Prologue
"Mother! How could you do this to me? This house is also kine and not just yours! Have you no shame, you're just a substitute for mother and my father will never love you the way he did!"
SLAP!
"Don't you dare talk to me in that manner Rosie. So what if I'm a substitute? I'm the one who bore a son for your father and a huge part of his inheritance will surely come to my son. Have you thought about that part? You're just a worthless piece of shit like your dead mother…,"Rosie suddenly freed herself from the grip of the two bodyguards and attacked Mrs Ragnar, pulling the woman's blond hair and slapped her twice as much as she received from the cruel woman.
"Ahh!" She yelled in anger and something happened before Rose's eyes. Her stepmother's face suddenly grew some dark hairs and her fingers elongated. Her dark brown eyes glared at Rosie with hatred and anger.
She walked towards Rosie who was shaking all over from the rush of emotions and fear of what her stepmother will do to her.
Mrs Ragnar grabbed Rosie by the neck, raising her up. Rosie's feet left the ground and her hands were struggling to remove her stepmother's grip on her neck.
"You played with the wrong person Rosie," the woman replied and her eyes turned blue, staring deep into Rosie's eyes.
In the next minute, she threw Rosie away as if she was a piece of doll. Already subconscious, her body hit one of the cars parked in the garage and she blackout.
Changing back to her normal self, Mrs Ragnar looked at the girl's body on the concrete floor and scoffed in disgust. "See to it that she doesn't remember anything that took place here. Don't forget the plan."
.
.
When Mrs Ragnar got inside the magnificent Ragnar's mansion, her son Rafael was waiting for her. Just like his mother, he has blond hair and a well built body. He's handsome with those ocean blue eyes.
"I think you were too harsh on her," he remarked and took a sip from the red wine.
Mrs Ragnar glared at her son, "I'm doing all this for you Rafael, do you know what will happen if your father finds out about who we truly are, especially me? He won't give us any of his inheritance so it's better we get rid of his beloved daughter."
"Alright. So what did you do to get rid of her?" Rafael asked with a small glint in his eyes.
"I sent her to a place she will never have the chance to escape. No matter how popular she might be, that place is her death destination," Mrs Ragnar said, grinning from ear to ear.
Rafael was confused and curious at the same time. "And where could that be?"
"Campbell Academy of course," she replied.
***
Chapter 1
Tonight is extremely cold as I tread carefully on the small path leading to the woods in Campbell Academy. The wind blows cold, sending a handful of my black hair into my chattering teeth yet, adamant to return to my dorm. Everyday, it was the same, leaving my dorm after classes, bearing the bitter cold and sometimes enjoying the stars from below, then returning late at night.
''If you want to ask how I get away from the college's security, I've my ways especially after doing this my whole life here.'
My mind drifted towards that night I could never forget. It was still fresh in my head.
3 years ago
Campbell Academy, what a school. I dream of attending this prestigious college which my mother wasn't in support of but who was she to tell me what to do and what not? Besides, she wasn't my biological Mom. Few months in college, my childhood best friend, Sandra and I decided to explore the woods just like old times during Halloween.
We set out to explore, little did I know that event will change my life forever. Little did I know that there was a secret this college hid from the world and its inhabitants.
"Rosie, this is fun!" Sandra yelled, her voice echoing through the woods as she did gymnastic moves on the trees. She was beautiful and talented.
Rosie, who was standing, heard a rustle from behind, sending glaciers of ice into her flesh.
"Sandra, we should leave now it's getting late…" Rosie said while looking around for any sign of a person. Fear arose inside her because the night was dark with only tiny stars giving them light. 'Could it be ghosts?' At the thought of this Rosie ran after Sandra…
"Sandra we've to leave!" She whispered and shouted to her best friend who was carried away.
"Why!" The former giggled, winking at Rosie who was standing below the tree.
Rosie was about to reply when her feet came to a sudden halt. Sandra was staring at her with a questioning gaze but Rosie was looking at something behind Sandra.
"Rosie? Are you alri…" then it happened. An arrow from nowhere pierce into Sandra's chest from behind, straight to her heart. Rosie felt a mysterious fear hit her as she turned white as sheets. Her breath seized in her throat and her eyes bulged out as though it would pop out of the socket.
