Chapter One
The woman and the wolf were in my dream again. The same dream I got most nights. It was odd though, dreams are meant to be your subconscious going through your memories but where wolves and old women came into my memories of the day, I had no idea. The wolf moved, leaping at me, I slammed into the cold marble floor, pain blazed down my back and my head started to bleed, a sluggish trickle. The creature’s abnormally large paws pinned me down. Feeling oddly satisfied that I hadn’t reacted at all to this, not even a wince of pain, I stared up at the monstrous beast towering above. Startling orange eyes met my own, a dull brown in comparison, and its lip curled back, revealing rows of sharp yellow canines. I dropped its gaze and looked beyond the wolf, where the woman had been, ready to mouth the words, that she always said. But she was gone and it was just me in the dreamworld with the wolf, still baring its teeth.
I woke sweating and on the cold floorboards. My hair still felt wet and slightly sticky, sitting up I found I’d been led in my own blood. Presumably from falling out of bed in the throes of my nightmare. I made my bed first, a rickety small thing only a threadbare blanket to keep me warm. Then showered in freezing water, washing the blood from my hair. I found my faded green hoodie and dull grey joggers in a crumpled heap in the corner of my room. My hoodie was ripping at the seams and fraying, my joggers were similarly damaged. Not to mention the fact that I got them several years ago at a thrift store, out of the meagre amount I made from my paper round.
