My Christmas Wish Alpha

Eyes of the Forest

Neviah

There’s only a light breeze, but it bites like ice when I open the door. A shiver rushes over me, and I’m not entirely sure it’s just from the cold.

I’m still only wearing my sweater, so I pop open the back door to grab my coat, hat, and gloves. I wish I’d remembered my scarf, but I’m sure I left it hanging on the coat rack in my apartment.

Finally bundled up, I reach in to pop the truck to get my jack. It’s a good thing Dad made me practice over and over again so I knew how to change a flat, because that training is finally going to come in handy.

But as lean into the trunk, I think I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. My heart starts thumping in my chest again, so loud that I think I even feel it in my ears.

There’s not another car on the desolate road. My headlights only illuminate the immediate area then fade into the dark pavement and bright snow ahead.

To both sides of me is a thick, snowy white forest, so still that I hear myself breathing, each exhale creating a whisp of fog that dances along the breeze.

It’s nothing, I tell myself. I probably didn’t even see any movement. It’s just a little creepy out here, and I’m letting my mind play tricks on me.

As I make my way to the back of the car then around to the other side, the light spilling out of my truck is just enough to show me that the flat is bad. So, I gather the flashlight and the jack so I can get started.

I sure don’t want to stay out here any longer than I have to.

Setting down my flashlight to aim it at the tire, I get out the wrench and start working on the lug nuts. This was never my favorite part since my idea of a workout is a jog in the park, not a bench press.

I all my strength into it, pushing with my feet, my arms, my legs, and I finally get the first lug nut loose with one last shove.

“Ugh!”

The wrench falls to the ground in a series of pinging sounds that echo through the silent forest.

I stand frozen for a moment, my eyes darting around while my nerves rattle, barely taking a breath. Silence envelops the forest around me again. The air weighs heavy. The darkness, outside the beams of my headlights and flashlight, feels all-encompassing.

A sound behind me gives me a start, and I whirl around to see a shower of snow falling off a branch near the road. Again, I don’t breathe, my heart thundering against my rib cage.

But then I see it—a tiny tuft of fur running into the forest. A rabbit maybe? No, it’s too late at night. “Must have been a raccoon or something,” I whisper.

Neviah, get a hold of yourself.

I’ve got to get this tire changed, or I’ll be stuck here till morning, or until someone comes along.

Yeah, like an ax murderer or something. Who else would come along on this road at this time of night?

I suck in the cold night air and let it out slowly, trying to refocus my thoughts and keep my hands from shaking. There’s nothing out here but forest animals, and they’re not likely very interested in me.

“I’m probably scaring them more than they’re scaring me.”

Laughing to break through the fear, I walk over and grab the lug wrench, going back to the tire to try lug nut number two.

This one is easier, but it still sticks a bit.

“Okay, just three to go.”

I start humming a few bars of my favorite Christmas carol, O Holy Night, just to refocus my mood. It works, because I have the other lug nuts off in no time.

But now, it’s time to jack up the car and get the tire off. My dad insisted that I carry one of those hydraulic jacks that’s solid metal and very heavy. But I also have the standard scissor jack that came with the car. I weigh my two options.

My dad’s jack is hefty but easier to work and quicker, so I reach in with two hands and lug it out, rolling its metal wheels on the cold pavement toward my flat tire with a loud grinding noise that reverberates through the snowy trees.

“Well, you certainly know how to make noise out here,” I tell myself out loud.

But I just laugh that off too, at least until I remember why I’m stuck out here in the first place.

Then, all the anger at Steve returns, and whoever Miss Blonde is, imagining them sitting cozily by the fire making out while I’m stuck jacking up a car on the side of the road in the middle of the frozen tundra.

Well, maybe it’s not quite a tundra out here, but I know they’re heating it up back in Steve’s cabin... the one that was supposed to be ours one day.

It’s too damn cold to cry, so I try to go back to humming my Christmas carol, but it just ends up coming out like a shaky sob.

Then it hits me. I forgot to text Maria! She’s probably panicked by now, wondering where I am. Maybe she’s called the highway patrol or something.

“That might be a good thing,” I say to myself as I try to stare out into the darkness.

Either way, I need to let her know I’m okay. Maybe she can come meet me out here and help with the tire, or maybe I should call a tow truck or something, just so I’m not out here alone.

I slide into the driver’s seat, leaving my door open, leaning over to grab my phone. But when I go to click on her number, I notice the “no signal” message at the top.

Yes, I’m in the middle of nowhere. I can’t call Maria. I can’t call for a tow truck or the police or anyone who can help. I guess there’s nothing more to do now other than get that tire off and install the spare.

But before I can turn to step out, muscular arms the size of tree trunks reach into my car and wrap around my shoulders.

“Get out!”

The deep, masculine voice sends a shudder down my spine while I simultaneously struggle against the man’s grip.

“Let go!” I scream. “Help! Help!”

I know it’s probably useless to scream out here in the middle of nowhere, but since it’s so quiet out, maybe someone at a hunting lodge or something will hear me.

He just grips me tighter in response, pulling me all the way out of my car and into the air effortlessly. He must be over six feet tall because my feet dangle as he holds me tightly.

“Let me go!” I scream, trying to kick him, but he just wraps one arm around my legs and gets them into a tight hold. Now he’s holding me like a bride, this massive stranger of a man, so I switch to my arms, desperately trying to hit him to make him let go.

“We need to leave,” he says, steady and commanding, so sure of himself that somewhere deep inside, I want to do just that... leave with him.

What the... Neviah, he’s a stranger in the middle of the woods!

“I’m not going anywhere,” I insist. “Put me down!”

But it’s like talking to a wall, because it’s having no effect on this man. I struggle against him again, and I might as well be fighting a refrigerator, because none of my attempted kicks land, and he has me so tight in his grip that I can’t even wiggle.

He lets go with one hand for a second, though he tightens his grip with the other. I still can’t wiggle away.

His free hand comes up to my chin so he can turn my head.

And now, I’m still trying to wiggle and kick, but I can see the back of my car... and the multiple sets of glowing eyes beading on me from the darkness.

My body goes completely stiff.

“Oh...” is the only sound I let out from what’s left of my breath.

The eyes start closing in.