Chapter-1 (Sneak Preview)
The rain pelted stronger all around. It splashed and drenched everything in cold. Darkness surronded immediate and it shadowed her figure with it’s thundering clouds. It wasn’t a usual storm. It did not make her feel safe. Instead she felt a sudden slow dread colour her every nerve.
Why was it? She thought. Why was she anxious suddenly. It was strange and bewildering that she was frightened of the rain.
The storm was fiercer this time. Nandhini had looked out from the sliding glass door of her room and glanced across into the sea. The waves were bad. They reached up and high. Thunders vibrated the walls of the beach house making a roaring sound down the chimney of the fireplace in the hall.
She had looked down and saw that Woof was barking like crazy and his dog house lay completely shattered.
Aw heck.
She had run down and just as immediately she opened the door, Woof frantically ran in and danced the water off his body crazily. Nandhini giggled while he did that and next when he licked her face affectionately.
She heard a loud thud from outside of the house and something fluttered in the darkened woods. Nandhini had peered around and got out wearing the rain coat and slid the hoodie over her head.
Now she was in the middle of the chaos. She covered her eyes and fought the rain forcing her way deep into it.
She couldn’t see a thing in the dark. As the thunder struck again, it brightened a spark all around. Her eyes moved peering into the thatched trees but she suddenly froze when she her stare came face to face with a large creature. It’s honeyed gleaming eyes staring right back at her.
It was big. Semi white and brownish mixed. Bigger much much bigger than Woof. It was perched on the rock before her. With its front paws to the ground and had seated in royalty on its back hunches. Every muscle in her body locked in a dread. Extreme terror struck her looking back at the unmovable mystical wolf. God in heaven what was it? The lightening dimmed and only two pair of gleaming animal eyes stared back at her incessantly. The eyes had a strange pulling quality and her mind was compelled to not look away. She screamed inside her head to look away. She couldn’t. Any function of muscles failed to take the indication and signal from her brain to blo*dy run for life. Rain pelted all around heavily.
The cold did not magnify the flash of terror it struck her mind when the wolf thing moved closer to her body. Intense heat radiated around suddenly and she was pulled in the centre of it. Rattling hot animal breaths hit her forehead as it stared down at her. She was shocked to the core when the muzzle drew closer to her hair and it sniffed her. Yes, it sniffed her. Dear god in heaven, she was going to be a mince meat meal soon. Cue into panic mode. She was going to be eaten alive. Run! Run! Run! Her mind shouted, but her feet stayed glued to the ground in complete paralysis of limbs. Scaredly, weak, useless…she started to curse her stubborn mule like body heavily inside her head. If she had taken up the practice to get into the lacrossé team, her instincts would have been sharper. Except that she didn’t even qualify the first round. Her physical strength was that weak and lethargic. Real nice god. Kill me before even my twentieth birthday. I didn’t realize I was so good this year. I hope to be super bad and not complete my projects on time so that you decide angrily that I’m not qualified for heaven anymore and throw me back to earth somehow. I will be ever thankful. Pretty please. I didn’t go to a first definite date. Well, beside the fact that the guys were all super chauvinists and talked continously like narcissit idiots…..Oh, What the hell were her thoughts when her life was in a such grave danger. She didn’t look up for fear that the wolf would tear off her head. If she did so look up then. God, she loved her head. Not her head. What was she thinking. She loved her whole self. Not her neck. Not her limbs. You doofus, it would eat your whole body and spit out the carcass in a blo*dy mess. She hoped her parents would cover up her dead body good. Or else people would be puking all over the way to the funeral. Her brother probably wouldn’t attend it because the big guy was squeamish of a little blood. He bullied her into silence about it to not yak about his weakness in the campus. Welps, if she wouldn’t be alive in the next coming hours, what would he do. Her thoughts turned sad suddenly.
A few seconds later of more panic, praying,and various random images of gory morbid thoughts and self beating, the wolf/ hungry animal/whatever it was the creature grunted in what seemed to be in heavy disgust. It moved back, jumped down the rock in a loud thud and disppeared into the woods in matter of only seconds and in a flash of stardust brown everything of it’s hypnotic presence wiped out of her vision. Thank god, she gasped out a hitched up breath, but she was mortified. Even a predatory animal found her smell loathing. She sniffed too the long wet locks of her hair. Her nostril filled with only the rain water pelting down on her head in gushes and she gasped choking on it.
She followed the trail where the wolf disappeared and her feet moved towards its way. What in the world was that? Did she just assume it?
Only one way to find out. She moved through the dried twigs and branches but those damn stinging things just scrapped her face. She walked faster but her legs stuck in the think flowing muddy water and hindered her strides.
