Chapter One

I woke up with a start, my body feeling like it had just slammed into my bed. My eyes flew open and my chest rose and fell with quickened breaths. I felt groggy and I could only remember bits and pieces of the dream I just had. The most prominent thing I remembered was the pair of hazel eyes glowing from the shadows. I felt chills crawl over my entire body from the mere thought.

I started to take deep breaths. I needed to calm my body back down. I finally felt my heart rate slowly settle and the thumping in my ears faded away until it was silent. The only sound that could be heard now was the hustle and bustle of the world outside of my apartment. With a soft sigh, I threw my legs over the edge of my bed and sat up. My head spun ever so slightly. I put a hand up to my temple to regain my senses as I thought to myself.

The dreams were becoming more and more frequent. At first, they only happened once or twice a year for a few years. Gradually, it became three or four times a year. Then, almost monthly. Now? Now it was happening once or twice a week. It always left me feeling drained, as if I didn't actually sleep through the night.

I've always had them. Ever since I was little I would have this dream. I never remember them vividly, but the things I could remember were always the same: black wolf, hazel eyes, and fear. Sometimes though, from other things I remembered, the scene would be different. It would be different times of day and different places but most of the time, it was at night in a forest. That was the extent of my knowledge of the dreams.

Soon, my head stopped spinning and I was able to stand. A soft sigh left my lips as I got dressed for the day. I felt exhausted and wanted nothing more than to stay home and sleep all day. Unfortunately, I had both classes and work today. I went into the bathroom, opening up a mirrored cabinet and stared at the yellow pill bottle.

I dreaded that little bottle. It gave the impression to those who found it that I was crazy and abnormal; fearing if they made one wrong step I would detonate. I chewed on the inside of my cheek as the staring contest went on. After a small amount of time, without ever taking one of the pills, I closed the mirrored door and finished the rest of my morning routine.

*~*~*~*

I sat down in one of the many chairs inside of the stuffy classroom. It didn't take me long to set up the things I needed for the class since it was only my laptop and a pen for if the professor passed out anything paper. As usual, the man was punctual. The professor stepped into the room with a booming voice, "Good morning! I hope you're all ready for the new chapter..." It wasn't long before my gaze went from the front of the class to the large window that was to the right of me.

It was the only window in the room, but it was large and let a lot of natural light in. The early morning rays of sunlight filtered in and lit up enough of the room that the professor never had the overhead lights on for his lectures. The golden light was soft and illuminated many things outside in the warm light, giving them an almost etheric glow. The window faced the outer edges of the university. Trees lined the perimeter of the school, creating a natural barrier between us and the world outside. In front of the trees was a large grassy area where most students spent between classes studying or relaxing. Flowers of different species grew in the space, all vibrant and beautiful colors.

My dark eyes scanned the tree line, trying to catch a glimpse of the world outside. The small thicket was dense enough where there was no such luck. The only thing I could see was more trees.

And two glowing hazel orbs.

The once stuffy room suddenly became cold as my blood froze in my veins. I locked eyes with the pair that was outside. It was dark inside of the thicket, but I knew that standing behind those eyes was the shadow of the large black wolf. My heart started to thump in my ears again, my eyes widening . I couldn't look away. I couldn't scream. I couldn't move. I couldn't even breathe.

A gust of wind made the flowers and trees around it sway and a dark cloud covered the sun. The swaying looked like a terrifying dance. A dance of death was how I viewed it. The etheric glow died out and left behind an ominous, gray color in the courtyard. A chill ran down my spine and I couldn't help but shudder. I felt goosebumps cover my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood on edge.

Suddenly, a deep voice was calling for me, "Emelia…" The voice was soft, but demanded obedience. It was almost like a low growl, striking dread and fear in my heart. "Emelia…," it called out again. I threw my hands up to cover my ears and squeezed my eyes shut, but to no avail. It was still just as loud. "Emelia!" A hand suddenly gripped my wrist and a small scream left my lips as I flung my eyes open.

It was my professor, a concerned look in his eyes. The crow's feet in the corners of his eyes seemed deeper than usual, "Emelia...what's wrong?"

I was speechless. I quickly looked back out the window again to see if the creature was still out there. The wind had stopped, the etheric glow was back, and there were no eyes looking at me from the depths of the trees.

I swallowed as I looked back at the professor. My voice cracked slightly, and was barely audible, "I-I'm sorry..." was all I could say. I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment as I felt the class look at me. Every pair of eyes had a different look to them. Some were concerned, some were humored, and some were confused. It made my skin crawl. I cleared my throat and looked away and down to my desk. I started to gather my things and stood up when the professor's fingers released my wrist.

I quickly left the classroom, not saying another word. This wasn't my first episode in class, but it made it no less embarrassing. It had been months since my last one, but none of them in the past were as severe as this either. It seemed everything was getting worse now after a long time of it being controlled.

Usually, all my episodes were disembodied voices. Of course, it wasn’t like I heard it through my ears. It felt like they were in my ears. As if they were inside of my head chattering away. Sometimes though, those chatters turned to screams. They would scream and scream and scream like they were scared of something. They would scream so loud I couldn’t hear anything else and I would have to cover my ears. When I was younger, they scared me so much I would scream too, begging for them to stop. But that didn’t matter right now. This was completely new and different to me.

