Shattered Reality

The wolf stepped closer to me. Of course, I tried to step back. But my back hit the wall immediately and I have never felt more paralyzed while standing.

I stared at the wolf’s grey eyes. Perhaps it was the fear, but I felt a sense of déjà vu as if I had seen those eyes somewhere.

At that moment, I remembered what I had watched on the National Geographic channel. Pack animals like wolves would leave you be if you submit to them. So, I started to lower myself on the ground. My eyes never left the wolf, who looked at me… with amusement? I was not sure of myself. The only thing I was sure of was that I was not ready to die.

Not then. Well, not ever. But especially, not then.

I still wanted to live.

As my knees touched the ground, I watched the wolf carefully. My hands were shaking then but I held the wolf’s stare. Before finally, I drifted my gaze downwards, to the street. A full pose of submission from head to toe.

My heartbeat raced. I could feel the adrenaline pumping my heart and spreading panic all over my body.

I saw the wolf’s paws got closer to me.

*Shit. Shit. Why isn’t it going away? I’m too skinny to fill your stomach!*

When the wolf was only one step away from me, I closed my eyes. If I was going to be eaten right then, I would rather not see myself being torn apart.

*At least make it a quick death then*…

I waited for the impact or the pain or whatever would come first. But nothing happened. I opened one eye then the other. Unexpectedly, the wolf lowered its body in front of me. It tilted its head to the side.

This might sound crazy, but I thought it was asking what the hell I was doing.

The wolf did not growl at me as the previous black wolf did, and its grey eyes stared at me with no malice. They were actually staring at me with curiosity and maybe amusement. My trembling hands calmed a bit.

“A– are you not going to eat me?” I asked. I just had to make sure, you know…

Honestly, I did not expect an answer. But it did shake its head.

“You understand English?”

The wolf nodded. And I blinked.

I straightened my back and stood up fast. The brown wolf followed me to stand. His body was monstrous in size compared to me. But I held his grey eyes with no fear. “This is all my hallucination, right? You’re my hallucination?”

It shook its head.

“No?” I laughed sarcastically. “A huge wolf is standing in front of me and it knows English. I must be hallucinating myself to be transmigrated into a werewolf story.”

The wolf tilted its head again as if saying it did not understand me. Then it sniffed my body. Its muzzle pressed to my hair, stomach, and it tried to sniff my thigh when I reflexively slapped it in the face.

*Oh, shit–*

When the wolf whimpered instead of attacking me, I felt a weird authoritative sense to the wolf. It was absurd and indescribable. I knew then that the wolf would not hurt me but I could not figure out why.

I looked at my palm who just slapped the wolf. Its fur felt soft in my hand.

Then I cleared my throat. “Well… if you’re not going to eat me, I will go home. Thank you and goodbye.”

Slowly, I started walking away from the wolf. After two steps, I almost ran on the street.

*Fuck.*

The wolf was following me. Because of its huge body, it was walking casually while I was running frantically.

I managed to reach my apartment building at the end of the alley. Thinking that the wolf would not follow me into a closed space, I quickly stepped onto the porch.

Positive thinking. Maybe the wolf is a gentleman who just wanted to see that I have arrived home safely.

was about to enter the lobby when I heard someone calling for me. “Miss Arianna?”

The voice sounded familiar.

I dreaded to turn my head around. But the voice called again. “Miss?” I turned. And for the second time that day, my jaw dropped.

The world was clearly playing a prank on me. It must have been. Because how else do you explain seeing one of the most famous superstars that you had *coffeed* just earlier… standing naked in front of you.

I repeat. He was standing naked.

Naked; A condition where there are no clothes whatsoever on one’s body from head to toe. Usually, mental people do this because they have lost their mind and don’t give a fuck about what others would think. Some regular people do this but only when getting to sleep in their private rooms. Apparently, a superstar would do this too, showing his well-packed abs, built hands and thighs, and–

I stopped my eyes from going lower. Shaking my head, I tried to continue to step to the stairs of my apartment building.

“Hey!” Renald called. “Are you really going to leave me naked like this?”

*Wait the minute!*

I turned around, my eyes darting from side to side. But I could not see what I was looking for. “D– did you see a huge wolf around…”

*A pack of wolves was chasing me… a huge wolf subdued the alpha of the pack and saved me… the wolf followed me home… and suddenly I am seeing Renald Davis naked…*

My eyes widened at the conclusion my brain had just conjured.

*No way.*

*But what if it is?*

*No way!*

What about my years studying logic and facts when a superstar is just going to shatter the reality of my world?

“Hey, is this how you repay me for saving you?” Renald asked with a raised voice.

In a panic, I looked around making sure there was no one else on the scene. “Shhh!” I hushed him and immediately ran to him. When he cocked his eyebrows up, I threw at him my lab coat. “Wear that. Cover your…”

“Big manhood?” A smile curled upon his lips.

I rolled my eyes. “Manhood.”

He draped my lab coat over his hips and I swore then that I would have to wash the lab coat three times until it is clean. I took out my shade from my purse and put it on him. I was not going to have anyone recognizing him again, filmed us, and put it on the headline news again.

At least now he only looked like a mental person. So, I dragged him fast through my apartment’s small lobby –which, thank Beelzebub that it was empty. There were CCTVs but I was pretty sure our security, Frank, was asleep or was busy eating doughnuts in his little base.

I immediately took Renald to the emergency staircase to the second floor. I would not risk being seen with a half-naked man on an elevator. The emergency staircase was rarely used by the residence. Once on the second floor, I pumped my feet to my room. I still remembered to cover my hands when I did the passcode. I would not risk having this strange man discovering the passcode to my room.

When a bell was heard, I pushed the man inside my room. That was when I realized how hot his skin was.

I closed the door then went straight into my kitchen. Guess what I grabbed then? You’re right. I grabbed a kitchen knife, pointed at the superstar, and I demanded, “Talk. What are you?”