by M. K. ROZE
into the kitchen and came back with a broom.
I laughed. “What the heck are you supposed to do with
that?”
She shrugged. We walked onto the front porch and
listened, then growling came from across the street. I walked
slowly ahead of them.
“Hey,” Liam called out.
I ignored him and continued. They came up on the side
of me. As we approached the woods, the street lights began
to flicker.
“This is crazy.” Kaylee held the broom like a bat.
Liam chuckled.
“Shh,” I whispered.
When the street lights went out, we all stopped in our
tracks.
Kaylee grabbed Liam’s arm. “Why did the lights go
off?”
“Maybe they’re on a timer.” Liam turned on his cell
phone light.
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With my shaky hands, I did the same.
Branches snapping came from in the woods, followed
by hissing. I gulped and walked on with them following
behind me. We stopped and looked back at the street lights
flickering on and off again through the trees.
“I guess they’re not on a timer,” Liam said.
“This is stupid. Let’s go back,” Kaylee insisted.
Liam stopped. “I think I see something. I’m going to go
check it out. Stay here.”
“Liam, get back here,” I whispered.
“Don’t be a dumb ass,” Kaylee shouted and stood next
to me.
He ignored us and disappeared into the dark.
“He’s such an idiot,” I mumbled.
“Run!” Liam shouted from afar.
My heart jumped into my throat, and I got in front of
Kaylee.
“Come on!” Kaylee took my hand and pulled me.
A low growl came from behind us. I stopped and spun
around to the familiar sound. Seconds later, the same black
leopard from Romania approached us.
I put my hand out to touch it. How did you get here?
Kaylee hid behind me. “Don’t touch it. It will bite you.”
I ignored her and stepped closer to it. The leopard kept
its emerald green eyes on mine as it rubbed against my hand.
Kaylee cried. “Stop touching it.”
I petted its head. “It’s not going to hurt me.”
Liam slowly walked up to us with a sharp stick and
pointed it at the leopard. “Get out of here,” he yelled.
The leopard turned to him and growled. It crept up to
Liam.
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“No, don’t hurt him,” I screamed.
The leopard turned to me. Its eyes left mine, and it
growled at something past me. I looked in that direction and
a thin, blue man-like creature with armored, scaly skin was
coming toward me.
“What the hell is that?” I whispered, not wanting to
move an inch.
“What is what?” Liam and Kaylee asked at the same
time.
I slowly backed up into Kaylee, hoping she would move
back too, but she didn’t budge.
The unknown creature’s orange eyes, with yellow
vertical slits, met mine. Its deep eye sockets grew large, then
it opened its wide mouth, showing its chiseled yellow teeth.
In a blink of an eye, its black wings expanded, and it flew
over the leopard toward me.
Inches from me and Kaylee, the leopard leapt at it and
chomped down on the creature’s long neck, then shook it
violently until its neck snapped. The leopard took off
running into the woods with the creature’s lifeless body in its
mouth.
I fell to my knees, wondering what that thing was.
“What did you see?” Kaylee asked.
“Viata, the leopard is gone now.” Liam helped me up.
“Come on. We need to get out of here before it comes back.”
I got up and examined the woods to see where it went.
“You guys didn’t see the blue creature-looking thing?”
Kaylee exhaled and grabbed me. “No, and I don’t want
to. Let’s go before that leopard comes back.”
I looked at Liam. “Did you see it?”
“I would’ve left your asses here if I did. Now, come on.”
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I scanned the woods for the leopard, but it was gone.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy, but that was the same
leopard from Romania my parents and I saw.”
Before they could reply, a bright light went in my eye,
and the sound of a police radio echoed in the woods.
“Are you guys okay?” a cop yelled out as he sprinted
toward us.
“A huge black leopard mixed with a lion was about to
eat us!” Kaylee shouted.
The cop shook his head. “There’re no leopards here,
especially a mixed one.”
“Yes, there is. We all just saw it,” Liam insisted.
“Except, this one was double its regular size, and it had a
long mane. Just like a lion.”
“Are you guys on drugs?” the cop asked.
Kaylee and Liam said no at the same time while I
contemplated telling him about the blue creature. I decided
not to, being Liam and Kaylee didn’t see it either. I must have
gone into another micro-sleep again.
“Why are you guys out here anyways?” the cop inquired.
