Redhawk Caldera If the whole wide world stops spinning

She waited while he checked it out, and when he asked, at first she shied away from the question.  Still, she didn't want anyone else to run into him and make the same mistake she had.  It would be better to tell him.  He was alone,  she confirmed, and her ears tipped back again without her realizing it.  He was.... dark, with orange eyes.  I remember he smiled at me, and seemed like he was friendly, so I said hello.  His voice though, it was...  She didn't really know how to describe it, so she paused here.  ...off.  Something was wrong with him.  Her voice got quieter.  She still didn't understand how a wolf who had seemed so welcoming at first could turn so quickly.  She hadn't recognized the look in his eyes, or seen the fervent way he'd approached.  All she'd seen was the wagging tail and the friendly smile.

Just thinking about it made her skin crawl.  If she hadn't managed to struggle free, hadn't managed to outrun him on the slopes, she'd be dead right now.  She'd had close calls before but never one as viscerally close as this.  One wrong move between life and death.  She'd told so many stories about fighting, wars, and triumph, but she'd never realized that was actually what a battle was.  Heroes always won, but in real life, they could die as easily as a misplaced step or a well-timed snap.

She didn't even really notice when Eljay sat closer to her, she was too tied up in the memory.  That's probably why the thought that had been running on repeat, over and over, suddenly slipped out.  I'm so pathetic.  Frustration pricked at her and made her cheeks burn hot.  Talk about stories or something else pleasant?  Like a bucket of cold water, she suddenly realized what she'd just said, and who she'd said it in front of.  She couldn't take it back now, but if she could, she would have.  She wanted to sink into the ground and disappear, but her mind was completely blank on ways to play it off.  It was the cold, absolute truth, and it hung between them now, awful and the absolute opposite of pleasant.

WC: 370