Katherine
In a field full of daisies, I sprinted in bare feet. The searing sun baked my uncovered shoulders as my feet screamed in pain, but I couldn’t stop. I wasn’t going to let him win.
Hysterically huffing as I glanced back to see if the ravenous wolf was still chasing me, I saw him foaming at the mouth and howling as he tirelessly pursued me. His fiery eyes burned deep into me. He was closing in. There was no way I was going to be able to run fast enough to stay out of his clutches for long.
Blood was dripping down my neck and back, mixing with the sweat that was coating my entire body and making my thin tank top and jean shorts stick to my skin.
I could barely breathe. My heart felt like it was going to explode, but I willed myself to keep moving as fast as I could, forcing each foot to pound in front of the other.
Finally, I could see a road up ahead, not too far off in the distance.
Salvation was so close I could almost touch it.
I picked up the pace as the tender skin on the soles of my feet broke from rocks and hardened terrain. It didn’t matter anymore—I was almost free.
A black truck was speeding toward me, barreling closer.
I desperately waved my arms and cried out for help.
As the pickup slowed, I started to feel a slight relief wash over me at last.
“Katherine.Katherine, honey, you’re having another nightmare.”
As my eyes fluttered open, I focused on the grizzly face of the true wolf in my life. More beast than man, he’d held me prisoner for so many years. His yellowing eyes stared down at me as he hovered over my small bed.
I propped myself up with one elbow, fighting back the tears that always threatened me when I woke up in the hellhole that was my reality.
“I’m sorry,” I choked out as he handed me a warm cup of water.
Sinking down onto the edge of my repulsive, thin mattress, Alastor brushed my greasy hair back behind my ear. His fingers trailed down my neck and over my bare chest. “I don’t like it when you don’t sleep well, precious.”
It took everything in my power to not wince from his touch, even though there were times I craved the tender moments with Alastor. They were worlds better than when I pissed him off.
“Maybe I could try sleeping without the cuff again? It might help like it did before.” I glanced down at my ankle shackle, which had kept me chained to the wrought iron footboard every night for as long as I could remember.
His eyes narrowed at me as his pale lips hardened into a reedy line. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time I was nice to you and we tried that?”
His nails dug into the base of my neck, pulling my head back to force me to look right into his menacing face.
“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, forcing myself to scoot closer to him and put my hand on his leg. “You know I don’t like to upset you.”
Alastor brushed his chapped lips over my forehead, his hot breath sending chills down my spine. “That’s my good little precious.”
“May I cook breakfast for you?” Doing chores around the house was my only time of freedom from the locked cellar Alastor so lovingly called my bedroom—if a vault smaller than a prison cell with a poor excuse for a bed, a dirt floor, and a Home Depot bucket for a toilet could be called a bedroom.
“I have an early shit. We’ll eat together when I get home.” He tossed me my robe, finally allowing me to put on some form of clothing. “You’re shivering.”
I scrambled to get the stained, pilling fabric over my exposed body. “Thank you.”
He leaned over and kissed me quickly. “I should be back soon.”
I wanted to puke, scream, pull away—anything—but I just let it happen. It was better that way.
With that fleeting kiss, he was out the door and locking it from the outside.
My stomach grumbled as shooting hunger pains coursed through my body.
Hugging my pillow, I softly cried, wishing for the terrible wolf dream again. At least in my dream I was able to run in a field and feel a shred of hope. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen a flower or felt the sun on my skin. My imagination and memories were all I had left to cling to, and as the days trickled into months and the months faded into years, it was getting harder and harder to remember the simplest of things. I couldn’t remember my family’s phone numbers anymore or the address of the house I grew up in. I could barely remember anything prior to the days just after Alastor forced me to live with him.