She Writes and Pages Catch Flame

She Cried Wolf

It was the middle of winter, nothing seemed to even be alive. The forest had been covered for months by thick, white, cold snow. Every so often someone would trudge through, passing all the cabins scattered by, searching for something. People went out hunting, but everything was asleep or already dead.

Ana went out early, in her warmest coat, layers and layers beneath. The wind and cold still nipped at her face. She wore fur around her neck, wolf fur. It was five miles to the closest town, none of the roads were plowed.

It wasn’t snowing, but the snow from trees dropped and fell onto her as she took the wooded path, which she called a short cut, into town. No one lived in town, it wasn’t any higher of a population than the people who lived out of town. Everyone was skinny and starved this time of years. Without plows no one could leave and no one could come in. The only grocery store and gas station stoked up on as much non-parishable food as the could. There were rows and rows of canned beans and vegetables. They had a large freezer for frozen meat, but most of the locals killed their own game, deer, moose, bears, and sometimes wolves. The wolves were used for their coats more than anything else, they made a good rug, and they threatened the deep population.

Ana had a crush on the store clerk, Gregory. He was tall, broad shoulders, a little stocky. His hair was dark and his eyes were bright. She was always a bit mousey around him, around everyone. She was much shorter, with brown eyes, soft pink lips, pale skin, and light brown hair. Everything about Ana was average, and that worked okay for a small town, but she wanted out. Gregory wanted out too, the two of them once talked of leaving, she wished forever since that they would. But she wanted to leave together, stay together, adventure together, build a life together, just not in such a small lonely town.

“It’s cold out today.” Ana said as Gregory looked up from his magazine at the counter. He lived above the grocery store, he never traveled much further than downstairs and to the local bar.

“I bet.”

“You never leave.”

“All this food, all this beer,” he said spreading his arms wide motioning at the whole store, “why would I?”

“Maybe you’d find something you’d like.” She felt bold after saying that. She didn’t openly flirt with people often, and she’d been so shy around Gregory, but it was only the two of them.

She disappeared into the aisles, rows and rows of canned foods, chips, crackers, you name it, as along as it wouldn’t go bad anytime soon. She placed canned soups into her basket, picked up a frozen turkey, bought eggs that were from three farms over, bought a homemade loaf of bread. Mrs. Archer made breads and muffins once or twice a week, provided she had all the ingredients, this time of year, it seemed more like she only made breads once a month.

Ana finally made it back to the check out. Gregory was still trying to figure out what she meant by her earlier comment, was she flirting?

“You’re going to be making a nice dinner.”

“Hopefully. Mom and Pop have been gone for a few weeks now, they can’t get back with all the snow, they phoned once, but the power is on and off, and I’m not sure where they are now.”

“You could always stay in town for a few nights.”

“You could always get out of town for a few nights.” She placed some beer on the counter when she said this. Her backpack was going to be far beyond full and the beer was so much added weight, she hoped he’d carry it with her.

“Beer? I didn’t know you drank.”

“Well it’s not much fun to drink alone, drinking makes me want to dance and sing. Drinking makes me want to do lots of things.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Well if I told you then it wouldn’t be as much fun as just showing you later.”

“Are you inviting me out?”

“Ready for the hike?” She finally asked him out. She was nervous, but at that point she was just lonely, more lonely than she’d ever been, she needed human contact, but it needed to be skin on skin, lips on lips kind of contact.

He agreed to go with her, the owner of the store was always telling Gregory he could take some time off, honestly because he couldn’t afford it. Gregory was saving so hard for eventually leaving. He had more money than anyone in town.

They locked the store until the owner would come and unlock it. Gregory wrapped a scarf tight around his neck. Ana threw her backpack over her shoulders, it was heavy and she still had a few extra bags, he offered to carry the bags.

They made small talk, talked more about leaving and why they thought their town was so boring. And in a swift sudden movement Gregory pulled Ana in and kissed her. She squealed. She wasn’t expecting it, she wasn’t ready for it. He kissed her again, hard, and pulled her close to him. She wasn’t ready for that in the middle of the woods. She tried to push him back.

“What?”

“Wait.” she said.

“Why? No one can see us.” He held her tight, but she was resistant.

“It’s not about that.”

“Come on.” She kept trying to push him away, he ripped open her jacket. ”You talk about leaving with me, well this is an escape, I’ve always wanted to see you naked, I’ve thought of you so many nights, we can finally be together, be intimate and no worry about this stupid town running their mouths.”

“Not right here!” She hadn’t been intimate with anyone since Ryan, a boy who moved out of town a few years before, she loved him, but he never thought twice about her after he left. Ana wasn’t ready for things to move so fast.

“Do you want me or not?”

“It’s not that I don’t, it’s just…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, he kissed her again, held her in as she was struggling and just kept kissing her.

“Stop! Stop it!” He pulled her down to the ground, she tried to yell and scream, the snow was getting into her clothes, it burned it was so cold. At that point she really began to fight, she kicked him off of her. He was shocked and taken aback, he tried to move back in, and she went at him kicking and punching and screaming. She cried wolf, and then she tore him apart. She was unrelentless, scratching and biting, he was bloody, and now he was screaming. She pulled a knife from her backpack and stabbed him several times, she just wouldn’t stop.

He laid there bloody, barely breathing, close to death. If he didn’t bleed to death first, he would have died from the cold. She pulled herself together, grabber her belongings, fixed her jacket.

She threw her hood up, the coat of a wolf, the hood the head, snout and ears. She never looked back.

(Source: napalmbeth)