“We wanted to see what the growling and hissing was,”
Liam replied.
“Are you guys aware of all the animal attacks that we’ve
had in the last month? It’s been all over the news.”
Kaylee stepped forward. “Yeah, and they can’t figure
out what’s killing everyone. But now we know it’s the
leopard that’s doing it.”
The cop sighed and rolled his eyes. He approached me.
“Miss, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
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Liam stepped to the side of the officer. “How did you
know we were here?”
“We have a crime scene nearby. I heard yelling, so I
came over. Come with me. We need to get out of here.”
We followed the cop back to our street without seeing
the leopard again.
The cop took our names and called for backup. After a
few minutes, two cop cars pulled up. The cop walked back
over to us. “You’re all clear. Go home, and don’t go back
into the woods until we can figure out what’s out there.”
Kaylee wiped her tears away. “It was a leopard mixed
with a lion.”
The cop rolled his eyes. “Have a good night.” He walked
over to the other cop’s and started talking in a low voice.
“Thanks for not believing us, dick,” Liam mumbled.
“Why doesn’t that cop believe us?” Kaylee asked me.
“Did you believe me when I said it followed me from
Romania?”
Kaylee looked at Liam and back at me. “Come on, Viata.
Romania is thousands of miles away. And I can’t believe you
touched it like it was your pet. It could’ve eaten you for
dinner.”
“Don’t belive me then.” I stormed off toward the
house.
“Viata?” Kaylee shouted.
At home, I took a long hot bath, wondering how
the
leopard was there and why the creature felt so real to me.
When Kaylee and Liam came inside and wouldn’t stop
talking about the leopard, I got out of the tub, climbed into
bed with the towel wrapped around me. I put my earbuds in
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to drown them out and thought about Constin to take my
mind off what I saw.
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t school, Kaylee and Liam told everyone what had
happened in the woods. And the part where the
leopard didn’t harm me. That’s when some
students started a rumor and said I wasn’t human.
After I got home, I called Constin until he finally
answered.
“Hello,” he said.
“Sorry to have blown up your phone, but have you
heard about the leopard that’s in the woods?”
“No, why?”
I told him what had happened, minus seeing the blue
creature. I was sure he would’ve ended the call and never
spoke to me again.
“Viata, please don’t ever venture off into the woods
unless I’m with you, alright?”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, Dad.”
“Viata, I didn’t mean to sound controlling. I’m
concerned for your safety.”
“The leopard didn’t hurt me.” He was freaking out more
than I was, but I liked the fact that he was so protective.
“I’m not worried about him. I’m concerned about other
things that may be out there.”
“How do you know it’s a male leopard?”
“You said it was two times its size, so I figured it was a
male.”
“Oh. So, you believe me?”
“Yes.”
“What about the part where the leopard followed me
from Romania?”
“I’ll have to think about that one for a while.”
I sighed knowing how silly it sounded.
“Would you like to go out to eat on Saturday night?” he
asked.
“Sure. Where?”
“It’s a surprise. Wear a cocktail dress if you have one.”
Cocktail dress? “Okay.”
“I’ll let you go. I’m sure you have to be at work.”
I looked at the time. “Thank you for reminding me.”
“No problem. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. Night.”
“Goodnight.”
I rushed out of the house and went to work looking
forward to our date. As soon as I got there, time passed by
fast and before I knew it, I was already going home.
That week flew by until Friday came around.
Maria came up to me at school. “Hey, how have you
been?”
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“Great. You? Where have you been all week?”
“I went back to Myrtle Beach.”
“Why? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“You believed me about what happened in the
bathroom a while back, so why wouldn’t I believe you?”
She sighed and walked toward her class. “For the past
few weeks, I kept on dreaming about my deceased
grandmother, who sadly passed away last year.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. She’s in a much better place now. In the
recurring dreams, she kept asking me to go back to her house
and find a valuable neckless that she buried in the backyard.”
I got the chills. “Is that why you went back home?”
“Yes. I wanted to make sure my dreams were real.”
“Was it there?”
“Yes. It was under a large rock where she said it would
be.”
“I don’t know if I should be freaked out or happy for
you.”
“I’m thrilled. My mom and I had it appraised, and it’s
worth over twenty thousand dollars.”
“That’s awesome! Congrats.”
“Thank you.”
“Have you dreamt of her since then?”
