CHAPTER ONE: THE NEW NORMAL
1129 Words
Myla’s Pov
Today’s sandwich was a little too dry. I loved the cafeteria food but today’s wasn’t totally great.
Across from me, my best friend Hailey was enjoying hers , it made me wonder if they prepared hers separately or she just loved really dry sandwiches.
“You know,” she said between chews, “there’s a guy who hasn’t stopped staring at you for the past ten minutes.”
I groaned. “Please don’t tell me it’s that sucker, Thomas.”
She nudged my arm with a playful scoff. “You’ve got such a potty mouth.”
“I do not. I’m just exceptionally fluent in sarcasm and selective profanity.”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Myla. Give him a chance. He’s been flirting with you since last semester and you haven’t even blinked at him .”
“I’m just not interested,” I shrugged, sipping my water.
“That’s what you say about every guy who even breathes in your direction. Are you sure you’re straight?”
“I am!” I laughed, but it felt hollow.
The truth was ,no matter how much time passed—I couldn’t shake Rowan’s rejection. The shame, the sting of being cast aside… It lingered like smoke in my lungs. Since then, all men looked the same to me…disappointing and disposable.
Three years.
It had been three years since the night my world collapsed under the silver moonlight.
Three years since I was banished from the Silver Fang pack, rejected by the only person I thought the Goddess had chosen for me.
Three years since I stopped being Myla, the cursed girl with no wolf, and started living as… well, just Myla.
A regular human.
Or so I told myself.
Life had finally found rhythm here in Elderwood, a quiet human town nestled between forest and farmland. I worked part time at a cozy bookshop on Maple Street, lived in a small cottage with creaky floors and ivy-covered walls, and spent most of my evenings reading by the fireplace with tea in hand. It wasn’t magic, but it was peaceful.
And after everything I’d survived, peace felt like a miracle.
Alice, my mother’s long-lost aunt had found me the day I collapsed at the edge of the woods. She didn’t hesitate to take me in. Said she’d been watching from afar, waiting for the right time to bring me into her world.
I didn’t really understand what she meant because why didn’t she just come get me ?
It didn’t matter now though . I had no one else to turn to and I was grateful for her .
She never pressured me to learn magic or embrace a destiny. She gave me freedom , something I’d never known inside that orphanage. Eventually, she signed the papers and officially became my guardian.
“Myla Blythe,” she had told me, “you’re a blood of mine. Cursed or not, you’re family.”
That was the first time I cried without feeling weak.
Now, at twenty-one, I had carved a life of my own.
No magic.
No wolf.
No pain.
Just… normal. Safe.
At least, until today.
******
Later that evening, Aunt Alice had sent me to the store to get some groceries .
As I changed into something comfy I stared at myself in the mirror , the shiny neck piece on my neck catching my attention .
“Remember don’t ever take off mum’s neckpiece ,it’d always protect you from other forces, just keep it on” Ava’s voice floated in my head.
I touched the necklace ,it looked like a metal bound in chains ,I’ve had it on for as long as I can remember ,I don’t even recall getting it from my mum but I know she gave it to me.
I didn’t have powers so I’ve had to wear it as a means of protection and I wasn’t supposed to take it off .
Not that I could anyway , it had a lock and I didn’t even have the key.
I pulled on a jacket and stepped into the crisp evening air, the sky painted in streaks of peach and indigo. After picking up what we needed, I exited the store
The streets of Elderwood were hushed, the kind of quiet that presses on your ears until you swear you can hear your own heartbeat. I balanced the grocery bag in one arm and scrolled through my phone with the other.
Halfway down the Street, it started.
That feeling.
The prickling on the back of my neck. The awareness that I wasn’t alone.
I slowed, scanning the dusky road. Porch lights glowed faintly, the wind rattled leaves, but otherwise…silence.
“Get it together, Myla” I muttered, forcing a shaky laugh.
But my body didn’t believe it.
The necklace beneath my jacket suddenly warmed, the heat sharp against my chest.
I froze.
It had never done that before.
My stomach dropped. I adjusted my jacket, but the heat only spread, burning like someone had lit a match against my skin.
I increased my pace .
And then—clang.
Something metallic hit the pavement behind me.
My breath stuttered. Slowly, I turned.
The street was empty.
But in the corner of my vision, a shadow seemed to lurk.
“Hello?”
Nothing. Just the wind.
I took in a deep breath, telling myself I was worrying for nothing.
I bent to gather my bag more tightly, when the air changed.
Cold. Too cold. My breath fogged even though it wasn’t nearly cold enough for that.
I heard footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate. Behind me.
I spun around.
Empty.
The necklace seared hotter. I gasped, clutching it through the fabric of my jacket, but the burning didn’t stop. Panic rose up to my throat.
The grocery bag slipped from my shaking hands. Apples rolled across the concrete, the milk carton burst, white liquid spilling like blood in the dark.
The footsteps came again, closer this time.
I backed away, heart thudding, my eyes darting between shadows that seemed to stretch too long, too dark. The air reeked faintly of smoke and iron.
And then I saw it.
A tall silhouette standing perfectly still beneath the flickering streetlamp at the corner.
I blinked and it was gone.
The sudden silence was worse than the noise.
I gulped , snatching what groceries I could and bolted the last block, lungs burning, legs trembling.
By the time I slammed the cottage door behind me, I was shaking so badly I could barely lock it.
I pressed my back to the wood, gasping, clutching at the burning necklace beneath my jacket.
Normal. Safe. That’s what I told myself.
But tonight proved otherwise.
Because out there somewhere…something had found me.
- Writer
