Escape
1035 Words
OLIVIA
I run in a maze of cottages and small shrubs hoping to find a way out but it feels like I'm running in circles.
"excuse me!" I call, between breaths when I see a woman walking ahead of me.
She stops and turns to face me as I run forward, my pace slowing.
"Please help me find a way out of this place...it's...it's so strange and I need...a way out," I say, trying to catch my breath when I stop in front of her.
"You want to escape the pack?" she asks, her voice hoarse.
"No," I say, shaking my head. "I need a way out of these premises, I want to go home."
"Okay," she says after what feels like hours of silence. "I'll show you out. Follow me."
"Thank you," I say, scurrying to match her strides.
I stop walking, and hold my hands to my knees.
"Is everything alright?" the woman asks as I try to maintain my balance.
"I feel dizzy," I say realizing that I'm about to get into a hypoglycemic attack. "Please help me out of this place."
The last thing I hear her say is, "I'll help you."
The familiar smell of antiseptic that almost all hospitals have in common pierces my nostrils as I stir awake. The door to the dimly lit white-walled room opens just as I sit up and the woman from earlier walks in, taking a seat on the bedside chair.
"You're finally up," she says, her smile revealing her crooked teeth.
"Yes," I say, forcing a smile, "thank you for saving me. May I use your phone? I need to call my sister."
She shakes her head, "I don't have a phone dear."
I let out a frustrated sigh and she extends her hand to rub my shoulder.
"How did you manage to get me out of that strange place?"
The woman shrugs, "You passed out so I carried you here."
"It was a hypoglycemic attack," I say, a little embarrassed. "I get them whenever my blood sugar levels are low. I hadn't eaten anything so I guess the levels dropped."
"The doctor said the same thing. He gave you a glucan injection and said you'd be fine," she says.
I chuckle, "Glucagon injection, you mean?"
"Yeah! yeah! Glucagon," she says, her voice rising as she laughs. "You see, I'm not familiar with medical terms."
"Have you ever been to a place so strange it feels like you're in a dream?" I ask, eager to tell her about Dillon and his people.
"No, why?"
"A man I matched on Tinder took me to a very strange place. Everything there was strange, especially the people. They're all very tall and huge...even children don't look like normal children. Everything was just so strange and..."
The door opens and Dillon walks in, his hands in his pockets. I look between him and the woman, terrified as the realization hits me. The woman didn't help me escape, she gave me in instead.
Hot tears burn the back of my eyes, threatening to spill out as I watch the two talk.
"How long has she been awake?" he asks, leaning against the shut door, his hands still in his pockets.
"A few minutes now, alpha," the woman says, getting off the bedside chair.
"Go and bring her some food," he orders and she gives him a slight bow as he pushes off the door to let her leave.
He walks to the bedside chair and sits on the armrest, his gaze pinned on me.
Uncomfortable, I fidget and look down at my fingers to avoid eye contact.
I don't even know him but his presence is doing things to me that I don't understand. His stare is making me blush, his scent is engraved on the part of my brain that's responsible for olfaction and his touch...I'm getting strange tingles every time his skin touches mine. I could feel the tingles even when he held the small of my back as he led me into the room filled with a strange crowd.
Who is this man, who are those people? I think to myself.
I'm about to ask him those very questions when he clears his throat.
"I'm the leader of the people in this community. We're all humans like you but not as weak, and we posess something you humans don't." He says as if reading my mind.
My heart begins to pound hard against my chest as I remember all the stories I heard growing up, about a place in New Zealand occupied by a group of beings that aren't human. People attempted to find the beings and study them but they were killed before they could make any success and without any evidence of these beings, the stories remained legends and myths that were told to notorious children to instill fear in them before bedtime.
"Take me home, Dillon," I say, afraid of what will happen to me if I stay here any longer.
"Isabel has already reported you missing and soon, it'll be concluded that you're dead and your funeral will be held. You can't go back home."
I sigh, pulling my legs to my chest. "Isabel can't give up searching for me just like that."
"She will, eventually," Dillon says nonchalantly. "You know about us and because of that, I can't let you go. Don't make another escape attempt, you'll get yourself killed."
"Let me go! I don't know anything about you and your strange friends."
"Then I'll tell you about us."
"Dillon, please," I say, looking into his eyes this time.
He holds my gaze, "We're werewolves and I'm the leader of this pack...the alpha. The tales about werewolves in the human world are not myths. Our true existence is a secret. You'll learn more as you live amongst us. Welcome the pack."
"Why did you bring me here, and why did you introduce me as one of New Zealand's best teachers knowing very well that I'm not?" I ask, curious.
"To keep you...I lied so I could keep you here and alive."
I don't understand what he means but it's clear that I can't escape him, at least not now.
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