CHAPTER 2: TOO SCARED

CHAPTER 2

Alethea's POV

I RAN!

With tears streaming down my face. I didn't stop until I was far away from the betrayal and heartache, my wolf's howls echoing in my mind.

I realized just how foolish I had been all the while.

My tears blinded my eyes, making me fall and fall and fall, until I was lying on the road, unable to move as I lay in a starfish position, gazing at the moon, too tired to cry, too tired to run, too tired to love, too tired to complain and bemoan my fate. I heard a distant rumbling of thunder as I shut my eyes tight, hoping I'd wake up and realize I was having a bad nightmare.

But instead, memories started flooding my mind. Memories that I had ignored, memories that I had dismissed as mere suspicions. Memories of Kaiden and Sophia, laughing together, whispering secrets, and exchanging flirtatious glances.

I remembered the time I saw them together at the mall, holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes. I had brushed it off as friendship, but now I realized it was something more.

“How foolish had I been?” I found myself questioning myself.

I recalled the nights Kaiden would stay out late, claiming he was working or hanging out with friends. But now I suspected he was with Sophia, in her arms, in her bed.

The memories kept replaying in my mind, each one a stab to my heart. I felt so foolish, so blind. I had trusted them, trusted their lies and deceit.

I got up, my legs shaking, and continued running. I ran until I was exhausted, until my legs gave out and I fell to the ground once again. I lay there, in the middle of the road, the rain starting to fall, drenching me totally but I didn't care.

My wolf had gone silent.

But I had made my decision, I wanted to die. I wanted to just close my eyes and let the rain wash away my pain, my heartache, my life. I felt so broken, so shattered, that I didn't know how to put the pieces back together.

“I just want to die,” I whispered, my voice barely audible over the sound of the rain. “I just want to be gone. To go meet my mother and father and finally have peace.”

The street indeed seemed devoid of cars at this point so much that I debated just going to drown myself. “No! I can't risk changing my mind halfway,” I said, leaving me with the viable option of just getting plummeted to death by a car. Easy and fast.

With this thought, I rose to my feet once again and resumed running desperate to end it all. I ran, my legs pumping furiously as I sprinted down the deserted street.

The rain poured down on me, obscuring my vision, but I didn't need to see to know where I was going. I knew I was running towards death, towards escape, towards oblivion.

After a little while, I saw a headlight, my werewolf vision allowed me to watch as the black car hurtled towards me and I stopped running, I suddenly realized that something inside me shifted.

My fear of death, which had been absent until now, suddenly reared its ugly head. But as I tried to move, to get out of the way, my feet seemed not to agree with me as it was planted indefinitely to the spot.

I was suddenly paralyzed with fear, unable to move, unable to escape. The car was getting closer and closer, its headlights blinding me, and I knew that this was it. This was the end.

I closed my eyes to accept my death while I counted down the time to my own death.

3… 2… 1… 0… 0…

But nothing happened, I twisted my neck a bit, trying to pick a sound.

“Did the car already hit me but I died before feeling any pain?” I wondered, as my lashes slowly fluttered open to see that the car had stopped barely an inch from me.

I gasped, suddenly becoming weak in my knees, subconsciously stepping back, when the driver stepped out of the car.

My breath got hitched in my throat at the sight of the man, even my lips refused to close as I stared at the piece of art walking towards me but he was angry.

“Were you trying to seek death?” he ragged harshly, while I watched him helplessly. “You could've been killed if I hadn't cut my break in time. What…” He trailed off, staring at me, the rain already drenching him just as wet as I am.

“Hey, are you alright?” he asked, his voice switching from hard to soft.

I stood there, frozen in place, as he slowly approached me, his hands stretched out to show me that he was harmless. And his words were laced with concern, but I couldn't shake off the feeling of fear that had gripped me.

He was a tall, imposing figure, his features chiseled and strong. His Gray eyes seemed to glint with a long thread of wickedness, and his jawline was set in a firm line. But as he looked at me, his expression softened – or rather tried to.

I tried to speak, to answer his question, but my voice caught in my throat. I couldn't form words, couldn't explain what had just happened. All I could do was stare up at him, my eyes wide with fear and uncertainty.

He took a step closer, his hand reaching out as if to comfort me. “Hey, it's okay,” he said softly. “It's fine. You're cold. Come into the car and I'll drop you off wherever you want.”

I paused in my tracks, this scene was too familiar only that instead of this stranger, it was Kaiden… this was how we first met.

Deja Vu.

Everything kept reminding me about

him, and so I did the only thing I could think of - I turned and ran.