Shadowbound

I didn't know what was more embarrassing. Being locked out of a high school party or the fact that I had snuck out of my mother's house to be in attendance, despite her endless warning, and still ended up denied entrance.

The tall iron gate of the estate had been closed shut against our faces and a cluster of four festive silver helium balloons floated over the gate, secured to them with long white ribbons. Cars filled the Cornell's estate and kids our age and older filed in between this cars with red cups in their hands and littering the floor. I could see smoke spiraling into the air at every one or two gatherings. From the distance, the sound of partying and festivity loomed overhead, everyone seeming to be having the time of their lives.

But then, there was I and Daphne, locked out because we had no invitations to proceed past the gate. While I stood there in defeat, Daphne took her anger out on the metal material restricting us. She clawed and screamed profanities, face beet red, chest puffing in and out, words in long chains of stutters caused by anger. "Olivia fucking told me we-" The heel on her shoe coming in contact with the metal bar gave continious clack clack clack, furthermore showcasing her anger. "She fucking told me you were going to let us in without an invite. The bitch!"

The big security at the other end looked unbothered by her tantrums. His arms were folded and beneath thick blonde brows, puckered above his eyes, he stared us down. "Quit the drama, kid. No invites. No entry. Miss Cornell gave that rule. Go home."

Daphne wasn't a quitter. She held onto the bars and morphed her look to plead once again. "But, we're kids. We live on the far end of town. It's quite late to catch a bus back now. We told our parents to pick us up in the morning..." Her bottom lips quivered. "Please. Please. Let us in."

The security man didn't give in.

Olivia Cornell's house was at the very outskirt of town. It was back then the only house that was at the very end of the bus route. It was set back from the street, always hidden completely by thick evergreens, with sharp points of it's Tudor roof poking out above the peeks of the green. However miles before and after the mansion's perimeter was nothing but trees and woods. As soon as I and Daphne stepped under the shades of the dark woods, it felt as if entering another world, and naturally, my defenses went up. I didn't like the woods, or the dark, or having to walk miles home when it's completely dark and past lines and lines of trees till we were in the clear and maybe found someone that could give us a free ride to Daphne's parents house at the town square.

"Shit, just crap," Daphne was muttering beneath her breath. Her eyes were locked onto the tarred road and her long curls of golden hair made a curtain against her profile and temples. Our heels made harmonious clicks with each steps we took and apart from the sound of partying high school kids looming overhead, getting more and more faded with each walking steps away, there was no other sounds within ear reach. "How could Olivia just play me like that?"

I said nothing. I couldn't sympathize with her. She was friends with Olivia Cornell, not me. I hadn't been friends with anyone at school for as long as I can remember. Infact, I've had no friends ever since I was twelve and the tragic death of pops had spread all through town like wild fire. That had being the beginning of my self isolation path and till that very moment, I still felt entangled in the forest I created around myself, and shielded in the bubble I put up. Daphne had somehow found a way to burst open my bubble, and cut down the overgrown forest I'd been entangled in.

And she was pretty.

She always looked amazing. Something I considered a complete contrast to me. Daphne looked sedate and serene in a black gown, with spaghetti straps, her blonde hair curled like a movie star's around her shoulders and she smelled sweet of jasmine fragrance that wafted through the air. Her ears were pierced by golden hoops that were concealed by her caramel colored blonde curls. She wasn't beautiful in the classical way. She was shorter than average and certainly larger than a catwalk model, but in her ordinariness she was stunning. Something radiated from within that rendered her irresistible to both genders. Perhaps, it was her extreme kindness, her sweetness, how she'd always see the good in people. The uniqueness in them, just like she did me, and sorted after them.

We continued down the street, saying nothing to one another, listening to nature's song of the night. The chirping of crickets, occasional silent crack of twigs of crawling creatures announcing their presence in the woods. The sounds accompanied that of our heels clicking in accordance. Daphne exhaled loudly. "I'm sorry," She said beneath her breath. "If not for me, you could have been in bed sleeping right now."

Gently, I shook my head the negative. "It's not your fault. Olivia probably doesn't want you in cause we're friends now. She probably thinks I being at the party would make it less cool. She's-"

"A bitch." Daphne concluded. Then she looked at me with a smile. "You're one of the coolest people I know. You have this energy and aura to you. Anyone that can't see or sense that is a bitch."

"What do you sense?"

She seemed almost reluctant to answer and when she did it was in a whisper. "It's a secret." She said, a smile formed atop her love shaped lips and stretched them apart. "But-" A sudden gasp escaped her lips.

"What?" I asked eagerly.

Both I and Daphne halted from walking. Her smile had quickly morphed into a horror-stricken expression and her chest rose in and out in what seemed like fear and panic. Her eyes were locked up ahead into the emptiness of the street, and then slowly, she diverted them to me. "Do you feel that?"

