One thing that I have always loved doing since I was able, was write! I loved writing research papers, nonfiction, fiction, anything you could think of. I’ve tried my hand at poetry, writing songs, and obviously, I love blogging! This year, I decided that I wanted to try to reach one of my long time goals, which was to become a published author. I have been working on my first ever novel and I hope for it to be published by the end of this year. For that reason, I am going to share with you the first chapter of my novel here for free! My novel is a fantasy werewolf novel. If you are interested, please feel free to keep reading! I would love to hear any feedback or comments that you would like to offer.
Chapter 1
The midnight moon was hanging high over our heads as we were leaving the bar. The neon lights were lighting up the entirety of Main Street, blinding the people outside, laughing and stumbling around.
“Rowan, where did you park?” Jeremy asked me. He leaned into my shoulder sloppily, the alcohol wafting off his breath.
“Just in the back lot,” I muttered, nudging him off me. I hated coming here and having to pick him up when he was out with his friends, but it wasn’t like I was just going to let his drunk friend drive him home. My parents would kill me if I let my little brother get hurt because I didn’t want to drive him, even if I was 23. Big sisters never got a break. We walked to the back lot around the corner where the lights weren’t so bright. Jeremy leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
“One second, Jesus, you walk so fast!” I scoffed, looking down at my sneakers. There were some pretty shady people around this area at night in the city. I glanced around, down the two-lane road we stood next to. A homeless man was stumbling around at the end of the block. I jumped as Jeremy started loudly puking on the sidewalk and a cat ran out from the bushes across the street. I groaned, waiting patiently for him to get his guts back together. I could see my car across the lot, my little black Toyota Camry. I looked around again, still waiting, and spotted something strange down the street. The homeless man was gone now, but in his place, hidden slightly behind a dumpster, I swear I saw the light from two glowing eyes. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see with the lack of street lights. Probably raccoons, I thought.
“Okay. I’m done,” Jeremy said cheerfully, leaning back up. I spun around and headed towards the car, annoyed.
“C’mon,” I snapped. I started walking towards my car in the lot, Jeremy tailing behind me.
“Whoa, Rowan, stop.”
“What now?!” I snarled. I turned around and stared at him, but he was looking across from us towards a different car. Jeremy opened his mouth and started raising his arm to point at something, but before he could even get a word out, a large black mass lunged at him from between the two cars, knocking him backward several feet. I screamed, stumbling backward and tripping. I could just barely make out the shape enough to see that it was some sort of dog, its long nails gleaming in the dimly lit lot.
“Rowan!” Jeremy screamed. The animal latched onto his shoulder, shaking him violently from side to side. I screamed, but there was no one around to hear anything as the music from the bar was playing so loudly through the empty parking lot. Looking around, I grabbed the only thing near me, a metal folding chair by the dumpster. I ran towards the black dog and started swinging wildly.
As I lifted it above my head to hit it again, it suddenly lunged to the side, throwing me off balance and knocking me back again. I jumped to my feet, trying to brush my hair out of my face. When I got up and looked around, they were both gone.
“Jeremy!” I screamed. Silence. I looked down at my shirt, which I now noticed was soaking wet with blood. Suddenly, I heard Jeremy scream again, but from a distance. How could they have gotten that far in a matter of seconds? I clutched my keys in between my fingers and took off running down the alleyway.
“Where are you?!” I screamed. I heard nothing in response. I took a left turn down the alley where I had seen the eyes before. It was completely dark with no street lamps and people’s driveways on either side of the cramped street. He could’ve gone anywhere. I turned around, looking down a small alley to my right. I could barely make them out, but I saw those yellow eyes, glinting in the dark just barely. This time they blinked before they disappeared again. Terrified, I took off running down that alley, wondering if Jeremy was with the animal. I couldn’t hear anything.
I came out of the alley on another small side street in between two small houses. I turned to my left and started running, but this time I bumped into something hard. I fell backward on my butt, wheezing as I was completely exhausted. When I looked up, I saw a man a little older than I was, staring at me, alarmed.
“Are you okay?” He asked. He had a deep voice. He was dressed in a black shirt and a black leather jacket. His hair was slicked back, showing off the tattoos on his neck.
“Did you see a big black dog run through here? Or a guy, a little taller than me?” I blurted. “It took my brother, I don’t know what it was, and I-”
“No. I haven’t seen anything this way. You shouldn’t be out here by yourself,” He said, helping me to my feet.
“No, I have to find my brother!” I shouted. Just then, I heard Jeremy scream again, coming from somewhere behind me. I twirled around, ready to take off again for the direction of his voice when the man behind me grabbed my wrist.
“Wait. Why don’t you stay here and let me look?” He suggested. I ripped my wrist out of his grasp. He looked surprised, but I didn’t pay attention to him. I took off running towards the sound of the screams. I passed several houses and several more fenced-in yards before I stopped running. The man who I had run into apparently had followed me.
“Where do you think they went?” I huffed. The man looked down at the pavement and pointed. There on the pavement, was a fresh-looking wet trail of blood. It led into one of the fenced-off yards of a small house with no lights on.
“Please, wait here. I’ll go look.” Without another second, he wandered into the backyard. I kept standing there, trying hard to catch my breath. I leaned on the fence, wheezing still. I threw my dark hair into a bun and reached for my inhaler inside my purse. A few seconds later, the man returned from the yard.
“Well?” I asked.
“Wherever they went, they seemed to have gotten some distance from us. The blood led to the back of the yard but they must have gone over that fence and across the drainage creek. What did you say you saw?” He asked, staring inquisitively at me.
