Lola

12

Lola and Vivian had made it back to Lola's home in one piece despite their stop at a McDonalds. 

"Look at that, McDonald's didn't kill us after all." Lola rolled her eyes as she unlocked the door. Her heart soared at the familiar scent of her true home, she was giddy at the fact that her woods were so close by. 

"It's better that we're safe as opposed to sorry." Vivian's nose twitched, there was an odd scent in this home. It smelled like a wolf, but the chill in her spine told her that it wasn't too simple of an answer. 

"You can take my old bed, I'll sleep in my sister's room," Lola said as she darted towards the back door. It was in the middle of the night, but the temptation to visit her woods felt suffocating. Vivian called after her, but Lola yearned to see what had become of her dahlias. Would a flower be there for her, or had the Gardener moved on?

The woods had come alive as she broke into the treeline. The wind whistled against her cold ears and long grass tickled her ankles. The trees seemed to reach for Lola in earnest as branches softly scratched her arms and caressed the soft tendrils of her frizzy mane of curls. We missed you. They would say if they had voices.

 She hadn't realized she was crying until she had tripped over a fat root she hadn't seen and tumbled to the ground. Her eyes gazed upwards as she took in night sky that appeared to be framed by foliage. She took a moment to take in the beautiful view. 

I feel like the only one in the world. 

She took a few deep breaths before she wiped away the fat tears rolling down her face. Her breathing slowed as she let out some soft sniffles before standing up and calmly started walking again. Walking turned to a slow jog by the time she neared the place where her sister got murdered. 

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that there was a flower for every day she had been gone.

Am I seriously crying again?  She thought as she laughed, she must have looked crazy - laughing while crying and holding a couple of gentle flowers to her bosom. She stood up and swayed, her laughter echoed into the night. 

A man's hungry gaze had watched as the small woman danced and laughed in the puddle of moonlight. He felt his groin swell with lust as he licked his lips slowly. He had groomed her to be a tasty morsel, her body was ripe and fertile and seemingly ready for his taking.

- 

Vivian sniffed around the house trying to find the odd scent. The kitchen, the living room, even her father's room had smelled normal. It was when she went into Lola's sister's room that she was bombarded with the smell of an important wolf. 

Vivian's eyes had practically started watering as she slowly shifted through the girl's room. It was barren with the exception of some furniture, and some boxes in a corner - there wasn't much to investigate. Vivian quickly left the room as soon as she realized that nothing spectacular was in there. The strength of the scent meant that the wolf had probably left the house an hour or so before, it was harder to tell with higher-ranking wolves and it didn't help that Vivian didn't have a good nose for such things. 

Viv's heart lept with fear as she caught a noise coming from another room, it must have been Lola's considering it was the only room she hadn't checked. 

When she kicked opened the door, she saw that the window was wide open, the wind caused the curtains to flutter. Lola's room had the stench of the wolf as well, but the window being open was throwing Vivian off.

We can't stay here long, it's not safe.

It was too bad that Vivian didn't know where "safe" was. Lola could easily just fuck another male wolf. It was an idea that she had brought up to Jody in private, but Jody seemed adamant that Lola wouldn't take the easy way out of something. I don't know how the old croon knows that she hasn't talked to Lola in over a decade.