A Howl In The Night by Lorelei Sutton (life books to read .txt) 📕

"Griffin," I take his arm, "we must die laughing. So tell me a joke." I throw aside my lack of memories and questioning of our relationship. 

Death experience? I laugh inwardly. It should be called the bonding experience. I feel like I've known Griffin now for an entire lifetime.

"What?" He seems confused, so I punch his shoulder in joviality.

"Tell me a joke! I want to hear one!" I urge him.

"But I'm the worst joke teller in this universe."

"No, I'm pretty sure I am. So you go first."

"Well, what happens if a wolf falls in the washing machine?" 

"Uh, I have no clue." 

"He becomes a wash and werewolf." He then makes a BA-DUM-CHA sound with his mouth and breaks out into a wide smile. He must know he made the worst joke ever known to mankind, otherwise he wouldn't be so proud.

Even though it's stupid, I find myself laughing anyway. Laughing until the tears fall, falling like the rainwater washing my face and arms. Crying until it is impossible to stop, impossible to forget about what's in store for us. 

Griffin's soaking hands surround my body—while choking up with either tears or laughter himself—although he'd probably admit to neither. Laughing or crying, to me there is no difference at all. They both result from that small part of your heart that produces the deepest of your emotions, that makes you human and separates you from the animals. There is such magnificence and attraction in the manifestation of those feelings, but vulnerability accompanies its fragile beauty. 

I embrace the beauty, reveling in it as the tears turn into diamonds before our eyes, rich with despair and utter hopelessness. As the diamonds splash into our own personal death capsule, it seems to make everything seem even more bleak, yet even more beautiful. I don't understand why, or even how. 

The water is up to our waists, and the real panic intensifies to a whole new level. I am constantly shifting between giggling and bawling in a crazy way that probably shouldn't ever be tried at home. 

"Griffin, I hope you know how to swim," I whisper genially, trying to rub my hand up and down his arm to generate warmth. Nothing happens, unfortunately.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, "I don't know if I can with this leg. It's killing me."

"It... it was a joke, Griffin. Well, it would be good if you could, but-"

"Luckily for you two, I can," A deep, commanding voice erupts from above, shocking us out of our weird embrace. It takes me a second to gather myself, and then with a stony expression, I finally look up.

No. Freaking. Way.

This can't keep happening to me. My emotions are seriously getting out of whack.

I don't know how many times I've accepted my death in the last few months and somehow lived to see the next day. The first few times, I just thought it was luck. Ok, I'm saved, what a miracle.

But the reality is, I've soon come to realize, this stupid idiot is seriously the best guardian angel out there. His timing is impeccable too. He couldn't find us five minutes ago when we weren't practically swimming in our prison, when we weren't laughing and crying like idiots. No, he has to come dashing in on his white horse when I'm bracing myself to meet Satan. Or God. Or both.

“Nice of you to show up,”I mutter underneath my breath, feeling more than a little bitter at both the timing of his appearance and the emotions flaring up within me.

“It is nice, isn’t it?”Xavier’s voice rings back, and I expressionlessly turn my head towards the water furiously climbing towards my nose, my cheeks hot. Thunder echoes throughout the land, reverberating within our death chamber with astounding ferocity.

“Any day now!”I yell in response, unable to veil the terror I am experiencing. I curse myself, the world, and everything. This would be the time to give a last-minute prayer, but I don’t even know what to pray for.

“Mona!”Griffin looks at me, clearly concerned judging by the look in his eyes. An arm snakes around my waist, another reaching above the water to stroke my hair. “This will be the last…”He begins, staring me straight in the eyes with some fathomless expression I couldn’t even begin to understand. The last of his words are drowned in the screams of the wind, and I start coughing as the water enters my mouth and even my nose.

I guess it doesn’t matter if Xavier is here or not anymore.

“Xavier will save us,”Griffin cooed, his voice close to my ear, but all I hear is the screams, the building up of emotions that consumes both me and this entire area. I can feel it—although it is really hard to describe using only words—a myriad of sensations acting as a gravitation, pulling anything and everything towards this one place. All I can think, and for almost no logical reason at all, is that they are coming.

Accompanying this is a sense of futility, and even…pointlessness. What am I here for? What is the purpose of my life, if I come this far to die now in one of the most anticlimactic way possible? I wish I could turn back time, to just before I knocked into Griffin, to just before I hit Danae in the head, to just before I brought these innocent people into my world.

I say my world because the death accompanying every leaf, every single breath of air in this wretched place mirrors my own heart, and soon, my body in its entirety. And I know I will never have the chance to get it back again.

