My Vanished Joy
Chapter one
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
I stood at the door and looked in, my heart pounding a thousand miles an hour as I watched heaps of other people walking through the door and I stood, not even game to move forward. I shouldn’t have been scared but I was honestly terrified.
I looked over my shoulder at the rest of them all, as they waited for me to move and I took a deep breath and walked into the crowd of people and down the tunnel, not closing my eyes despite how much I wanted to. My eyes stayed ahead of me as I walked down the lit tunnel and I stepped up onto the plane with a sigh and I moved to my assigned seat.
I was lucky because I had a window seat and that made me a feel a little better. I closed my eyes and sat down before I was greeted by another person who sat next to me. I looked at her and nodded my head with a hello before going back to closed eyes. I opened them again and looked out the window and saw the other planes around the place and saw one taking off and I quickly shut them again. This was the trip I had been waiting for, for so long I have wanted to take this one plane home.
I have been in Australia for so long due to a training program my father signed me up for. I didn’t mind the idea of the program as I have wanted to travel for so long and now I was finally to return to my home and my family. I kept my eyes closed as I felt the plane take off from the airport and my stomach shifted and moved, making me uncomfortable where I was so I opened my eyes and looked around the plane; ignore noises and just taking in things. There were old people, young children and those in between.
I was nervous to return home but I was also happy to be going back to those I love. My family. My friends. My pack. They were all back at home and I didn’t know if I was happy to be returning or sad to be leaving. I had made new friends and my host pack was lovely and kind to me but I honestly just wanted to return to my own family.
My eyes stayed closed as I thought about those that I have missed and those that I really haven’t at all. My little sister, Addison, was the one I really truly missed. She was 2 when I left and would now be 10. I felt sorry for her as everyone in the pack did. She was a paraplegic since birth and when she was just 6 months our mother died to protect the pack. I was her guardian and protector before I left.
I also missed Amara, the packs only surviving elder. She was amazing and I would spend hours listening to stories and help her explain things to the younger members. Being as old as she was she was forever stuck as a human, although she didn’t honestly mind the fact.
I loved my whole pack and I loved where we lived in the open forest, not worried about hunters too much although we were always careful what we did when it came to the poachers. They loved to toy with us. I just relaxed my head back and kept my eyes closed as I felt the plane take off and before I know myself what was happening I was asleep.
~~~
I woke as the plane came to a shuttering landing and I began to freak out as I could hear the bolts and screws rattling like the whole thing was falling apart and at the moment I swore that it would be my last trip in anything that could fly. I let everyone in the plane move out while I gathered my stuff up and watched those that left. They all looked fine with being on a plane but still I was shaking, hating it more than anything.
As everyone exited, I stood from my spot and walked out and when my feet hit the ground I smiled and began walking to the airport. No one was coming to get me from the airport and I didn’t mind, I would take a taxi or even just walk as it was early enough for me to make it home by lunch wether I walked or got a lift.
I walked to a shop first and brought a drink for myself first. I sipped it as I walked out of the airport and began on my walk home, the cup gripped lightly in my hand as I made my pace steady, not rushing myself or pushing the limit.
When I hit the forestry I had finished my drink and had already put the cup into a rubbish bin and I took off at a steady jog, taking in my surroundings, missing my home town more than anything in the world and at this point of time I was enjoying the fact of seeing my pack again, being able to hug my sister and talk to the others.
~~~
I saw our pack house after only 2 hours on and off jogging, taking my time and focusing on the scenery I had once always been able to see. I entered the house and looked around to find it the same mess it always use to be and no one home. Our pack was smart and hunted during the day as the hunters were always out at night.
So I put down the bag I did pack, which was only tiny, and began to walk outside, towards our packs hunting ground, shifting into my wolf before I reached anywhere near it. The elk seemed to be able to smell and fear the humans but as wolves we were often never noticed but any other wild animal that lived in the forest around our territory. My paws padded along the ground as I trotted out into the open and was startled back.
The sun seem to shine down on it, it shined harder than it had ever done and it was just to show me. And I saw it all in front of my eyes. The suns light making it glisten and sparkle. It made the blood on the grass shine like never before. It made the wolves that lay dead on the flood glow as if god was shining it straight to them and I made me sick straight away.
The whole pack lay blood soaked and still on the ground and the elk were nowhere to be seen. There was no way that this was the work of the elk as there were teeth marks all of the wolves. This was the work of another pack but what pack would do this. Our pack had no enemies and no one wanted the land cause of the small size so it confused me why anyone would attempt to ever take over this place.
My stomach turned and twisted as the stench of blood flooded my nose and I felt like I was going to be sick and there wasn’t anything I could do. My eyes were seeing everything clearly but my mind kept telling me I was still asleep on the plane or maybe I had passed out on my bed at home. It was horrid but I couldn’t turn around as I waited for one of the members to move, to be alive in the murderous mess that surrounded me.
Something moved and I moved quickly with it, lowering myself as I looked out at the figure that moved and I widened my eyes as I took a closer look, It wasn’t any of the pack members I knew but there it stood, a large wolf that had bright amber that glowered at me and I began to freak and moved back away but before I could move to far back I was attacked, pinned to the ground by the wolf before I was attacked. I felt my blood flowing from my body as the wolf sunk its teeth into my neck, her sharp canines ripping my flesh and fur as I struggled under the wolf’s body and she growled, pinning me harder underneath her weight.
Then I felt the life suck from me as she let go of my neck, causing the blood to flow out more than before. There it was and I knew it, I was dying with my pack. I turned my head and looked over at my little sister as she lay dead beside me, my blood fogged eyes taking her in and I stretched myself out and nudged my sister with my wet muzzle and I closed my eyes and let the world slip away from me. I could still smell it all as my mind went numb and my body lost all feeling, my eyes fluttered open once more and I saw several humans standing around, most that their eyes on me and then I gave a low growl before my eyes forced themselves shut.
~~~
Thanks for reading! This is the first chapter to Insanity and Demise.
|Miss Nightmare|