by Reed, Zoe
I stood there for another second, my head tilted toward the ceiling to see if anyone else had heard it and was getting out of bed. Sometimes we left the horses in the corral so they weren’t cooped up in the barn every night, but even though they were out in the open and the barn didn’t muffle their cries, no one else seemed to be stirring. Still I stood there, debating whether or not I should go outside and investigate. Until Blue growled at the door, and worried an animal might be harassing the horses I decided I should check it out.
I strode to the kitchen to grab a flashlight, and when I got to the front door I grabbed a leash off of a hook on the wall to clip to Blue’s collar. “Brandy stay,” I whispered to the other dog, which had gotten up to follow us out.
As I closed the door behind us, Blue instantly began tugging the leash in the direction of the horses. I kept a firm grip, trying to hold him back while I stood on the porch and stared out into the dark. With my ears strained I clicked on the flashlight, shining it sideways toward the barn. From where I stood I couldn’t see anything, so I moved the beam across everything in front of me. It illuminated the edges of the orange trees, the gravel of the long driveway down to the main road, and the orange trees on the opposite side.
Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so finally I let the dog lead me to the side of the house, and when we got to the fenced area behind the barn I had to restrain him again while I checked on the horses. Every one of them was huddled on the far right and furthest from the left side, which was lined with orange trees – furthest from the place Blue was trying to drag me. Aside from being spooked the horses looked fine, but the way all of the animals were acting jump-started my heart, which quickened to a nervous beat.
I took a cautious step toward the trees, Blue growling as he used the momentum to drag me closer. I let him haul me over until we stood about six feet from the shrubs, and then stopped. The second my footsteps stopped, and just over the sound of Blue’s growls, I could barely hear the leafy crunch of something retreating farther into the trees. The confirmation that something was indeed hiding beyond my vision was frightening, even if it was just a rabbit or opossum, and the only thing that kept me from going back into the house was the comfort of the large dog at my side.
The beam from the flashlight only penetrated the first few feet in the line of trees. Beyond that, wherever the thing that had made the noise was hiding, was completely dark. Blue could sense it though, and he wasn’t happy about it. He stretched the leash as far as he could, and his growling escalated to snarling as he challenged whatever it was he could sense. The fiercer his snarl grew, the more and more my heart pounded, and it was almost to the point I was going to return to the house when Blue stopped.
He whined, retreated to my side, and stared silently into the darkness.
The following silence was almost more terrifying than the menacing snarls of the dog. Whatever it was had scared Blue to silence, and now we both stood there, so quiet I could hear the pounding of my heart in my ears. Then the growling started again, and I looked at Blue, expecting him to start tugging on the leash again. Only, he was still cowering at my side. The sound wasn’t coming from him.
My stomach lurched at the realization, and the low, throaty rumbling was so frightening that my first instinct was to turn and run. I refrained though, unlike the first night I was here. I wasn’t on a horse now, and whatever was making the sound would probably catch me in a matter of seconds.
I took a slow step back, the movement met by quick snarl. Blue whined again, and after I recovered from a wracking flinch I took a deep breath.
“Slowly,” I whispered quietly, trying to ease the horror in the pit of my stomach. “Moving slow,” I whispered again, this time in the most soothing and placating voice I could so the invisible animal wouldn’t think I was a threat.
The growling had resumed a deep, consistent rumble, so I took another step back. This time it escalated, and the response to my movement was a chilling snarl so loud it bordered a threating bark. My only reaction to the definitively canine sound was to freeze. I was so terrified that I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. Blue seemed to be in the same state as he cowered near the ground, ears laid back pleadingly against his head. The bark subsided, but instead of returning to a warning growl the animal continued to snarl, a noise that clearly meant it was getting sick of me standing there.
I lifted my foot to take another step back, and then there was another leafy crunch, as the snarling got audibly closer. The only image that ran through my mind was some massive canine, teeth bared and eyes locked on me as it advanced, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The second I set my foot down the animal roared, and the angry snapping of its teeth was so loud I could hear it over the horrified ringing in my ears.
