What a bad day.
I bent down to pick up my shirt, buttoning and tucking it in to preserve what little warmth I could. Never had I appreciated the jacket I had abandoned in my locker at school so much. I sighed as the wind blew in through the hatch as I opened it. As I climbed the ladder down into the now icey snowbanks, I smiled. Considering the fact that this spot was only a mile from home the walk there would feel nothing like the dead sprint it took to get here.
"Arooooo!" a howl erupted a good distance from me.
That is if I can avoid the coyotes that lived out here. I grimaced as I started my mile long trek back. It was only then, walking through the dark eriy woods, that I considered what could have happened to Tristan. I pondered if he had gotten involved more than he did when I left, would he have been that reckless?
"Nah." I said aloud
That's too much of a drag for him. He hates getting involved more than he has to.
"Arooooo!" I could hear them again. This time close enough for me to be a bit concerned.
I picked up my pace in fear that they really might be looking for a late night snack. C'mon, don't let today get any worse than it has I begged silently. I started to break out into a haggard run, snow like ice hitting my knees at every step.
"Arooooo!" Oh c'mon, I thought. Hearing it as though it was only a few hundred meters behind me.
Again, I picked up the pace running as fast as my scared, frozen body could go. Just as I was beginning to ponder how much further I'd have to go I saw the sky brighten as I could see the edge of the woods. With renewed strength I once again launched into a dead sprint.
I wanted to cry as I peeked behind me, what I feared most right now was in shouting distance and closing that gap before my very eyes.
Dear God can you please give up I thought toward it.
"No, no, no, no. Please no." The street lights were so close I thought that if I could just keep it together for all of 60 seconds I might be okay, but the fear in the back of my head was tearing the logic from me so swiftly all I could do was worry about if I didn't make it to street.
"Heeeel----" I screamed just before it pounced on me..
"Rooour!" It growled as it took me down face-first.
I scrambled to turn around, pushing my hands against the frozen ground away from it, feet kicking against it putting distance between me and the beast. As my eyes widened in horror I could tell this creature had just eaten as blood dripped from its mouth staining its otherwise sesame colored muzzle. My last shred of composure melted. I kicked its muzzle, pissing my already snow soaked pants, and started to tear up in fear that this might be it for the last bad day I might ever have.
As I continued to fight the now growling monster; seconds began to feel like hours and my limbs felt more like heavy weights than human appendages. It was at that moment I realized how truly weak I was and began to succumb to the thought that this was it, i wouldn't even have to deal with whatever merciless sentence the demon-like brothers could coax their parents into. As I thought about such relief I let my arms go slack and stopped fighting for what little bit of life I would be saving.
The coyote squealed as it put its paw on my face, its claws scratching deep just under my eye. I winced as it continued to put weight on its already dragging paw. As the added weight began to get heavier and heavier the clever beast opened its mouth as if to triumphantly smile. This is it I thought as the coyote's hot muzzle got closer to my face. As he neared my face he removed his claws from the left side of my face. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worse.
I opened my eyes, to my surprise instead of teeth, I was met with the wet sensation of a tongue and the sound of panting. I was stunned, the piss still trickling down my leg as my reality was setting back in. As I began to very slowly sit up, it continued licking where it had just about gouged my eye out blood, sweat, tears and all. As I finally sat up facing what I thought was my impending death, the wild dog began rubbing its bloody muzzle against my face smearing my cheeks. I did nothing to it's ferocious cuddling in fear that the wrong move would set it off.
Eventually the mangy mutt began to pull away yawning as if to say it was sleepy. I sat in disbelief as it bared its teeth at me in what could have been considered a genuine smile before darting off back into the woods where I could hear multiple footsteps following as it ran back to the dark depths aways from what my human eyes could make out.
Immediately after I was sure the pack was no longer eyeing me I laughed. I was hysterical. I should have been dead twice today. I covered my mouth in an attempt to keep my sanity from slipping out even further. Either way I looked at it, I was a deadman walking into tomorrow; that much was inevitable. I didn't know it then but this would be the last night of peace I would have even if things weren't as great as I hoped.
I picked up my bag and walked to the edge of the street in my soaked pants. As I looked at the street I steered myself to the right before hitting a four way intersection with my house sitting at one of the corners with a stop sign in it. I rummaged through my bag for the key as I approached the front steps. When the door was finally unlocked relief coarsed through every fiber of my being.
"I'm home!" I said with what little strength I could muster.
"Welcome home!" an excited woman responded as she came rushing to the front door.
"How was your da----," she frantically looked at my disheveled uniform and pants "what in the world happ---."
Before she could finish her sentence I hugged her as if for dear life.
"It's okay mom. Just a bad day."
"Well, okay." She blinked in surprise at how much I must have been crushing her.
"So are you hungry." Nausea struck me remembering the bloodied muzzle of the wild dog.
"Not now, think I'll just go shower."
I took my shoes off at the door and proceeded inside toward my bathroom. It was times like these I hated having steps to my room. When I had reached my bedroom door I stopped to stifle a yawn covering my mouth with my hand. As I pulled my hand away I had finally realized what mom was looking at.
A dizzying effect finally started to set in as the hand I had just used was now covered in what seemed like a consistent flow of blood. As quick as I realized how bad it was it had begun to set in that this would also be a bad scar. I touched the thin sliding door watching it automatically slide open before walking through and quickly into my bathroom for a particular tool.
Rummaging through my drawers I found what I was looking for relatively quickly. An object with a relatively pointy end with two micro holes at the end. Turning on the frigidly cold water I washed the large amount of blood off my face before turning the digital calendar in my bathroom into a mirror through the use of a red arrow at the bottom right of the mirrored surface.
Seeing the wild animal's gash in the mirror a bit of relief struck as I realized I could fix this today. Shoving the pointed end into the gnarly cut I pulled the trigger and grimaced as the tool started to seal up the wound.
For the next twenty seconds the sound of the gluing and micro stitching was all I heard before finally pulling the tool from my face. As I picked my head up I quickly smiled before looking at the image in the mirror.
I immediately hung my head.
Definitely left a scar.
I sighed. I put the tool down and moved to turn the dial for the shower. Tomorrow was only going to get worse.
But at lead for now my very bad day has come to an relatively decent end.
After I had showered and eaten I laid on my bed exhausted as I slowly drifted off to sleep. As I did my mind continued to ponder what life would be like starting tomorrow.