"You are such a princess!" Elizabeth taunted as she threw her best friend a judging sideways glance.
"You're damn right I am!" Aurora whined dusting off the bottom of her pants where she had had an unfortunate incident with a mud puddle. "I hate camping! I do not even know how you talked me into this."
"Being the princess' best friend has its advantages." Elizabeth said with a smirk.
"Ha! You best believe peasant." Aurora teased as she snapped her fingers in a Z for dramatic affect.
"Girl, you better watch it. I will leave your royal ass to die in these woods if you call me peasant again." Elizabeth warned folding her arms across her chest.
"I'm just kidding Lizzie! You know you are my lady in waiting." Aurora said putting her arm around her best friend. "Now, let's get some freaking fire wood before they send out the search party for us back at camp."
"Pff, you really think Stacy gives one fuck about us getting lost in the woods? She probably sent us out here praying that we would fall in a ditch." Elizabeth said picking up a large branch that she found near the tree they were standing under.
The woods were thick and fogging. Frankly, they were downright terrifying. The only thing keeping the girls for losing it was the fact that they grew up near these woods. It was like having the Dark Forest adjacent to their houses. You either had to deal with the creepiness or cry every time your dad asked you to take out the trash.
"That's totally fine. I hope she falls in a ditch every time I see her perfect bitchy face. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, right? Aurora joked. "I do want to know whose bright idea it was to make the captain of the cheerleading squad head of this stupid field trip though. And why the hell would our school combine a cheerleading event with a National Honor Society event. And who the actual fuck picked camping?! In Georgia no less, in the middle of freaking winter!"
"Oh. My. God. Shut up. Your majesty is giving me a headache." Elizabeth said slowly, the twang of her southern accent hanging on the end of each word. She then began to messaging her temples acting as though she were in agonizing pain.
"Just sayin'…" Aurora laughed.
They walked a little further into the woods, grabbing a couple of twigs here and there talking about school and enjoying each other's company. They had both lost track of time until Aurora was all too aware of how dark it was getting.
"Shit. We need to get back. How long have we been out here?" Aurora asked Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looked at her watch and made a disgusted face.
"Holy hell. We left at five, right?
Aurora nodded her conformation
"It's six thirty! I told you that dumb bitch didn't care if we died!" Elizabeth said in outrage.
"I can't believe no one has come looking for us." Aurora said slowly, looking around the dense woods. "Unless they have, and they just can't find us. We are pretty deep in. I wasn't paying attention…Do you know how to get back?" Aurora's voice had gone dry as she started to panic.
"Oh Lord A, of course I…" Elizabeth's voice trailed off. She was looking around, her eyes darting back and forth to each possible exit. "Um…didn't we come in this way?" she asked pointing to her left.
"We should give it a try. Your cell doesn't have service by any amazing possibility, does it?" Aurora asked with a glimmer of hope, her own phone in her hand with a large 'No Service' sign on the screen.
"Nice try your highness." Elizabeth said trying to joke turning the screen of her phone toward Aurora revealing the same red 'No Service' sign.
"Can't blame a girl for trying." Aurora joked back in an attempt to hide her growing panic.
They walked in the direction they thought they had come from, tripping over small roots and rocks as they stumbled their way through the quickly darkening woods. It wasn't long before they could barely see a thing.
"What the hell was that?!" Elizabeth nearly screamed as she grabbed ahold of Aurora's arm.
"What was what?" Aurora asked as calmly as she could, although her heart was about to beat out of her chest.
Elizabeth didn't answer. She just stood there, frozen on the spot. Following her gaze, Aurora immediately saw what had stopped Elizabeth in her tracks. Two pairs of golden brown eyes were staring intently back at them.
"What should we do?" Aurora asked in a scared whisper.
"Back up…slowly." Elizabeth said taking a step back tugging on Aurora's arm to make her follow.
As if the disembodied eyes knew what the girls planned to do, two low warning growls filled the air.
"Run Aurora, run!"
