I open up the door reluctantly and stare at a girl.

She’s weaving to each side, barely able to keep herself standing up. Her hair is disheveled, with dirt and dried blood covering her from head to toe.

I stand with the door open and my mouth equally wide open.

I literally have no idea what to do.

She clutches her arms around her stomach and wearily looks at me.

“Jesus, what happened,” I’m in shock and gather my own shit together. I immediately go into auto pilot and grab the girl to come inside.

There are no houses, no neighbors, no nothing for miles around.

My house sits in the woods, not far from the beach. It’s not tourist season anymore so I can’t even fathom who this girl is but most importantly, how the fuck she even got here.

I bring her into the kitchen and sit her down at the island. She doesn’t say a word, she just drags herself behind me.

“What’s your name?” I ask her softly. She looks to be in her mid twenties, her clothes are a little out of season, it’s a bit chilly for what she’s wearing.

I grab a blanket off the couch and put it over her shoulders. She still doesn’t respond, which doesn’t really surprise me.

I look outside and realize nighttime is coming and the chances of me getting her any help is slowly dwindling right now. There’s really no police in the off season and they’re not going to be able to get the motivation to come here after dark.

I let out a sigh and pick up my phone. I’m not going to lie, she’s starting to creep me out a little bit.

I unlock my phone and her hand reaches to touch my arm.

“No please.” She quietly whispers. I stop immediately and try to process what she just said.

“I have to call for you. If you tell me what happened I can help you more.” Still, she doesn’t answer and sits in the chair with her head hanging low. “What’s your name?” I ask her again.

Her chest starts to heave up and down and she starts to cry. I grab the blanket tighter around her and hold her just for a second.

Her body is on fire, almost like she has a fever.

I let go of the hug and pull her face up to meet mine. Her eyes are clouded over and she can barely keep them open. I press my hand to her forehead and wonder if she’s sick.

“My name is Reagan.” She whispers through her dry, cracked lips.

“What happened Reagan?” Is all I could slowly breathe out.

She tilts her head slightly up to look at me, “what’s your name?”

“Faelan.” I get up to make us some coffee. It’s getting much darker.

She follows me with her eyes as I move around the kitchen.

“Your Irish?”

“My mother was. Reagan, I have to ask. I really want to help you but I need something to go on here.”

She takes the coffee mugs slowly in her dirty hands. As I drink mine I notice she doesn’t. She stares into the steaming hot cup.

“It was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it.” I scoff and roll my eyes. That’s typical. Tears start to fall down her face. I walk over and sit next to her.

“It wasn’t your fault. Don’t make excuses please. They get away with it all the time. They’re fucking pieces of shit sometimes.”

“I wanted to. He told me no, absolutely not but I kept pushing him.” She sits upright and looks me in my eyes.

“I don’t understand. So he beat you instead? You still need help. Let me help you. You look like you need medical-“

She stands up straight so fast she pushes the chair from underneath her, clattering to the floor.

“No! No cops. No hospitals. I know he’s looking for me and I need to find him, but I’m scared. He was right and I should have listened. It hurt. It hurt so bad. But, it feels so good too.” She steps closer to me as I sit. I stare back at her like a bewildered child hearing a fairytale. “It’s cold here. I didn’t think you’d be way the fuck out here.” She walks over to my back sliding glass doors and opens them wide open.

The earthy woods fill my kitchen as she takes a deep breath. You can hear the ocean faintly in the background.

Hold up. She was looking for me too?

“What the fuck? Who are you Reagan? Where are you from?” I slowly stand up but she stops me in my tracks. She whips her head in my direction, standing tall and confident.

“Do you know what Faelyn means?” I shake my head no. “ it took me about a week to find you. Maybe a little more.” She leaves the doors wide open letting the windy air breeze through. She slowly walks towards me. Like she’s stalking me.

“Answer my questions.” I’m trying hard to stand my ground, but this girl is definitely bat shit crazy. I hear a phone start to ring and I quickly reach for mine on the counter. Reagan reaches it before I do.

“You don’t need this.” She stops it from ringing and puts it in her back pocket.

Then it dawns on me and she smiles as I start to piece the puzzle together.

“Reagan, from Maine, I think. Your family has been all over social media looking for you. You’ve been missing for a little bit. It’s nation wide now that they’re looking for you.” She smiles like she’s proud. “What are you doing here?” My breath picks up as the anxiety starts. She tilts her head up as she senses it.

“None of this is my blood by the way,” she points all around herself, “My family is sweet and they mean well but they’ll never see me again.” She’s so close to me now that I stand up out of my chair. She slides right behind me and pushes me right back down.

