Invitation to The Wild | Naturali Compendium book 01

Girls of The Wild . . They won't tell you fairytales of how girls can be dangerous and still win. They will only tell you stories where girls are sweet and kind and reject all sin. I guess to them it's a terrifying thought, a red riding hood who knew exactly what she was doing when she invited the wild in. . . Nikita Gill . . . . . . ~ . . . . . . Neala Malloch closes her eyes to try and calm her trembling body, but a flash of her boyfriend slapping her causes her to flinch, blue eyes snapping open as her fingertips gently brush across her split lip. She sighs, the breath from her nose causing the bathwater to ripple gently. The bubbles tickle her nose and she sniffs slightly, fighting the urge to sneeze. The Bluetooth speaker on top of the toilet starts a new song, but she isn't really paying much attention to it if she's completely honest with herself, considering there's a lot on her mind at the moment. Her boyfriend had gotten angry at her again today. It wasn’t his fault, though, since she’d cooked the wrong thing for dinner. “I never asked for chicken,” he’d told her as they sat down to eat. “You never remember stuff correctly. I told you I wanted cheeseburgers.” But what’s strange is that she remembers him saying he wanted chicken this morning when they went grocery shopping. They’d talked about what to have as sides (mashed potatoes and green beans) and whether he wanted light or dark meat. Or maybe she just heard chicken? Obviously, she’d heard him wrong because why else would she have made chicken instead of cheeseburgers? On the floor beside the tub, her phone buzzes. She dries off her hand to grab it, moving to a sitting position with a wince. Her ribs hurt again but at least the bruises are finally fading. Briefly, she wishes that she was Naturali like her parents and little brother so that her injuries would heal quickly and no one would notice them. The text is from Rebekah Johnson or, Bex, as her best friend likes to be called. She wants to know if Nea can hang out this week but Nea knows she has to ask Tony first, so she relays this. Bex doesn’t respond for several minutes and it prompts Nea to think about the last time she actually saw her best friend outside of school. It had been right around the time she broke her arm last December. She’d been helping Tony bring Christmas decorations down from his attic and had just handed him a tote full of ornaments when her foot suddenly slipped. Nea had tumbled down the last three steps, her chin banging against one of them, stars in her eyes, tongue bleeding because she’d bitten it. The last thing she remembers is her boyfriend's face as she hits the ground before everything goes black. She woke up in the back of an ambulance, Tony clutching her hand and numerous apologies on his lips. The doctor at her town’s clinic who, coincidentally is her best friend's mother, told her that her arm was broken in two places and would take a while to heal. Nea remembers Tony being extremely apologetic about it, saying that he should have caught her but it all happened so fast, and swears that he’s gonna make it up to her by taking her out for dinner the next week on her fifteenth birthday. Bex had immediately opposed this, stating that Nea had already made plans with her months ago, and she remembers begging her best friend to reschedule their plans. “Just this once, I promise,” Nea had said, holding Bex’s hand tight in her own, giving her best pleading eyes. They’d always worked with her dad, why not her best friend? Begrudgingly, the other girl had agreed. Tony had taken her out for a romantic dinner and it had been nice, for a while, until she went to browse the attached bookstore while he ordered dessert. An employee there had chatted with her, asking if she was looking for anything in particular (she wasn’t), and said that he could recommend something if she was interested (she was). The boy, Casey, suggested a book about a girl fighting to be with her true love. Nea had always been interested in romantic stories like that, ones where the fated couple was meant to be together because it let her imagine that one day she'd find her coeunt like some of her friends have. When she’d returned to the table she was surprised that Tony had already paid for dinner and she barely had time to ask why as he whisked her out of the restaurant and into his car. The ride back to his house had been painfully silent, anxiety creeping into every part of her body because what happened? What had made him so angry? He parked in the garage, knuckles white as he gripped the wheel. He accused her of flirting with Casey and she had vehemently denied it. Tony was the only boy for her. She knew that. He told her all the time that no one understood her as he does. “You cheated on Zach with me,” he argued, brown eyes flickering with rage. “You're capable of it. How do I know you won't cheat on