Chapter One

I drove my Volvo up the steep, winding road that lay ahead of me. The roads of SilverAsh Mountain were tight with dense forest surrounding them on both sides, the trees only breaking apart slightly to give way to the occasional driveway which the browning leaves tried to suffocate regardless. I peered at my GPS as it informed me of my destination being only 500 meters away and I slowed down to ensure I didn't miss it. As the GPS counted down the meters, I squinted through the annoying and constant drizzle of rain, turning sharply into a driveway that appeared only when my GPS told me to "Turn left." I drove up what was more of another winding road than a driveway and was greeted by a familiar wooden house. I parked my car beside an old 4WD that had clearly been put to good use, the huge "Gone Huntin'" decal on the back window covered in dried up mud. I'd always hated my dads passion for hunting.

The front door opened just as I closed my car door and a good looking, tall, and well built man stepped out onto the porch. I hadn't seen my dad for a good 5 years, but he looked almost identical to the last time I had seen him. He'd grown a beard though, which was what put age on him. That and the faint wrinkles forming near his eyes.

"Hey, Kiddo!" He called out and smiled warmly. I smiled back and jogged up to him, wrapping my arms around his neck as he scooped me up and held me close.

"Hey, Dad." I answered quietly and nestled myself into the safety of his arms. He held me for a good minute and a half before he let me down and smiled down at me sadly.

"Faye, I... I'm sorry about your mum."

I looked up at him and returned his sad smile, noticing just how tired he really looked. My mothers death must have hit him harder than it did me.

My heart had hurt, but I'd never cried. Not when I received the news, not at the funeral, and not as I looked into my dads red eyes that had cried a lot more tears than my mother deserved from him.

I hugged him again tightly, knowing he needed it more than I did.

"Come on Kiddo, let's go get your things." Dad said as he finally pulled away from me and went down to my car. I didn't bring much, mum and I never really had much to begin with since she was rarely home and I simply didn't have any money to buy luxuries. The boxes were mostly filled with my clothes and some small keepsake items from around my old house and dad had hauled up more than half my stuff by the time I'd even made it up the stairs with one bag.

"Just relax, Faye. I'll get the rest." He said as I sat on the edge of my bed. I looked around what had always been my room whenever I visited and not much had changed. The bed was new, a bigger upgrade from the small child's bed it had been. The cream coloured sheets with little deer all over them were the same though. There were also a few new deer pictures hanging off the walls and a huge pair of intricately twisted deer horns above my bed. It didn't surprise me as it was coming from someone that hunted deer for a living and owned a hunting shop. I walked over to the antique vanity that sat across from my bed and ran my fingers over the familiar rough surface. Lifting up the small box labeled 'memories', I placed it gently onto the vanity and pulled out the few photo frames I had, neatly placing them in front of the mirror. A cordless phone sat beside the newly placed picture of me and my best friend and it reminded me that I had to call her and fill her in on all the details.

I turned when I heard a thud behind me as dad placed the rest of my things beside my bed and walked over to where I was standing. He picked up the only photo I had of us as a family when we still looked happy.

I stood between my parents as they crouched beside me, my big grin showing off missing teeth. Mum was smiling, she was so beautiful when she did. Dad was staring at her with so much love, a lopsided smile on his own face.

"I remember this day so well." He said so quietly that I wondered if it was to me at all. He put the photo back down without saying any more, and looked at me smiling, the wrinkles around his sad eyes deepening.

"What's that smell?" I asked, nudging my dad and winking. He came back to reality and messed up my hair.

"Oh, it's a surprise!" He stated, walking out of my room.

The house was filled with the best smell in the world; dads famous lasagna. Well, famous in our household. I bounced down the stairs to the kitchen where dad was pulling out a big dish of it from the oven. The kitchen was warm and the smell even more heavenly. It took me back to my childhood and I felt peacefully happy. I took a seat at the dinner table as dad brought over the lasagna.

"I thought you'd like this to cheer you up." He said, cutting a huge slice for me.

"I am, no joke, so excited to eat this right now. Thanks dad." I replied, though knowing he was the one needing the cheering up more. I was, however, genuinely excited to dig in.

"How was the drive here?" Dad asked through a mouthful of saucy meat and pasta.

"Long and boring. I'd forgotten how much it rains here, too." I managed to reply through my own mouthful.

"Well it's going to start snowing soon. The temperature's been getting a lot colder, a lot quicker this year so I'd expect some snow fall within the month. Oh and before I forget, I've enrolled you into SilverAsh College. It's only May so you can easily catch up on subjects. Oh and you start tomorrow."

I groaned in response. "But it's Friday tomorrow. Do I really need to start on a Friday?" Sauce dripped down my chin.

"Well seeing as you still eat like a baby, the sooner the better." Dad said and chuckled.

I was shooed out of the kitchen after dinner to give me time to unpack and settle in. As soon as I reached my room however, I flopped onto my bed and pulled out my phone. Kat's face popped up as I hit call and I listened to the ring tone.

"Faye, oh my God!" Kat shouted through the phone and I had to pull it away from my ear. "How are you? I miss you so much already! How's your dad? Have you met any cute boys yet?"

I rolled my eyes and giggled at my best friends bubbly tone. "Calm down, Kat. I'm doing good, so is dad. However I haven't seen another human being let alone any cute boys."

"Tell him I said hi! And that's soo lame. I would be so disappointed."

"Yeah, I will. Well I have to start school tomorrow so I'll fill you in on the goss after."

"No doubt those mountain boys will be falling head over heels for you as they drool all over the floor, following you around." She purred, rolling her R's dramatically.

