground.The tears had stopped.

I was not going to think about it, not until I had calmed down, so I closed my eyes and relaxed.

Something about the solidarity in the forest made me cool down. The wind blew loudly across the green leaves of the trees and I found peace in the sound.

I sat down on the forest floor listening to the chirping of the birds. I heard the grasping zwit zwit of the birds high up in the trees. Probably mousebirds.

As the sky darkened due to the setting of the sun, the woods got quieter and quieter.

I sat there for a few more minutes drinking in the beauty and wonders of many wonders.

I'd almost forgotten what happen, what I'd found out. But now that I'd had this time to relax and let it sink in slowly, I could now face this.

One thing was for sure I wanted to see my mom. Just not now.

Getting up from where I sat I dusted off my clothes. That was when I realized just how dark it had gotten. The house was now too far for me to see the lights. Without the slightest ray of sunshine it was impossible to retrace my footsteps back.

It was getting cold and my sweater was no help, not to mention, I was in short-shorts.

Congratulations!!! You just got yourself lost...in the woods...at night.

My gaze shot up at the sky, the very dark cloudy sky. The moon was nowhere to be seen and thank heavens for that because it meant that it was not that late in the night.

I took a stone and marked where I had been then began searching for my way back.

A drop of water wet my cheek.

Wasn't I done crying?

Yet another drop of water hit my cheek.

Realization hit me like truck.

It was raining.

Just perfect.

Thankfully, the canopy formed by the trees shielded me from most of the rain.

Maybe I could scream for help. Then again, my screams may draw the attention of whatever wild animals lurked in these wild woods.

Maybe dad was looking for despite me sternly telling him not to follow me. Surely he must have seen that it was late.

In an attempt to calm my rapidly rising heartbeat, I shut my eyelids closed and took five deep breathes. Five wasn't enough so I another five...then another five.

A pair of electric blue eyes met mine as I opened my eyes. The orbs were a  few feet away from where I stood, surrounded by darkness. Whatever was watching me must have been really tall because the eyes that bore into mine were about three feet up, which is tall for an animal. I had already crossed out the option of the strange thing being human as no human had eyes that glowed in the dark like that.

It had to be an animal of some sort. Hopefully a herbivorous one.

I didn't move nor did I make a sound. The last thing I wanted was to aggrevate it.

My worst fears were confirmed when I came to the worst realization.

It wasn't alone.

More glowing eyes appeared, some bright green, other blue but not as electric as the first animal.

I counted them. They were four in number.

One growled. The leaves on the forest floor dusted as the -yet to be identified- animal moved ahead. As it slowly moved I guessed that it had to be quadrapedaled.

Seeing as I could not actually see the animals I could not weigh my options.

The animal let out a blaring growl. I took to my heels, going as fast as I could.

They were right behind me and were catching up fast. Everything was happening so fast. I was only thirty percent sure of what I was doing.

Before I knew it they were right in front if me, mere inches away from my feet. It was all a blur. I was on ass on the cold and moist ground. I crawled back in an attempt to get away.

Moonlight filled the forest. The light had a shade of red and I was too preoccupied with trying not to get eaten to check why.

The animal with bright green eyes moved closer and with the light I saw what it was. It was a wolf.

It was larger than the average wolf. This thing was huge...but not a huge as the exaggarated ones in the movies i.e Twilight. Still it was pretty big. They were pretty big.

I am dead. After seventeen years and eleven months and some days my life had come to a sudden and untimely end. This is it!

I closed my eyes as the wolf's large canines neared my face. I turned my head ready for my ending but it never came.

When the pain never came I didn't stick around to see what had rudely disrupted my murder. I stood up and kept going.

I tripped and on the way down, hit my head on a rock which ironically, may have been the same stone I placed there earlier.

Next thing I know, I was on my back, my body limp and weak. I felt light headed and the earth began to spin.

Darkness clouded my vision and the last thing I saw was the moon up in the sky as red as blood.

***