Love the little one NEW VERSION

Chapter 3

Angel

Deciding to put on my leather boots instead of the sneakers I have worn all day, I hop around trying to get them on. Taking my jacket off the hook on the wall next to the door, I open the door and peek out. The forest around my cabin is painted a beautiful golden with the setting sun's rays. I step out onto the front porch and make sure to close the door securely to make sure no animals will have the chance to take a tour of my home.

There is a slight breeze passing by me and I shrug the jacket on, pulling my hair out from under it so that it won't get tangled between my jacket and back. The chirping of birds and buzzing of small insects can be heard over the shuffling of the leaves.

Turning right, I take a few steps closer to the small shed I saw before and take a better look. It doesn't look like it's going to collapse any moment so that's good. There's also a decent amount of firewood in the shed. I have no idea how much I will need for the winter so I'll have to ask dad about that. But that's for later as there is quite some time before winter comes. I continue my exploration and walk around to the back of the house where there's another porch, though this one's without a roof over it. On the porch there are some pots with plants that look halfway dead. The clearing behind the cabin isn't too big, about the size of half the cabin.

Seeing that there's not much else to look at, I decide to see if I can perhaps do something with the withering plants. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about plants, therefore I haven't got a clue as to what to do with these brown stumps. Throw them away? It really doesn't look like it's possible to revive them no matter how much water I throw on them. But then again, what do I know? I managed to kill the only plant I've ever had and it was a cactus. When I consider the fact that most of the time I forgot that it was even there on my windowsill, I really don't think I drowned it. And that leads me to this question - how the hell did I kill it? Which quite obviously confirms that I am no biologist.

I hear a rustle in the bushes somewhere behind me and expecting to see a rabbit or nothing at all, I turn around only to nearly die. Only now do I notice that it has gotten quite dark, meaning the sun has most likely set by now. In the darkness, between the leaves of the trees surrounding my home, I can however make out a pair of eyes. Glowing in the light of the lanterns surrounding my house, the eyes stare at me as if looking right into me, seeing my soul twisting with fear, my heart pumping with the age old instinct of flight or fight. They glare into me, piercing me and just with the mere intensity force me to stay locked in my place. I stand, still as a statue, fearing that even the slightest twitch will alarm the animal looking at me. No, not an animal, a beast. For what else could it be standing there, eyes clearly higher than my own? I stand on my porch, trying to figure out what in the heavens could possibly be standing there on the edge of the woods. Then, there is some movement to be seen in the leaves. It is not the beast staring at me, no, it is another pair of eyes, moving into the light. Eyes just as high, just as glowing, just as intense, just as frightening as the first pair. Now, I can just barely make out the gleaming of something under the eyes - teeth, canines, whatever they're called. Slightly gleaming in the lantern light are four rows of sharp as fuck teeth, glistening with their saliva, slightly yellowish. They are monstrously large, supposedly fitting the beasts what with their abnormally large builds.

The eyes move a bit closer, bringing their full faces into the light. Wolves. Freakishly huge beasts, whose bodies seem to melt into the darkness surrounding them, all thanks to their thick midnight black pelts. And I am glad that I can't see their bodies, for I would surely faint at the mere sight, leaving my unconscious body into their... paws? Jaws, more likely.

Okay, Angel, that is quite enough thinking and "puns" for one day, let's just focus on getting inside.

Yup, the voice in my head makes a good point. I really should be focusing on how to get inside and avoid becoming a chew toy to two enormous wild beasts that just happened to stumble upon me when I'm all alone and completely defenseless.

Okay, I must not panic. Because when I panic, I have the tendency to do things that are completely reckless and don't help me at all. I just have to walk down the porch stairs, go around the cabin and get inside, lock the door and pray the animals go away. Yeah, simple.

I gulp and take a big breath before slowly pushing the inhaled air back out of my lungs to try and calm down my heart running amok in my chest. If my running speed depended solely on the beating of my heart, athletes would be jealous of the speeds I could hit right now. I take the steps needed to get to the ground as slowly as possible, It would be like a slow motion movie if it weren't for the wolves tongues that occasionally swiped over the rows of teeth on display. I couldn't hear any growls coming from them, which was good as it - most likely - meant that they weren't feeling threatened or anything like that. Who am I kidding, with my 5'2 height, I could just as well be a chihuahua trying to size up a German shepherd. Shuffling towards my left and using my hand to find the corner of the cabin, I don't want to take my eyes off the beasts, in case they decide to use my momental distraction and jump. Finding the corner I press by back to it and take a few deep breaths to make sure I don't pass out.

Now shuffling backwards I can see the beasts getting... restless. They are scenting the air and their ears are moving, before they take a few small steps towards the cabin, making me freeze in my place. I stop breathing, I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a few beats as the pair of wolves advance in my direction. They lower their heads as if attempting to appear...smaller? Less of a threat? I don't know and I'm not going to fall for that act just to get eaten. They're wild animals, no matter what act they put up.

In the clearing where the lanterns shed light, the bodies of the wolves are revealed. I was right, they're absolutely humongous. Colossal beasts reminding me of the stories about Fenrir, the mythical beast from Norse mythology I couldn't stop reading about. Of course, Fenrir never tried to hide who he was, like these two in front of me seem to attempt.

Wait.

In front of me?

And yes indeed, as I come back to the real world I see that the two wild creatures are no more than five feet from me. Much closer than what I am comfortable with. Much, much closer. As I probably mentioned before, I have the tendency of doing hopelessly idiotic things when I panic.

"Stay!" My lips let out, breaking the silence that seems to surround us. Now that I think about it, there are no birds singing or bugs buzzing around. There's just silence and the occasional whisper of wind caressing the leaves. And when I think back, there hasn't been a sound for quite a while, even when I was on the porch inspecting those brown ceramic pots with dried out dirt and plants, reminding me of a desert or the cactus I killed.

The most interesting part about this whole scene is that the beasts stopped as my breathy voice reached their ears. It was almost... fascinating to see their heads tilt just a bit to the side, both at the same time, towards the same side. Now they reminded me more of puppies who try to understand why you're raising your voice at them while they're trying to get their teeth into your new pair of shoes. But these are no puppies. Once again I have to shake myself out of my mind and focus on reality.

I see a paw slowly sliding forwards on the grass between us and narrow my eyes.

"No!"

The wolf freezes before reluctantly pulling back the limb it had been trying to sneak closer.

I suddenly realise that I am standing right next to the steps leading onto the front porch. Now I just have to get up the stairs and through the door. Wrapping my right arm around the railing I keep a sharp eye on the two beasts, making sure they don't try anything again.

Slowly climbing the steps, the two seem to realise that I'm getting away. The movement of their passive paws triggers my instincts and I practically fly up the stairs and through the door, somehow managing to shut it and lock it before they reach it. I can hear them whining through the door and scratching it, trying to get rid of the piece of wood stopping them from getting to me. I pray the door holds up to whatever they come up with or rather that they just give up and go away.

I run into the bedroom to grab the phone laying idly on my bed, the screen not lighting up for some reason as I pick it up. I press the button to turn it on and then realise what's wrong.

The battery is dead.

A bit quicker update than last time, aye?

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