Aurora obeyed and took off after her friend who had ahold of her hand and was basically dragging Aurora behind her. Elizabeth had always been Aurora, in races, playing tag, timed test, everything. Aurora never thought it would mean the difference between life and death or she definitely would have put in extra hours on the treadmill.
Aurora lost track of how long they had been running when Elizabeth found a place to hide.
"What the hell is chasing us?" Aurora stammered between gasps of breath crouching down in the hiding place Elizabeth had stuffed them in which was located between two large boulders covered by a few low hanging tree branches.
"I have no idea, but we can't stay here very long. I'm guessing mountain lions or wolves. Either one will be able to sniff us out in a heartbeat." Elizabeth whispered as she moved out of the kneeling potions that she was in, clearly getting ready to run.
"Lizzie, I can't." Aurora almost sobbed. She was so scared and her body refused to move.
"A, you can. We have to put as much distance between us and whatever blood thirst animals are chasing us. I don't know about you, but I can't think of any fairy tales where the princess gets nommed on by wild beasts, can you?" Elizabeth asked placing a comforting hand on Aurora's back.
"I love you Lizzie." Aurora said with a tear rolling down her face as she gave her friend a side hug due to the awkward potion they were in between the two rocks.
"I love you too, A. We are gonna be fine. Now, let's move our asses." Elizabeth said grabbing Aurora's hand again and launching them forwarded.
As they started to run again, Aurora felt her body refusing to keep up with Elizabeth. Somewhere in all of the tree dodging and branch evasion Elizabeth had let go of Aurora's hand. Aurora tried as hard as she could to keep up with Elizabeth, fighting the undeniable pain in her right side. Of course, this was the perfect time to get a cramp.
"Lizzie I-…" Aurora was about to tell Elizabeth she needed to stop for just a moment, when Aurora tripped over a huge tree root.
It took her a minute to drag herself up from the ground, but when she did, Aurora was hit with the overwhelming reality that she was completely alone. She could vaguely hear Elizabeth's voice in the distance frantically screaming for her. Aurora tried to yell back but her head was clouded and her voice wouldn't work. She must have hit her head really hard.
"Alright, Aurora. Find your friend and get the hell out of the creepy woods before you become a chew toy. You might be a princess, but you are no damsel in distress." Aurora reassured herself out loud.
Looking around she decided the best course of action would be to keep heading straight which was the way her and Elizabeth were running before she had fell. It was pitch black now, and Aurora had no choice but to use her phone as a makeshift flashlight.
"Lizzie!" Aurora called out into the darkness trying not to stumble over her own feet. Her head was throbbing and she felt really sick to her stomach. "Lizzie!" She called again. Probably not the best idea Aurora ever had considering whatever was chasing her could probably hear her, but she was not about to leave without her best friend, and she knew Lizzie was doing the same.
Aurora kept walking, praying she would find Lizzie soon, when she had a twig snap behind her. Aurora felt as if her heart was trying to pound its way out of her chest. Turning slowly, she met the gaze of a huge, scratch that, giant wolf.
"Easy…" Aurora babbled. "Where's your friend? I'm looking for mine. Maybe we could just pretend this never happened? Deal?"
Aurora's ridiculous proposal was met with a very loud, very angry growl.
"I guess that's a no." Aurora said backing away from the wolf.
As if it was toying with her, the wolf took a step forward, stalking Aurora.
"I'm not gonna make this easy for you." Aurora couldn't help but taunt. If she was going to die, she was going to do it like she did everything else, stubbornly and with a whole lot of sass.
With one last glare at the wolf Aurora turned and ran as fast as she could. Crashing through the branches, she could feel her arms collecting scraps and cuts. Trying as hard as she could to push through the pain, Aurora made it to a clearing before she collapsed. The fall she had taken earlier had come back to haunt her and everything was spinning. As she lay there chest heaving, waiting for the wolf to pounce, all she could think about was Lizzie and how she hoped to God she had made it out of this backwoods hell hole they call the Mountain View woods. Her thoughts were cut short, however, by the sound of the wolf crashing through the clearing. Aurora didn't dare look at it, she was determined to stay strong till the end, and there was no way she could do that if she faced her attacker. She felt the wolf circling her, almost as if it was enjoying its victory.
