Under the Blood Moon by Jenny Garcia (golden son ebook txt) 📕

It’s about 12 at night now and it’s a 2 mile walk home. In a car it’s a short drive but on foot in heels, it’s a lot longer. Walking through town alone at night always creeps me out. I hate it. I avoid walking around at night at any cost. For some reason it makes me feel uneasy. I turn around to see if there is anyone around. There is one person walking about 500 feet behind me. I pay no mind to them and keep walking. I can feel the blisters on my feet growing large so I slip my heels off and carry them. Anger is fueling me and keeping me from being affected by the night breeze. I replay the image in my mind of Blondie kissing Derek and it makes me sick to my stomach. I will never let a man control my feelings again. I am done with love forever it’s not worth it. Walking down the street in my red dress probably isn’t the best idea. I turn around and the person I saw before is still there, but now they are closer. I quicken my pace and they quicken. They have a black sweatshirt on with the hood pulled over their head. I cant see their face or if it is a man or not. My nerves are beginning to tingle and my stomach is turning. Something bad is going to happen I can feel it. I start to speed walk and they match my speed and begin to gain on me. The realization that this person is chasing me sets in, so I start to run for my life. They follow suit and run after me.

            Panic sets in. How far can I run before I can't run anymore? Being a swimmer for 4 years has helped me keep my distance from the person chasing me. I am running as fast as I can down the pitch black road and I can’t see the person chasing me any long but I can hear their footsteps and they are getting closer. This is it, I am going to die.

 "Help me! Help Me!" I scream at the top of my lungs as I run for my life. I have no idea what this person wants but it can't be a hug. I turn around and they are gaining on me. Runner faster than I have ever seen someone run before. Fear gives me my last boost of energy and I am pushing my body further than I ever have before. My legs are burning and my lungs feel as if they are going to collapse. Now I can see the person closely, it’s a woman. I have been sprinting for almost 5mins and I am running out of energy. This woman doesn’t even look tired. Her face is covered with determination. Is she toying with me? Letting me think that I am going to get away but in reality I never had a chance. There is not one person that is out outside their home. I am screwed. I turn around to check how close she is and she jumps into the air and lets out and terrifying scream that morphs into a howl. This can’t be happening! I trip and fall onto my face and stomach. My dress rips and the concrete tears skin from my cheek. I roll over to my back and see a large wolf standing over me. This is impossible. Her two large paws are on either side of my head. There is one black spot over her right eye the rest of her body was a white as snow. If I wasn't so terrified I would say she was beautiful. Her growling me brings me back into reality. She lowers her snout down to my face and I let out a terrifying scream. “Please leave me alone! Please don’t hurt me!”I beg her but she never backs down. She just looks deep into my eyes never breaking eye contact. I am going to die, this is the end. I am going to be ripped apart by a giant wolf thing. Paralyzed with fear I stare into the eyes of my death begging for mercy. The wolf places her paw on my chest and the weight crushes me. I begin to black out. Trying to hold on to my consciousness, I fight back thrashing around on the ground. The wolf keeps her eyes locked on mine eyes and they begin to shine like emeralds. Her eyes begin to release a green mist. The green mist flows into my eyes and I feel an overwhelming sense of calm. I stop thrashing and it takes over my whole body. The weight on my chest is removed and I feel the burn of oxygen return into my lungs. I gulp in air trying to sooth the burn. The back of my neck begins to burn and then…nothing. My consciousness is lost.

