Page 28 of Hunters and Prey

The girls had tried to gang up on me; it was something about one of the cute guys in our class having a secret crush on me and the popular girl, whatever her name was, disapproving.

As if I could control how a man thought of me.

To be honest, all the weird elemental problems happened when people were pissing me off, but I wasn't going blame it on my temper or anything.

Witches weren't real.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I headed to my room at the end of the hall. After my dad passed, the large house and the entire property was paid off. Something to do with death insurance covering any remaining fees.

All we had to do was pay for water and lighting, which wasn't much. We only used the water to bathe and run the dishwasher. Anything else we could get from the well, and as for the lighting, we had solar panels that absorbed the sunlight during the day which contributed to our light source at night.

We did have a farm and used to have many animals to take care of, but now it was just my mother, me, and my husky wolf Daisy.

She was currently sitting on my bed, her tail wagging excitingly when I reached the door. "Hey, Daisy. You wanna come and play video games with me in the forest?"

"Woof!" she replied, standing up on my bed. I walked up to the queen size bed in the corner of my room. Putting my hands on my hips, I gave her a look.

"Aren't you supposed to be off my bed?" I questioned. She stared at me with pure happiness, not caring that she'd broken the usual rule of not chilling on my bed. With a sigh, I moved to give her a hug, ruffling her coat. She licked my face and panted happily, loving that I was now here to play with her instead of sitting downstairs learning about ancient history.

I really hated that class. Even with it being once a week, I didn't understand why it was a mandatory course in our school curriculum. At least it was May, and June was right around the corner.

I'd be eighteen in July and with me graduating in June, I wouldn't have to worry about any more courses. I'd yet to figure out what exactly I wanted to be.

With Dad's murder, we'd received bulk sums of money from a few insurances, charities, and got court money after the case was settled. We didn't use much at all, especially living on a farm where we could grow our own vegetables.

Mother knew all the other farmers and bakeries in the nearby area, making it easy for us to get fresh food and dairy delivered to us at much better rates than they would charge in town.

We lived about twenty minutes from the small town of Hilton, on the outskirts of Alberta. The town was one of those ‘everyone knew everyone’ type places, and it would take us another twenty minutes to get to the big city if we wanted to enjoy some luxuries like a big shopping mall or watching the latest movies.

We didn't go to the city often and I tried to avoid the town at all cost. I simply hated the vibe there, feeling safer on our own property that was off-limits. This place was safe and I personally liked it this way.

Sure, it was lonely at times and it made it difficult to get a boyfriend, but it wasn't like I wanted to date any of the rude, bullying, unattractive men from town anyway.

At least I have my best friend.

"Let's go, Daisy. I'm sure Aaron's waiting for us," I encouraged. Daisy hopped off the bed, running to the doorway as I gathered my black purse, slipping my Nintendo Switch, keys, wallet, and some crossword books into my bag. I also slipped in some magic books about spells.

I wasn't super intrigued by it, but I loved to carry it around since it was my father’s. It sounded pretty cheesy, but it made me feel as though he was around watching me whenever I brought it with me. It was one of the few valuables of his that I treasured.

Quickly changing into black tights, a black tube top, and a plaid shirt, I looked in the mirror.

My scorching orange hair was super curly with extra volume. My hazelnut eyes looked tired from the long day, but at least I didn't have any black circles under my eyes. I always had a burst of insomnia, usually staying awake for no apparent reason.

It was just another weird thing I had to accept, just like I had hints of silver-white strands in my hair. Seeing as I was only eighteen, I didn't think it was one of those grey hair moments, but I guessed I'd add it to my unique attributes.

I quickly moved to my vanity, grabbing my favorite red lip gloss and gliding the applicator across my plump, smooth lips. Red was my color. It complimented my pale complexion and added to my no-nonsense attitude.

With a final nod at my look, I grabbed my purse. Tossing the lip gloss into it, I walked to the doorway and shut the lights off, closing the door behind me.

Daisy dashed off down the stairs, knowing where we'd be going. This was my time to do whatever, which gave me the freedom to go out and about without the need to tell Mom.

Daisy was waiting at the back door, her tail wagging anxiously as she waited for me. I opened the door to let her out, watching her race onto the path toward the forest.

Closing the door, I did a quick stretch and decided to rollerblade. Mom's class went a tad longer than I would have liked and I really did want to spend a bit more time with Aaron before the weekend.

Strapping my rollerblades on, I headed after Daisy, making sure my bag was securely strapped along the side of my body. That way, I could have my arms out and enjoy the breeze and feel the leaves brushing my hands along the forest trail.

This was always my favorite part of seeing Aaron. That and actually seeing Aaron.

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