14

He was the one in charge, I was just following him. Damn! He kisses so well. His lips on mine make everything in me light up, my heart race a thousand miles an hour; my legs tremble, and I can't move my hands to push him away. Part of me wants to shove him against the wall, but another part wants to pull him closer, and I can't move.

He stops to look me in the eyes. I can't say anything. He leans in to kiss me again, but before he does, we hear howls coming from the forest. That makes my skin tingle all over. I look out the window of my room. This time it's not just one howl, there are several.

Kayler also looks out the window and frowns. He moves away from me a bit.

"I have to go," he murmurs. He goes to my nightstand and grabs a photo of me that I had taken last year at a fair. "And this," he shows me the photo, "is mine now."

I react.

"What?" I ask. He leaves my room, leaving me alone. I follow him, God! I don't want him to go, especially not with my photo. "I didn't give it to you."

Before reaching the front door and grabbing the handle, he turns to look at me.

"It's mine now," he smiles. "I'll see you tomorrow, I have something to do now."

I don't want him to leave, why don't I want him to leave? What a confusion.

"Kayler," I call out. He turns to look at me. Should I tell him not to go? I feel safer if I'm with him, plus there are wolves outside. Won't he be scared? "Nothing. Forget it."

I smiled.

He smiled back and left, leaving me alone. I watched as he got into his car, started it, and drove away. I couldn't help but feel empty. Without his warmth, without... What am I saying?!

I shook my head to get rid of those twisted thoughts and closed the door. Unconsciously, I put my hand on my lips. I licked them.

He kissed me. He kissed me. And the worst part is that I liked it.

No. No. I can't feel anything for him. Kayler is one of those guys who break your heart, and I don't want to end up with my poor heart broken. It's already been broken before.

I sat on the couch to contemplate the moon. I remember the howls. The wolves are back. It's strange: when Kayler wasn't here, there was no sign of the wolves; and now that he's back... they're back.

Could it be that they follow him? No, that's crazy.

***

The light invaded my eyes, I closed them tighter and wrapped myself with the blanket from head to toe. I felt warm, which is strange because it's cold here. Last night I went to bed early, I didn't know what time Mom came home.

Today I'm going to sleep in late.

I felt a weight on my waist. It was bothering me. I pushed whatever it was to get rid of it. I immediately opened my eyes upon feeling that it was like a... arm?

Did burglars break in? They're going to rape me, I know it! What do I do? Do I get up and run? Do I hit him with my shoe? How many are there? I only have twenty dollars in my purse.

I slowly turned my face towards the person. I gasped upon seeing that familiar face so close to mine, sleeping so peacefully in my bed. In my bed!

"Kayler!" I exclaimed his name, shaking him. I sat up in bed and pulled my blanket off him. He was only in his pants.

He started to stir. He opened his eyes and smiled.

"Come here," he wrapped his arms around me and made me lie down. I pressed my lips into a thin line.

What is he doing here? And how did he get in?!

"Kayler, what are you doing here?" I tried to break free. "How did you get in?"

He growled.

"Relax, I came in through the window," he whispered, eyes closed. "Go back to sleep, it's early."

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

"Kayler, I have to get up. Mom might come in." I wriggled to free myself. What strong arms! He didn't budge.

I sighed.

He let out a chuckle.

"Excuses."

"Kayler."

"No."

"Kayler."

"No."

"Kayler!" I snapped.

He let go of me.

"Fine. Can't get any sleep," he growled.

I got up and raised an eyebrow.

"How nice," I said sarcastically. "Get out of here, Mom could come in any moment."

"Relax," he sat on the bed and rubbed his eyes. His hair was tousled, looking kind of cute like that. He looked at me. "Stop drooling over me."

I grabbed my pillow and threw it at him. He caught it.

Damn him.

"Why are you here?" I questioned, crossing my arms. "What time did you get here?"

He stood up and headed to my bathroom. I followed him.

"I'm here because I feel like it and... I got here around three in the morning."

I saw him grab a toothbrush that wasn't there before, and he started brushing his teeth.

"I didn't have that toothbrush there," I pointed out.

He looked at me in the mirror.

He didn't answer.

Seconds later, he finished brushing his teeth, came out of the bathroom, and looked for his shirt. He found it and put it on.

"I brought it," he finally responded. "Just in case."

I took a deep breath.

"Kayler, I don't like you coming into my room without warning, one of these days you're going to give me a heart attack," I said, referring to thinking he was a burglar. "Can you imagine if Mom came in and found us like this?"

I put a hand to my forehead.

He approached and kissed my forehead, taking me by surprise.

"I have to go," he looked at me, "Maybe I'll come back later."

He started walking towards the window.

"By the way," he said to me, "you're going to have to get used to this." He smiled and jumped.

I opened my eyes wide. Two floors! I ran to the window and looked out. I breathed a sigh of relief seeing him heading to his car. How did he not break a leg jumping like that?!

I frowned. If I jumped like that, I'd break both.

I went down to the kitchen to have breakfast; there was no sign of Mom. She must have come home very late last night. I made myself a coffee and sat at the dining table; I checked my phone to see if I had any messages, but there were none. Ha! No one remembers me. Not even my old friends from my former school.

How inconsiderate.

Will comes to mind.

What has become of him? Does he already have another girlfriend? And if he does, I don't care anymore. I sincerely hope he's very happy.

I hear someone knocking on the door like they're trying to break it down. At that moment, I got scared, left my coffee and phone on the table, and went to open the door.

Who's knocking so desperately?

I opened the door, feeling a pang of anxiety in my chest. My eyes widened seeing Anne, scared, disheveled, and dirty in front of me.

"Carolina, you have to help me," was all she said, entering my house and closing the door immediately, as if she were running away from something or someone.