It took me less than a split second to drop the flashlight and turn, making a run for it. Over the sound of Blue’s paws and my own crashing footsteps I couldn’t be sure if the animal was chasing or was already in midair lunging at me, but as I got halfway to the door I had to be reassured that neither of us had been eaten yet.
I don’t think I had ever run so fast in my life. Not a second after I reached the porch I flew through the door, slamming it shut behind us and not caring if it woke everyone up. With a flick of my wrist I twisted the deadbolt, staring at the door as I speedily backed away, half expecting the animal to come crashing through. That’s when my back hit something solid, and it scared me so much I turned on my heels.
As I wheeled around I caught a familiar glimmer of metal, and I threw my hands up defensively. “Don’t shoot me!”
“Jesus, Kyla,” Rob laughed, nervously like I’d scared him too, even though I was so frightened I could hardly breathe. Then he paused to take in my condition, and he watched the leash dragging behind Blue as the dog trotted down the hall. “You went out there by yourself?”
I took a few more breaths, trying to calm the pounding of my heart before I answered. “I took Blue with me.”
“Was it him that was making all that racket?” Rob asked, glancing at the dogs, which were now lying in the hallway like nothing had ever happened.
I shook my head, that terrifying snarling echoing in my ears. “There was something else out there.”
My uncle made a move for the door, and I had half a mind to stop him from opening it. “Stay here,” he told me, undoing the lock. “I’ll be right back.”
When he closed the door behind him I went to it, placing my eye up to the peephole. His back was visible for a few seconds as he made his way down the stairs, then he disappeared beyond my line of sight. I took a few steps back and leaned against the wall to wait for him. It seemed like hours in the stillness that he was out there, so long that I almost stuck my head out to check on him. Then the handle turned, and in the quiet the metallic click scared me so bad I jumped.
“Whatever it was, it’s gone,” he told me, locking the door behind him and making his way past me and into the living room.
“What do you think it was?” I asked, and as I followed close behind him I couldn’t help but glance back over my shoulder at the door.
“Something mean.” He shrugged as he got to the fireplace on the left side of the living room, and he put the old Stevens shotgun he was still holding on its stand on the mantle. “Next time, come get me before going outside.” Then he started for the hallway and the stairs, and I followed him up. “There was an attack on a farmer a few years ago. Vicious thing. The newspaper said it was likely a wolf.”
“A wolf?” I asked in shock, a cold shiver going up my spine. That sounded like exactly what I’d heard.
As we reached the top of the stairs my mom poked her head out of her bedroom, squinting at us tiredly. “Everything okay?” When both Rob and I nodded, she smiled and closed the door. “Night.”
“Yeah, I know it’s strange,” my uncle said, returning to my question. “Just don’t go out by yourself next time you hear something, okay?”
“Okay,” I promised,
giving a reassuring smile as I reached my bedroom. “Goodnight.”
After Rob said goodnight I closed my bedroom door behind me. Even though I was in the safety of the house, as I changed into my pajamas I was extremely tense, straining to hear if there was still anything outside. My stomach turned nervously as I flicked off the light, and then I darted under the comfort of my blankets. It took nearly fifteen minutes for me to even be able to close my eyes longer than a blink, and I knew it would take me forever to fall asleep, if I ever could. So I’d just lie there.
***
The loud buzzing of the alarm clock woke me the next morning and I hit the snooze button roughly, groaning for five more minutes of sleep. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep all night, and of course when I finally did it felt like the alarm clock went off hardly a minute later. At least daylight had restored my confidence, and I was no longer terrified. Reluctant to get out of bed I lay there, wondering why I didn’t want to wake up seeing as yesterday I’d been so excited to go to school.
