"Aren't you going to introduce us, dear ex-boyfriend?"
My heart immediately sinks. Oliver never told me that he had an ex-girlfriend, let alone such a beautiful one. I stare at him, and he clenches his jaw looking at her. But his expression softens as he looks at me.
"Lyra, babe. This is Tracy. A family friend."
I frown at that because she just clearly called him an ex-boyfriend while he calls her a family friend. He offers me a slight assuring nod as if silently saying, 'We'll talk later.' I turn to her and see she's glaring at Oliver again. Guess she didn't like him calling her a family friend.
I offer her a polite smile and extend my hand.
"I am Lyra. Lyra Winters. Oliver's girlfriend."
She raises an eyebrow at my extended hand and smirks.
"Tracy Chester, Oliver's ex-girlfriend."
I choose to ignore that comment and respond that it was nice meeting her, to which she just scoffs, clearly not sharing the same sentiment. Well, jokes on her. I only said that out of politeness, even if her behavior towards me is trash.
Oliver places his hands on the small of my back and pulls me away with the excuse of introducing me to some other guests. By the time I'm done greeting every guest, I have already forgotten all their names.
I always had trouble remembering people's faces and their names for some reason. I need more than 3 consecutive visits to recognize someone. The only people I remember are Tracy's parents—Tom Chester and Donna Chester, who, surprisingly, contrary to their very rude, very mean daughter, were pretty nice and sweet.
"Come." Oliver holds my hand, and I immediately complain.
"No more socializing, please. I can't do this anymore." He raises his eyebrows at my exhausted expression.
"I was going to take you to my room, babe. If you don't want then—"
"Of course I want that. I would love to see your room. Come on." I take the lead and start dragging him to God knows where. Halfway through he takes the lead and leads me upstairs. We pass through a gigantic hallway, and he tells me that the entire floor is his and his only.
When we finally enter his room, I immediately flop down on his bed, my limbs splaying carelessly, and let out a relieved sigh. He sits down beside me and strokes my hair.
"Do you want to take a quick nap?" I nod my head tiredly.
"I do. But it will look weird and disrespectful even—"
"You are my girlfriend, and this is my house. You can do whatever you want in this house. Besides, my parents don't care about stuff like that. They will understand that you're tired." He starts pressing on my shoulders with just the right amount of pressure, and I let out a delighted sigh.
A phone rings, disturbing the silence. I pop open my one eye and see it's Oliver's phone. He answers the call and says a few words and then hangs up.
"Do you have to go?" I question him.
"Yes, Dad called saying I need to meet some people. He also told me to let you rest for a little while." He leans his head down and presses a quick peck on the side of my face.
He murmurs he'll be back and leaves, closing the door behind him. Not even 10 seconds later, the door opens again; he must have forgotten something.
"Must be nice to sleep on the same bed I have slept in countless times. I must say you look a thousand times better on this bed than I did though." I immediately sit up on the bed and see Tracy looming over the bed like some sort of sleep paralysis demon.
What the hell is her problem? I was trying to be nice earlier, but now she's starting to annoy me. I stand up and stare at her.
"If you're saying all that to make me jealous, then let me tell you, it's not working. Fighting over a man is the least of my worries, even if it's my own boyfriend." I pray to God my voice doesn't betray me. I'm not usually the person to tell people off, but this girl has managed to annoy me more than anyone.
She lets out a laugh. Loud mocking laughter and my face immediately heats up.
"You think a lowly poor human orphan like you can afford to fight me? Sooner or later, he'll get tired of you, and when that happens, he'll come running back to me."
"How did you know—?"
"That you are an orphan?" she immediately cuts me off.
"Everyone in this town knows that Oliver's little girlfriend is a poor little orphan. Why do you think everyone is so nice to you? It's because they pity you. Not because they like you. The only one they like is me. You know why?"
She inches closer, and for some reason, with every step she takes. She looks unhinged. She doesn't look mad or frustrated. She just looks off. As if she's a totally different being. I stand my ground and square up my shoulder, letting her know that I'm not scared even though it's a lie.
"Because I am one of them. One of their kind. While you are an outsider, a mere human being who doesn't belong here." My brows furrow in confusion. What is she even talking about? Is she high?
Just then she reaches me in a flash and glares down at me; that's when I notice her eyes. Gone are her brown eyes; in their place is a pair of glowing, piercing golden one. I immediately let out a loud scream and pushed her with all my might and ran out of the room.
As I run downstairs, I scream Oliver's name while running outside back to the backyard. I scream his name once more and don't see him there at all. Not even his parents. Just other attendees who look at me weird.
And I'm immediately reminded of what Tracy just told me. That everyone here just pities me, and as I look at their faces now, I can clearly see that Tracy wasn't lying. I see the pity in their eyes. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. I hate that look.
Besides, I must look crazy right now in their eyes, a girl screaming her boyfriend's name in the middle of a grand party. An overwhelming urge to just hide somewhere engulfs me, and I turn around to run back inside, but just as I take a step forward, I hear it.
Howling. A loud, terrifying howl, just like in my dreams. And just like in my dream, everyone around me freezes, and then they look alert and sharp.
