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I should have stayed away from the forest.
Chapter 9
I open my mouth to scream, but the creature covers my mouth with a furry paw. It’s big, and standing on his hinders like a bear or a human, but it doesn’t look like anything I’v
e ever seen before. I try to bite it with my teeth, but it’s holding onto me way too tightly. My back is to its front, so I can’t get a clear view of what it is, exactly, but I realize suddenly that this is it.
This is the end.
This is how I die.
It’s a funny thing, really. This realization that the end has come isn’t what I thought it would be. I thought that memories of my father would flash through my head, that visions of what life could have been like would flame through my heart, but that’s not what happens.
That’s not what happens at all.
Instead, I think of Forwal.
I think of his face, and the way he smiles when he thinks no one is looking.
I think of how fierce he is with me.
I think of how tender he is.
And I think of how no matter what happens, I will never regret being his.
There is no doubt in my heart that I am totally, completely his. I shouldn’t be. I know that just as well, just as much, but I didn’t have a choice in this. I didn’t have a choice about falling in love with the monster, yet I have.
And now that I’m about to perish in the forest, just yards away from the house where we live together, I can’t help but wish for just a little more time with him.
I can’t help but wish things could have lasted a little bit longer.
I should have told him how I felt.
The creature drags me deeper into the forest. I continue to struggle. He won’t take me without a fight. I know that much. He can be as big and mean and scary as he wants, but I’m Forwal’s girl, and I won’t go down without a fight.
I’ll make him proud.
Later, when they notice I’m gone, they’ll see my heel prints in the dirt from where I dug them into the ground. They’ll see the broken branches and crushed grass from where I shook, kicking and fighting as much as I could. They’ll see the evidence that I wasn’t taken of my own free will.
I fought, and I fought hard.
The creature loosens its grip on my mouth slightly, and I take advantage of the moment by opening my mouth wide and biting down on its hand. It squeals: a terrible, shrill shriek, and I begin to scream.
“Help me! Help! I’ve been taken! Help me!”
Before I know what’s happening, the creature pushes me to the ground and kicks me in the head. Pain shoots through my whole body, and I start to see double. My vision is blurry and the world is spinning, but I scream again, and again, and again.
I scream, and it kicks me in the stomach. My body threatens to vomit, but I manage to hold my stomach together as I yell for help.
Someone has to come.
They have to save me.
Forwal.
I don’t know if he’ll be able to find me. I don’t know if he’ll make it in time, but I know that if he’s nearby, he’ll hear me, and he’ll come for me. He will always save me. I just know it.
Suddenly, the creature growls loudly, and I open my eyes. It looms over me and I get my first clear look at it. I can’t tell what it is. It looks like a mixture of a wolf and a bear, and it looks angry.
