Victoria sat at the kitchen table in silence. The house always felt alone when her parents left, but this was a new alone. This was a scared alone. Flashes of what she had witnessed days ago played in her mind. Victoria hadn’t left the house since she got into it. She called her mother that night, but couldn’t bring herself to tell what happened. Still afraid, she told her mother that she had seen someone watching the house. Her father immediately enhanced the security. The cook, Maggie, noticed something off about Vic, but when the young girl refused to speak about it, the woman brushed it off.

She saw his eyes in her dreams. They were always the same. Vic was running through the forest and the black wolf and his pack was chasing her. Then, her saviors came. The white wolf took the black wolf down, and the cherry wolf watched over her. In one of her dreams, at the very end, she could have sworn Tao was there. But when she woke, she couldn’t remember where.

“Miss, you have to get out of the house,” Reese told Vic as he dragged her by the arm. She fought against him, but Reese was a huge guy. He was like, Dwayne Johnson huge. “We have to bomb it, and you need the air anyway.”

Once he let her go, she pouted. “It’s a few mice not the end of the world.”

Reese shook his head and laughed at her. “Go for a walk or something. You like the forest, go get some air. I’ll call you when you can come back.” He pushed her towards the trees, and she could feel tears prick her eyes.

Clutching his suit sleeve, Vic refused to let go. “No! I won’t go in there!”

When she sank to her knees, Reese sighed and pulled her back up. “I know, you saw wolves in there. It’s a forest, Victoria. There are wolves. They are more scared of you than you are of them.” Vicky shook her head, and Reese rolled his eyes. “Jesus, fine. What if I go with you? Will you go then?”

Vic peeked up at him and sniffled. “I don’t want to go in there.”

He rubbed her head as he led her to the trees. “You can’t live your life afraid. Eventually you’re going to have to face it. Come on, we’ll go take a walk, and then we can go get lunch.”

“But-”

“It can be Chili’s.” Slowly releasing his arm, Victoria nodded and let Reese lead her into the forest.

As they walked, Reese told her stories about his previous work as an international arms dealer. Apparently, he could fire any weapon with nearly one hundred percent accuracy, and could name any gun you put in front of him.

While he went on and on, Victoria looked in the trees for the wolves, any of the wolves. Every now and then, she could have sworn she caught sight of one, but it was gone long before she could get a better look.

They had made it to the spot it had all happened to Vic. She slowed to a stop and stared at the ground and trees around her. She could remember every detail. Every whisker on the wolves faces, every eyelash, every blink. The intensity of the white and black wolves. The gentleness of the cherry wolf. The shear number of them that had shown up. The smell of their coats, their breath. The fear she felt, the-

“Victoria?”

She was cut from her trance when someone called her name. Vic hadn’t even noticed that she was kneeling on the ground. She hadn’t noticed the cherry fur in her fingertips. Looking up, she was shocked to see Baekhyun and Chanyeol staring at her with their heads cocked to the side. Reese had his gun drawn and raised at them.

“You know them, Miss Drake?” he barked at her.

Victoria stood slowly and nodded. “Uh, yeah. They went to school with me. Reese, this is Chanyeol and Baekhyun.”

Reese lowered his gun and nodded at them. “Do you want to go?” Victoria rubbed the fur in her fingers as she looked at the two boys who appeared confused. Her eyes scanned them, and stopped on Baekhyun’s hair. She knew that color. She knew it so well.

Cherry.

“Do you two want to go to Chili’s with me?” The question left before she even realized what she was asking. They seemed just as surprised.

Chanyeol rubbed the back of his head. “Well we were actually going to go catch a movie. Sorry, maybe ne-”

“I insist.”

Shaking his head, Baekhyun didn’t make eye contact with her. “We really don’t have the money on us,” he muttered. “And it’s a long walk home.”

“I’ll pay.” Victoria looked to Reese and faked a smile. “I’ll be home later. Text me what’s for dinner.” With a nod from Reese, she walked towards the boys, not realizing how bad her legs shook.

Once Reese had left, Chanyeol gave an awkward laugh. “You really want to hang out with us that bad, huh? What happened to never wanting to see us again?”

Victoria looked down at the fur in her hand. It was a near perfect match to Baekhyun’s hair. “A lot,” she whispered. “I want to tell you both a story, because no one else believes me.”

The three left the woods, but did not go to Chili’s. Instead, the boys suggested a small diner on the edge of the woods. Obviously rundown, it was a place Vic had never even noticed before. The walls held peeling paint, and the seats all had tears in them. But it was cozy and quiet; Victoria liked it.