“Nope.” Maria stopped at the door. “Have you had any
dreams like mine?”
I shook my head, wondering why she asked me that.
“I see. Well, if you do, you should find whatever it is,
and all your dreams will stop. Mine did.”
“Okay. Have a good weekend.”
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“You as well.” She opened the door.
At lunch, I told Kaylee and Liam what she said, and they
told me to stay away from her.
After we ate, we went our separate ways. I thought
about what Maria said for the rest of the day. It reminded me
of the dream I had with Savina when she asked me where
the dagger that she killed me with was. I had no clue because
it wasn’t real, so I forced myself to stop thinking about it.
At home, I spoke with Constin before I had to go to
work. It was brief, but I enjoyed hearing his voice on the
other end of the phone.
The next day, I ran into Kaylee’s room. “Hey, I need to
borrow a dress.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
“Out to eat with Constin, remember?”
“Shit, I forgot. What restaurant is he taking you to?”
“He said it was a surprise.”
“Okay.” She strolled over to her closet and handed me
a short black cocktail dress with a pair of three-inch heels.
“Thank you.” I sat on her bed and put them on. When
I got up and walked around the room, I fell on my butt. “The
heels are one size bigger, but I can stuff them with toilet
paper.”
She laughed and helped me up. “Toilet paper?”
“Yeah, I used to stuff Mom’s heels when I was younger.
It works.”
“You would do something like that. Just buy a pair
before my aunt’s wedding. You don’t want to walk around
with toilet paper hanging out. Do you?”
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I walked out of the room, laughing, and tripped again.
Kaylee cracked up. I turned to her and made a funny face.
When Constin arrived, I opened the door and hugged him.
He kissed me on my forehead. “You look stunning.” He
examined me from head to toe.
“Thank you.” I glanced at his black suit and sheer white
top that was on point.
His mouth curved into a half-smile.
“Do you want to take my car?” I asked, not wanting to
get into his old one.
“If you’d rather drive than take this.” He stepped out of
the way so I could see the black sports car parked out front.
“Wow! Is that yours?”
“No, it’s my father’s.”
“What kind is it?”
“It’s an Aston Martin, Vanquish S.”
“I’ve never heard of it, but I bet my father has.”
I walked over to the car to take a closer look and tripped.
Constin caught me before I fell. “Be careful,” he
warned.
“Thanks.”
I noticed toilet paper sticking out of the shoe. Oh, no. I
moved to the side of him until he opened the door for me. I
eased myself onto the beige leather seats. The car smelled
brand new. I felt like an elegant woman with the sexiest man
on Earth. Before he got in, I
quickly bent down and stuffed
the paper back inside the shoe. I hope he didn’t see it. What was
I thinking?
Constin got in and used a key fob to start the car. The
engine roared, much louder than mine. He put the top down
and took off down the road with jazz music playing.
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I removed my hair from my face. “Oh man, this thing is
fast.”
He smirked and stepped on the gas.
“You like older music too?”
“Yes.” He sped up even faster.
After a short drive, Constin pulled up to a well-known
fancy cocktail lounge that was playing live jazz music.
“We’re not old enough to go in there.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said.
As we walked inside, I squeezed his hand. He must have
known the bouncer because the big guy stepped aside and let
us pass. My mouth fell open as I inspected the open room
with twinkle lights all over the ceiling and high-top tables
with red velvet chairs.
Constin pulled out the seat for me and sat next to me.
“Would you like a glass of wine?”
“How did you get us in here?”
“My father knows a lot of people.”
“Cool.”
“Would you like something to eat and some wine?”
I glanced at the menu. “I’ve never drunk alcohol
before.”
“You’re missing out.” He ran his fingers slowly down
my arm.
“I guess a few sips won’t hurt.”
He smiled. “What would you like to eat?”
“Steak. You?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“What? I don’t want to eat alone. I’ll feel stupid.”
He placed his hand on mine. “Don’t worry about me.
Order what you wish.”
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As we were chatting, people walked in the door,
laughing. I looked at them briefly, then back at Constin. It
was a full bar, but in my head, we were completely alone.
After a little wait, an attractive waitress with blonde hair
and blue eyes walked up to us. “Hi, I’m Tina, would you care
for some wine?”
“Merlot, please,” Constin replied.
“Great taste. I’ll be right back for your order,” Tina said
and walked away.
“My parents drink Merlot too.”