"Do it already! Didn't anyone tell you not to play with your food?" Aurora spat.
If Aurora didn't know any better, she could have sworn that her taunt got a rise out of the wolf because as soon as the words left her mouth it snarled.
'This is it.' Aurora thought. She braced herself and prepared for the worst, but nothing happened.
Instead of being mauled by a gigantic wolf with an attitude issue, Aurora heard a loud whimper. She looked up just in time to see the wolf that had been stalking her being chased off by a larger black wolf.
'How could this one be bigger? Are these wolves on fucking steroids?' She thought.
That thought was quickly purged from her mind when the big black wolf was standing face to face with her. The only thing she was thinking then was 'I'm so fucked.'
"Hey…easy…I'm not gonna hurt you." She cooed, slowly pushing herself up from her stomach to her knees. At this new angle the wolf and she were at eye level.
'Eyes.'
The wolf's eyes were blood red.
"Thank you for saving me." She said cautiously.
The wolf just stared at her.
"Are you ok?" Aurora asked noticing that the wolf had a small bite on its front left leg. "Did that golden eyed one do this to you?" Rage washed over her.
When she got out of these woods she was going to come right back, with a shot gun and find golden eyes. She wasn't going to let anybody get away with hurting her wolf.
'Her wolf?' Aurora thought. 'Where the hell did that come from?'
As if on cue the black wolf let out a little whimper. Aurora very slowly held out her right hand, careful to not make any sudden movements. It took a few minutes but eventually the black wolf let her pet him.
"See, I told you I won't hurt you." Aurora soothed scratching between the wolf's ears.
The wolf responded with a cold wet lick to Aurora's face.
"Ew, wolf slobber!" Aurora joked petting the wolf some more.
"Aurora!"
It was Elizabeth, she was close. Aurora whipped around to figure out where her voice was coming from.
"Lizzie! I'm over here!" Aurora called.
Soon she heard loud footsteps coming toward her, followed shortly by her best friend crashing into her with a massive bear hug.
"I thought you were dead. Oh my God I've never been so scared in my life." Elizabeth cried holding on to Aurora for dear life.
"I'm okay Lizzie. Are you? I was so worried." Aurora said breaking their hug so she could examine her best friend for injuries.
"I'm completely fine." Elizabeth reassured her. "What are you doing in this clearing all out in the open like this?! Are you trying to get eaten by a wild animal? Cause you could have just said so."
"I'm not alone, Silky is here." Aurora said motioning toward the place she last saw the black wolf.
"Silky?" Elizabeth questioned looking at her best friend like she had lost her mind.
"Yeah, he's my wolf." Aurora said nonchalantly.
Aurora had decided to name the black wolf 'Silky' because he was jet black and his hair looked glossy, almost like silk.
"Um, your imaginary wolf?" Elizabeth asked still not quite comprehending what Aurora was saying.
"Where did he go?" Aurora said looking around for the wolf. She couldn't help but feel hurt when she realized he had run off.
"You have a cut on your head. Is that why you are seeing phantom wolves? Did you fall?" Elizabeth cooed as if she was trying to settle a scared child.
"Shut up, Lizzie. There was a wolf. He saved me." Aurora said extremely annoyed.
"Elizabeth! Aurora! Can you hear us?!" a familiar voice called in the distance.
Elizabeth and Aurora looked at each other in unison and grinned wide.
"It's about time someone called the sheriff!" Aurora said with delight.
"Dad! We are over here!" Elizabeth called toward the voice.
Soon they both saw the glow of flashlights rushing toward them and two men came into the clearing. In an instant both girls were in the arms of a tall, lean, strong man. It was Elizabeth's dad, Ryan Walker, sheriff of Maricopa County, Georgia.