The fucking crazy bitch is strong I’ll give her that. She bends her face right to the side of my face and whispers in my ear, “you feel it though. You always have but you can’t pinpoint it.” Her breath is hot on my face and neck, she starts to squeeze her hand on my shoulder a little harder.

“You’re a crazy ass missing girl who ran away from home. You’re going to use your boyfriend as an excuse saying he raped you, beat you, drugged you or any other cliche victim sob story to get everyone to feel sorry for you, because what? You’re looking for attention? Well fuck you -“ I’m picked up out of my chair and slammed onto the floor. I see nothing but black and I cough to catch my breath and try to turn on my side to gather my barings. Raegan leans down and grabs my throat.

“You couldn’t be farther from the truth.” She leans in my face. My vision starts to blur as I claw at her arms. I hear her laugh at me as she lets go.

I’m coughing uncontrollably, gasping for air.

“Fae, I’m not the one looking for you. I’m just the one who found you. It’s an exhilarating, euphoric experience. Don’t get me wrong, it’s excruciatingly painful.” I hear a phone start to ring and she pulls my phone out of her back pocket to look.

I look up at her through my watery eyes and sees she just smiles at it and puts the phone in her pocket again. She grabs me by the front of my shirt and lifts me up off the ground.

“Do you trust me?”

I cough as I straighten myself, “absolutely fucking not”. Reagan laughs.

“You will. You have no choice. I’m not doing this for attention or daddy issues. I’ve never been raped or beaten either. My family is sweet. Old school go to church weekly catholic. I had good grades and a great boyfriend. The only cliche about my life was how utterly boring my life was. How predictable it was. Now, I’m alive. They won’t ever see me again, not because I’m teaching them a lesson or want attention but because their daughter is dead. And you, you were born with this. You don’t even have a fucking clue. The first time is the hardest. I’ll help you, I won’t leave your side.” She brushes my hair out of my face just like I did to her earlier.

I have nothing but panic coursing through my veins. She’s quick and strong.

She played me. She played me well.

Raegan cocks her head to the side like she’s listening in the distance. “Do you hear that? They’re coming.” I hear absolutely nothing except for the angry waves of the ocean in the short distance.

“Run Fealan. Run.” She smiles at me. I take a step back and another. “Hurry. They’re faster than you think. It’s almost dark.”

I’m paralyzed with fear but I take off towards the woods. It’ll take me longer to get to a main road this way but I can make to the beach in minutes.

My feet crunch on the dead leaves of the woods but I can’t move fast, it’s dark outside and my only light is the moon above me.

I can hear the ocean is getting louder and my only option is to follow that sound.

The air is getting colder as I make my way slowly to the edge of the woods.

I stop dead in my tracks. I can hear breathing right next to me. I can feel the warmth of hot air on my neck and I close my eyes in the darkness.

“Can you hear them?” The voice whispered “they’re coming for you. It’s time Faelan.”

I don’t question who they are. I don’t want to move at all. I feel like I’m in a warm blanket and strangely I know I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

In the distance I do hear them.

They’re calling for me. Calling my name.

My heart rate speeds up and my instincts take over.

My eyes snap open and I see that I’m still all alone in the woods and I run for the ocean.

I make it to the edge of the woods with the ocean angrily crashing against the beach.

Over to my right I see a huge bonfire that I make my way towards.

By the time I reach it, I’m out of breath. I stand in front of three males and Reagan.

One of the males comes closer to me. “Do you know what Faelan really means?” He asks me as he moves my hair out of my face. I’m too tired and cold to say anything. In the distance I hear howling. He looks up and behind me. His face darkens as he smiles. The howling is starting to come closer quick. You can see my breath come out in short puffs of air.

“No.” I stand my ground and stand up taller. He smiles wickedly, grabs my body and spins me around. His big arms are wrapped around tight around me. I close my eyes to the heat that his body is warming me. He smells of the woods and hay, all earthy smells.

“Look.” I open my eyes at his command and I see four sets of glowing eyes. All shrouded in the darkness that the bonfire can’t reach. He whispers in my ear. “Are you scared? Don’t be. It’s time to come home.” I take a deep breath and calm myself. The glowing eyes start to get bigger and I realize as they come closer they belong to wolves. Big wolves. Some are snarling and showing their teeth. It doesn’t scare me.

I hear Reagan standing on the side of us.

“Faelan means little wolf, little sister. Welcome home.” Before I can even process what she said to me or my crazy night at all, the man holding me snaps my neck to the side and rips the side of my throat.

The warm blood rushes down my front and I see the four wolves dive right into me.

My world unravels in a blink of an eye.