A howl sounds somewhere, and suddenly everyone around me freezes. No. Not just freezing, they straighten. Everyone stands upright and glances at each other but me, as if they are quietly communicating with each other without me hearing. Like they're talking in their head but with one another.
And then it happens. The floor beneath me shakes; at first it's just a slow vibration, but then it turns more vigorous as if thousands of people are jumping and running at the same time with an intense speed. The howl sounds again, but it's closer than before, but rather than a single howl, it's howls.
And not just ordinary howls. It sounds something like a dog but more terrifying and more dense. Wolves. It sounds like wolves howling. Just as I turn to my left to see if everyone else is hearing the same, my heart drops and fear numbs my body.
Gone are the people who were just around me minutes ago. In their place are huge, terrifying wolves. Baring their fangs, growling lowly, staring into the woods alert as if waiting for something. I open my mouth to say something, but no sound leaves my mouth, and just as I'm about to touch one of the closest wolves, it takes a step back and then lunges forward.
That's when I see wolves emerging from the woods in the shadow of the night. Terrifying giants, bigger than the wolves that I am surrounded by. I try to scream for help, but no words leave me. I try to turn and leave, but my feet betray me, and I can't move. I'm stuck in a place just watching the bloodshed as the wolves tear at each other.
Then I feel eyes on me and turn in that direction, and I see a wolf with brown fur and glowing golden eyes staring—no, glaring—at me and baring its teeth at me, and then it lunges forward towards me. As it gets closer and closer, I try to scream once more and try to run, but it's too late.
The wolf takes a flight, opening its mouth wide as if to bite me, and I close my eyes like an idiot, bracing myself for the impact, but it doesn't come. All I feel is a cold air whip past me, and I open my eyes to see another wolf had just tackled it. This one is bigger and has black fur; I think it's one of the wolves that emerged from the woods.
And then a hand, a human hand, tugs on mine and pulls me. That's when I finally get my voice back and scream so loud that it hurts my own ear, and I gasp out loud, pulling my hands away from whoever was holding it.
I look around and see a glass window and a windshield? What? That's when I realized I'm sitting in a car. My boyfriend Oliver's car. He cups my cheek and makes me look at him.
"Are you okay? You fell asleep and then suddenly started thrashing, and when I held your hand, you started screaming."
I stare into his imploring eyes, still a little dazed, and nod my head.
"I'm good. It was just a nightmare."
"Are you sure? Or do you want to stay here a little longer?"
That's when I look around and see we're in the middle of nowhere surrounded by woods on both sides of the road and an endless road stretched ahead.
"I'm okay. I'd rather go than stay here."
"Alright." He kisses my temple and holds my hand as if comforting me and resumes driving.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Oliver casts a fleeting glance at me and looks back ahead.
"Just some meaningless dream. You know, like those dreams where you see yourself turning into rock, and then the rock turns into water, but you see yourself in third person, but it wasn't rock or water; it was rather wolves.—
"Wolves?" Oliver's voice raises a bit. "What did you see about wolves?" He asks again, sounding a little strange.
"I was standing somewhere, and then suddenly some wolves appeared out of nowhere, and then people who were around me suddenly turned into wolves, and then I was about to get attacked by a wolf, and someone saved me by pulling me away. I think it was you." I squeeze his hands and flash him a little smile, but he doesn't smile back. If anything, he actually looks a little uncomfortable.
"You think I was what exactly?" He says slowly.
"The one who pulled me away and saved me, silly." I laugh, finding it a little funny at how invested he sounds in my dream.
Oliver chuckles at that and holds my hands up to his face and kisses the back of my hand. "I will always save you." His sincere words warm my heart, and I smile up at him. Because I don't doubt that at all. I know he'll always save me. Just like he saves me from my own thoughts and the demons in my head that make me see things.
"There." Oliver says with a nod of his head, gesturing ahead. I follow his gaze and see a divergence ahead where the entrance of one side has an old rusting board that says Ravenswood. His hometown. Where his family leaves. Where we're heading to at the moment.
Just as we pass the entrance, and about a hundred meters ahead, I see some houses. Not that I can see much of it from this distance, but still, as we get closer and the vision gets clearer, I suddenly feel like I have traveled back in time. Hundreds of years ago.
All the houses look straight from ancient times, old-money vintage houses that look beautiful and old at the same time.
"I feel like I have transmigrated into ancient times." I say, staring around in complete awe.
Oliver softly laughs at that.
"Yeah, this is an old town and was founded a long time ago; that's why it looks like that."
"But why is it so quiet here? Is it always like this?"
"No, it's only today. My parents usually invite the whole town over for their anniversary. So everyone is likely at the party." I knew we were getting late, but I didn't think we were this late. So much for first impressions.
"Your parents are going to be so disappointed in me, aren't they?" But Oliver quickly shakes his head.
"You are the guest of honor today. You can take as much time as you need." His teasing tone doesn't go unnoticed by me, and I narrow my eyes at him, to which he just raises his eyebrows amusingly.
