Chapter 3 Runaway

Desperate, I knocked on the door rapidly until it swung open.

"Le...Lena??", she stammered. Looking so shocked to have seen me.

"Hi Trina", I swung to hug her.

Katrina or 'Trina' as I fondly called her was my childhood friend, we go way back and shared so many memories. I could blame myself for the rift in our friendship but I was left with no choice. That narcissistic bully of an alpha made sure he cut me off from everybody that cares about me. Even my dear father. I totally understand her surprise. Showing up out of nowhere after all these years is not some stunt I should pull.

"Oh my darling, come in. I'll make you some tea" as she dashed to her kitchen returning in a few minutes with a tray of hot beverage.

"Pardon my surpri-"

"I'm so sorry for showing up in this manner", I didn't let her finish her statement. "I have nowhere else to go" tears welled up my eyes yet again.

"No no no. Shhh. You know I hate when you do that" she grabbed me as she passed me a some napkin to dry my eyes. "What happened?" she asked, with genuine concern in her voice.

"Abel. Abel did..." I sniffed as I told her the most of my traumatic story being with Abel. The tea ran cold cos I couldn't stop talking. In fact, the only time I did was when I needed to let a few sobs out. Not until narrating my life of recent times, I never really understood how much I have gone through.

Occasionally, I could see Trina fight back tears as I talked. That's the one thing I love about her. Her solemn empathy. How could I have such empathetic person in my life who genuinely cared for everyone and especially me only for me to end up with Abel? How?

"You're home now" she hugged me. "You know, I gave my self space from you since it was obvious you were avoiding me or so I thought", she said. "I know how many times the guards kicked me out of your 'mansion', so I accepted the fate that since my best friend is now the Luna of the Shadow pack, I'm nothing but another peasant to her" she rolled her eyes, teasing me.

"How could I? That Monster separated me from everything I loved. Friends, family, pet, books, hobbies and even food, Trina! I dare not indicate an interest on anything to his knowledge. He hates to see me happy", I said heartbreakingly.

"I thought as much, but I had to steer clear of you since I began to receive threats" Trina said in her defense. "Mind you, I warned you about this guy. I knew he was up to no good and most especially, not in love with you. And you kept coming up with the excuse that you had to do it 'for your father' " she quoted her fingers in the air. "Why would you do this to yourself?"

"Because of my father. You were there when mom passed. You held me down. When I couldn't reach out to you any longer, Father was the only thing I had left. And... now... he's... goooooone" I wailed.

At this point, I couldn't tell if I was wailing at father's demise or my heartbreaking story. I was sad and in pains regardless.

"I'm sorry about your father. When I heard the news, i mourned him cos he was a dad to me too" she Shared my sorrow. "We got a lot of catching up to do. I can see you have just that hand luggage with you"

"Oh yes, Trina. I wanted to ask if I could spend a few days with you. I have nothing to my name except that little luggage you see" I pointed at my luggage the corner of the room. " if you can, I just want to calm down a bit and know where to start from. I'm literally starting all over", I pleaded humbly.

"Take all the time you need" Trina encouraged as She took my hands in hers. "Let me run you a bath and get you something more comfortable to change in" she left me seated on the diner.

*****

"Who's there??? Don't break my door!" Trina rushed to go answer the aggressive pounding on her mahogany door. My curiosity got the best of me as I couldn't help but follow her.

"Well, hello???" She yelled as swung it open. I saw a hooded figure passing an envelope even without having a glance at us. It wasn't so dark for us to tell that it was a man obviously. The moment Trina collected the envelope while we were still stunned at what was happening, he sped off without a glimpse of his direction.

'TO LENA!', the envelope boldly stated. Trina passed it to me as I took a moment to open it. Barely 2 days into this very secretive haven I thought was safe, someone could trace me here with a letter? And who would care enough to write to me? About what? Who even knows me? The trail of questions began again. Paranoia kicked in immediately.

"Open it!"

"I can't. I'm so scared Trina"

"I can tell, your hands are shaking terribly"

"I don't know what to expect"

"That's why you should open it, Lena. Here, let me help you. Whatever danger it may be, let me face it", she collected the envelope from my hands and tore the seal open.

'RUN!

LEAVE THE NORTH ENTIRELY IF YOU CAN. HE'S LOOKING FOR YOU AND WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO GET TO YOU!'

The letter read.

"Empty threats" Trina hissed as she tore the letter and threw the pieces into the flames of her fireplace.

"You know what, let's go out for a walk and get some groceries" she tried to lighten up my mood. I grudgingly obliged since she was the only person that loved me enough to be this close to me.

******

On getting to the town square, the crowd was lively. Chants and giggles filled up the air until they saw me and it seemed as though they saw a ghost. Everyone immediately started avoiding us. I began to wonder what happened.

We approached the first tent we saw, and the woman ignored us. We then went to another stall and the wriggly old woman snapped. We decided to approach a man selling apples, since he is the one that seems approachable.

"Get your filthy whore hands of my damn apples" he blurted out so loud as I attempted to get one.

"Hey!!!" Trina Challenged in my defense, "that's your Luna you're are insulting in that manner. Wait until your Alpha hears this and your tongue will be cut off!"

"Luna? What Luna?" There was a rage of laughter after that. "As a matter of fact, Alpha Abel has declared you a treacherous whore that is ought to be excommunicated from us if not for his benevolent soul!" He looked at me with contempt while yelling those words in search for obvious attention.

A louder roar of laughter continued with whispers and side talks. I could hear them call me names.

"Whore" an old lady spat on me.

"Traitor", after I was stoned some rotten tomatoes.

"Bitch" 2 girls said to themselves and giggled.

I ran out of there so fast the Trina who was running after me couldn't catch me. We got home and I sobbed my heart away.

"They all hate me! They despise me. I didn't even do anything to them", I sobbed.

"That's okay, I'm so sorry you're going through this. I promise you it will be over soon" Trina stopped to console me.

"You don't know that! Did you see how they did me? How they treated even you that you have nothing to do with this?"

"Well, you kn-" a heavy knock interrupted her. Immediately, we both were at alert. Are we in danger? Are they going to burn us?

Trina quickly took a mallet as some form of weapon and opened the door closely. It was the hooded man again. Passing the letter, he whispered the word RUN so strongly ww could feel his breath on our skin before he disappeared again.

'RUN!

THE LONGER YOU REMAIN HERE, THE MORE TROUBLE YOU'RE IN. EVEN YOUR FRIEND'S LIFE IS AT STAKE. GO TO THE SOUTH, GO TO THE MOONSTONE PACK, YOU WILL BE SAFER THERE.

THERE'S A BOUNTY ON YOUR HEAD. YOU MUST LEAVE TONIGHT!'

With hands trembling, we couldn't deny it anymore that this was not just a threat. We hastily gathered my few belongings for me to be on the move.

"But who could be writing you?"

"I don't know Trina, but we both know it's true. With the hostility I received from my own pack members in my hometown, this is not just a threat" i said with a trembling voice. " I can't put you in danger, Trina. You've done to me what a lot of people won't do and I won't let you lose your life or property or self esteem for it. I must go".

Katrina wept cos she came to terms of the reality of what I was saying and this moment may be the very last we would ever share together.