“It was like an enormous black dog. I don’t know. It came out of nowhere. My brother Jeremy, it grabbed him…” I trailed off, taking another puff of my inhaler. “I hit it. With a chair.” I added. The man’s eyes got wide and there was a hint of a small smile on the corners of his lips. Was he laughing at me? Maybe thinking I am just some insane girl on drugs or drunk out of my gourd?
“Why don’t I walk with you and we can look for him?” He suggested. For the next hour, we walked the streets in the dark, calling out for Jeremy. There wasn’t any response except for some stray cats.
“What did you say your name was? Where did you come from?” I asked, pausing to breathe.
“I’m Luca,” he stated. “I live around here,” he said matter-of-factly.
“How weird that I just happened to bump into you.” I watched his face, looking for any sort of reaction. He kind of seemed familiar. Maybe I had seen him at this bar before with my friends. He had a very distinctive jawline and a nose that looked like it had been broken before once or twice.
“Sorry, I wish I could be of more help.” He turned away from me and started walking away.
“Wait, what am I supposed to do?” I shouted. He turned around and gave me a little wave.
“I guess whatever you think you should do,” He said. That seemed odd to me. Did he care or not? It was nice of him to help me, but it didn’t seem like he was interested. I started walking back up the road to the bar. The sun was starting to rise, giving the sky a soft, light blue hue. I got back to the bar and took a seat in my car, sinking into the seat, feeling defeated and hopeless. I locked the car doors. With shaking hands, I reached for my phone and started dialing 911.
I shot my mom a quick text.
I need you to call me. I’m sorry I know it’s early but it’s an emergency.
As I was preparing to press the call button, someone started violently yanking on the passenger door handle and I let out a scream.
“Rowan! Stop! Let me in!” Startled, I unlocked the door and Jeremy popped in the passenger seat, slamming the door and locking it behind him. The dog must have ripped his shirt into a million shreds. He was shaking, dry blood covering his skin.
“Jeremy what the crap! I’ve been out looking for you all night! What happened!” I screamed.
“I don’t remember!” He exclaimed, shaking. He took several deep breaths, sweat dripping down his face. “Rowan, we can’t tell anyone about this. I can’t think straight.”
“Uh, no, we need to get you to the hospital!” I pushed the start button on my car and was ready to fly to the nearest hospital.
“No, Rowan, look,” he said. He pulled his shirt where the dog had grabbed him. There was nothing there.
“No, that’s impossible. I saw it holding onto you. It dragged you off. I saw your blood! I’m covered in it!” I felt all the color drain out of my face and my body went cold.
“I’m covered in it, too! Then what happened to me?! There’s not even a scar!” He slammed his hands on the dashboard.
“Where did it take you?” I whispered.
“I don’t remember a damn thing after it knocked me down. I just saw it coming at me.” He dropped his head into his hands. Several minutes of silence passed.
“What do we do?” I asked quietly.
“I have no idea. Can we please just keep this between us? I don’t even know how to explain what happened in any sort of way someone would believe us. They’ll just think we’re crazy, or drunk, or both.” I nodded my head, unable to speak anymore. What was I going to tell anyone in the first place? Hey, I think I imagined a giant dog attacking my brother, but have no proof and he has no injuries. Oh, and now I can’t find it? Oh, and I ran into a weird stranger in the midst of all this? I shook my head, thinking of how ridiculous I sounded. I felt completely helpless. There was nothing I could do in this situation to fix it.
I started the drive home from the bar, driving slowly. The streets were pretty bare except for some taxis and police officers. I thought about telling one of them about the dog. Maybe someone else had reported seeing it? My brother was silent the whole drive home. I could see him shaking, making fists over and over again.
“You remember nothing?” I asked.
“No. I must have passed out. Or hit my head. I don’t know.”
“You should have seen me hitting it. It didn’t do a thing,” I said. I furrowed my brow, confused. How could a metal chair not even slow it down? Just then, my phone started ringing, cutting through the thick silence.
“Hey Mom,” I said, answering it on the Bluetooth.
“Honey? What’s wrong? Where are you guys?” She sounded alarmed and I wish I hadn’t sent her the text.
“Oh, no it’s fine Mom. I just, uh—” I looked at Jeremy, whose eyes got very wide with fear of what I was going to say.
“Don’t,” he mouthed.
“I got my period at the bar and I needed some tampons. I’m all out. I found some, though. We just went to get breakfast, we’ll be home soon,” I lied, gritting my teeth. I hated lying. Perhaps that was something I would need to get good at, though.
“Oh, okay. I thought something had happened. I can run out and grab you some more later. Don’t be gone too long.”
“Sure Mom, thanks. Love you, bye!” My mother was my best friend. She had the same curly dark hair as me and the same freckles across her nose. We had spent so much time together growing up that my dad often joked that we were sisters in another life. I never lied to her. It almost physically hurt me to do so.
“Do you want food?” I asked.
“No,” Jeremy said. “I want to go lay down. I don’t feel good.” I glanced at him. He looked a little pale and a little sweaty. I couldn’t tell if he was getting sick or maybe it was from whatever in the hell just happened.
“Okay, let’s go home.” I drove us home the rest of the way in silence. I pulled up to our house at the end of a cul-de-sac, parking inside the garage. Jeremy immediately got out and then darted inside. I followed him cautiously. I could hear him throwing up in the bathroom. Probably nerves, I told myself. I made my way up the stairs and plopped down on my bed in my bedroom at the top of the stairs. I heard Jeremy make his way up the stairs slowly and close the door to his bedroom at the end of the hall.
How was I supposed to know if I was doing the right thing? What if this was a mistake and I needed to tell someone? Who was that guy from tonight that came out of nowhere, did he see something in that yard? I laid back on my bed, my head spinning. I closed my eyes, sank into my mattress, and let the calm of the still-sleeping morning help me drift off to sleep.
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