No. No. No. My dream better not come true. What the hell? This is not the first dream of mine to turn into reality, but this will surely be the strangest one.
Then I feel it, the rumbling of the ground beneath me, and the howls grow closer, and I prepare myself before I look around, and to my absolute horror, all those people with pitying eyes are not here. In their places are huge wolves snarling and baring their teeth in the direction of the woods.
Dammit. Everything in my dream is coming true besides one thing. And that is, in reality, I'm going to run, hide, or do anything but just stand rooted at one place. I ran towards the door that I just ran through, and it shut. You must be kidding me. I push at it and try the doorknobagain and again, but it doesn't budge.
I look behind, and my heart drops. Giant wolves, almost 50 of them, emerge from the shadows of the forest. And they immediately start tearing at each other. The forest wolves show no mercy as they claw and bite at their opponents, while the party wolves have great agility, and they don't tire out even if they're smaller in size.
One of the forest wolves actually tackles one of the party wolves with such force that the latter drops dead without even fighting back. Given the seriousness, I believe it's not the first time two groups have fought each other. They must be rivals.
In just a matter of a few minutes, the ground that was just vibrant with party is now painted with blood. Some wolves lie lifeless on the ground, while some flee in fear. Some have their faces and fangs bloodied as a reward of victory, while some have blood oozing out of their wounds.
A sense of unease fills me. And it's so strong that I feel sick to my stomach. And I know why. Someone is staring at me. I turn to the left, and there I see it. A brown wolf with glowing, piercing golden eyes glaring at me. In my dream, I couldn't tell who it was. But now? Now I do.
Tracy Chester.
By now, I already know no one in this town is normal, and come to think of it, Tracy was the one who showed me that first. I need to get out of this house and this town right now. But before that I am going to at least slap her.
I glare right back at Tracy, and then, without her seeing, I rummage my hand at my right, where I know there is a vase beside the door on top of the table. Just as Tracy the wolf snarls at me and lunges forward, I throw the vase right at her head.
Tracy The wolf's forehead bleeds a little because of the hit, and I feel slightly bad. Because Tracy the wolf is an animal at the end of the day, and oh my god. Is what I just did animal abuse?
I snap out of my thought at the sound of Tracy the wolf's low growl. If she was glaring at me before, then now she looks murderous. She bares her teeth at me and rakes her paw at the ground before taking flight to pounce on me. My eyes widen because I know I can't do anything to save myself at this point, and I close my eyes, bracing myself for the impact.
But it doesn't come; all I feel is a cold air whip past me just like in the dream, and I open my eyes to see Tracy the wolf tackled to the ground by another wolf. A huge wolf with black fur—it must be a forest wolf. And it saved me? No. It probably had its eye on Tracy and pounced on her, seeing her distracted.
Tracy, however, manages to escape, and now the big black wolf turns to me. I stand there stuck in a place, unable to move as the big black wolf advances towards me. But before it could reach me, I heard the door behind me open, and a hand caught my wrist and dragged me inside in one swift motion.
I'm caught off guard by the action, and I let out a startled scream, and whoever pulled me inside immediately covers my mouth and shushes me.
"Shh. Keep it down." A demanding voice whispers in my ear calmly. This person is cold, or perhaps it's the clothes they are wearing. Since their hands on my mouth and on my back holding mine are very warm. I glance up to see who it is, and they look down at the same time.
And my heart skips a beat at the sight of him. Jet black hair with the sides neatly trimmed and the top flowing back in a subtle slicked-back wave. High cheekbones, a sharp jawline, a straight nose, and full lips. And his eyes, these rare grey eyes paired with long eyelashes and framed with thick straight eyebrows with a slight arch that gives him a cold look. He is a beautiful man.
"Are you done checking me out?" His voice breaks my observation, and I immediately flush red, caught red-handed. I realize he has already removed his hands from my mouth, but he's still holding my hand behind my back for some reason.
I clear my throat and try to sound cool.
"I wasn't checking you out. I was just observing you trying to figure out if I know you." I pat myself on my back mentally for coming up with such a believable excuse.
But he doesn't look convinced. In fact, his lips slightly curved upwards, and he stared into my eyes with this hint of amusement.
"Sure."
I'm immediately offended as to why he wouldn't believe my lie and instantly reply.
"I'm not lying!"
His eyes glinted more.
"I didn't say you were. Unless you know you are lying." He brings his face closer to mine, and our noses touch.
"I told you I'm not—" my voice raises a bit as I try to convince him.
"Who is there?" Both I and Gray Eyes freeze. We look at each other, and he holds up his finger, signaling me to stay quiet. I nod my head.
"Lyra? Is that you?" I hear my name being called, and I recognize the voice. It's Oliver's mom—Mrs. Jones. At the thought of Oliver, I finally realize the position I'm in and the proximity between me and gray eyes. I immediately feel guilty at the fact that I'm standing this close with a man that's not my boyfriend, being held by him, and even thinking he's beautiful.
I stare at the direction the sound is coming from but contemplate whether I should respond or not. Just then I feel my hand being released and see gray eyes backing up. He stares at me while doing so and flashes me a little smirk.
"Till the next time, Lyra."