Author's Note: I know, I know! I have an ongoing story at the moment, and I should be concentrating at that before starting another one, but I couldn't resist! Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this story and everything I have planned for it so far, so I hope you like it as well! This is just the prologue, so please review and tell me what you think! Enjoy, lovelies!
Prologue
It had begun as an adventurous day – Calum was grasping his young daughter's hand in aid as she clumsily crawled over mountainous rocks, and Alecia was trailing behind with a fond smile on her face, listening to the awed chatter of the little girl.
The small family appeared dwarfed by the looming trees that seemed to race to the highest points in the skies. Grey clouds soared and brooded above the greenery of the forest. Several casts of raindrops had fallen on the three, but never lingered for more than a few minutes. Abandoned leaves and particles of dirt brewed around their feet, manipulated by the cool winds. Isis let out high-pitched giggles as she attempted to leap over the wind-controlled clusters of dirt. Her father laughed with her, reached underneath her armpits and heaving her over the temperamental dirt particles. Isis giggled louder, kicking her legs beneath her and disturbing the dirt breezes. Behind Calum, who'd tucked Isis under his arm, against his ribs, Alecia shook her head dotingly, reaching out and tickling the squirming girl.
"Mummy!" Isis squealed in protest, writhing and letting out bubbles of uncontrolled giggles. Alecia just grinned at her daughter, adjusting the straps of her backpack. "Daddy," Isis complained between bouts of laughter, "I need to pee!"
Calum grinned down at his little girl, and carefully placed her on her feet. Alecia tugged Isis's curly black hair lightly.
"Do you need me to go with you?"
Isis shook her head adamantly. "I'll go by myself, Mummy." With a toothy grin, Isis scrambled away, stumbling over her own feet several times.
"Be careful, Isis!" Alecia called out with worry creasing her brows. Calum's calloused fingers gently pried Alecia's backpack from her shoulders, hushing her softly.
"She'll be fine," he assured her, dropping the bag and wrapping his arms around his wife's waist, kissing her jawline affectionately. Alecia smiled instantly, moulding into his embrace and closing her eyes peacefully. Calum hummed a soothing lullaby in Alecia's ear, his melody interrupted by a loud, echoing squeal.
"Daddy!" Isis wailed. "There's a spider!" Calum chuckled.
"It won't hurt you, kiddo," he sang back to her. Isis gave a disagreeing squeal. Calum and Alecia just chuckled, buddled in each other's arms comfortably.
"Let's give her a little brother," Alecia whispered, her eyes closed. Calum blinked, but his lips melted into a smile.
"Let's give her six." Alecia laughed, rolling her eyes at her husband. They both glanced up at their approaching daughter, who was comically hoisting up her pants and stomping her feet with a doe-eyed frown.
"What's got you down, princess?" Calum released his wife, and knelt down at Isis's level. Isis just pouted.
"The spider run'ed away, Daddy," Isis cried fearfully, jumping into his arms and burying her face in his chest. Calum lifted her up, kissing her head and carrying her over to a fallen log covered in thick moss.
"Now, now," Calum said sternly, tapping his finger on Isis's nose. "There's no need to be afraid of spiders. If you treat them nicely, they'll treat you nicely." Isis scrunched up her face.
"But it was gonna eat me, Daddy!"
"It probably thought you were going to eat it," Calum informed her solemnly. Alecia smacked him over the head.
Isis squeaked. "Ewwy!" Calum laughed, flicking her nose and setting her on her feet.
"C'mon, princess, let's get this tent set up." Isis's face immediately split into a wide grin, flashing her missing bottom tooth. She scrambled over to the pile of backpacks beside her mother's feet, and yanked the contents out of the tent bag, squealing as a steel peg fell on her sneakered foot.
"Woah, calm down there, cowgirl," Calum chuckled, carefully plucking the pegs and holding the bundle. "You, unfold the tent, your mummy will place the pegs and I'll hammer them."
Isis scowled up at her dad. "I wanna hammer, Daddy!"
Calum rolled his eyes, but caved in immediately.
