Chapter 1 : Scary Reality

It was Dark.

Twilight.

Midnight, some would say.

The sky was clear and the bright shine of the moon illuminated everything around her. Hundreds and millions of stars littered the sky looking like diamonds, twinkling every now and then, sometimes getting shadowed due to one or two stray clouds floating in the sky.

Yet,

Tanya could see nothing. It was as if she were blind. The forest's huge and thick canopy allowed only a limited amount of light. The tree branches, leaves, grasses etc cast eerie shadows on the forest floor. She would never admit it but she was scared.

The sound of twig breaking made her heart stop and then start again in double acceleration. She tiptoed lightly and crouched behind a bush. She feared that the unknown person might be able to hear her heartbeat.

Something glowed in the dark of the forest and Tanya recoiled in shock. Her breath hitched and her fists tightened on the branch she was holding until her knuckles turned white.

There barely 20 feet away from her, 2 bright green eyes, slightly blue-ish in hue glowed unearthly.

She could hear the crunching of the twigs underneath as the creature stalked forward, towards her.

Do it. 

Run Away Tanya. 

Run Away while you have time. 

Come on you stupid dolt, move your feet and run.

Her subconscious mocked her. But she was frozen. It was as if she couldn't move. Her feet were stuck to the ground and all she could do was hold her breath and hope the unknown creature went away past her, without doing anything to her.

For the second time in the night she heard the crunch of branches and twigs.

But this time it was from her left.

She whipped her head to her left to find 2 glowing eyes hidden in the branches of 2 trees.

Only this time, they were red. 

Blood Red.

She shivered in fear. She turned her head back to golden eyes. It was looking at the red eyed creature.

Abnormally, she felt as if they were both sizing each other up.

Run.

One command from her brain and she was off running, her legs now unfrozen and active. Her body filled with adrenaline. She didn't care if she was making a ruckus. The only thought that occupied her brain was to get away safely.

She jumped up a root, ducked beneath a branch, stumbled a little, but continued running. She slowed down a little when her leg muscles started protesting only to hear the loud thumps of 2 pair of feet coming closer behind her.

And that was all it took for Tanya to start running again.

She ran quite a while before stumbling across a big rock and rolling on the ground a few times. She groaned in pain as she felt pine needles pricking her skin mercilessly. She opened her eyes only to get momentarily blind due to the bright light of the moon.

Blinking a few times she observed that she was in a clearing. She saw a lake, a big lake on one side of the clearing. It's water was sparkling brightly in the moonlight. Millions of stars were reflected in the water and honestly, Tanya admitted to herself that she had never quite seen such a beautiful scene in her life.

A loud crash brought her back to reality.

She turned around and stared at horror at the two figures approaching the clearing from 2 different sides.

She stumbled back. Both of the pair of eyes turned to her, lingering for a second before flitting back to each other. She gave a quiet sigh of relief.

It looked as instead of being a victim, she was just an unwanted spectator to whatever was going on between them.

The 2 suddenly entered the clearing and as the moonlight reflected back to her the image, she had to control everything in her to hold back a gasp of terror.

On her left stood a man.

No, a god.

He handsome. He only had low waisted jeans on his hips. His black hair ruffled silkily in the slight wind. Bright green eyes looked at the creature standing on her left with anger.

A large tattoo on his chest attracted her attention and she widened her eyes. Her eyes traveled across his body to muscular arms with clenched fists and his torso which had six-packs. She directed her eyes back to his face to find a well-defined jaw-line and high cheekbones.

He was roughly 6 feet high. He would tower over her if she stood beside him, not that she was stupid enough to do that right now.

She turned her eyes to her left and a small gasp, however hard she tried to contain, escaped her.

He was beautiful.

Glossy blonde hair, a sharp and defined jaw, strong muscular arms and pale skin that glowed under the moonlight gave him an unnaturally beautiful look.

What ruined his beauty were his blood-red irises.

They glowed mercilessly in the moonlight. He snarled suddenly and Tanya stumbled back in shock.

He had long canines, like the one someone would find in animals.

They both growled loudly in the dark and suddenly without any preamble charged at each other. Tanya could only watch helplessly as they both teared the other's flesh and continued fighting.

********************

Tanya woke up gasping for air. It was horrible.

