I pushed my shoulders back and sprinted down the narrow path again. I didn’t slow down until I got to a three-story brown wooden building. I ran around to the front and up to the big door. My fingers were definitely blue and trembling, but I balled my fist and slammed it into the door.
Nothing.
Just more silence.
I backed up a bit and saw there were no lights coming from the two rows of windows. Above the door was a sign that read Salem, Mass but I didn’t know what that meant. My stomach tightened and flipped. I spun around with my heart in my throat and froze. There it was again, that feeling of eyes on me. Straight back, on the front stoop of a red brick home, was a wide staircase made of stone…and it wasn’t empty.
A person sat halfway up the steps. I couldn’t see their face but their shoulders were wide and their legs were long. My gut told me it was a man, but he had a black hood pulled over his head, casting his face in shadow. I knew I needed to find help, but there was something about him that screamed at me to stay away.
I turned and walked to the right, toward an empty field, but in my peripheral vision I saw him move. My steps slowed. His hooded head followed my movement. I peeked over just as a wild, strong gust of wind slammed into him and blew the black hood off of his head…golden eyes sparkled in the dark…and they were looking right at me.
My heart stopped. My feet froze.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. I spun around and started in the other direction. He jumped to his feet. I felt the heat of his gaze on the side of my face from fifty feet away.
I walked a few steps…and so did he.
I stopped. He stopped. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop myself from crying out in fear. Bile rose in my throat. I couldn’t play this game. I needed to get somewhere warm and safe before he approached me. I wrapped my arms around me tighter and shivered through the cold air.
I took another step, so did he.
I walked a few feet, he walked at least ten.
It was probably a bad instinct, but I ran.
Chapter Two
Saffie
The red brick sidewalk felt like ice under my bare feet, yet it burned with every step I took. My legs were shaky and starting to go numb, but I pushed harder and faster. I ran up to the first building I saw and pulled on the door handle. It didn’t budge.
“No, no, no, come on. Please,” I begged. I slammed my fists on the door a few times as hard as I could muster, gold glitter exploded under my hand each time but I just had to ignore that for now or I was going to lose my mind. “Hello? Anyone there?”
Please. Please, someone be here.
Nothing. Just the whistle of the wind blowing by my ears and whipping my hair around. I tucked the long, wild red strands behind my ears then glanced over my shoulder – and gasped.
My stomach sank. The hectic patter of my heart skipped a few beats then picked up speed.
That guy in the black hooded jacket was strolling down the sidewalk in front of a white picket fence. He wasn’t moving fast or even looking in my direction yet I still felt his golden eyes on me. He’s not following you. He’s not following you. He’s not following you
With my heart lodged in my throat, I spun and sprinted under some trees with a few straggling leaves, the red brick path quickly guiding me to the next building. This one was newer looking, with big glass windows taller than my body and fancy wooden tables inside. There were a couple low lights on in the back, so I ran to the door – but it felt glued shut. I tugged and tugged. Still didn’t open. I pressed my face to the glass, while I slammed my palm on it over and over.
No movement of any kind. No sounds.
No one was in there.
Tears stung the backs of my eyes. I pushed my hair back from my face. Wild tremors tore through my body as my shivering got worse. I had to get inside. I had to find warmth. I sniffled and stumbled back a few steps until I spotted him through the reflection in this store’s glass window. He was ahead of me now, standing on the corner in front of a liquor store. I didn’t like the way he lingered.
Think, Saffie. Think.
I was running out of time before this cold air was going to hurt me. I felt it like a ticking time bomb in the back of my mind. I looked to my left, back toward the way I’d just come…it was almost pitch black. Yet to my right I found a soft golden glow and taller buildings that made me think town had to be that way. Except I didn’t want the guy in the hood to see which way I was going. I needed to lose him first.
Just then, the guy spun and walked into the liquor store.
YES. MOVE! I turned left down a side street then took off running down the middle of the road. I leapt around the corner — and screamed. I slid to a stop and threw myself back but my feet slipped out from under me and I crashed to the cold brick sidewalk. I gasped and scrambled backwards on my hands and feet like an upside-down crab.
WHAT IS THAT?
There in the middle of the road was a massive wolf-like animal that had to be taller than me – while on all four legs. It was as dark as night itself, almost blending in with the shadows of the trees. Its head snapped around to me and big, beady red eyes that glowed like embers in a fire pit stared me down. It growled and the ground rumbled. I slammed my hands over my mouth and golden glitter clouded my vision. My body rattled. I took a step back and it snapped its razor-sharp teeth at me. The four in the front were longer than my fingers and dripping a glowing orange goo.
No, no, no, no, no.
I started to take another step back when something moved in the corner of my eye. I froze in place, bracing myself for an attack but it was just a person. I didn’t look over, I didn’t want to take my eyes off the wolf-thing. But relief prickled down my spine as a person emerged from between two buildings and stepped into the street, right into my line of view — I gasped.
NO.
It was HIM.
The guy from the steps and the liquor store. The guy in the black hooded jacket. He didn’t look over at me or at the wolf, he just walked straight across the street, between me and the monster, with his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. He didn’t make a sound, yet the wolf-monster hissed and slid back into the shadows across the street. The guy disappeared too, moving into an alley to my right, a tall, terrifying shadow receding from sight. But how did he get here? I didn’t know where he’d just come from. He’d just gone in the liquor store, how could he be here now?
No, no, no.
This isn’t happening.
I flipped over and found myself in a puddle of golden glitter. What IS this? But I couldn’t dissect it, I had to get moving before that monster came back for me. I jumped to my feet and sprinted away in a blind, wild dash. My breath left me in clouds of white and gold smoke as I struggled to breathe and run. I peeked over my shoulder without stopping and my stomach tightened into knots.
The wolf-monster stood in the dead center of the street.
Watching me with glowing red eyes.
Oh God, oh God. Oh God.
No, no, no this isn’t happening.
I raced to the building with the neon blue sign and threw myself into the door. Pain shot through my body as I slammed face-first into it. I banged on the door and walls, screaming at the top of my lungs…but no one answered. I spun and headed for the next store but as the road curved to the right more fear exploded inside me, trying to swallow me whole. Everything over here was dark and empty. It was just me, the monster, and him. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was around here somewhere.