She stared surprised at the sudden glare of lights. The brightness was coming from the beach house next to her family home. The house which had been a complete abandon for a long time had now seemed to be occupied by new owners. Well, being occupied by new owners. She saw two black SUV’s and a red Lambo parked in its driveway. Her left eyebrow raised at that. Expensive owners. She squinted her eyes and saw a tall thin guy dressed in all black jeans and a hoodie take out a carboard box from the back of the Lambo. She drew near the big trunk of a lilac tree to take a closer look of who it was.
Her curiosity peaked. Her ears tuned the antenna high to see stuff of the new neighbours. Who were they? She thought wondering in mind. So immersed was she to look around with wide amazed eyes that, her stupid clumsy possibly overly stealth whisper of uncordinated legs broke and snapped a dried up twig. The sound was so loud in the silence that the tall hoodie wearing guy who stood several steps of distance across the concrete road drew up straight in quick furtive alert. He turned around instantly and seem to peer around her way into the dark woods.
Nandhini panicked and got behind the tree immediately. Footstep sound circled around and closer. Oh dear god, if her father gets to know about her snooping around the neighbourhood this late in the night. She gulped convulsively hard. Forget allowance that she had argued so heavily about the day before. Forget about everything because, she was going to be grounded for life.
She hurriedly bent her body in a hunch and walked fast back home. When she reached the front porch of her house, she immediately felt the security of her home calm the rapid beating of her heart.
She panted heavily and as immediately she was inside the porch the rain turned into light sprinkles. A dark scowl did not fail to appear on her face. She was the victim of bad weather always. Whenever she was out. The atmosphere roared up and propelled her backwards and forwards always. It was like the nature had an old grudge on her and was taking venagence thoroughly by hitting lightening on her head each time she got out of the house. Her eyes peered again thinking of the wolf like creature. Was it really there? Who would keep a creature such one as a pet? Was it a deadly imagination of her scared mind. How could she think up such a mystical animal. Sure her brain wasn’t that far creative. The hair of her back raised up when her eyes caught a dark unmoving figure near the thick trees. She screeched jumping back in fear.
Her voice may have carried out up high, because she heard footsteps sounds travelling down the stairs hard from inside the house immediately. Nandhini winced as the front door burst open in violence.
One. Two. Three.
“What the hell? What happened?” Her brother’s sleepy hoarse voice came thundering from behind her.
His feet frantic shook the porch floor as he ran around in circles covering the area entirely in just seconds. The sound was like as if a bison had escaped out of the jungle and is running around creating havoc everywhere.
Nandhini turned around hastily and her eyes widened when her gaze fell on the baseball stick that Neeve had in his toned hands. He looked wild. His hair was dishevelled. And his eyes seemed like he was about to beat the crap out of someone. Perhaps sensing an intruder. Both of her eyebrows drew up because he looked funny as hell wearing pajama half shorts and a tshirt with the heavy looking baseball stick raised to the side above his head. He seemed to be ready to swing it around. It didn’t exactly put a picture of fierce defense..
A snort of a giggle escaped her lips. Then another and another. Neeve blinked at her for more than a minute and his face coloured an angry red instantly.
Neeve was a year older than Nandhini. He was a tall, 6’1, broad shouldered guy, scowly and ferocious. Everyone feared of him in college. Including the staff. He was also a national level baseball player. The Uni was proud to have such spirited sportsman in the campus premises. He was treated as royalty. He comes and goes as he wishes. He wasn’t a bully though. He was just that enigmatic in college.
Right now he was glowering at her in complete disdain.
She grinned back.
“Aww, poor big brother is all riled up.” She teased suddenly.
All the fear that lingered in her mind went away in the presence of her brother. She sighed heavily. Thank god, or else she was about to drop dead like a sack of potato on the ground. She was never so happy to finally find her brother out of his room. He had been inside locked for days. Doing god knows what. He slumbers all day and night like a winter boar.
One night she dared to venture into his room to use his computer but god if it did not stink like an over used fish pond. Yucks. Since then she swore that she would never go into his room, not before putting an iron mask over her nose if it seemed too necessary to avoid.
Right now, he turned around looking at her through narrowed eyes. Uh oh. Big brother is angry.
“I was only joking!” She squealed and ran fast up the stairs.
“Munchkin! Come down here this instant and tell me why the heck were you screeching like a girl near the front porch?” He shouted up the stairs.
She reached the top stair in panick and shouted back angry.
“I’m a girl, you big goof!”
Her voice travelled down schrilly and she cringed at that. Mom would kill her at her awesome elegant moves. Which were nill. None.
She heard a loud mock of a snort.
“Perhaps when you behave like one, I’ll start believing that you’re one, munchkin.”
She breathed hard and put her hand on the railing for support.
“Stop calling me that. I hate it.” She glared down.
She wasn’t short or an infant anymore.
Neeve seem to ignore her as he took the baseball in his hand lightly and moved towards the kitchen. His voice seem come from afar……
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So, this is just hurried. Mistakes are like loads. Well, had in mind to write an ff on it since a longggggggg time so yep.
Credit to: kfar