My initial response was once again a question. "What do you feel?-"

And then, I felt it.

Goosebumps.

Fear. Like it was a living and breathing entity, oozing off a strong source. It seemed to be encircling around us, and if anything, it seemed it wanted us to be completely submissive to it's presence. Even though fear wasn't a person, its presence was so heavy and thick. My heart began to thud in my chest, slow at first and then it picked up the pace and I could almost hear the thudding behind my ears. I could feel the goosebumps sprouting on my skin, and the hair at the back of my neck rising in accordance. And then the dead silence that suddenly befell the perimeter, even nature seemed to acknowledge it.

There was a sudden rustle in the bushes, it sounded distant, like the sound of an animal racing through. But this couldn't have been one animal, there were more than one. The rustle and pound of feet, if it was an animal, intensified with every ticking second.

Daphne looked in my direction. Fear was scribbled all over her features and under the street light, she looked pale, almost ghostly. Her lips parted, and she whispered. "Take off your heels and run as fast as you can back to the party."

Creeped out, I asked, in a squeamish low voice. "What are we running from?"

She looked at me like I was crazy and then with no answer to my question, began saying as she'd commanded. Her hands were shaky and she crouched down and began untying the laces tied to her ankle, her fingers trembling. Easily, I unbuckled my Mary Jane pumps and slipped out of it.

Before we could get back up from our crouched position, a shadow befell us.

And then a growl. A panting, breathless animal who seemed to be in too much of a haste. More footsteps approached from the woods and at that point it seemed we were about to be ambushed by what seemed like a pack of wolves. Daphne began whispering again. "Get up, slowly." A whimper escaped her and it dawned on me how serious the situation could be. She was muttering; "God, God, not tonight of all nights. Not tonight." Then, to me, she said. "If we make it out of here alive, I'll tell you what I am."

"Wh-what are you?"

She ignored my question, "Do not make eye contact."

Despite the warning, I raised my head in search of the animal, and our eyes locked.

Time seemed to slow down, the seconds ticking lengthened to minutes and then it seemed to be on a sudden pause. Daphne's words echoed on in my head. Do not make eye contact. Do not make eye contact. Eye contact. Her eyes.

Her eyes.

I'd seen them before.

Those hazel eyes that should be scanning for danger and opportunity to eat looked tired and drained of all energy. It looked like it needed rest and comfort. A place to call home.

Moving under the streetlight was a wolf, a white silver, fur glossy and thick. The animal was big, way bigger than any wolf I'd ever seen both on TV and in reality. It was, on its fours, about four feet and thick. But this wolf seemed to have seen better days. Her movements, as she gently approached us, were faltering as if each steps hurt terribly, and its head sunk low to the ground. Instead of being aggressive, she seemed docile and shy. Whatever gene she needed to be an alpha; it wasn't there. I stood still, watching her steadily, listening to the thud of my heart behind my ears.

I didn't like wolves.

In fact, I hated them.

A wolf had been rumored to kill pops.

I loved pops.

And just like that, he was gone.

But this wolf...

I could hear Daphne whispering in panic. She sounded distant. Ranting on how I'd get hurt, but this wolf didn't look like it wanted to hurt me. The smell of blood filled my nostril when she stepped closer. She was hurt, there was a big gnash in her left upper shoulder and blood rushed out from the wound. I could hear Daphne, "We should leave! We should fucking go!"

The wolf stood before me, her eyes dimmed once she did and she swayed like she was about to hit the floor and pass out. I reached out, almost compulsively, and pressed the palm against its chest and felt for its heartbeat. It was there. Her heart was banging, with an erratic pound --- thud, thud, thud --- as if to be let out of her chest through her mouth, relieved of the cages of her ribs. The world was in blur and my ears were numb to noise and amid-st all that, I could hear someone talking, a voice, or maybe I imagined what I needed to hear, "Y-you run, Moira! They coming. Warn you. They here!"

A scream punctured the air, blood-curdling, that had the blood pumping wildly behind my ears. My heart hammered against my rib cage, a thunderous beat that reverberated through my body, matching the rhythm of my escalating panic. Before I could turn around, whip my head left and right to understand the cause and situation, something, or rather someone bashed into me from behind with the force at which the body had collided into me caused me spiraling forward. My hands jerked out to stop the fall, but I was too late.

Someone had pushed me, with the force similar to that of a truck.

With a loud thud, I came face-first into the floor, the pain shot through my chest like wild electric current. I yelped. Loud, but not enough to overcome the sound of Daphne screaming.

People laughing.

Th sounds of grunts and struggles.

Wolf whimpers and pained howls.

I hurried up, my breath trembling, my eyes blurry. I clutched at my chest, fingers trembling, as if trying to keep my racing heart from leaping out of my body. Head whipping left and right, I tried to understand what was happening.