            I wake up in a Hospital screaming in terror. My Mom and Dad were both there waiting for me to wake up. They run to my side trying to console me. Nothing they say is calming me at all. I need to get out of this room and I begin to fight harder. They begin holding me down to the bed by my arms and legs. I can hear my mother panicking and my father yells “NURSE! NURSE HELP!” The nurse runs in and injects me with something and my whole body begins to relax. Finally I stop thrashing as the medication takes over my body. My mother has never looked so worried in her life. I can see the pain in her eyes as she strokes her hand through my hair. My mother looks into my eyes and says “Niki, what happened after you left the dance?” He face starts to look hazy and I can tell the drugs are in full affect. I manage to form a sentence. “Mom… How did I get here mom.”She picks up my hand and clasps it in hers.“Derek found you on the road at sunrise. He had been driving around looking for you all night after the fight.” Oh my god he told what happened at the dance. Why was he looking for me? God he is such an idiot. My Mom is still staring at me waiting for an answer. “Well Niki, what happened?” I lose consciousness and fall into a deep sleep. I must have been out for hours because when I finally woke up my parents were in different clothes. My mom’s head is resting at my side on the mattress of the hospital bed. I lift my arm and place my hand on the back of her head. She gasps “James she’s awake!” She almost shouts at my father waking him from the chair in the corner of the room. He races to my side dragging his chair with him. My mother grabs my hand “NIki, Honey, can you please tell us what happened?” I lean my head back onto the pillow. I don’t even know where to start with this story. I don’t think that she is going to believe me. I mean I wouldn’t if I heard it. I take a deep breath and try to explain my story. “Mom…well… I was walking home last night after everything and there was someone following me. I didn’t think anything of it until later when they started to chase me. I ran for as long as I could.” My mom cuts me off “Who was chasing you did you see their face?”

“It was a woman.” She looks surprised and even more worried at this. “Well do you know what she looks like? What was the color of her hair?” She starts to drill me with question after question. “MOM STOP! Please I will tell you everything I remember but please calm down.” She takes a deep breath leans back into her chair and lets me continue. “So, when I was walking home from the dance there was someone following me. They started to chase me. I realized that it was a woman but I didn’t see anything distinct about her face. She had a black pull over sweatshirt and black pants. She had her hood pulled over her head so I could see what color her hair was.” I can tell my mom is starting to get angry at the fact that I was attacked by some random woman. I continue to tell her what happened “So when I was about to run out of energy when I looked back and she jumped in the air and let out a sort of scream-howl. She turned into a wolf Mom! She turned into huge white wolf with a black spot on her eye. I fell down and she stood over the top of me. She put her giant paw on my chest and pressed me to the ground. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t do anything. It brought its huge head to mine and stared right into my eyes. This green mist, that was the same color as her eyes, flowed out of hers and into mine. It made me feel calm and it took over my entire body. The mist stopped she took her paw off my chest and then the back of my neck started to burn. That is all I remember.”

My Mom just stared at me for a while. Her mouth was slightly open and her eye wide. She must think that I am crazy. Even I thought that I had gone off the deep end. I know what I saw, it was real. She looked down at the ground and took a deep breath, “ Niki are you sure that is what happened? Maybe you hit your head to hard and had a nightmare that felt real.” My mouth drops open. I begin to feel angry tear well up in my eyes. “No Mom it happened I swear! Please believe me!” She starts to shake her head and tears well up in her eyes. “Niki, it’s impossible! People don’t change into animals. Please, think about what you’re saying!” I don’t know how else to convince her. My father just sits in his chair staring at the two of us arguing. He looks like he has seen a ghost. “Mom I know it sounds crazy but I am not lying I swear to you that I am telling the truth!” She stands from her chair next to my bed and walks to the door. I look to my father for help. He will believe me, he always does! “Dad please you believe me done you?” “NIki it’s impossible.” There is a tone in his voice that leads me to think that there is something that I am missing. They know something that I don’t.

“Mom, Dad, what is going on?” Both their heads whip back to me. At the same time they both shout “Nothing!” What is going on here? They are keeping something from me. They both leave the room and I am alone. This cannot be happening. I should and lied and said that I got wasted and passed out on the road. At least I would be able to get out of this hospital and go home. I hate being here.

As I lay in my bed I look towards the small glass window on the door. My parents haven’t returned for an hour. I guess my story has frightened them more than I thought. I am staring to feel like a freak and very alone. Watching the faces passing by the glass there is one that I recognize, Derek. He is just staring at me through the small window. I turn on my side away from him I don’t want to see his face right now. I can’t believe that he has the nerve to