"Shut up, Kat." I snorted and laughed. "I bet you no one will even notice I'm there."

"Uh, hello! There'll probably be like, what, 10 students at your new school? And you'll probably be the only tanned girl there. Can the people there even tan? Plus you are a killer babe! Stop putting yourself down so much already!"

We laughed, and joked, and told each other how much we missed each other for another good hour.

"I should go now. Just saw how late it is and I haven't even unpacked!" I said to Kat.

"Aww okaay! Don't forget to call me tomorrow after you're done making out with the SilverAsh hottie." She said, and I imagined her winking.

"I can't make any promises. What if he's reaaally hot?"

"Too bad. Bffl's over bros, okay? Love you, Faye!" She purred again and made a kissing sound.

"Goodnight, Kat." I replied and ended the call, shaking my head.

I rolled myself off the bed and walked over to my boxes. I noticed that dad had brought up a gorgeous old bookshelf up to my room and I smiled to myself as I pushed the boxes labelled "books" over to it. This bookshelf was so much nicer than the tacky IKEA one I'd had at my old house. I'd have to thank dad in the morning.

After searching through a bag for some undies and a shirt to sleep in, I went into my bathroom and ran the shower. I didn't have to wait for it to heat up like I had to at my old house, but it was a habit and I walked up to the mirror as it started to steam up. I looked more of a mess than I felt, so I broke the habit, turned away in disgust, and hopped into the shower, the hot water feeling beyond amazing on my sore shoulders. I took a longer than normal shower, washing away the past few weeks, determined to start a fresh new life here. I dried off and slipped into my old Beatles shirt. Dad had played a lot of old music around me when I was growing up and I had a passion for it even now. As if on cue, Jailhouse rock started playing, the upbeat song drifting up the stairs craving to be heard. I lay down in bed and realised just how exhausted I really was. My toes wiggled to the song that had been played over and over in my childhood and I shut my eyes feeling the bed envelop me, sleep coming quickly.

I woke up before my alarms, my body covered in sweat, my heart beating so fast I swear I could hear it in the dead silence of my room. I could remember running in my dreams, being chased through the forest by something. I didn't know what, but I knew it was big and I could clearly remember a pair of golden eyes staring directly at me as it hunted me. I remember falling when I reached a clearing and one pair of eyes suddenly turning into several as they circled me, snarling and snapping at my legs. Shuddering, I swallowed and got out of bed, pulling on some pants and quietly heading downstairs. I switched the light on in the kitchen and noticed a note on the table with a key sitting on top of it.

'I've gone to the next town to get supplies. Will probably be home late. There's leftover lasagna in the fridge.

Love, Dad. xo

PS. I've invited an old friend and her kids over for dinner tomorrow night.'

Tossing the note back down onto the table, I popped some toast that I remembered a cute old lady baked for my dad into the toaster and checked for water in the kettle before turning it on. I sat on a stool and typed SilverAsh College into my phones GPS. Ugh, the school was half an hour away. Rubbing my face, I sighed, still feeling quiet exhausted. The toast popping up made me jolt and I shook my head, trying to wake myself up. I smothered the thick piece of bread with Nutella and shoved it in my mouth as I walked back up to my room, a strong coffee in my other hand. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and dusting myself of any crumbs, I placed the now empty mug onto my bedside table and lay my bags out in front of me. I hadn't unpacked anything last night so I poured the contents of one of my clothes bags onto the floor and shuffled through it all, trying to find something decent to wear. I settled with a Transformers shirt, my black skinny jeans and black converse. A baggy hoodie topped my outfit off nicely. After putting on my makeup, I admired myself in the mirror. Yep, no one should take any interest in me while I look like this. I thought to myself. (Edit in italic)

I jogged down the stairs and out into the cool mountainous air outside. The sun had supposedly risen, but the sky was dark, the clouds hiding any light. The rain had started to come down hard and I put my hood over my head and ran to my car, the rain soaking through my clothes within seconds. I started my car and allowed it to warm up, setting up my GPS in the mean time and searching for a decent radio station to listen to. Shivering, I put the car into drive and drove down the driveway, the dirt road becoming extremely muddy and washing away in places.

The rain was coming down even harder by the time I got onto the main road and I was struggling to see anything. I turned the radio off and concentrated on not flying off the road at any of the tight bends. A huge black creature suddenly came leaping out of the trees and out onto the road in front of me. I slammed on the breaks but I started sliding and panicking. I pumped the break but it still took some distance to come to a complete stop. The creature, or should I say man, jumped onto the hood of my car and stared directly at me. I noticed that even in this weather he was wearing only a black shirt and shorts, though I couldn't make out his face. His eyes however, were so familiar. It clicked in my mind that they were identical to the ones from my dream, there was no doubt about it, and I only became surer as I kept staring at them and they appeared to be glowing. He leapt off my car just as quickly as he had jumped on it and I sat staring out the windscreen, my whole body shaking. I turned my hazards on, fumbling with the door handle and stepping out into the rain, searching for something, someone. I ran to the front of my car and saw four dents in the bonnet where the thing[/i] had landed. My hand got caught as I gripped my tangled hair before rubbing it down my face which was more than likely a mess of running mascara. I felt like I was dreaming again, the whole situation so unbelievable, I slapped my cheeks to ensure I was really awake.

I got back into my car when the rain became icy cold, shakily putting it into drive, and slowly accelerating, my eyes constantly looking in the rear view mirror in hope of seeing someone standing there, giving me a clue to what had just happened.