There were a group of seven people, fighting against the lone wolf. Though she struggled and fought back, it was obvious she was going to drop soon. Her opponents seemed to be enjoying the fight. They laughed and taunted her, leaping like monkeys and running the fastest I'd ever seen a human run.

It happened in a flash when one of the men wrapped his arms around the animal's neck. Above the wolf's head, his eyes locked with mine with a near gut wrenching smirk that spelled out, "Watch me."

A sickening crack then filled the air. My initial response was a scream and I did. The wolf head had been ripped off its neck and this man had the body to his lips, gulping down the blood that gushed out the wound. Blood masked his lower chin and bathed his shirt.

Then, Daphne was next. She was trying to fight off one of the men, but there was no use, she was too fragile and they had all encompassed around her. A crying mess, screaming and begging to be let go, her fingers trembling and fluids running down her teary face. Just as they made an attempt to sink their teeth into her skin, a stern voice said to them.

"Focus, it's not her we're here for." It was the man who downed the wolf's blood. He was done with his meal. His eyes were locked on me and when he smiled, I could see chunks of flesh stuck in his teeth. "It's her we want. Get the girl and let's leave."

And then with the speed of a flash, they were all onto me. My heart lurched into my mouth, and my eyes widened as I was thrown into a moment of frenzy. The world was in blur and my ears were a ringing siren and amid-st all that, I could hear someone singing, in a light, eerie tone: "When Mary found the lamp she lost, a wolf had its flesh in its teeth. Its eyes were gauged, Its flesh was gone, and its heart pounded in the palms of her hands."

And then everything went blank, completely.

My heart was palpating.

Breathing unstable.

Trembling fingers.

Chest throbbing and aching like my flesh was being torn apart and my heart ripped out of its place between my rib age. My eyes blurred with tears, pricking at my balls and leaking down my twisted face contorted into that of agony. My lips trembled and it was taking all in me not to bite into the lower one and sink my teeth into it till I could taste the metallic blood seeping onto my tongue. My mind must have processed the faces looking down on me as monstrous. The pale white skin on them, and the near inhumane look in their eyes until they'd all blurred into darkness.

I blinked my eyes over and over again trying to keep them open. My sight were blurry, the voices I heard seemed distance, it seemed like they talked and laughed in hushed tones. I tried to move my head but it hurts to bad.

I knew I wasn't home. Pain pulsated through my body. There's only pain, all encompassing pain radiating in crashing waves that threatened to drown me with every breath. Occasionally there was something else something, warm maybe, but it never lasted long before the pain reared its head and everything goes black again. I could hear muffled sounds, running or panicked dragging perhaps but nothing more than that. My breaths trembled. My hand shaking at every thought that ran across my head, a cold shiver ran down my spine as cold sweat trickled down the side of my forehead. I lifted my hand up and a strong smell hit my nose, it was the smell of blood. Fear displaced my sadness, sickness changed my bloodstream from blood to a thick liquid pus and intense shock.

I wasn't at the Olivia Cornell's party.

Neither was I asleep on my soft comfy bed.

"Mary you're not going to that party..." I could still hear mom yelling at me, decked up behind all those gospel books she is used to reading. I standing next to the door whining at the fact I'm never allowed to attend parties like normal teens do. I stamped my feet, and even faked cried trying to get my mom to let me go willingly without having to proceed to my I and Daphne's plan b. But mom stared up at me, rage clear and obvious in her dark brown eyes. Then she sternly ordered me: "Mary go to bed, you're not attending that party."

Then I had returned into my room. Obviously, plan B had to immediately kick into action. At that moment, regret flooded my system and I wished nothing but to have listened to mom and stayed at home.

I felt the tears running down my face leaving warm trails of salty liquid down my cheeks. My still body ached tremendously. Every joint of mine throbbed and I could feel a thick metallic taste of blood lingering in my mouth. I was restricted, a slave to free movement, caged by my own body to be still due to pain.

I felt weak, drained out of energy that even my eyes were blurry. I couldn't see clearly. Shadows of people walking over my pounding head. In that moment, the pain was unbearable. I had never felt so useless as a human in my entire life when you wanted to move, you could hear the movements in the surroundings and being restricted. For a few more minutes every part of my body refused to work appropriately, then slowly my senses began to return back to me. Blinking over and over again to clear my sight, I tried taking a glance of my surrounding.

Surely, I wasn't home. That particular place was a complete contrast to the compact building I and my mother lived ever since I was a child. The wallpaper is what first caught my attention. An Anglo-Japanese design with Roman and Greek themes in the frieze was on the ceilings and walls. The predominant colors were dark with tan and gold highlights. The room looked big, enough that the ceiling was very high up and the door I could spot opposite where I layed was tall enough it could accommodate a family of giraffe.