Sandra was about to say something but more blood spouted out of her mouth and another arrow stabbed into her chest. Rosie watched in horror as her best friend fell off the tree and landed right before her feet. Blood rushed out of her mouth and two deep piercings by the arrows.
"Y…you didn't tell me…me that…they were coming,"she slurred, staring at Rosie with something in her eyes and giving up the ghost, leaving the world of the living.
Rosie took to her heels. She knew something was wrong with the woods but couldn't pinpoint where. Then footsteps became louder as she ran deep into the forest, losing her sense of direction in the process of saving herself else she became like her best friend who was lying lifeless on the damp forest grounds.
Rosie could hear it, the footfalls of men we're getting louder and ominous. Her legs were getting tired and weak as a jelly but she didn't give up. Harsh voices of men became louder.
"Don't kill that one, she's not one of them," Rosie heard one of them say. Why? Why won't they kill her and what does the strange man mean when he said one of them? They are chasing her, they didn't want to kill her but they might do something far worse than killing her or it was just a ploy to make her stop running?
There was nowhere to run to anymore. Rosie could see the huge tall gray old fence demarcating the college from the outside world.The men were feets away from her but she couldn't run anymore. Just then she saw an open ground or what looked like a small pit.
Without a second thought, she jumps in but that wasn't the end. It seems it wasn't just a hole but a rabbit hole.
She fell into the dark tunnel which swallowed any trace of her completely. Rosie couldn't breath, couldn't see or know where the hole was leading to. She just wanted to be far away from the strange men who murdered her friend.
The tunnel finally came to an abrupt stop after what deems to be an unending fall. Hitting her spine against the hard metal, Rosie winced in pain and tried to stand up but her legs were weak to do so.
HONK! HONK!
"What?" She questioned herself and pushed the lid off the surface above her head. She was in the middle of a highway in the city. Pushing herself out of the drowning darkness, she leapt her way to a bench by the roadside, curling herself on it like a scared cat.
"I caused all this, if only I had stayed in my dorm nothing would've happened to Sandra." She sobbed quietly, her body shaking from the event that just took place in the woods of Campbell Academy.
Two years later
The death of my best friend didn't stop me from returning to the woods every night; instead, it was the safest place for and away from those nightmares of Sandra's ghost. If a soothsayer had told me my best friend who grew up together with me was a beast, I would spit in his face and cuss at him.
Another event unfolded before my eyes and that's when I knew the absolute truth and cause of Sandra's death. After her death, the school did nothing to help find her murderers and not even the cops were alerted. Night after night, students were being killed in the woods and the college Authority couldn't do anything about it.
It made me angry, desperate to find her murderers, and also made me a girl who was fighting for a lost cause but tonight changed something in me. I hid behind one of the large trees, watching the gang of boys taking off their clothes.
So inappropriate of me to look at them but it was weird. Why would guys be stripping off their clothes in the middle of the night inside the woods?
That's when I saw and believed that some myths can be true. Their skin starts turning shades darker and their body size starts increasing. Their fingers and toes nails elongated, claws sharp and thicker than blade from my point of view. Their eyes changed colors, blue except one whose eyes were yellow. Fear wash over me as I watch them grunt and roar in the woods.
Sandra was one of them and that's why they killed her. I can't forget the appearance of one in my dreams everyday. Werewolves, I say. The ability for men to shapeshift into a wolf form but not entirely wolf-like.
All of a sudden, the one with yellow eyes gaze landed on the tree I was hiding. It pierced into my very soul and my heart beat increased 4 times. This time, I wasn't running no matter what. Last time I did, it was a near death experience.
Its forelegs and hindlegs sped through the woods towards me and I held onto my ground. If I'm going to die, it should be quick.
The werewolf came to a halt in front, grunting and sniffing my skin. I stared at it in shock, so huge and…real.
The very next moment, it shifts back into its human form and that's when I knew him, Jude.
End of flashback.
'The scar is still fresh in my heart and I know it wouldn't heal in this lifetime. I caused my best friend's death, I led her to the woods, I made her remember our Halloweens together and it triggered her inner happy self but I didn't tell her something was wrong in the woods and it cost her her life. I saw the pain and betrayal in her eyes and I can't forget that line "Y…you didn't tell m…me that…they were coming,"