The Cry for help
1431 Words
AIDEN CROWL
‘Help me.’
I knew something was wrong the moment I walked into school and didn’t see her at her usual spot by the lockers.
Yeah, I know how that sounds.
But I wasn’t looking for her.
At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
Liora DeVoss skipped class sometimes. Not because she was lazy or anything, but because she had this annoying, sarcastic “I’m-too-bored-to-be-here” energy.
Sometimes she stared at the ceiling for ten minutes straight, sometimes she scribbled weird symbols on her notebook, sometimes she just vanished and came back smelling like old books and danger.
So her missing first period wasn’t supposed to mean anything.
But my wolf didn’t like it.
I sat through the entire class, pretending to listen to Mr. Hammond talk about chemical reactions, while my chest tightened little by little, like something sharp was pressing inside my ribs.
Jace nudged me at some point.
He noticed everything.
He was annoyingly good at reading me.
“You’re good?” he whispered.
“Yeah,” I said, stretching my arms behind my head. “Just bored.”
He rolled his eyes. “You always say that before you punch something.”
I didn’t respond. I kept my face blank and my voice flat, because if I didn’t, he would see the truth. He would smell it. My wolf kept pacing inside me, restless, growling under my skin like it wanted to tear something apart.
When the bell rang, I walked out fast, pretending I was heading to the vending machine, but really I was scanning the halls for her ridiculous mismatched socks. She always wore one black one and one striped one. I once asked her why, and she told me, “Balance. Life is too boring when things match.”
I didn’t smile at the memory.
I refused to.
By lunch, she still hadn’t appeared.
Okay. Fine. Maybe she was at home. Maybe she was sick. Maybe she finally decided humans weren’t worth pretending for and stayed in her coffin or whatever vampires did on weekends.
That night, though…
That night was different.
I didn’t sleep well.
I kept waking up, feeling like someone was shaking my shoulder.
At one point, I even heard a voice — soft, broken — whispering my name.
I sat up in bed, heart hammering, but the room was empty.
I blamed the stress.
Football practice was killing me.
School was killing me.
The responsibility of becoming Alpha was choking my throat all the damn time.
Yeah, stress.
That was what I told myself.
The next morning, I walked into school early, way earlier than I ever did. I didn’t want anyone to notice I was restless, so I acted calm, grabbed a drink from the hallway machine, and leaned against it like I owned the place.
But inside, everything in me was shifting — uncomfortable, alert.
When the bell rang and she still didn’t show up, that was when my stomach dropped straight through the floor.
Liora wasn’t the “miss two days of school” type.
Not unless she was dealing with something serious.
By third period, Jace finally spoke up.
“You’re acting weird,” he said, narrowing his blue eyes at me. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I muttered.
“Liar.”
I exhaled hard. “It’s that vampire girl.”
Jace’s lip curled. “Ugh. Don’t tell me she’s breathed in your direction again.”
“She hasn’t been in school for two days.”
“So?”
“So,” I said, shrugging like it was no big deal, “I just want to make sure none of you idiots had anything to do with it.”
He stared at me like I’d just announced I was switching sides in the war.
“You care if she’s dead?” he asked slowly.
I forced a smirk — the kind that always annoyed him. “Care? Don’t flatter her. I’m just making sure you three didn’t start something stupid that’ll drag the whole pack into trouble.”
Tyler laughed from behind me. “I actually wish she was dead. Her people are a pain.”
Remy nodded. “She talks too much.”
“She hardly talks,” I snapped before I could stop myself.
All their eyes turned to me.
Damn it.
Jace tilted his head, studying me closely. “Why do you know that?”
“I don’t,” I said quickly. “I’m just saying. It’s a fact. You guys talk trash about people you barely even know.”
Tyler lifted his hands. “Relax, Aiden. Nobody touched your vampire princess.”
“She’s not—” I almost choked on my words. “Whatever. I just needed to know.”
Jace raised an eyebrow. “So that’s why you’ve been acting strange? Because she’s missing?”
“I’m not acting strange,” I said, pushing past them. “You’re imagining things.”
I walked faster before they could notice how fast my pulse was beating.
But deep down, I knew the truth.
Something in me wasn’t calm.
Something in me refused to relax.
When school ended, I was heading toward the parking lot when a vampire suddenly blocked my path. He was one of Liora’s kind — pale skin, silver eyes, dressed like he belonged in a museum. I didn’t know his name, but he knew mine.
“Aiden Crowl,” he said sharply. “Where is she?”
“Who?” I asked, my voice flat.
“Don’t insult me,” he snapped. “Liora! What did you do to her?!”
My jaw clenched. Not because of his accusation, but because hearing her name out loud sent a jolt through me, like a wire tightening around my heart.
“I didn’t do anything,” I said.
He stepped closer, too close, his fangs slightly visible. “If she doesn’t come back safely, I swear—”
I shoved him, hard.
My wolf surged up, teeth bared inside me.
“Get out of my face,” I growled. “And don’t you ever come near me again.”
He stumbled back, shock flashing in his eyes, but he regained himself quickly. “If I find out you laid a finger on her—”
“You won’t find out anything,” I cut him off. “Because I didn’t take her. And even if I did, trust me, she’d be in one piece.”
The vampire hissed but didn’t push it. He stepped back, glared at me one more time, and vanished into the parking lot shadows.
I stood there for a moment, my fists trembling.
My breathing was uneven.
And my wolf…
My wolf was shaking with rage.
With fear.
Why was I afraid?
Why did it feel like something was squeezing my chest?
I climbed into my truck, slammed the door shut, and just sat there gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white.
I should’ve driven home.
I should’ve forgotten about her.
But instead, I kept replaying the last time I saw her.
She’d been walking away from school, her hair catching the sunlight, looking tired but pretending she wasn’t. She didn’t even look back.
I didn’t call out to her.
I just watched like an i***t.
That night, the nightmare came.
It hit me like a punch to the throat.
One second I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about her mismatched socks again like some lovesick i***t.
The next second, I was standing in a dark place — cold, echoing, filled with dripping water and shadows.
I recognized it.
The tunnels.
But everything felt wrong.
Too quiet.
Too still.
Then I heard it.
A faint sound.
A choked breath.
A soft cry.
“Aiden…”
My heart dropped so fast it hurt.
I turned around, searching the darkness, but I couldn’t see clearly. The shadows kept shifting. The air felt heavy, thick, like it didn’t want me to move.
Then I saw her.
Liora.
She was on her knees, chained to the wall, her hair covering half her face. Her skin looked bruised — bruised, which vampires weren’t supposed to be. Her hands trembled as she lifted them slightly.
“Aiden… please…”
I tried to run to her.
My legs wouldn’t move.
I pushed harder.
Nothing.
It was like I was frozen in concrete.
She looked up at me again.
Her eyes — those sharp grey eyes that always hid how lonely she really was — were red from crying.
“Help me…”
- Writer
