Chapter 4.
The wolf stared at the girl. The girl stared at the wolf. Neither moved for moments. The wolfs eyes never left the girls, and she couldn't seem to pull away from its gaze. Her body yearned to be near him, but at the same time knew she wasn't safe. The wolf stood statue like, not moving, barely breathing. All that moved was the fur that covered its body. The girl's body was paralysed by those eyes; they looked so human, so emotional. They were beckoning her forward, closer to the wolf. As her body gave in to the emotional demands of the wolf's eyes, she stepped forward.
I stepped forward towards the wolf, and hit my knees on the table that sat underneath the window. All sense was knocked back into me, and I took a step back. Two, three, four steps until I turned around and ran for the door. I heard a crash behind me, telling me the wolf had jumped through my window, shattering it. I kept running, until I got to the kitchen. My hand flew to the knife that rested on the counter, and I span around to face the wolf again. It was larger then any wolf I had ever seen, much larger. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, as I saw the wolf tilt its head as it watched the knife in my hands. I glanced back into its eyes, not trusting myself to look for more then a few seconds, and saw a questioning, puzzled look. Stepping back I shook my head. No, it's a wolf. What am I talking about? A puzzled look, that's ridiculous. It's just a wolf. A really, really big wolf. A really big wolf that was staring at me, holding a knife, in my kitchen. Finally, the reality of the situation hit me and screamed. I screamed louder then I had ever screamed, hoping that someone would hear me and come to help. The wolf took a small step toward me, but stopped when my front door swung open. I looked over to see Stefan, Elena and the other man that had almost run me over standing just inside my door.
"Elena, make sure the girl's ok. Stay with her." The dark haired man ordered.
Elena started to make her way towards me, until Stefan grabbed her arm. He sent the man a hard look, but he just shrugged.
"Don't be stupid. Evie, are you ok?" Stefan asked me, not taking his eyes off of the wolf.
"Yes." I replied. "It hasn't done anything yet."
"Great. Now let's get this thing away." The man said brashly.
"Damon, be careful." Elena murmured, as he stepped toward the wolf.
The wolf growled, and jumped at me as Damon stepped closer. I screamed, and ducked, squeezing my eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable pain. When it didn't come, I slowly opened my eyes. The wolf was in front of me, watching Damon. Damon, Elena and Stefan all looked shocked, but Damon kept coming. The closer he got, the closer the wolf got to me. I couldn't go any further back, I was trapped by the kitchen counter, but the wolf was getting closer and closer to me. I could feel its warm fur on my skin, and felt its body vibrate as it growled at Damon.
"Damon." Stefan whispered in a tone that told him to be careful, to realise what was happening.
Damon stopped and in a speed that I couldn't even see flung something at the wolf. Something inside me snapped, and I screamed again. This time it wasn't out of fear for myself though, it was out of fear for the wolf. Quicker then I could comprehend the wolf had jumped out of the way, nudging me with it. I fell on the floor, landing awkwardly on my wrist. I closed my eyes for a second as I heard the shouting start. I heard three sets of feet running towards me, but a terrifying snarl stopped them all. I opened my eyes and saw the wolf staring down at me. Staring back up at it, my eyes locked with its glowing yellow eyes again. I cringed away, as far into the ground as I could, but still couldn't make my eyes leave its own. I moved the hand that I had fallen on, wincing as a sudden pain shot through my wrist.
The wolf looked down at it, softly nudging it with its nose. I held my breath, and realised my other hand felt heavy, that's when I remembered I was still holding the knife. I quickly pulled it up, slicing across the wolf's leg. It let out a small whimper and its eye flashed blue. I gasped and shuffled away as quickly as I could, shaking my head. That didn't just happen, it couldn't have. Suddenly, Stefan and Damon were throwing silver and some kind of liquid at the wolf that made it whimper a little, but soon it was growling again. It was obvious that it was in pain. Elena ran to me, crouching beside me, as Damon and Stefan ran through my door, the wolf following them rapidly. Elena helped me up, and looked at my wrist quickly, prodding it here and there. When I told her it didn't hurt anymore, she sighed in relief. I looked around my kitchen at the mess, and we both started to pick up everything that had been thrown around. Elena kept looking at the door, worrying about Stefan and Damon, I guessed.
"They're really brave." I whispered.
"Braver then you could understand." She replied, just as quietly.
We carried on working in silence, until we heard a noise at the door. We both looked up, and saw Damon and Stefan standing at the door with no wolf in sight. Elena rushed to Stefan, hugging him tightly. I walked over to them slower. Neither of them looked very worn out, and they didn't have any injuries that I could see.
"Thank you. It was really brave of you to come and help me. Especially you, Damon, to go at it like you had. I'm really grateful." I thanked them.
"Oh, it was nothing. Don't worry about it." Damon replied, casually.
"It could've attacked you. It might have bitten you or something." I said. "You could've been really hurt."
Damon chuckled, "Really, it's nothing. I've been on the receiving end of one of those things before, it wasn't too bad."
"Evie, your window is broken." Stefan said quickly, changing the subject.
I walked over to the back window, now just a gaping hole in my wall. Sighing, I started picking up the glass from the floor. I would need to get this fixed as soon as I could. If I had a surprise visit for from social worker, she would instantly take me out of my home, saying that I couldn't look after the house of myself properly. I don't know what I'll do tonight though, having a huge hole in the side of my house wouldn't help me sleep very well. I don't want to think about what would happen if the wold came back.
