The bitter cold ripped and tore at my flesh, my fingers and toes numb and my body quivering like a willow tree in the wind. My breaths were visible in the air and my chest felt like it was being compressed under a thousand cinder blocks. The icy air chilled my insides and my throat felt like parchment paper. I had no forgiveness against this weather, the cold takes pity on no one. 

A gust of wind blew through the trees and I attempted to huddle my arms closer to my chest. My sharp nails burrowed themselves into the pale and sickly looking skin on my arms, the pain a distraction to the cold for a few seconds. I shuffled through the underbrush like an old drunken man, my steps shifting from side to side, my body swaying.

As my feet stumbled over roots and rocks, I was unable to quiet my heavy footfalls, the dry winter leaves crunching with every exhausted step I took. I repeated the same few sentences in my head over and over again. Perhaps it was to help ignore the frigid air that seeped into my barely covered body, or maybe it was to keep my dignity and pride. Then again, it could still be a feeble attempt to keep my sanity. 

My name is Valerie Castellan.

I am nineteen years old, almost twenty.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

I look like my mother which is a curse and my father despises me.

I am a lone wolf.

But I am strong, I could survive this. 

No. Stop. Rephrase that. 

I would survive this. 

The trees and rocks and roots that surrounded me on all sides like a prison cell seemed unfamiliar. Was I even still in Orange County, or was I in the next one over? Maybe I wasn't in either and had wandered into a completely different part of the state. I didn't know where I was.

I stumbled over a tree root, my body staggering to the side to smash against the tree that the root belonged to. The blood that dripped from my temple splattered several inches from it. I stared down at the crimson that now stained the ugly brown leaves, a staggering contrast between the two. My blood was pouring from my body and my life decided it wanted to leave with it.

A howl erupted from somewhere in the near distance. My head shot up, listening to the malice in the howl, the intent to kill contained in the cry that reverberated through the trees. Soon two others joined it and they all seemed to be moving towards my position.

I attempted to push my heavy body from the trunk of the tree but my body refused to do what I asked of it. Instead, my feed slipped from under me and my back scraped down the trunk, the bark tearing at my skin and adding to the blood that was already pouring from me. I allowed for myself to go limp, the cold earth seeming to sap me of my remaining energy. 

The howls sounded once again, but this time much closer. They echoed all around me until I felt like I was being suffocated by their distant presence. 

I wouldn't get far if I shifted, they would catch up to me in no time; all brutal and malicious, razor sharp teeth snapping at my throat. An involuntary crystal tear slipped from my forest green eye and carved a tiny river to my chin before dripping into an unknown space.

I was going to die here.