Once the tent was set up, and the sleeping bags had been unrolled, Alecia had wrapped her daughter in layers of woolly clothes, fretting about her warmth. When she was finally content, the three sat in the tent, deeming it too late to start a fire. They were tired from the hours of trekking through the Washington forests. Isis was rolling around in her sleeping bag though, giggling as she zipped it up completely, hiding her face. Her parents laughed at her, tickling her spontaneously and making her scream in protest, begging them to stop.
A loud howl bounced from the trees, making Isis's ears prickle in curiosity. Her unruly hair poked out from the sleeping bag, and she blew it from her eyes, which were wide.
"What was that, Mummy?" Isis wondered, crawling into her mother's lap.
"Just a wolf," Alecia answered with a small smile, patting her daughter's head. Calum was lousing across the inflated mattress, his elbow propping his chin in his palm.
"A wolf?" Isis gasped, slapping her tiny hands over her mouth. Alecia giggled at her daughter, bundling her in her warm, motherly embrace.
Tightly held in her mother's arms, Isis's eyes wavered with tire, following in her already snoring father's footsteps. Alecia's eyes were also closed contently, humming softly to her daughter the lullaby her and Calum had created when Isis was a baby, sick with a chest infection. It had become the only way to send the little girl to sleep.
After half an hour, Isis had rolled from her mother's touch, rolling into a ball and diving underneath the warm security of her sleeping bag. Alecia responded by curling into her husband's side, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
Isis tried to go back to sleep, but she began squirming, suddenly overwhelmed by the need to wee. She squinted, crawling to her parents and tugging her father's chopped hair. "Daddy?" She whispered, "I need to wee." His only response was a deafening snore. Isis huffed impatiently and scrambled to her feet, chewing her lip in fright. It was terribly dark outside.
Isis pulled her sneakers on, unaware they were on the wrong feet, and crawled out of the tent, scampering through the trees with soft, scared whimpers. She ran behind a thick tree, and tugged her pants down, squatting unsteadily and reaching out to hold a wet branch. She squealed as she shuffled her feet in order to avoid the liquid running across the ground.
Isis's squeal was cut off when she heard a strange noise. She whimpered, jumping up and hastily pulling up her pants. She looked around with terrified almond eyes, shrinking against the tree trunk. She heard another sound, this time louder. Isis sniffled, wiping her runny nose. Tears bulleted down her rosy cheeks, racing to her jawline.
Isis gave a cry when she heard the loud, piercing screams of someone nearby, followed by shouting. Her fingers trembled wildly as she peeked around the mossy tree trunk. Another scream.
In a moment of courage, Isis raced from behind the tree, running as fast as her short legs would take her, towards the campsite she and her parents had set up hours ago.
"Mummy! Daddy!" Isis cried out, sobbing as she stumbled over abhorred tree roots that had crept from underground. She didn't stop to wipe her dirtied knees, and clambered to her feet, continuing her run back to the safety of her parents' arms.
The small lamplight from the campsite became visible to Isis's blurred eyes, and she ran faster, salty tears rolling onto her chapped lips. Another scream sounded, closer and even louder. There was a rumbling roar, nothing that Isis had heard before. More screams and strangled cries reached Isis's ears, and she sobbed in terror.
Isis tripped over a tree root once more, right at the edge of the small clearing that had temporarily become their campsite. Isis whimpered, shaking violently. She looked up with watery eyes, and opened her mouth.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Alecia was limp, her previously warm, affectionate gaze now dead and lifeless. Her body was limp and lying in an impossible position. A huge furry creature loomed above Isis's mother, growling and tearing apart her clothes. Isis screamed and bawled, crawling away in poisonous terror. She hit the tree root that she'd just tripped over, and scrambled to move around it, before she was frozen in fear.
It was her father.
His vacant eyes stared up at her, his cheek and chest bloodied with deep gashes.
Isis trembled. Then she screamed again, and tore away from the campsite, sobbing and crying out for her parents to rescue her. She panted and heaved after several minutes of racing through the trees under the sinister glint of the watching moon.
Her heart didn't stop pounding furiously in her chest – even when she found a hollow underneath a large boulder, and curled up underneath it, drenched in rain and her own hot tears. She never stopped crying for her mummy and daddy.
Author's (annoying) Note: Please review, favourite and follow. Hopefully I can update this fairly regularly, and check out my other two Twilight fanfics, both of which are hopeful ongoing projects (Fairytale and Sempiternal)!