I finally made it outside. I sat down on a bench and took several deep breaths in. The scent of freshly cut grass and wildflowers filled my nose and calmed me down quicker. There was something about the smell of nature that felt familiar to me and soothed my soul. I closed my eyes and tilted my face up towards the warm sun. The millions of thoughts going through my head started to quiet down and I could finally think properly once again. This was the first time I saw the wolf outside of my dreams. It was also the first time I heard its voice too. Nevermind the fact it even had a voice.

The lack of rest must have been catching up to me. I sighed, slowly opening my eyes to look at the large clocktower that was above the library. I still had a few hours before I had work. I only had the one class today anyways, so perhaps it would be best to get some rest before work. With that thought, I grabbed my backpack and laptop bag before heading to my car. I would just nap in there before work. No need to drive all the way home.

I closed the door behind me, rolling my windows down and reclining my seat before closing my eyes. Sure enough, not five minutes later sleep overtook me.

*~*~*~*

I pulled into the parking lot of the bar I worked at and couldn't help but nervously glance around to make sure there were no hazel eyes looking at me from the trees. I was still a little bit of a wreck but I felt a lot better after my nap. I didn't even have a dream. I took a deep breath and pulled myself together before getting out of my car and locking it.

I walked into the still-empty bar and a curly haired brunette popped her head up from behind the bar. A wide, dimpled grin took over her face and the gap between the woman's two front teeth became apparent. "Mellie!" the woman called out, and I couldn't help but smile too. That smile was absolutely contagious.

"Hey, Freya," I replied, setting my things down in the back and clocking in. Freya came up beside me, our height difference becoming extremely apparent. I was only five-foot-five, so I myself wasn't very tall. Freya, on the other hand, was even shorter than me. She stood at a whopping five-foot-even, seeming like a child next to me. The petite woman nudged my arm softly, a concerned look in her eyes. "Hey, are you okay? You look super tired," she whispered, craning her neck to look up at me.

I looked down to her and gave a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, Rey. I just didn't sleep well," I said, turning around and heading towards the front again. I didn't want to give her the opportunity to keep pressing on the matter.

It was almost opening time. There were still a few things to prepare, so I got directly to work. Freya followed in suit, finishing up the things she needed to do as well before going to the door to unlock it and then turning on the neon "open" sign. It took a few hours for the bar to become lively. The hustle and bustle of bodies coming in and out of the door, the drunks whooping and hollering at the bar, and the people at the tables talking over each other trying to hear each other started to fill my mind. Before I knew it, the events earlier that day started to get pushed onto the back burner and were soon forgotten about. For a moment anyways.

*~*~*~*~*

Two a.m. rolled around and it was already time to shut the bar down. Freya called out, "Finally! Tonight was super busy." She gave a small huff as she started to tear tables down and wipe them off.

I stayed behind the bar, cleaning that area as I replied, "Yeah, I think I heard some of them talking about some kind of celebration." I shrugged, putting away everything before throwing the rag over my shoulder. Once everything was finished Freya came up to me, her dimples set deep into her cheeks.

"You ready?" she asked me.

I shook my head and looked at her with a soft smile. "I still have a few things to do. You can go on ahead without me tonight." My eyes went back to the bar. I couldn’t look in her eyes for too long.

She frowned, but didn't protest much before she gathered her things and left. I started to finish the rest of my closing chores as everything that had been put on the back burner of my mind while I worked, came back to the forefront. I shook it off and quickly finished up then clocked out. I stepped outside and turned my back to lock up the building. A gust of wind blew and chills went up my spine at the ominous feeling that I was being watched. I took my time to lock the building, too afraid to turn around.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stand there all night. Keeping my eyes turned to the ground, I turned around and speed walked to my car. The sound of a snapping twig made me stop in my tracks. It was such a common sound, but that noise made my blood run cold again. Against my own wishes, my eyes flicked up to find the source of the sound. Deja vu hit me as I met a pair of greenish-brown eyes staring at me from the darkness of the trees that were next to the parking lot. Hazel wasn’t an accurate description really. I just don’t know a better term for them. The green and light brown mixed so well it looked like a painter had mixed the colors themself and created a dirty gold color.

I immediately turned around and made a run for my car. I ran as fast as my legs would let me, never even turning back as I flung myself in and started the car. I peeled out of the parking lot, making my tires screech as I hauled ass to my apartment. Once I parked in front of my unit, I took several deep and long breaths. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I pulled my phone out. I was frightened to the point of crying. I stared through my watery eyes at the time. 3:22 AM. Shit.

It seemed I would have to call my psychiatrist in the morning. The thought of having to even wait that long made more tears well up in my eyes and fall down my cheeks. Maybe I should have taken my medicine this morning.

I nervously looked around me from inside of my car, half expecting to see the hazel eyes staring back at me. Thankfully, they were nowhere to be seen. I quickly gathered my things and headed inside.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night.