Afterwards~
One. Two. Three.
Something was breathing on my back.
There was no breeze. There were no moving objects to create one. Another puff of air brushed against my back as it sent chills down my spine. There was definitely something behind me. I felt the heat of its body travel to my shoulder, stopping there. It then traveled down the back of my arm, slowly getting closer and closer to my skin. I felt the tip of it’s fur run across my spine as it let out another breath. Something warm dripped on my neck. I was begging, screaming in my head for Kai to wake up. I couldn’t even remember the last time I breathed since this being was here. I wanted to run. I wanted to run as fast as I could, but as much as I tried to deny it, that thing could probably run twice that.
Kai! I shouted in my head.
He didn’t wake up.
Another puff of breath almost made sick. It smelled like rotting flesh. It’s snout (I was assuming that’s what it was) nudged the back of my neck.
KAI!!! I shouted as loud as I could in my head.
My eyes were shut closed, not wanting to have this be the last place I saw before I died. I opened my eyes slowly, staring at Kai. He had woken up. He was looking directly at me. Or… whatever was behind me. I don’t know how it was possible to go from being completely out to perfectly fine in an instant. But, at a time like this, I didn’t care. I kept my eyes on him, hoping he was hearing my silent pleads.
He slowly got up, squatting on his knees at first so he didn’t disturb it.
“Tskk. Tskk. Tskk.” Kai held out his hand, trying to catch it’s attention. A low growl came from deep inside the being’s throat. Kai slowly stood up straight, keeping his eyes on me.
Bad idea.
The being brought its mouth to my neck and clamped down. It growled once more, this time vibrating the piece of flesh that it was on. This wasn’t a puppy growl. This was something grown. And hungry. And dangerous. And hungry. Did I say that already?
“A-” I stopped myself from squealing.
“Close your eyes.” Kai said calmly. I complied.
All I heard was a rush of air and the quick yelping of that being. All I heard next was someone screaming. I couldn’t tell who it was, but it was hard to hear my own thoughts over it. I wanted to tell them to shut up but I couldn’t find it in me to yell at someone that sounded like they were in trouble.
“Laina.” Kai said. I couldn’t see him; my eyes were still closed. But it was hard to hear him over that noise.
“Laina. Open your eyes.” I didn’t listen. I honestly had no idea if it was Kai talking or if it was just my mind compensating for his voice.
“Laina!” Kai shouted, taking hold of me and shaking me a little. I slowly opened my eyes, but it was hard to see. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was the one that had been screaming, doubled over in pain.
“Laina! You‘re okay.” Kai yelled. “Just look up at me.” I slowly and reluctantly opened my eyes and looked at Kai. He glanced down quickly, trying to look at something without me noticing, but I caught him. He had looked at my arm. Which, I assume, was where the pain was coming from. I didn’t want to look. I covered the gash with my hand, but nothing else, so the blood was just dripping down my wrist and onto the ground. Kai immediately took his hand and ripped off a piece of his shirt. He brought it up to my wound and tied the cloth tightly right beneath my shoulder. I winced, not knowing that he was going to pull that hard.
“Thank you…” I trailed off. “I’m sorry for being such a burden.” I felt so useless. I was so unprepared for something like this to happen. I was embarrassed at the fact that I was such a hassle at this moment.
Kai looked at me softly, but didn’t say anything.
I hesitated, looking around. “Where did it go?”
Kai looked off into the distance. “It ran away.” He said simply. He held out his hand to help me get up. I lifted up my right hand to grasp it and immediately winced in pain. He bent down and gently lifted me up by my other arm.
I nodded in thanks. Kai took my wrist in his hold and started pulling me away. I followed. We had walked about five minutes in silence, just looking around. I couldn’t tell what was on Kai’s mind. He had the same expression this whole time. I still felt bad for being such a burden earlier. I had never been attacked by something unknown before. It was surreal. I wondered if Kai was thinking about that, or maybe just thinking about nothing. I don’t know what it was about this boy that caught my attention, but somehow I didn’t mind. We walked for another five minutes, beginning to see more people appear. This meant that we were getting back to town. Still holding my wrist, Kai had continued stayed silent this whole time.
I looked up at him. “Kai, why do you never talk?”
He took a minute to respond. “You have to persuade me to.” He said calmly.
“And how do I do that?”
He smirked. “Go on a date with me.”
Comments