The dream had been horrible. She could still see the green and red eyes, shining brightly in the dark. She ran her hand through her wild hair and face. Her forehead was beaded with sweat.

She turned to the nightstand and quickly drank up water from the glass there. She took off the duvet from her body and stood up.

It was time for midnight snack and only one thing could cure her fear right now.

Ice-Cream.

Soft thumps of her fluffy-bunny slippers seemed to be the only sound in the entirety of the house. She quickly ran down the stairs, eager for the tasty treat awaiting her in the freezer. She stopped suddenly. 

Someone was there in the kitchen. She could see the flashlight searching the upper cabinets. She caught her breath. The silhouette of the man was large. She was sure he was looking for money.

She slowly walked towards the oak cupboard in the living room and fished out her small plastic baseball bat, which seemed to the only thing in there. Not for the first time, she cursed her parents for not keeping a loaded revolver in the drawers, despite of her insistence.

Maybe because keeping a gun in your drawer, in a house full of stupid teenagers is stupid and idiotic. The voice in her head mocked her.

Watch who you're calling stupid, you dolt. She stupidly argued back.

Ha, Arguing with yourself in the middle of the night, standing in your living room, holding a small plastic bat isn't anything but stupidity. Pure Stupidity. Her conscience mocked her again.

A surprisingly loud thud brought her back to scary reality.

She went forward slowly. soon standing behind the intruder and swung her bat loudly. She jumped on him, as soon as she felt him sway a little and started choking him. The intruder gripped her forearms tightly and tried to get her off. She let out a bloodcurdling scream and soon heard the welcoming sound of her parents feet running across the house trying to reach the kitchen as soon as possible.

The light soon flashed brightly as someone switched on the lights and she heard her parents gasp out loudly. She grinned widely.

"Look, papa. I've caught a stupid thief entering our vulnerable house in the dead of the night." She said triumphantly.

"Young lady, you've sure got some explaining to do." Her father said sternly while he picked her up from the intruder. She struggled wildly and turned to the thief only to lay limp in her father's arm.

There on the floor was a man, approximately 20 years old, blonde hair, blue eyes, red face gasping for air lying on the cold kitchen floor. She ran to him and cradled him in her chest rocking him back and forth.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Jon! How was I to know you were coming back today. I thought your flight was reaching a day after tomorrow. I'm sorry. You should've told me you were coming back early and for god's sake couldn't you have turned on the light instead of using a flashlight??..." She rambled on.

"It's okay, sis." He said trying to regain his breathing.

This man was Jonathan Daniel Marston, Tanya Erica Marston's big brother by 4 years.

"OK now you too, go back to bed. Jon, you will have to get up early to leave Tanya at school tomorrow and Tanya, you better go back to bed and sleep or I'll have to ground you for ruing our sleep and creating a ruckus that could've most probably woken up the whole neighborhood." Her mother said sternly as she peered at them through her glasses.

"I wasn't that loud." Tanya grumbled angrily. She didn't even get to eat her ice-cream. She glared at her brother. He glared back at her with the same ferocity. A loud sigh, courtesy to her father reminded them that they still had a chance to evade a possible punishment.

"Why do I have to suffer from this punishment? I'm just a poor victim in this thing. I was the one who almost got strangled." Jon whined loudly. Sometimes it wasn hard to ignore the fact that he had maturity of a 20 year old man instead of the brain capacity of a 5 year old.

Her dad's fierce glare was enough to shut them both up and make them go back to their respective rooms. Jonathan and Tanya had their rooms side by side which they had insisted upon 11 years ago, when they had first shifted in the neighborhood.

"Welcome back, big brother Johnny." Tanya whispered softly with a small smile on her face.

"That was quite a welcome I received there sis. Hope you don't have anymore of such surprises lined up for me." he winked at her and let out a chuckle when in response she giggled softly. He shook his head and opened up his arms. She jumped forward and snuggled deep in the safe and protective arms of her brother, which had protected her ever since she could remember from all kinds of danger. He sighed softly in contentment.

Soon she kissed his cheeks, bade him goodbye and dived into the bed for a good night's sleep.

Safe to say, Tanya forgot everything about her dream and the reason she woke up.

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Excited to read more and find out what happens next?

Find the whole book - 'Secrets : Supernatural Series Book 1' on wattpad, on the account of fantasyreader27 by Vanessa Taylor.