Claimed For Christmas

Chapter 3-Running Away

Brooklyn

Shoving through the crowd of people, I felt like the walls were closing in all around me.

The second I burst through the front door, I took a deep gulping breath. Letting that harsh cold air filled my lungs, feeling it burn all the way down.

“Brooklyn!” Tyler yelled after me, but I couldn’t face him, not after what I had just witnessed.

Ugh, I was such an i***t to come here…what was I even thinking? He’s probably been messing around with other girls this entire time, and I was totally clueless.

I started to run towards my car, unlocking it with my key fob, and almost slipped when I crossed the street. Just when I was about to reach for the door, a strong hand gripped my arm, yanking me back.

“Brooklyn, let me explain.” Tyler rushed, before turning me around to face him.

“What’s there to explain, Tyler? I just saw you kiss someone else. Clearly you’ve moved on.” I searched his face, feeling sick to my stomach by the amount of kiss marks that were all over it.

“That’s not true, baby! It didn’t mean anything. It’s just a stupid game the guys put together.”

A game? That’s a pretty messed up game for someone with a girlfriend to play.

“Please, I just want to go.” I breathed, trying to yank my arm from his grasp but it only made him hold onto me tighter.

“If you would’ve told me you were coming–”

“What? Then you wouldn’t have kissed someone right in front of me?” I asked, feeling so hurt by all of this.

“It meant nothing!” He yelled, causing me to flinch back. Tyler has never raised his voice to me before, so seeing this side of him was jarring.

“Let go of me Tyler!” I rushed, not wanting to do this. People were starting to stare.

“Not until we talk about this.” He gritted through his teeth, and started to pull me back towards the house, making me slide across the snow covered road.

“I don’t want to be anywhere near you right now.” I yanked my arm back, feeling his fingers digging into my flesh and knew there would be bruises there tomorrow. “Let me go!”

“Stop being a f*****g b***h and just listen to me for a second!”

His words were like a slap to my face. Who even was Tyler right now? This isn’t the guy I’ve been talking to for almost a year. Yeah Tyler had an anger problem when it came to baseball, and being on the field…but never had he been like this towards me. Or maybe I just didn’t know him as well as I thought I did.

Tears blurred my vision as Tyler yanked on my arm, pulling me closer to his body.

“Are you really going to throw away eleven months of dating over a f*****g game?” He gritted out, and I dug my feet into the snow, trying to stop him any way I could. “We’re going up to my room to talk about this. I’m not letting you leave until we work this s**t out.”

“No! Stop! I don’t want to!”

“Get the f**k off of her!” A deep voice shouted from somewhere near the house. The sound caused a shiver to tremble up my spine as I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up.

Before I could see who said it, Tyler was yanked back, making me go stumbling to the ground.

“What the hell dude? What’s your problem?!” Tyler yelled, and that’s when I scrambled to my feet, using the opportunity to get away from him.

“Wait!” Another deep voice shouted after me, but there was no way I was stopping.

I ran to my car, yanked the door open, and slipped inside. The second I got in, I locked the door. With trembling hands, I brought my key to the ignition, and shoved it in before turning.

Suddenly someone started pounding on the window, making me scream.

“We just want to talk! It’s too dangerous to go out right now!” A guy said, trying to open the car door. I shifted the car into drive and hit the gas, peeling out of there.

The back end of my car slid from side to side before finding traction and began speeding down the road.

Tears streamed down my face as I tried to catch my breath. I felt like my heart was about to burst from my chest.

How could he do that to me? I thought he was different. He told me that I was the only one he wanted. Even before he left I told him we didn’t have to stay together if it was too much for him. I knew it was a lot to ask for…but he insisted that he didn’t want to break up. He said he only wanted to date me, and that we would make this work.

What a lie.

I sped down the road, needing to get as far away from here as possible. Large snowflakes flew towards me, making it hard to see but I gripped the steering wheel, trying to focus the best I could.

Taking a left turn, I started to head down the road when I heard my phone start to ring. Fishing into my pocket, I pulled it out, seeing Tyler’s name flash across the screen.

I threw it on the chair beside me. There was no way I was answering his calls. Not only did he cheat on me, but he called me a b***h too, and my arm was still aching from where he grabbed me.

Why did I even come out here? This was such a bad idea. Jillian was right, I should’ve just stayed with her for Christmas.

Taking a shuddering breath, I tried to stop crying and focus on the road, but the longer I kept driving, the worse the roads got.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter, wondering why I hadn’t reached the highway yet when I looked down at my gps.

Oh god, I took a wrong turn.

Glancing back up, my eyes widened in horror when I saw a large deer standing in the middle of the road. I yanked the wheel to the right, swerving around it, and slammed on the breaks but the car didn’t stop.

My car went flying into the ditch, the impact making me fly forward, and hit my head on the window before slamming back into my seat. For a moment, it was like the world had stopped. Everything went eerily quiet as a ringing sounded in my head.

When I finally came to, I began to get my senses back, realizing my head was pounding. The sound of the windshield wipers scraped across the windshield. I blinked my eyes rapidly, feeling something warm dripping down my face as I let out a groan.

I lifted my hand, wiping my brow and brought my fingers back down, seeing they were now covered in red.

This was bad…really bad. I went to grab my phone, realizing it wasn’t on the seat anymore, and quickly unbuckled my seatbelt. Maybe it fell on the floor. I was about to bend over to search for it when a blood curdling howl came from somewhere outside, and froze me in place.

My stomach dropped. What the hell was that?

I whipped my head to the side, winching by the sudden movement, and tried to peer outside. The snow was coming down like crazy now, so I could hardly see anything. Scrambling to find my phone, I started to lean into the passenger seat when another howl came from somewhere even closer.

“Oh my god.” I rushed, feeling true terror for the first time in a long time.

I sat back up. My eyes focused on the windshield as I watched the snowflakes falling heavily outside. The headlights were the only thing lighting up the forest ahead of me, making it so I could see a little ways out.

My gaze locked onto the rows of trees in front of me, when something black caught my attention. Then it started to move. This was like something out of a nightmare. I stiffened, just staring at this thing coming out of the tree line and watched it stalk towards me. That’s when all of those things my mother told me as a child came flooding back to me.

Sharp teeth…black fur…red eyes.

It was the monster mom had always warned me about.

Only this creature had glowing gold eyes.

I stared at the thing, watching as it stalked towards me slowly. The size of it grew with each step it took until it was right in front of me.

It was a wolf…only bigger. Much, much bigger.

Suddenly it started to circle the car, making me panic as I wrapped my arms around myself. It’s real…How is this thing real?

A loud thud hit the passenger side door before it shook from side to side, making me let out a scream. My hand flew to the key inside the ignition, trying to start the car frantically, but it wouldn’t turn over.

“Please start…please please please.” I pleaded, turning it over and over again.

Suddenly, the thing jumped up, landing straight onto the hood, and making me cry out as I stared into those golden eyes.

The wolf pulled its lips back, baring its sharp teeth…and that’s when I started to feel fuzzy. My vision began to darken as my head lulled back…

The last thing I remember was seeing that monster turning its head to the side, watching me curiously as I passed out, wondering if I would ever wake up again…