TwoCHAPTER TWO

LENA’S POV

I stumbled through the bathroom doorway, blinking back the last tears. My makeup, a complete war zone across my face.

Everything around me felt tight. Hot and heavy.

I reached for the bathroom door to close it, and for some damn reason the metal knob snapped. Just like that… I stared at the cool piece of silver in my palm, surprisingly not loose, not old. Just broken.

Still in shock, I stared at it, blinking like it might somehow reattach itself if I looked confused enough.

Just then, I dropped it watching quietly as it hit the floor with a dull metallic thud. Too shocked to even be mad, I made my way to the kitchen counter of my apartment.

I reached for the wine bottle on the counter. Cheap—half drunk from the night before. Slowly hating myself for ever having to remember Jones’s face. The half-hearted smile, the silent stares from strangers around. The flash of cameras.

Then came two gulps, three…which unfortunately was still not enough to wash down the humiliation I had gotten. In pain and regret, I staggered my way to my bedroom, wishing I could make it all go away.

With my back now pressed to the frame of my bed, and my red silky dress still clinging to me like a melted foil. I lay still staring up at the ceiling above, with memories of Jones in my head.

And then—-I screamed.

‘How on earth could someone love you and leave you like that?’ I mumbled to myself.

My phone buzzed afar off, over and over again. But then, I ignored it. I reached for the bed frame to pull myself up and the wood cracked beneath my grip.

Instantly, I froze. A piece of the solid frame split away wrapped tightly around my fingers. Right where my fingers gripped it was too tight.

“What the—-?” I perked up to my feet.

A cold rush, flooded my veins as I glanced down at my arm. The one I had gotten a cut on at the restaurant from running off, reminiscing on the fact that there had been a bruise—purple, angry.

But surprisingly now faded. Almost completely gone.

A dull ache lingered, but the skin, smooth? Normal. Like it had never happened. I blinked over and over again as I pressed my fingers to the spot willing it to hurt but it didn’t.

‘Something’s not right!”

In fear of what’s happening, I rushed to the full-length mirror in my bedroom greeted with the wreck I expected. Red puffy eyes, smudged lipstick, smeared makeup. One could tell I’d walked through hell barefoot.

But then for a second, just that one impossible second, my eyes shimmered.

Silver…

And this time, it wasn’t the lighting, not the makeup. A flash.

I jumped back instantly, nearly slipping on the fur mat underneath me. I blinked hard, taking a step toward my reflection, and stared again.

It was gone. Now completely normal.

I stumbled into bed, still in my dress from two days before with my breath now shallow from whatever was happening to me. My hearing was so sharp that I could hear the faint hum of the fridge from across my apartment. The ticking of a clock I didn’t remember having.

With my mind racing with a million thoughts, I lay still in bed, eyes closed. As expected sleep came fast and slowly I drifted off.

*********************************

The dark came first.

One moment I was in bed, trying so hard to forget all that had happened the nights before with Jones at the rooftop, the next I was…here.

Standing barefoot in the woods, which for some reason didn’t feel like earth.

I pushed through the tall weeds until I found the overgrown trail that ran beside the river and prints I could tell belonged to four-legged animals.

My chest felt tighter with every step as my jeans spun walking deeper into the woods. In my rush, I had completely forgotten the tiny little fact that humans can’t see in the dark, and being a human, it meant I couldn’t see where the hell I was heading.

A fall breeze drifted between the tall trees, carrying scents of wet wood and rot as I trudged deeper into the woods. Curious as to where I was being led by the trail ahead.

But just as I continued in silence, a twig from behind me snapped followed by a loud multiple howls. In that moment, I froze.

The ground beneath my feet pulsed faintly, like it had a heartbeat of its own. I turned in a slow circle and then the howls from earlier echoed in the distance.

Then another. Then dozens.

Surprisingly, the howls weren’t threatening as expected. Instead, they sounded…ancient. Like a warning, even better…like home.

The second it stopped, I sprinted through the trees as the fog rolled in slowly. And in that moment it dawned on me that I wasn’t alone.

Wolves, silent and massive, shapes swallowed by mist. They didn’t growl, they didn’t charge at me or move…just watched.

I took a step back in fear, as my bare foot sank into the soft soil and silence fell like a blanket.

“Lena!” A voice soft and distant echoed from around me, like it was layered in wind and whispers as time passed it drew closer and closer.

“Who’s there?” I called out. My voice was barely above a whisper when I did.

Just then, a shape emerged from the fog. Her gown dragged behind her, soaked in something dark that shimmered red under the moonlight.

Her eyes lifted to mine and I realized they were solid black. No whites. No pupils. But for some reason, they burned.

“This isn’t real.” I chanted to myself.

My hands trembled at my sides, knuckles tight, claws—

Wait.

Claws?

I jumped back, horrified. Confused about how my fingers were tipped with sharp, curved points. My breath hitched at the thought.

The next minute, she came up close and pressed her palm flat to my chest without a word. Heat exploded inside me.

Almost instantly, something alive crawled through my veins as I struggled to stay awake.

**************************

I shot up in bed, gasping. Sweat clung to every inch of my skin. With my heart slamming hard against my ribs I looked around and realized I was back in my bedroom.

But the air still reeked of wet wood.

My eyes trailed off to the side of my pillow and then I saw them.

The claw marks.

All four of them ripped into the sheets like the dream had haunted me back into the realms of reality.

‘What’s happening to me?’