A louder groan escaped me when I finally remembered what was keeping me under the sheets. The dentist. I was overdue for an appointment, and the only reason I’d waited so long was to find a new place once we moved. Well we’d found a new place, and I was looking forward to it about as much as I had back in Texas. Which was not at all.
A knock came from the outside of my bedroom door, and seconds later my dad poked his head in, hazel eyes scanning the time on my alarm clock. “You going to be ready soon?”
He shot me a look that I took as ‘get out of bed or we’ll be late,’ and I kicked off the covers to show him I was getting up. “Yeah, be down in a couple minutes.”
Once he closed the door I rubbed my eyes and rolled out of bed. At least going to the dentist meant I’d get to miss my first few classes. School was picking up, but I hadn’t even finished the first week yet, so it was still mostly slow and dull. I’d easily made friends in almost all of my classes, but aside from Camille they all seemed so common. Camille was the only person who seemed to have more to offer than homework answers and casual conversation. She was the only one who interested me to the point that I was eager to make plans outside of school.
Having showered the night before I threw on my most comfortable jeans and a t-shirt, and put my hair up into a bun. If I had no choice but to go to the dentist, then I would be going dressed as comfortably and possible.
“Kyla, you ready?” I heard my dad call from downstairs, and took this as my cue to grab my backpack from off the desk and bolt down to the kitchen. When I got there he was sitting at the island, head buried in the newspaper and eyes covered by the faded red baseball cap he always wore to hide the thinning of his black hair. Hearing me stop in the doorway, he looked up and put the paper down. “You need to eat?”
I glanced around the kitchen, but aside from a banana sitting on the counter I couldn’t think of anything else quick to make, so I shook my head. “I’ll eat when I get to school.”
“Alright.” He stood and grabbed the keys off the counter on his way out of the kitchen.
Still waking up I silently followed him to the white SUV, shoulders slumped unhappily as I got into the passenger seat. Once he started the engine I switched on the radio and leaned the seat all the way back so I could comfortably rest my eyes until we reached the dental office, already knowing a majority of the drive would be silent. I loved my dad and I’d call us close, but his was more of a silent affection.
“How’s school? Make any friends yet?” he asked as he turned down the radio so I could hear him.
Trying to be polite I leaned my seat back up so that I could look at him. We’d probably catch up for a minute before he ran out of things that say and I’d go back to resting. “It ain’t bad. I have a friend named Camille. She was over the other night watching movies with me.”
He nodded knowingly. “That’s what all that noise was about. Sounded like you were having fun.” As he looked at me a smile lit up his expression, probably because of the way I grinned when I talked about my new friend.
Things had admittedly started off kind of awkward with Camille at school on the first day. She was shy, and since I was the outgoing type I was used to people being a bit more unreserved with me. Once she opened up a bit though, I was glad we’d ended up being partners. She was someone I felt like I could get close to, and it was nice thinking I’d have a good friend in California.
I nodded, not knowing where to go with the conversation. It wasn’t that my dad wasn’t genuine in his curiosity about how I was doing at my new school. Ever since he was young he’d been at work. From what I’d been told, he dropped out of high school to help his brother and dad work on the farm and had never gone to college. The way I figured, he’d been working so long in the fields that his personal skills had taken a bit of a nosedive. He was a nice guy, but conversation wasn’t his thing.
“Have you talked to Aaron yet?” he asked after a few more moments of silence, refusing to make eye contact as he did so.
“No, not yet.” While my dad was supportive on my decision to date the senior football player, it was clear he didn’t like him, and maybe even hoped we wouldn’t last through a long distance relationship. But aside from the fact that Aaron was a grade older and a bit of partier, I wasn’t sure why. “He said he’d give me a little time to adjust before he called.” That was the extent of my dad’s conversation knowhow, so for the last few minutes of the drive it was up to me to carry it on. “How do you like working for Uncle Rob so far?”
“It’s nice.” He smiled warmly and lifted a hand to adjust his baseball cap. “Sort of like old times.”