Once they had all placed their orders, Chanyeol looked at her expectantly. “So? What’s your story?” His eyes were completely blank, she noticed. Usually Chanyeol was happy and hyper and absolutely annoying, but he seemed distant. And Baekhyun? Baekhyun was definitely acting strange. He couldn’t look up at her. He was either picking his fingers, bending the corners of the menu, or just plain looking anywhere else.

Victoria took a deep breath. “First, how have you two been? Enjoying summer?”

“We went hiking,” Baekhyun stated. “We left right after school let out and got back yesterday.” His voice was drawn out and bland. Something was definitely wrong.

“Okay, you are the tiest liar ever,” she said and swatted his hands off the table. On one hand, she was so happy to run into these two. They were so distracting; it was so easy to forget why she wanted to talk to them in the first place. On the other hand… she was suspicious. “Really, Baekhyun, what’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?”

He began picking his nails beneath the table. “I don’t know what you mean.”

With a sigh, she picked up her fork and used it as a means to lift his chin. When he finally looked at her, she glared at him. “This Baekhyun is not fun. I want to yell at you so cheer up. I can’t make you mad when you’re pouting. Cut it out.” Dropping the fork, she looked at Chanyeol. “Now, if you don’t want to tell me what you did, you don’t have to.”

“Tell your damn story,” Chanyeol cursed as the waitress brought their food and left.  He squirted ketchup onto his fries. “I still want to catch the movie.”

Rolling her eyes, Vic stole a last glance at Baekhyun before turning her attention to Chanyeol. “Okay, fine. Well, when I was walking home from school, I took that trail we were just on.”

“The one you take with Tao, right?”

Vic glanced at Baekhyun, who was speaking through a mouthful of burger and nodded. “Yeah, but Tao wasn’t out yet, and I wasn’t waiting two hours.”

“Why didn’t you just ask us?” Chanyeol asks. He cleared his throat and swallowed. “We could have walked you home. We take the same trail anyway.”

“Well I don’t like you two all that much,” she hissed. “Can I continue?”

“No wait a second,” Baekhyun raised a hand. He sipped his soda and his lips before continuing. “If you don’t like us, why the hell are we here?”

“Uh,” she pursed her lips then grinned. “Free food?” The devil twins glanced at each other, nodded, and went back to eating. Vic took this as a sign to continue. “Anyway, I was walking the trail and then this big ing wolf comes out of nowhere, and it wants to ing eat me, right? So I’m basically pissing myself and five more come up with the thing. And the bastard throws me into a tree and-”

“Wait, a wolf threw you?” Chanyeol asks. “Wolves don’t throw people. They aren’t big enough.”

“These were. These were like elephant wolves,” Vic says. She takes a sip of her coffee. “So it throws me into a tree and then this other wolf ing line-backs me. So now I’m sure I’m going to die, but this one’s a nice wolf. And then there are a ton more wolves and-” She stops herself, thinking of the words the wolf had said. “I went home.”

Chanyeol and Baekhyun stare at Vic. They both have a mix of confusion and shock on their faces as she stirs her coffee, not looking at them.

“That’s it?” Chanyeol inquires. “That’s the whole story? Nothing else?” Vic nods, and Chanyeol shakes his head. “And you called him a bad liar.”

Her eyes shoot up to stare at Chanyeol, who has gone back to his burger. “What do you mean I’m a bad liar?”

“The story is obviously fake,” Baekhyun adds as he leans back in the booth. He’s got a toothpick in his teeth and his arms behind his head. Good to see him back to normal. “Why are you wasting our time with this? We’ve got a movie to catch.”

“Wasting your time?” Vic mumbles. She can feel the tears in the back of her eyes and forces them down. “I confide in you two about something that’s been haunting me for days, and I’m wasting your time?”

He scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Look, if you want to confide in us, that’s fine. But when you just want to lie to us like this, it’s wasting time.” Baekhyun stands and pulls out his wallet. After tossing a few twenties on the table, he nods to Chanyeol.

Vic reaches out and grabs Baekhyun’s arm. The tears are coming soon, she can feel them. She cannot let them see her cry. Not again. “I know what I saw, Baekhyun.” Her voice cracks on his name, and she takes a deep breath. “I know your secret. Your whole family’s, and all I’m asking is for you not to brush me off like I’m losing my mind.”

As Chanyeol gets to his feet, Baekhyun leans down next to her ear. He whispers, “You are losing your mind, Victoria.” He yanks his hand away, and in less then ten steps, he’s out of the diner. He’s gone.