Chapter 10: Attack of Wild Animal

"I think you should cooperate with me, Alexandra, to remove the heat. Come closer, dear," Nathaniel says, making a strange gesture that causes the fruit to get stuck in my throat. I stop eating and rush out of the camp.

"Stop acting weird, Nathaniel. This is not a joke," I say in despair.

"Well, dear, the camp is very small, and I don't want you to take up my place. So you will stay outside, and I will be inside," Nathaniel responds.

"What? You just tricked me to throw me out of the camp?" His trick makes me instantly regret my decision. "But you wanted me stay inside the camp a while ago, now what happened?"

"Wanted but not wanting anymore. Stay outside, otherwise you know you'll have to eat for two," he taunts me, using a lame joke from camp.

"Shut up!" After realizing his intention, I re-enter the camp and lay on the other side.

I don't have the courage right now to sleep outside in this dense forest. But as I glance over, I notice he's put his shirt back on. He's clearly willing to do anything to scare me.

"Jerk!" I mumble under my teeth. "I can hear you," he retorts. "I don't care," I respond defiantly. "You should be afraid of me because I'm planning your death," he warns. "I know, and I'm tired of being afraid of death. I just want to enjoy the journey before embracing it." "That's great for you," he replies sarcastically. "Thanks, good night," I say, trying to end the conversation. "Good night."

I close my eyes in total peace. But can that smile, that mind-blowing smile, be forgotten? I will never forget it till the day I die. Now I begin to cherish his presence. I look at him, thinking this. He doesn't sleep, instead he stares at the sky through the hole in the canopy. He seems to be lost in thought.

Soon, I notice tears are brimming from his eyes nonstop. I'm so surprised to see what deep pain is hidden in his heart that after so many laughs and jokes, he could silently weep like this! I don't let him know that I'm watching him; maybe his thoughts would be disturbed. Crying makes the mind lighter, so I close my eyes and start thinking about how the world becomes sad when the owner of such a beautiful smile cries.

He wants to kill me that means I am the one to be blamed for causing him pain. I am feeling pity for him and myself. I don't know what crime I committed unknowingly.

When I look at him again, he's no longer there. I come out slowly and see that he's standing. He looks back as I touch him. "What's the matter? Didn't sleep?" He asks me. "You didn't sleep either," I response. "I can't sleep for ages. We're werewolves; we don't need sleep. You go and sleep tight." Hearing this, I'm feeling very sad for him. "Try to sleep," I suggest. "You go sleep; you need more rest than me. I'll come later."

For being an introvert, I never know how to solace other but this time I'm regretting it so hard for not being an extrovert, at least I would be able to solace him. A person is standing in front of me being sad and I don't even know how to solace him! Pity on myself. I'm trying so hard to solace him but fail to make a word to offer him. After thinking a lot, I finally gather the courage to solace him.

"Umm, Nathaniel. I think you should share your pain with me. You know if you share your pain with others, it heals soon." As I say, he chuckle. "You're wrong, dear. If you share your pain with others they will return it to you making it double. "I don't have any pain, that's why I'm in pain. Please, go and sleep."

I return to the tent and lie down. Indeed, people need to spend time alone.

I'm trying a lot to sleep but it's not coming today and now I'm also feeling very cold! I just keep tossing and turning while keeping my eyes closed. I am just thinking about him. If I am his only enemy, he would never think about my safety. The intense level of hatred I saw in his eyes for the first time, it's not that severe now. He said I killed Charlotte, the love of his life. I know he is mistaken but how lucky that girl is for whom he is willing to do everything to avenge his death!

Such a selfless love story. I wish someone love me this way but I can just hope, nobody will love me ever because I don't really have the face to get someone's unconditional love. People may just show me pity or hate me to maximum. Except my family nobody said I look good.

At the school prom, almost everyone got a partner, but no one wanted to be my partner even though I always wish to get one. This is how school life has passed, same is the case in college. However, there is no use thinking about them now.

Love is far away, protecting my life is the burning question now. Hell! I am also human being, I don't know what type of human being I am, thinking about such silly matters in such situation whilst I should think about ways to keep fighting against all odds to ensure my safety.

At the very moment when I am busy thinking about the dreariness of my life, I suddenly feel his shirt covering the upper part of my body that leaves me confused. Oh my goodness! What's that now! I stay still, don't dare to move an inch wondering why he did that. My world literally becomes an wonderland after realizing his action.

Maybe he thinks I'm asleep and wants to be nice. Feeling his shirt around me brings me peace, easing my worries. I ignore the urge to look at him, afraid of what might happen if he sees me.

With a pounding heart, I hold onto his shirt tightly, finding solace in its warmth as I drift off to sleep, hoping for a better tomorrow.

In the middle of the night, when the world is sleeping peacefully, my sleep gets hindered listening howls and groans far away. My eyes get pried open immediately. At first, I check Nathaniel but he's deep in sleep.

All of a sudden, really loud footsteps sound in the quiet of the night giving me eerie feeling. Just the thought of something so big nearby fills me with shivers, making my heart beat fast and my breath stop short.

Before I even gather the courage to call for Nathaniel, this huge animal comes near on the little tent with a force that shakes everything. It grabs me in one quick move, its hand like strong iron, leaving me feeling totally helpless against its power.

I try to scream for Nathaniel, but it covers my mouth so strongly that my weak cries barely make a sound in the silent night. With every big step, the giant creature pushes us ahead, its colossal size making me completely helpless.

As it keep going holding me tightly, each of it's heavy steps hitting my ears like thunderous bolt. Its grip around me feels like a tight clamp, squeezing the air out of my lungs and making it hard to breathe.

Nathaniel will never know that I'm being attacked by an animal this way, maybe making me a culprit again as if I flee away from him intentionally increasing the level of his hatred. But when it's thunderous stride make my ear breaks, I don't understand why Nathaniel can't hear anything, why he needs to sleep that tight in this dangerous situation?

In this exact moment, a sudden realization cross my mind like a beam of light piercing through the darkness. With trembling hands, I swiftly snatch the ornaments adorning my neck and grasp the trinkets clutched in my palms, clutching them tightly as if they were my only lifeline in this dangerous abyss.

With every step it takes, I leave behind a trail of these precious possessions, each one a beacon of hope in the middle of the shadows, a silent plea for Nathaniel to follow and find me. With every sign I leave behind, I cling to the fleeting hope that he may catch sight of them, a hope of light in that uncertain moment surrounding me. And so, I keep solacing myself that maybe, after finding the signs, he will come to save me.

But with every passing moment, I feel more and more dizzy, like I'm about to faint, as it move deeper into the darkness of the night holding me.

After a few minutes pass by, I gradually lose consciousness, feeling my grasp slip away like a fading whisper in the wind.