me with that boy from the restaurant? You might think he's better than me.” “I don't know him!” Nea had retorted. She fidgets with the book in her lap. “All he did was recommend a book to me.” He snatched it from her, wondering what the hell kind of book it was and, before she can even blink, his hands are around her throat. She gasped for air, clawing at his hands. “His number is on the receipt!” Tony snarls. The expression on his face is something she has never seen before. “Why did he give you his number? Were you going to sneak out with him? You were planning on cheating on me, weren't you?!” She tries to shake her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “T-tony, pl-please,” she gasps. “You’re hur-hurting m-me.” Nea’s words must've brought him back to reality because she can suddenly breathe again. His hands tangle in her unruly red curls and he pulls her close, kissing her fiercely. Apologies ring in her ears and her boyfriend sounds distraught at what he's done. “God, baby, I'm so sorry. I never meant… I just got so jealous and I… Nea, baby…” His head drops to her chest as he begins to cry and her hands instantly move to stroke his blonde hair. “I know,” she whispers. “I know you didn't mean it.” After that Tony had taken her up to his room. She hadn't initially wanted to but he was just so torn up about what he'd done that she wanted to make sure he knew she loved him and having s*x with him seemed like the perfect way to do that. He'd told her he loved her when they were done and she did the same, only… she wasn't exactly sure how to feel about the entire situation. A buzzing startles Nea back to the present and she looks at the phone in her hand. She didn't know how long she'd been lost in her thoughts but tears were running down her cheeks. Between the blurriness, she realizes that Bex had finally responded. we are hanging out whether he likes it or not, hun I can’t, lemme ask Tony first Bex doesn’t understand, she thinks. Tony has rules and she has to follow them. If she breaks them… that face she saw back in December comes back again, and it scares her. She promised she’d listen and be a good girlfriend, doing everything he wants, and is a little afraid of what might happen if she isn’t. Plus the rules change so often she can’t always keep track of them. She always has to be on her toes, so as not to anger her boyfriend. The phone buzzes in her hand again, but this time Bex is calling her. Nea wants to answer and she can’t. She wants to, she does, but she doesn’t wanna hear it again: that Bex thinks Tony is abusing her. She knows he isn't, because he’s such a nice guy and so sweet. He does so many nice things for her. The only time he gets angry is when she breaks a rule or doesn’t do as she’s told. Other than that he dotes on her, taking her out on dates and buying her presents. Her best friend is wrong. She rejects the call but a second later it rings again, and Nea has to make the tough decision to silence her phone. With a sigh, she reaches over to pull the plug for the drain and gets to her feet with a wince. Nea wraps a towel around her body but as she passes by the mirror on her bathroom door something catches her eye and she stops. The bruises on her thighs have finally faded from the ugly black and blue to a sickly yellow. They still hurt slightly, but not as bad as they used to. She tugs on her pajamas and braids her wet curls before settling down into the bed. It doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep but, unfortunately, the dreams wake her again around one o’clock. Voices and faces swim in her head, things her brain desperately wants to recognize but she can never quite place. Nea fumbles for her light and grabs the sketchbook and pencils from under her bed. She starts to sketch the faces she remembers, the places she sees, the words she hears. The dreams have been happening since she was a little girl, frightening her until she turned ten when they began to get clearer and she took to drawing to ease her mind. They used to come very rarely, maybe once or twice a month if that, but more recently it's been weekly and almost every other night. She hasn’t shown anyone this sketchbook, not even Bex, mainly because she knows that people will think she's crazy if she even mentions the fact that she sometimes hears voices. This time though, something new had shown up: a bridge. She doesn't know where or what bridge exactly, but can sketch out the basic outline and the surrounding shapes. The faces she sees are actually the most comforting parts of the dreams because they all give her a sense of kinship she’s never really felt with anyone else but her family and close friends. She wishes she knew the names of the people she sees, sometimes it feels like it’s on the tip of her tongue but then her head begins to hurt so she has to focus on something else. Who are these people, she thinks, and what are they trying to tell her?