"We'll do that. And if you want, I can come round tomorrow to fix the window." Damon offered.
"Are you sure?" I asked, hesitantly.
"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't."
"Ok then. Thank you, it would really help." I answered as I looked around. All the glass was already gone from the floor. "That was quick."
Elena and Stefan chuckled, "Stefan doesn't like mess." Elena giggled as she handed me the bag of glass.
I walked back into the kitchen; Elena, Stefan and Damon following, to put the bag into the trash. On my counter was a box, just like the boxes in my cupboard. I opened it, forgetting about the other people in my house, and was surprised to see no rose, no one word note, but a letter. I pulled it out of the box and recognised my father's writing. I gasped and sat down at the kitchen table, barely registering the other three people who know surrounded me.
My Dearest Evie,
If you are reading this letter, it means that the worst has happened. You are alone. We have tried to protect you for all of these years, but I suppose we have failed. I only hope that we have taught you enough to protect yourself from now on. You must not cry, or grieve for us. We are not the ones who need your time, not anymore. You, my dearest daughter, need to be careful now.
My beautiful, intelligent Evie, you have been the light of my life for my lifetime. You have brought such joy, such excitement, and such surprises. If it was not for you, our family would have disappeared. Lost to time. In times of darkness, when you just cannot go on, you must remember that. You must remember our good times; the times we laughed, the many games you made us play, the hours of torturous beauty tips you made us listen to. You must remember that we loved you, and that we will forever be in your life, as long as you hold onto our memories, as we will with you.
For so many years long years you have been kept in the dark, I hope you do the right thing now that we are all gone and move to the light. It is of greatest importance to me that you do not get hurt. There is something you must do for me, to fully understand the situation. You must trust me, you must find it. I have placed it in our favourite place, next to a tree planted just for you. It will give you everything you need. Until then, I have one thing you must know to keep safe. He will-
Tears were falling down my cheeks. I turned the page over, but there was nothing there. I put the paper onto the table, and ran my fingers through my hair. That was a letter from my father, my dead father. I couldn't believe after all this time I finally heard form him again. The first few months after he had died all I wanted was to find something that was from him, but I never did. My heart ached as I looked down at his writing, the tears kept flowing. I felt an arm go around my shoulders.
"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose your parents. Mine both died in a car crash a few years ago. Do you want to talk about it?" I heard Elena ask me.
I couldn't speak, I just shook my head.
"Ok. We'll go, leave you alone for a bit. If you need us, we're right next door." She said, comfortingly.
All I could do was nod. A few minutes later I heard the door shut, and then I was surrounded by a deafening silence. It weighed down on me until I could hardly breathe. I looked back at the letter, picking it up to read it again, and again, and again. The words on the paper were the closest I had been to my father for years, he had written this, somehow knowing that I would end up alone. Each time I read the letter a new thought occurred to me; how had he known I would be alone, how had he known everyone would die, what does he mean I was kept in the dark, what do I need to find, who is 'he' and what will he do?
"Daddy, I miss you." I cried, quietly.
I looked back over to the box, and dropped the half letter back into it. I couldn't bare to see it now. Picking up the box, I took it to the cupboard and placed it with the rest of them. After I had a quick shower, I sat downstairs in my pyjamas. I looked out of the glassless window, wondering how I could possibly sleep whilst it was open like that. I heard a knock on the front door, and jogged over to see who would be at my door at this time of night. Peering through the window by the door, I saw Damon stood outside, holding some things in his arms. Damon looked down at me, and smirked, before replacing it with a mask of no emotion again.
"I was sitting at home, and thought that you might be worried about the fact that you have a huge hole in your wall. So I brought paper and stuff to cover it up." Damon explained, gruffly.
"You thought..?"
"Ok, my little brother thought. And so did Elena. They want me to apologise for almost running you over." He caved quickly. "Even though it was your fault."
"It was not my fault. You shouldn't drive like a maniac." I replied coolly.
"Do you want me to cover the window up or not?" He snapped.
I sighed, "Yes." He gave me a hard look. "Please."
"That's better. A bit of politeness never killed anyone."
I stood around as he covered up the window silently. I knew it wasn't really going to protect me all that much, but I felt better knowing that it was there. An awkward silence had fallen between us, and I realised I was only wearing an Elvis Presley t-shirt.
"Ohh. I get it now."
"What?" Damon asked, turning around.
"The reason you smirked when I opened the door. Have you finished?"
"Ha. You forgot about your state of undress? Well, I suppose with those legs you can afford to." He winked at me. "And yes, I've finished. How about a night cap?"
"I should really be going to bed." I answered, ignoring his comment about my legs, even though my face had burnt as he said it.
I took him back to the door, and said good night, then headed upstairs and into bed. Lying in bed, I stared at the ceiling and thought about everything that had happened tonight. That wolf had been much larger then any wolf I had ever seen, and its yellow eyes had held mine so much. Those eyes, the eyes that had flashed blue when I cut it. And my fathers letter, that had really hit me hard. I wondered what the rest of the letter said. He will- what? And who is he? I didn't know, I couldn't think. My eyes started to get heavier, and I couldn't fight off sleep any longer. I rolled over and felt a stinging on my arm. I forced my eyes open again and looked at my arm, seeing a small red cut on my arm. Hmm, I wonder when that happened. Closing my eyes again I finally slept. My dreams were full of whispers, of crows, of striking blue eyes that pierced my mind, and a man... an incredibly handsome man.
(EDITED)