After that he fell silent, and I couldn’t help but think that maybe I’d hit a sore spot. Of course he couldn’t have been disappointed that he’d be around his brother more often, but perhaps his ego made losing our ranch in Texas a bit of a touchy subject. So with the cue of silence, I followed along until we reached the dental office a couple minutes later.
The office looked nice enough, even nicer than the one I’d gone to in Texas. The way the morning sun reflected off the large spotless windows and the bright white exterior gave a clean appearance. Upon entering, the sandy colored wood furniture, blue trim and shell decorated walls almost made me forget we weren’t on the coast. A large, redheaded woman stood at the front desk, organizing the various toothpaste and other product samples that adorned the counter as she laughed on the phone with a patient. Seeing us enter she gave a big friendly smile and waved us to the front desk, where we stood for a brief second before she ended her conversation and hung up the phone.
“Good morning! Miss Walters, I presume?” the woman, whose nametag read ‘Nadine’, asked with cheerful pep as she sat in her chair and clicked on her computer. I nodded, and the woman made a couple more clicks before handing us a clipboard of medical and insurance forms. “These are for your dad to fill out. You can have a seat and the doctor will be with you in a couple of minutes.”
I smiled my thanks and followed my dad to the waiting seats. Waiting was always the worst part. Nothing to do but sit there in anticipation, waiting for the doctor to call me so I could go through the dreaded torture of scraping and pain. After shaking my leg and looking nervously around the room for a minute, I noticed a corkboard of patient photographs on the wall across from me. Taking this as a welcome distraction, I stood and walked to it, glancing over the perfect smiles of straight, white teeth. Some of the pictures were family portraits sent to the office as thank you cards. Others were photos of various kids and teenagers after having their braces taken off. Scanning each and every Polaroid taken in the office, I couldn’t help but grin as I came across a familiar face.
What appeared to be about a ten year old Camille grinned and gave thumbs up to the camera, while a much smaller Luna made bunny ears behind her head. The first thing I noticed was how much smaller Luna had always been. Even now she was inches shorter than Camille. After noticing the physical differences that had carr
ied on to the twins’ teens, I studied the young Camille. Long, curly blonde hair that looked frazzled and messy, probably from roughhousing with her sister, fell in lengthy waves down to her waist. Bright brown eyes glittered with obvious excitement at freedom from whatever dental appliance she’d had, and her small white teeth shined behind a perfectly dimpled, chubby cheeked smile. If Camille had those same cheeks to this day I wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to pinch them. I was contemplating taking a picture of the photo with my cell phone to show Camille later, but just as I was about to the dental hygienist opened a door and called my name.
Very reluctantly I followed the young woman, probably in her late twenties, to a small room where I was directed to sit in the long chair. I leaned against the back of it as the brunette woman draped a vest over me and carefully placed a film in my mouth to take x-rays, politely asking me to hold still. We repeated the process a few times before the hygienist disappeared, and it took a few minutes before she reappeared with the developed x-rays and a small bag of instruments. That small bag of instruments cued my repression to tune out the rest of the appointment, and I did, until the doctor could come in and tell me that my mouth looked good. Surprisingly, the hygienist was uncommonly gentle and quick, and I was out of the office without half as much pain and in half the time I thought I’d be.
Apart from asking how the appointment was, my dad was quiet while he drove me to school. A glance at the clock and the school being only a minute away told me I’d get there in time to make it to fourth period chemistry. My dad pulled in at the front of the school right as the bell rang, and with a quick ‘thanks’ and ‘love you’ I dashed out of the car and into the building. Luckily my chemistry class was right down the hall, so I made it with time to spare.
With all the bustling of the students trying to get to their next class, a pair of guys standing at a locker next to the room caught my eye. One of them, with ear length, dirty blonde hair and dark blue eyes I recognized as my lab partner from chemistry class, which was probably why I noticed them in the first place. The other boy I’d never met, but he was tall and very muscular, most likely an athlete of some sort.
