Rachael
1092 Words
The growl was deep. Rough. Bone-chilling.
It came out of nowhere.
A huge brown bear burst from the trees, its eyes wild with hunger and rage. I barely had time to think before it charged at us.
“Run!” Dominic shouted, but my legs wouldn’t move.
Instead, I grabbed the closest thing I could find, a thick wooden branch. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had.
The bear lunged at Dominic . I screamed and ran forward, slamming the wood against the beast’s side with everything I had in me. The wood cracked.
My arms vibrated from the impact. The bear roared louder.
Dominic found a sharp stone and stabbed it into the bear’s leg. It cried out in pain and turned toward him. I struck again this time aiming for the head.
The fight felt endless.
Sweat trickled down my face. My heart was pounding like a drum in my ears. I was tired. My hands were shaking. But we didn’t stop. We couldn’t.
Finally, with a last blow and David’s final stab, the bear collapsed with a thud that shook the earth.
We stood there panting. My clothes were torn. My face was scratched. But we were alive.
“I can’t believe we survived that,” David whispered, his voice hoarse.
“I thought I was going to die…” I breathed, my voice cracking.
David had already built a small hut in the woods. He didn’t say much, just pointed toward it as we limped there together. My legs felt like jelly. Every step was a struggle.
The hut was simple, made from wood and palm leaves, but it was a shelter.
“Two rooms,” he said. “One for you, one for Dominic.”
The inside was neat. A mat on the floor. A small clay pot in the corner. I smiled faintly. It wasn’t much, but it felt safe.
I tried preparing dinner with the squirrel Dominic had caught earlier using a trap he made from tree vines.
He watched me curiously. “You know, when I was younger, I loved setting traps like this.”
“Really?” I turned to him with raised brows. “You’ve been hard working since you were a boy.”
“Oh, yes. I had to be. My father didn’t play with laziness.”
I laughed. “Poor you.”
He grinned. “Tell me something about yourself. I want to know more about you more.”
I glanced at him, surprised. Most people never asked.
“Well…” I smiled shyly, “I used to love climbing trees. I once broke my arm because I tried to jump from one branch to another like a monkey.”
“No way,” he chuckled. “You don’t even look like someone that can stand mosquito bites, let alone climb trees.”
We both burst into laughter.
And somehow, that night, something shifted.
We laughed. We talked. We joked about our worst meals, embarrassing childhood memories, and silly things we did as kids.
With every passing minute, I felt myself sinking deeper into comfort. His eyes were kind. His voice was warm. His presence was calming.
“He’s such an amazing guy,” I whispered under my breath with a soft smile tugging at my lips.
“What are you smiling about?” Dominic asked suddenly, catching me off guard.
I blinked. “Oh… nothing.” I looked away quickly and let out a nervous laugh.
“Really?” he said with a sly grin, his voice sharp and cold. “Or were you thinking about your once-upon-a-time lover… Ezekiel?”
The moment he said that name, something inside me snapped.
My chest tightened. My smile faded like a light switch had been turned off. I looked away, trying to hold myself together, but it was too late.
My hands clenched without me realizing. I felt heat rush to my face, not the kind that makes you blush, but the kind that burns from anger and hurt mixed together.
Why would he bring up Ezekiel now?
He knew that name carried a storm. He knew how hard I had fought to bury that part of my past.
But hearing it out loud again pulled me back to memories I didn’t want to face, memories of late-night tears, broken promises, and the way Ezekiel walked away like none of it ever mattered.
I swallowed hard, trying not to let it show, but the silence between us was already heavy.
My mood had changed, completely. The fire in my chest wouldn’t let me speak, and my eyes now cold and distant did the talking for me.
“My face went serious. “I can’t think of that… that bastard.”
Dominic raised his hands in surrender. “My bad. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I looked down, twiddling my fingers. Am I already falling for Dominic? I wondered.
I couldn’t tell what he felt… but the way he looked at me sometimes, like he was trying to read my soul, made me believe he felt something too.
That night, we both went to bed in silence. But my heart wasn’t silent.
I tossed. I turned. And then…
I woke up suddenly.
My chest was rising and falling fast. I was sweating. My body trembled.
A dream no, a nightmare, had shaken me.
I didn’t know what it meant, but it felt real. Too real.
In the dream, I was standing alone in a dark forest. There was blood on my hands. I looked down, and Dominic was lying on the ground, lifeless. His eyes open, staring at me. I screamed his name, but no sound came out.
I turned, and there was Ezekiel, laughing his laughter cruel, loud, echoing in the forest.
I woke up with tears on my cheeks.
I couldn’t sleep after that. I sat up and watched the flickering flame of the small fire David had kept going. My heart was heavy. My thoughts were loud.
By morning, the sun had barely risen when Dominic stepped out of his room and saw me sitting outside, my arms hugging my knees.
He paused.
“What’s wrong?” he asked softly, crouching next to me. “You look… like you didn’t sleep at all.”
I didn’t even answer right away. It took me a moment to find my voice.
“I… I had a dream.”
His brows furrowed. “What kind of dream?”
I swallowed.
Should I really tell him what I saw?
- Writer
