I was almost in a trance, looking down at the small stream flowing just below my feet. My shoes were off, strewn across the forest floor somewhere, along with my socks; my toes were just barely skimming the icy cold water. Thoughts were spinning at a million miles per hour, yet I was just standing there looking at my own reflection. I knew I should run. I knew that I needed to get out of there. But I didn’t want to.
If I was going to die, it might as well be today in this spot, I thought to myself. I didn’t care much if I died or not. This killer had been after me for too long now, and I was done with it all. I would rather him just kill me than have to feel like I was always running away.
The voice that was now whispering in my ear was as soft and swift as the stream below.
“You need to run. You need to get out of here. I can’t help you unless you run.”
I didn’t know who was speaking to me, and I truly did not care anymore. I didn’t turn around to see whom it was I just replied to his voice, still half in the trance.
“Maybe I don’t want your help,” I said quietly.
“Look, don’t just think that I’m just going to turn around and leave because some idiotic little girl told me to,” he growled in my ear.
The trance was broken by his rough voice.
I was freezing, incredibly blinding cold I realized. The water had numbed my toes long ago, and the sharp pricks of freezing beginning spiraling up my legs and throughout my entire body like a staircase. His voice had awoken something in me; I was suddenly aware of everything around me. My limbs felt like icicles still barely attached to my body. I could see the overgrown bushes and trees of the forest around me, and the distance from where I was standing to the other side of the stream; I didn’t know if I could make it across, but I could pick about a perfect get away path if I chose to run and take the strangers advice.
Wait, I told myself, shouldn’t I be scared of this guy?
I could feel the slight comforting warmth radiating off of him onto my body; he was just behind my back, probably a few centimeters away. I could here a couple of leaves crunch under his foot as he shifted his weight, and his body stiffened. He knew something was coming.
I whirled around as quickly as humanly possible, and threw my head upward to try and get a look at him, but he was quicker. As soon as I had moved an inch he had his arms around me in a death grip and my face pressed against his chest so I was unable to see anything except for the black of his leather jacket. He smelled like the forest itself, woodsy, comforting, and like home to me.
The moment of feeling safe and comfortable passed as soon as he spoke in my ear.
“If you try to look at me one more time I’m not going to get you out of this mess.” His voice sent shivers down my spine in contrast to the warmth of his body.
“I never wanted you to help me.”
His heartbeat stuttered, and his chest heaved in a sigh of helplessness.
“But I have to, Sky.”

“How do you know my name?” she said to me. You think this girl would be more preoccupied with escaping her stalker than finding out how I know her name? Maybe if she knew what her killer really was she would be scared…
It was hard for me to concentrate with her this near to me, but there was nothing I could do about it; I didn’t want to let her see who I was, even though she would have no clue who I am. I was a stranger to her.
There was a noise directly behind us, as loud as a bomb going off to my sensitive ears. I stiffened and tightened my grip around her fragile body.
“You have to trust me, Sky,” I whispered in her ear, and shoved her away from my body to the ground. She toppled and I spun. A wolf was standing there crouched before me, a deafening growl slipping out from his throat. His muscles were coiled up tight, ready to pounce on me at a moments notice. I took a single step forward, and he was flying through the air, claws outstretched, slashing at my face.
And only one thought was ringing out throughout my mind:
I will keep her alive.