Chapter 1
Blood everywhere. Bodies ripped to shreds left in the field, the sun high and mighty in the sky. My head was pounding and my face burning from all the crying. Clinging to my mother’s cold hand, I was screaming for her to wake up… then everything turns black.
I woke up panting and sweating. I haven’t had that nightmare in a long time. Focusing my attention on my surroundings, I was met only with a pair of dark orange eyes looking closely at me. Dawn was just starting to make its way out. I checked the clock on my nightstand. Just 5:12 AM. I didn’t feel ok with the idea of lingering more in bed so I got up. Ignoring those curious eyes, I went and locked myself into the bathroom. This is a sign. Good or bad, but this nightmare always brings unexpected events my way.
I took a deep breath and headed to the shower to let the water calm me. I was 10 when my parents died. I don’t remember much from that day. Because of the shock, was the reason my therapist gave me. We were on a camping trip, like we used to go when my parents had a couple of days to spare from work. One minute we were laughing, eating on a blanket, the next thing I knew was my mom started to drag me away to the edge of the forest telling me to hide fast, keep quiet and still. I did just that. I heard growling and gunshots, people screaming and whining in the distance.
I don’t know how long it took until silence fell and I just stood there, hiding in some bushes. I have no idea how much I’ve waited hidden after that until I decided to go back where I left my parents. Coming back to that horrible scene was both a blessing and a curse. While I cried, trying in my naïve way to bring back my parents to life, I remembered only a blunt pain in the back of my head. After that, everything else vanished.
I woke up in a hospital bed. I was told that I was found in the forest, injured, by my uncle who was supposed to join us camping. He apparently took me there, took care of the funerals and went back working. He couldn’t take me in because he would always have to be on the road so I was put in foster care. I always felt something was wrong with uncle Ben. Growing up and looking back at how easy he buried his sister and brother-in-law without a fuss, leaving his only niece, his only living relative in foster care, with strangers, with such ease. He accepted the fact that wild animals killed my parents and left me without a word in the hospital. He was simply gone…
I’ve met my mom’s younger brother a handful of times after that until I started college. Strange man. More preoccupied with what I remember from that day and if I know how to defend myself, than anything. I think mom never told him that she started training me to fight when I was young, telling me that a woman needs to know to protect herself in any situation and that no one needs to know what you're capable of unless you are absolutely certain that there is no other choice. I wasn’t ready to tell him that I continued to train after she died, believing she was right, no one needed to know. He would come announced, uninvited and he would leave with the same urgency. I never understood him. The last time I saw him we got in a heated argument, I wanted answers about his behavior and I asked him to leave me alone if he couldn’t give them to me, to forget that I exist. And, as always, uncle Ben left.
Foster care was neither good nor bad. They took care of me until I left for college, kept me fed, clothed, in school but there was no love there, no attachments. It was simply a job that they did well. The only thing that I can think of that bothered me growing up was that they didn’t like animals and they always made sure that all the kids they foster knew that. I don’t trust people who don’t like animals. I’ve always loved them. That made me follow my dream of becoming a vet.
My grandma from my father’s side was, as I remember, a wonderful woman. She always told me to take care of any animal that I saw, that they all need protection from humans and to never judge a single one just because they look scary or weird. All animals have a purpose and all animals need to be treated kind and mostly, with respect. I couldn’t contain a small giggle trying to picture her face. Living pretty secluded they would often hunt for meat or keep chickens, but she always told me that even if we need to kill an animal for food, we should always respect the animal we sacrificed for our well being and to never take from mother nature more than we need. We lost her about a year and a half before I lost my parents. My grandad died a bit before she did. Looking back I think she died of heartache, he was truly her soulmate.
My mom's family was a whole other thing, she told me she only had her brother and a few distant relatives whom I never met. But apparently her relationship with uncle Ben went cold after she met my dad, and especially after they married.
Now I live in my grandparents house, up the hills and in the forest, 2 hours away from the nearest town, a small 2 bedroom cottage and 13 acres of forest. My nana said that grandad had a small lumber mill in the area and that’s why they had the house here. They built it together and never wanted to go back to town. She said she was happy, being away from people. When I was a kid, I couldn’t understand the reasoning but growing up, I started to love animals more and more and put some distance from humans.
I never knew, but my parents always had a plan in case something happened to them, life insurance for both of them that I got after I finished high school with the help of their attorney, a trust fund and property documents of both my childhood home in Sacramento and my grandparents land and house in Oregon. Keeping the money secured, I worked thru college as a waitress and sold my old home in Sacramento after finishing it and moved to Portland for my veterinary school. To say that I was more interested in work and school that in having friends or relationships would be an understatement. I wasn’t antisocial or something but I did prefer to go thru with my plans.
Smiling to myself I started rinsing the soap from my body. Everything paid off in the end, I was content and even though I was alone, I had everything I’ve ever wanted.
I heard some scratches at the door and some violent banging that finally got me out of my head. Well, not that alone.
“Oh, come on!” I screamed. “For fucks sake! Go away!” but noooo…. He couldn’t go away he started barking and scratching some more just to spite me.
With a sigh I left the warm water and took a fluffy towel to wrap around myself. “You won! I’m coming out!” Opening the door wide I am greeted by the same orange eyes that always watch over me.
“If I let you out, would you please let me have a cup of coffee in silence?” I watched the animal give me a dumb look and I started to laugh at myself. Talking to him made no sense to an outsider, but I knew better. He could very well understand what I was saying and some of the times it looked like he could even read my mind. I know, it’s stupid of me to think like that, but living just the two of us, with barely any other human contact made me insane in a way.
“Come on. Let’s get you out.” I said as I walked past him, thru the living room and as I reached the door knob of the front door, I turn my head back to him with a serious look. “Don’t run off to far, remember, it’s an important day!” I got big howl in return. I smirked at him. “We’re going hunting!”