“Mona!”A voice screams in the distance, getting farther and farther away as I sink into the abyss, not knowing what is coming next. Strangely, I feel better than I have in a long time. Not because of the dwindling hope of life, but of the worry and the confusion that is evaporating into thin air. I close my eyes.

“Mona!”

* * *

“What... what happened? Why am I alive?”I sputter and cough, water spilling onto the dark green grass. My body turns to the side as I start to choke. Two hands touch my body, holding me upright.

“It’s alright. You are okay now.”The hands wrap around my legs and back, and I feel a rush of air as I am lifted into the air. I try to see what is going on, but the rain pounding on my face and the difficulty with which I am taking my breaths prevents me from doing so.

Tears start slipping down my cheeks as sniffles accompany my chokes. “Why…”I gasp, again and again, as bright flashes of light persistently invade my vision.

“Mona, you didn’t really think I’d let you go so easily, did you?”

At this, I force my eyes to open all the way, and the first thing I see is a lock of blue hair, glistening as the water dances down in waterfalls. Subconsciously, my hand reaches up to touch it, watching the way it shines in the light of the storm.

“We need to leave, guys,”a different voice erupts, and my attention is shaken.

“…Ray?”I ask weakly. There he is—I can’t really make out his face as he approaches, but there is no mistaking that voice. How in the world did he get here?

“Mona,”he says in a low whisper, “look out and see if there are Shifters in the area. I can smell them…but this whole wretched place smells like them, so it is hard to judge.”

“Ray, you’re asking too much of her right now.”The hands around me tighten. “I mean, look at her! We need to find shelter as soon as possible.”

My attention shifts to the world around me, and goose bumps immediately appear on my arms. I can’t help but shiver, which only leads Xavier to squeeze me closer to his chest. “Lean on me,”he whispers, his voice almost spellbinding, “Don’t worry about anything. I will keep you safe.”

“Xavier,”I look up, staring into his glowing eyes, “we are…surrounded.”I watch as his eyes widen, distracted by the beauty of his pupils.

“Where are they?”he growls in an almost indiscernible murmur. Ray runs back to the group of people standing by the well; I can see Danae, Yi, and Griffin backed up against it.

I can’t help—at least that is what I say to myself—but snuggle close to Xavier’s broad chest as I respond. “Everywhere.”

For they truly are, surrounding the clearing in incredible numbers. The scene is just as I pictured, and I think I know what they want.

“Let me down,”I say quietly.

Xavier’s eyes widen. “Never,”he asserts firmly.

“Please,”I respond in the same monotone.

“You’ll run away.”He squeezes his eyes shut, and his hands tighter.

I bring my hand to his face, gently tilting it towards my mouth. As if a spell has just been cast, I say something I never imagined would come out of me. Ever. “I’ll never leave you again, so don’t worry.”

Xavier seems shocked, as I expected him to be, so I use this opportunity to slip out of his grasp and start walking towards the well. As I do so, I wonder how exactly I am going to address this, especially with the rain that refuses to let up and the weakness of my demeanor. At the same time, I try to ban these thoughts from my mine and try to just feel instead.

It is strange, really, because the Shifters are not moving at all, almost as if they are barred from entering the clearing. Or maybe…they are scared.

I face them all, water pouring down my nose and chin, imploring with resolve I didn’t know I had. “Please,”I say softly, but it soon becomes more than a word. It grows beyond that, beyond me and anything I could ever hope to accomplish. I can feel the desperation emanate off that single word, observe the word fade away from the ear but grow in its deliverance. And as I watch in amazement, everything seems to rise from the well.

I could see everything, every emotion collectively coming together to form a strange essence that kept rising higher and higher. It is shining bright to combat the darkness, a life that embraces the land of the dead.

A smile graces my lips as suddenly the collectiveness dissipates, almost flying at lightning speeds towards all edges of the clearings. I can see the Shifters getting visibly brighter, as if they themselves have received a breath of life. Very slowly they start to disappear, vanishing into the depths of the trees.

It is then that I wake up from the spell and collapse on the ground. There is a series of footsteps, and then warm hands lifting me from the ground. Another hand wipes the mud off my face. “What’s wrong with her? Collapsing all the time, it’s ridiculous,”Yi snorts, and I realize he is the one touching me.

“I guess I’m just a light headed person.”I open my eyes and stare at him with the most intimidating glare I can muster. His own eyes widen, and he backs away. The water washes the mud away, but I am still covered in dirt. “I’m sorry you have to carry me, Xavier.”

“Why?”He asks, the hint of a smile on his features.

“I’m dirty.”

“Do you really think I care?”His laugh echoes throughout