Beta. Reaper

THE STRANGER IN MY WAY

The early morning breeze lightly caressed my skin as it blew softly against me, making my hair which was tied in a ponytail fly back. My feet pounded a quick and steady rhythm against the granite beneath my sneakers as I flew past unopened shops. It was barely five so it was understandable that no one was out to sell snacks and sweets to passersby. The road was empty save for people like me who thumped around at personal paces.

I put my music on full blast, Sia's sonorous voice urging me to push myself harder as I literally leapt through air, running faster than was humanly possible. Running, seconded by getting lost in literature, has been my constant escape from reality. When I ran, nothing else mattered outside of the feel of my feet on the ground and the wind in my face as I pushed through.

Like everything else I did in my life, I always ran along side Ken, racing and beating him as my legs barely touched the ground as I ran. Without Ken, my only accomplice was the melody only Sia could make with her lovely voice yet, I could almost pretend that beside me was Ken as we bulldozed through the wind. I could pretend the wind was Ken. I could pretend anything was anything in a race. Heck, I could pretend I was a unicorn galloping through a pretty green and pink field with a chocolate fountain right in the middle. With the wind brushing away my reality like a painter covering a painting error, anything was possible in my mind.

As I ran then, I convinced myself my problems were behind me. I envision my losses, loneliness and lust for a creature that wasn’t my mate, to be a heavy boulder that I dropped fifty feet behind because nothing could weight me down while I ran. The boulder rolled forcefully, trying to catch up with me, but I was faster.

I started to feel the burn in my calves as I pushed harder than I ever have. My lungs burned and I had to keep my mouth ajar to make sure I didn’t suffocate myself because the air I breathed in through my nose was not enough.

I pushed myself harder as I ran faster, running so fast my legs barely touched the ground anymore, but my problems were catching up. My lungs burned and my legs ached, but I still persisted. By now, I had run a good mile away from where people actually lived, but I kept running, knowing that air from my nose just wasn’t enough anymore. By now, I had run a good mile away from pack dwelling but it didn’t matter. We had enough land for me to run through for days without fear of trespassing.

“Can you taste the sorrow in the air, Kelly Black?” A loud voice resonated in my ear. The suddenness of it all caused me to lose my balance. My legs jerked before giving out and I fell forward on my knees, bracing myself with my palms before I could smack into the pavement beneath me. It looked like my problems finally caught up with me as a crushing weight kept me down.

It wasn’t just my problems holding me down. A sense of insecurity that I had never felt in my life seemed to add to the burden weighing me down. “You have no one, Kelly. Your love is poisoning, like a deadly snake’s, killing everyone it comes in contact with. Can’t you see the despair on your pack’s face? Does the sorrow in their eyes not make you nauseous? It’s your doing Kelly,” The voices in my head sang in a tone I only used to annoy Grey.

What was happening to me? There was no gloom on the face of my pack, no sorrow in the air. “Stop,” I whimpered at the voices. “Please, I don’t – just stop,” I grasped my head tightly between my hands. “I didn’t – I wouldn’t –my love can’t be poisonous,” I whispered. Tears of pain were slowly streaming down my cheeks even though my eyes were clenched shut.

“Hello, Kelly Black,” A voice overshadowed the voices in my head. It sounded eerily like Grey; soft, low and with a sprinkle of danger but with time Grey’s had gotten warmer and there was no hint of danger in his voice.

The stranger offered a hand to help me up but my wolf was howling, urging me to step back, retreat, run, in the face of danger. I helped myself up, rubbing the dirt off my palms. Then I looked up at the stranger and my breath caught.

The man standing before me was white as paper and he was dressed in dark slacks and a dark shirt. He wore gleaming black shoes that looked to have been polished within every inch of their lives or even oiled to create that shine. His hair was raven black and some if it flopped into his eyes that were a mismatched vivid green and violet.

This man exuded the coldness that I thought only Grey could and he wore this coldness like an aura within which there was no mistaking the swirl of evil. Goosebumps exploded on my skin and I vigorously rubbed at my forearms to get some warmth, much to this strangers amusement. Mockery danced in his fearfully creepy mismatched eyes as I huddled into myself.

“They are quite terrifying, aren’t they?” He asked with his hands stuck in his pocket. His eyes looked into mine and fire spread through me. I ducked my head to the ground.

“W – who?” I stuttered out. It wasn’t what I wanted to say. I wanted to question him on his identity. I wanted to tell him to leave me alone and I wanted to run as far and as fast as I could away from his blatant evilness. He gave me the creeps and I didn’t like the fear he induced in Hera.

"The voices. They can be quite terrifying," He said simply and my gaze widened. How did he know about the voices?

"W – what voices" I took the dumb approach. I didn't know this stranger and him knowing about things I hadn’t told anyone made him a suspect.

“Come” He offered me a pale hand. “I can make the voices go away,” He assured in a calm voice that only made me more terrified. My limbs started to tense in preparation for flight as I shuffled from toe to toe.

His aura was familiar and I sieved through numerous memories to find out just who he was. The evilness he wore was something I knew to be against me. He didn’t remind me of any pleasant memory, not of the old man who secretly passed me candy when my mum wouldn’t get me any one day, not like the lady who used to bake me heavenly cookies on my birthday, never mind that she had tried to kill me. This man simply reminded me of tears and my body screamed at me to run.

“Why – why should I trust you?” I asked, trying but failing to take a discreet step backwards. He smiled at my move and took two steps forward, crowding into my personal space.

"What reason do you have not to trust me?” He showed me gleaming teeth in a faux smile. “I can make the voices go away. Don’t you want that? You will be eternally free of your problems. All you have to do is come with me and you will be eternally free,” His words dropped even lower and its only with the aid of my werewolf senses that I could hear them.

“ Where will I follow you to?” I asked suspiciously. I was far from considering his offer, simply waiting for the right time to break into a run.

“I think you know already,” He smiled in amusement. His hands reached up towards me to – I didn’t wait to find out as I broke into a run. I ran as fast and as hard as I could, arms swinging calculatedly. It wasn’t until I registered the lack of wind on my face that I realized something was wrong. I surveyed my surrounding and much to my amazement, I was rooted to a spot but my legs and arms were moving in a sprint.

I stopped running, wanting to collapse in tiredness but an unseen force held me upright. There was no longer amusement in the mismatched eyes, just pure, consuming anger. The vivid eyes burned bright and in their depth there was a fire cackling.

“I hate it when people try to defy me, Kelly Black. There’s usually dire consequences afterwards,” He said in his eerily calm voice. “Did I say you could leave?” I started to get choked up. “Did I say you could leave!?” A warm substance trickled out of my nose –blood, blood, blood – as the strange man thundered at me. His hands raised as if to strike me down and with every strength in me, I called the singular force I knew could combat him.