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Chapter One
Gillian
“Orion!”
“Orion!”
Where the hell is he?
Stupid dog. Who am I kidding though? If it wasn’t for him…
If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have somewhere to live off campus until I’m done with this year.
I’ve never been much of a dog person, but the deal with the house-sitting gig was that little Orion has to be fed and walked twice a day, regardless. Rain or shine.
It seemed like an easy enough task until I learned his daily walk took me right up into the wooded hills behind campus. Miles and miles, twice a day.
And my dad’s family friend was no slouch when it came to casual proof I was walking her family’s beloved pet. She’s had me take happy snaps and little videos on my phone and in all seasons. All weather.
I guess I don’t really mind, but lately, Orion’s taken to running off which is really unlike him. Like there’s something in these woods he’s drawn to or trying to sniff out.
Either way, I wished he’d find a new hobby, I only have a few days before I head home myself and the last thing I need is to explain to his loving owners I’ve lost him days before they get back.
“Oh it’s so good to be coming home,” Mrs. Patterson gushed, confirming they’d all be home in just three more days.
“And I know Orion is just as glad he’ll have you all home soon enough…” is my standard reply. But two days? I haven’t even cleaned the place for like a year. I’m not exactly the neatest person around.
A maid service and a small loan from my dad is on the cards, I’d say. Ugh, and that pool. I almost forgot about that too.
Truth be told, I’ll miss some of the scenery and the brilliant starlit nights, but I’ve pretty much had it with this campus, the town, and definitely having to hike miles every day just so some little mutt can run off.
It’s really only been the past few times we’ve been up here, just before dark when I get an almost creepy sensation that we’re being watched somehow.
I say almost creepy, only because of how it makes me feel sometimes. Plus the fact I don’t know if there’s anything there at all.
I don’t have a very vivid imagination, and Orion would bark like mad if anyone was within fifty feet of us. It’s the main reason for his walks so far away from anywhere else.
It wears him out and by the time he’s halfway home, he has no energy left to cause any more mischief.
But my gut tells me that someone or something has moved into the woods recently, and at night especially, I feel eyes on us both.
It’s weird because it’s not like a creepy feeling like someone is waiting to jump out, but it doesn’t feel like it’s an animal of any kind either.
“What could it be Orion, watching you sniffin’ around?” I ask him, finding him digging a hole and only after scrambling through a long and thorny arcade of bushes, losing my way in the early gloaming of dusk.
“Is it… Could it be a...” I trail off asking the tiny dog, before scooping him up, but a part of me doesn’t even want to think about what might be out here if it isn’t an animal and it isn’t a person either.
I bury the thought in the same way I heel the sod of earth Orion’s been working on back into place, reminding myself we really do need to get back before it’s much darker.
Leaving my glasses on my desk I remember within a few moments exactly why I need that particular prescription.
I’m blind as a bat in the dark without them. Once we get to some streetlights I should be fine, but on a trail in the woods? Nope.
Carrying Orion back to what I think must be the path, I eventually set him down and he trots beside me, whining after a few minutes which isn’t like him at all.
My keen hearing can sense all the falling notes of dusky woodland sounds, and my instinct is definitely on the alert at the feeling of being watched again.
But there’s another sound.
I almost think it’s an animal at first, it’s certainly growly and wild sounding. But no sound on earth has ever had this effect on me.
Orion whines again and barks, making me want to scold him for revealing our position.
But the other feeling running through me couldn’t care less about Orion, being lost, or anything else right now.
It only gives me a feeling a girl might have when she’s all alone, dreaming about the perfect man and all the things she’d let him do to her.
It’s usually a passing feeling, but out here in the woods, with that sound filling my ears and knowing that whatever is making the sound is also watching me. Well, it’s almost enough to make me fold over.
