BITTEN BY THE CAPTAIN OF THE FOOTBALL TEAM

LAIKYN Pressure doubles in my chest, and that's because I'm on a timer to get my grades sorted out, or I risk getting my scholarship in this Academy, revoked. But even that can't be compared to the tension boiling down in my bladder as I hurry to the restroom to get myself sorted out. That's when I hear it. The unmistakable sound of skin against skin. “Arrgghh!! Yes!!” Soft voices pooling out of the female restroom. I pause, instantly, dragging my feet across the marble tiles as I approach the entrance. The strain on my ears is enough to pick up the slightest sound, and the closer I get, the clearer it becomes. “Oh, f**k! Yes… harder!” The f**k? The slick-slap sound of flesh against flesh increases with each passing second, I don't have to strain my ears to hear what's going on in there. “Oh, yes, baby! Arrgghhh… I'm gonna c*m, baby!” The deep masculine voice moaning in the female's restroom pins my feet to the ground as the air grows warmer every second. “Oh, Adrian… I'm cumming, too.” And that's enough to have my heart hammering against my ribcage. One name. Multiple heartbeats. Strong enough I feel the earth open up beneath me, and gravity pushing me deeper into the ground. “Arggghhhh!!! Yes, Beatrice. Fuckk,” Adrian groans, the sound of his voice puncturing my eardrums and stealing the breath from my lungs. “Your p***y is so f*****g good. See how you've made me mess up your legs with my c*m?” Goddess. “Clean it with your tongue, Adrian,” Beatrice responds, and the voices of my best friend and boyfriend hammer against my chest, and gather tears at the edges of my sight. I can't move. I can't breathe. It's like the world has finally come to an end, and I'm standing at the centre of the apocalypse. The strain in my bladder disappears, along with the air in my lungs. I can't believe the voices reverberating in my ears right now. It doesn't take long for them to make it out of the restroom, and the minute our eyes come colliding with one another, nothing stops the tears from rolling down my cheeks. “Laikyn?” Beatrice calls out softly, but my eyes are on the man I handed my virginity to a few days ago. His cold blue eyes are unmoving as they settle on me. And when my eyes return to the redhead standing beside him, the cold night's air slaps me, and goosebumps flare over my skin. “I can explain, Lake,” Beatrice utters as I feel my legs taking a step backwards. Then another. The noose around my chest tightens, and for a second, I can barely see their faces standing before me. I can barely breathe, let alone summon the courage to part my lips and ask the questions flooding my thoughts. How long has this been going on? Was this after he told me that he's in love with me and filling me up with his c*m, or before? “Come on, Lake. Say something. Do something.” The voices in my head are demanding answers, but the tears streaming down my cheek make it quite impossible to utter a single word. I can only watch, helpless, as I keep taking lazy steps backwards. “Wait, Lake!” Beatrice mutters, and that's all the courage I need. Not to speak, but to run. I turn and allow my heels to take me as fast as they can through the winds. I can't stand there and do nothing. Stand there and allow the pressure to break my heart in half. So, I do the best thing I know how to do since I was young. Run. Run, and never look back, even though I am way past curfew, and the Academy forbids students from going out by that time. The silver moonlight stands high in the sky, casting its light on my shadow. The wind slapping against my skin is what I need right now to relieve the pain and swelling in my chest. I can hear another's feet running after me, and I know it's Beatrice's, but it stops after I make it past the woods, to my favourite sanctuary. The still waters near the edge of the ravine. My legs take me as fast as they can. But when my right leg slides against a rock, and my ankle twists, I come crashing hard against the ground. The silence of the woods is punctured by a wet c***k. A deeper, hollow sound that makes my stomach churn, followed by a sickening scream rupturing out of my throat. I can't move. When I try to shift, a bolt of white-hot lightning shoots from my heel to my hip. My vision flares white at the edges, and for a second, the world tilts on its axis. The air feels too thin to breathe. A few seconds pass in pain and I slowly begin to lose all hope of getting help. I might be here till dawn. That's when I hear it… the ruffling of the leaves. At first, it feels like the wind beating against the thick leaves, but when my sight snags past the shadows, they land on a pair of red glowing eyes buried within the darkness. Like those of an animal. My throat locks up, and my heart slams against my ribcage. The cold wind disappears, and the heat that boils beneath the fabric of my skin is enough to cook me in half. At first, the glowing eyes seem to be still, but the moment they emerge from the shadows, I feel my spirit leave my body. Dark brown fur with tracks of black running along its hide and paws. Long canines and large jaws powerful enough to c***k my skull with minimal ease. A wolf, but bigger. Bigger than any shown on national television, with an unusual eye colour from the normal one they all possess. “Stay still, Lake. Maybe it'll pass by without noticing you,” I whisper to myself, trying to calm down the abnormal beating of my heart as it tries to end me before the massive wolf can. “You shouldn't have left the school premises, Lake. You should have obeyed curfew,” I mutter, but how am I supposed to know a wolf was hanging within the premises? Not a single case of wolf sighting has been reported to Grimhowl Academy, before. Why does it have to be this night? When I just found my boyfriend cheating on me with my best friend. I keep calm and try not to de-escalate, but the minute a vicious snarl rips out of its throat, I lose all form of self-control. “Help!!!” I yell as if the sound of my voice will be able to magically reach the school walls and our headmaster will come running to my rescue. Or even one I wish to never see. Adrian. Literally anyone at this point. But it backfires when the huge wolf wraps its jaws around my broken ankle and pulls me on the ground into the darkness. The minute its teeth sink into the broken joint, the scream that ruptures out of my throat doesn't even sound human. The world becomes a blur of agonizing friction. I'm being erased from the earth. I feel the sudden, sharp sting of the forest floor peeling away pieces of my skin, leaving a trail of heat and crimson in the dirt behind us. A dull, heavy thud echoes inside my skull when my head comes bashing into a large rock. For a heartbeat, the silver moonlight splinters into broken white shards. Then the snapping twigs. The wolf's heavy breathing. The rush of wind… all bleeds into a single, high-pitched sound, stretching thinner until it snaps. Time itself blurs as everything folds into black.