Sam

After losing Grace, I realised what it was like to lose half of yourself.

When I was with her my heart would come to a stop. She wasn't just a girl. I didn't just love her. It was so much more than that. I was Grace. Grace was me. We were one person combined.

After losing her, the light of my life went out. On the brightest of days it was dark. How I long to have the sensation of seeing her. I'd lost everything, everyone. Beck. Ulrik. Paul. But the only person who I couldn't live without was her. Grace. My beautiful summer girl.

Our story was complicated. There was a girl. She was attacked by wolves. She was fascinated by them. A yellow-eyed one in particular. Then she met a yellow-eyed boy. Her wolf. She found out. They fell in love. At winter, she lost him. They longed to find a cure. Finally they did. Both human.

If only it could have stayed that way, I thought. But the signs of Grace shifting began haunting them. Then she did. Since then I've been broken. Alone. Oh, so alone.

I looked around Beck's - I mean, my - house, going through so many memories.

I was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Cole barged in.

"Get in the car. We're going to Isobel's. Now," gasped Cole, panting for breath.

"What ? Why?" I questioned urgently.

"Dead wolf".

Please no.

Cole

I longed to reassure Sam, to say it would be okay. But we both knew it wouldn't make a difference.

Thank God I shifted early. Sam would have probably fallen to pieces, I thought .

So the journey was silent. Fortunately it was over quickly. Sam jumped out the car before I'd even parked.

"And I'm the suicidal one," I muttered under my breath, watching him sprint across the road.

I got out of the car and followed him.

By the time I'd got to the door , Isobel was already talking to Sam.

"I decided to -" she began.

"Is it her?" I interrupted.

She glared at me , then continued:

"As I was saying, I decided to wait for you to come. I think you should, um, check for yourself. To see if its Grace, I mean. If you feel capable, of course. I just thought , um, with the whole Jack thing….," Isobel trailed of, clearly pained to discuss the issue.

"I'll do it," Sam said. I could sense a hint of agony in his voice. When I lost Victor, I thought I wouldn't get over it. But he was only a friend, sometimes not even that. After seeing Sam with Grace I know how hard it must be for those two to be a part. They seemed to be inseparable.

When we were in Isobel's garden, she showed us to the wolf. It was lying with its face against the ground behind Isobel's shed.

"Its silver. Like Grace," I said.

"Oh good God," whispered Isobel, looking as pale as a ghost. "Please, no."

Sam stayed silent. He put his hand on the wolves back and pushed. The wolf flopped over, its body seeming boneless. We could see the bloody mark where the gun had shot it. I knew I had to look at its eyes, no matter how much I dreaded it. I dragged my eyes to its face until they were in my sight…

The eyes were brown. It wasn't Grace.

I sighed with relief. Then I hugged Isobel who was already whooping and laughing.

What the hey, I thought, if you can't change 'em, join 'em.

Sam was still silent.

"Sam?" Isobel said, playfully punching him on the shoulder. "Be happy. Its not Grace!"

In a stern, serious voice he replied: "Maybe not. But it came too close this time. Your dads not just going to stop, we all know that. Next time we might not be quite so lucky. Too close."

He headed towards the side gate, ignoring me and Isobel yell after him.

But as much as we didn't want to, we knew he was right.

SAM

I had to get out. To the woods. To the shed. They knew I was right. Probably more than I did . Grace could be next. This time it could of easily been her.

As I passed Graces house I saw Mr Brisbane in the window. At least he didn't see me I thought . The last time me and Graces father had encountered, he wasn't exactly pleasant. Lets just say, it ended with me getting hit.

The shed was in sight. I'll wait there for as long as I needed to. I needed Grace.

I opened the door, walked in and looked around. After this long it still hasn't changed. I stared at the box with my name labelled on it. So much has changed in such a short period. I don't feel like me anymore. Or was it the fact that I've only just found myself?

Now I just need to go to sleep and start a brand new day tomorrow.

Please say today was a dream.