From my left, I could hear the sound of fire crackling. I turned my head slowly in the direction of the fire place, gulping down my throbbing, hoarse throat. Someone was sitting next to it, probably warming up. Red and yellow ribbons of scalding heat intertwined while sparks jumped and danced. The orange, blue, yellow, tiny ghosts danced across a log, and tiny snaps of their feet sounded against the wood. I blinked my eyes over again now knowing the figure to be a man crouching by the fireplace as a man. His cream jacket and his silhouette the only thing I could make out.

He was one of them. One of the men who had kidnapped me. Flashes of him trying to talk to me, walking right next to me, grabbing me with rough calloused palms invaded my head, panic settling in.

The once distant sound was starting to get louder. Their were voices men. Lots of them talking and laughing loud round a huge dining table.

I turned my head the other way, my body still too weak to move then I counted them. Six me. Round a huge table, it seemed to me they were involved in a game.

Six at the table...

One by the fire side..

I tried looking over to my body but the pain that shot right through my neck averted me from doing so. I rested my head back on the cold floor as gentle as I could then I chewed at my lips to avoid sobs from escaping them. To avoid their attention from being drawn back to me.

I hated the feeling. Hated the feeling of the extreme pain that shot through my body. Hated feeling so useless.

"Andrew it's your turn today," A male voice boomed out from the dining making me to stay still. They obviously had no idea I was awake and staring at them.

"Turn to do what?" Another voice replied the first one. His voice sounded much calm, almost less bothered.

"Dump the body." The first one stated out again, then I froze, my eyes blinking in more fear.

Dump which body? Me?

"You sure she's dead?" Another voice called out but it was feminine. It oozed a whole lot of concern. "Are you sure she's her-"

"Whether or not, it's her, it's best we got rid of this one as well. We don't what happened then, taking place once again." There was a sudden pause in his words and almost hesitating he added, "Whether Max is cool with it or not."

"Reece?" The feminine voice spoke up again, it reflected a sudden anxiety. Dull shadowy figures danced in my line of sight and each seconds that passed made me want to puke all over the floor. My eyes were still a bit dim so I couldn't make out where she really stood at the dining but soon heard her voice again – in form of a frightened whisper. "I think I saw the human shake, I saw the girl shake."

With that said, they all turned my way, and then one of them started walking towards me.

Half asleep, and my head throbbing outrageously with pain at my both temples, I tried to get my weak body off the cold floor I seemed to have been placed, but failed at lifting my body weight. I bit in my lower lip to muffle a whimper when the pound in my head elevated to a point of near daze and my vision dwindled with dizziness. I knew better than to try getting up at the moment but rather lay still. My heartbeat was elevated. The little pounds going off behind my ears. Pound. Pound. Pound. And my fingers aggressively shook as I lifted them to my head to cup my temple as I tried to recollect what had gotten me in so much pain in the first place. I sucked in a breath even before he could come closer then with all my might, ignoring the aching body pain I pushed myself up then I began to stagger away towards where I thought was a huge door.

There was a sudden gasp in shock. "That's not possible. S-she was dead."

"That doesn't seem like the case right now."

"She's not dead?"

"Obviously."

The man by the fireplace began to approach me. I attempted to walk faster but my legs were to jellified to even dare. His steps were calm, almost as if calculated. "That's not possible," I heard him whisper, almost unbelieving. "That's not possible."

My lungs burned and my throat was parched with the need for water but I was more worried about the need to get to safety than I was liquid gliding down my throat. The man's figure hovered over me, casting a dark shadow over my body, shielding me from the moonlight rays that had been casting onto the floor in a dim dull sheen of light. "Hey,'' he barely said, and then crouched down to my level, to place his hands on my shoulders. "What are you?" In a dazzled tone.

Whimpering in defeat, I began to shake my head the negative, letting the tears fall freely.

I was too tired to do anything, and the throb in my head still blazed with wickedness as if to make me completely numb with the pain. "I-I wa-nna go home!" That was the intended demand but nothing seemed to want to leave my mouth.

He continued to stare at me, his eyes searching my every feature. Suddenly, there was a prick at my forearm, his fingers piercing my skin. My eyes fell on my freshly bleeding arm, and then I let out the scream of agony through my parched throat. Screamed out in pain as the fingers continued to dig in my flesh. I looked up at him through blurry teary eyes and then I begged, I begged for mercy to be let go.

And when he finally did, I staggered faster away from him, blood making red trails and patterns down my arm. My eyes were extra blurred with the tears, my head spinning faster and just then. My legs gave up on me, seeming to be in obvious accordance with my dizzying head. I fell not into the floor but into the arms of a another man.

His hold was gentle, almost as if I was an extremely fragile egg to be cared for and pampered. As my vision blurred out, the concerning look on his pale features were the last thing that lingered in my line of vision till everything blurred into total darkness.