Unexpected Mate

Changes

Before she knew it the first day of classes had started. She didn’t mind. She always liked academics and had always been good in school. She had a full day of classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But she was off Tuesdays and Thursday. She liked that because it gave her a chance to do all of her assignments on her off days. There were a couple of the girls that she had met during the summer who had opted to do the same thing with their schedules.  She thought it had been a good idea. She had made it through all of her classes and felt somewhat relieved because she knew she was going to be able to handle it. She went to the dinning hall after dropping her bag and books off at her dorm. She grabbed her food and found a table in the back of the cafeteria to eat. She kind of wished she had kept her bag with her so she could have read or gotten on her laptop while she ate since she was eating alone. She felt somewhat out of place, but she wasn’t sure why she had always eaten alone in high school, but she had hoped this would be different. She looked around the cafeteria and noticed that most people were sitting in groups and laughing and carrying on. She figured this wasn’t the first semester for most of them. Most were probably returning students. So, they already had made friends so finding someone to sit with wasn’t an issue. She told herself she hadn’t had that opportunity yet, but things would change once she had. But since it hadn’t happened, yet she ate her dinner fairly quickly and headed back to her dorm.  

                Day after day went by and Tahlia had gotten into a routine and things had become normal to her. She usually ate lunch with Mandy and Abby, a couple of her friends. And then she typically ate dinner and went for a walk around the campus or on the nature trail that was connected to the campus grounds. She had grown to feel at home and truly was enjoying her time there. It was so different than things had been in Ohio. Her plan had come together. It wasn’t until she had gotten the feeling a few times recently that someone was watching her, but she never saw anyone, that she felt a little uneasy. She wasn’t sure what that was all about.  She supposed it was her imagination. After all, why on earth would someone be watching her? She was nothing special.

                Before she knew it, she had already completed two semesters and would be starting her third soon.  She was so happy that she had chosen to come to Oregon. She felt like she belonged there. She had never really felt that way before. That evening after dinner she decided that she would go for a walk on the nature trail. She walked off the campus grounds and onto the trail which snaked around through the woods before coming back to the campus. She had only passed a few people on her way out to the nature trail. Not many people utilized it, but she was not sure why because she thought it was peaceful and she enjoyed it. It gave her some quiet time to herself and allowed her to just relax and not think about anything of importance for a little while.  She was about halfway through the trail when she noticed it was getting a little darker than she had anticipated. She decided that it didn’t matter if she turned back or if she kept walking to the other entrance to the campus because she was about at the halfway point and it would take about the same amount of time either way. Once she got back to the campus everything would be well lit and she would easily be able to see to make her way back to her dorm.  She decided to keep walking and finish the loop. So, she kept walking. She quickened her step because she felt that uneasy feeling again, but it was probably because it was dark, and she was spooking herself. She somewhat regretted coming out so later by herself now. She kept telling herself that it wasn’t much farther. She became increasingly aware of every little sound around her. She heard animal noises and then she thought she heard twigs breaking, but when she turned around, she didn’t see anything or anyone. She tried to keep her eyes forward and just concentrate on getting to the end of the trail and not freak herself out. Suddenly someone grabbed her and pulled her off the trail. She felt a knife come up under and chin and against her throat. She was instantly terrified. She felt her heart pick up and her breathe hitch at the feel of the cold knife against her throat. She tried to fight back to get away but went she did the knife dug into her throat causing her to gasp. She was thrown to ground hard enough that it knocked the wind out of her. She saw the creep coming back at her with the knife and out if nowhere a huge wolf lunged at him and took him to the ground with a large growl.  The wolf glanced back at her for a split second and during that short time the knife was plunged into its chest. It yelped in agony and crumpled to the ground. Then the man came after her again. She stumbled to her feet and tried to run but he was on her to fast for her to get away. She heard the wolf again and it pulled the man off her and grabbed him by his throat. The man fought back but it was futile. The wolf held him by his throat until he stopped fighting.  Tahlia was terrified. The wolf stumbled over to her. She was frozen with fear and couldn’t move. But her thoughts were racing. She knew she couldn’t outrun it. She hoped that if she just stayed still it would leave her alone and unharmed. Then it occurred to her that it had appeared that the wolf had been protecting her. But that couldn’t be. That made no sense. Why would a wolf protect her?