"Besides, we are here already." That's when I see a house—no, a castle. Oh my god. Am I dreaming? It's a huge castle-like mansion in the center of the town. Made up of white stones that look spotless and exceptionally polished with royal blue roofs, it stood behind a neat garden, a fountain glinting quietly in the front.
"Does it belong to royals? Does your town have a royal family?" The car moves closer and closer to the house.
"Not exactly." Oliver pulls up right in front of the house. He then proceeds to get out of his car, leaving me confused in the passenger seat. He opens my side of the door and extends his hands. As I get out of the car with his help, I immediately start questioning him, not liking how he's not responding.
"This must be a hotel, then, right? But didn't you say we were staying over at your parents' house?"
He flicks my forehead and flashes me a charming grin.
"Lyra, babe. We are staying at my parents' house, and this is their house."
My eyes widened with shock. "This is your parents' house? Are you a prince? And your parents, king and queen? Are you guys royalty? You didn't tell me—"
He shushes my rambling with a smile on his face and cups my face. "No babe, we're not royalty, nor am I a prince. Although I can be your prince charming if you want me to be." He wiggles his brows playfully.
"Back when the town was founded, my ancestors were the first ones to reside in the town and named the town and built the first home in the town, and they were pretty well off, so they made the biggest house in the town. Other houses were made afterwards, and people made their houses whatever way they could, and now their bloodline is simply living here." He adds.
I nod my head in understanding. "Explains why your house looks like a king's domain and other houses look like normal civilians'. Still, I didn't expect your house to be like this; now I feel severely out of place."
I look down at my plain green dress that is beautiful, no doubt about that. But it looks ordinary and too simple for a place and event so grand.
"No, you're not out of place; you are exactly where you belong, in my world." Oliver grabs my hand and presses a sweet, lingering kiss on my forehead. My heart warms at his gesture and at his words. He then interlaces our fingers.
"Are you ready to go inside? The party has already started." I take a deep breath, slightly nervous. I have met his parents before, but it was an unplanned meeting. I just happened to bump into them back then, but today is different. Today is the official meeting between me and Oliver's entire family; I have to leave a good impression.
I stare up at Oliver, who's already looking at me. "Do I look presentable?"
Oliver's eyes soften, and he smiles. "Yes, you do; you look beautiful."
I hold his hands tighter. "Let's go then."
Oliver leads me inside and then at the back of the house to an open backyard area, which is much bigger than their front garden, and there are massive trees probably linking to the forest. As I see other attendees, I'm reminded of how wrong Oliver was when he told me I don't look out of place. Because what the hell is this?
Everyone in this party is dressed to the nines, and everyone looks classy and elegant and controlled, even?. The way they sit, stand, talk, and even move their hands looks so controlled, like how aristocrats or people from upper-class society act.
Subconsciously, I straightened my back. It also doesn't help that everyone is staring at me. Some with confusion, some with curiosity. Given how tight-knit the entire town is, I'm probably the only person here that no one knows, so it's obvious they're going to stare at me.
I lean closer to Oliver, and he must sense my discomfort; he immediately drags me away from there and leads me to the other side of the room. And my gaze finally falls upon the main characters of this event, aka Oliver's parents—Robert Jones and Amanda Jones.
Oliver's mom immediately catches my eyes and smiles at me kindly. Just as we reach her, she immediately pulls me into a hug and kisses my cheeks.
"You look beautiful, honey." My cheeks flush slightly; I'm not used to this kind of affection from anyone other than Oliver.
"Thank you, Mrs. Jones! Happy anniversary! And you look really pretty." She thanks me and smiles warmly at me, and I greet her husband and congratulate him as well.
Oliver greets both his parents and hands them a gift that we both prepared for them.
"Oh, there was no need for this, but thank you so much, my babies." Mrs. Jones smiles gleefully but hurries to open it. She immediately lets out a gasp of delight and shows it to Mr. Jones. It isn't anything fancy. Just a simple wooden frame with a pebble couple and a beautiful little tree inside.
"Isn't it beautiful, honey?" Mr. Jones agrees and thanks me and Oliver. To which, Oliver doesn't take credit at all.
"It wasn't me, Dad. It was Lyra who made it. It's actually handmade by her. She was the one who spent all her free time making this especially for you guys." Mrs. Jones gushes over the gift more now that Oliver told her it's handmade.
"Did you make that gift with the intention of competing against me, Lyra darling? Now my wife won't care about my gift at all." Mr. Jones jokes, and both Oliver and Mrs. Jones chuckled at that, and I shook my head but let out a soft laugh myself.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Oliver and his little girlfriend". A mocking female voice rings out, silencing the crowd. I turn to look at the source of the voice. A girl. No. A woman. Pretty, tall, shiny hair and a perfect red dress that hugs her in all the right places.
She moves through the crowd with graceful but calculated steps. Head held high. With a confident and almost arrogant smile on her face. Her eyes are set on me, and she has this look in her eyes as if she's mocking me, and it's working. Because it is making me feel self-conscious, and she sees it. Her smile widens as she stands in front of me.
Her gaze flits to Oliver, and she glares at him and sneers.
"Aren't you going to introduce us, dear ex-boyfriend?"