I stopped for a moment, closing my eyes to take a deep, cleansing breath. When I opened my eyes, I took in my surroundings. I was surprised to see I was on the edge of the woods by my house. I could have sworn I had only been running for less than 5 minutes. It normally took me 20/25minutes to run through the forest. I even got here 10 minutes faster than driving would have. It must have been the adrenaline. I took one last glance behind me at the deep, dark woods, and a pair of glowing green eyes gazed back at me.
It had to be my imagination that there was something looking back at me; it had been a long night, and my nightmares had been coming more frequently. I was just tired and stressed, yup. That is all it was.
I continue down the dirt road that leads to the main road near my house. I could smell the fire and smoke in the air. The sounds of the fire trucks were louder here than the beat of my heart. I turned the corner, and time stopped. My house was ablaze. I was frozen in the spot as fear gripped my heart. This couldn't be real. I began moving slowly towards my Childhood home. It was like I was moving at a snail's pace and everything around me was in fast motion. Jess was all of a sudden in front of me, holding me, but I couldn't process her words. Her face was blurred in my vision. That's when I realized I was sobbing. Time seemed to move back at a normal pace.
"...My mom?" It took me a minute to find the words. Fear filled my voice. Where was she? The look Jess gave me broke me. She didn't even need to tell me.
"No one has found her yet. The firefighters are struggling to find her." Jess held me as a strangled scream of a sob broke out.
"Noooo!!!!" I cried out. I crumbled to the ground. Jess fell with me, holding me as best as she could. I don't know how much time passed; it felt like forever, and only a heartbeat had passed until strong hands gripped my face, forcing me to look at the person who had me.
"What's wrong, beautiful?" Luka peered down at me, concern filling his face.
"My mom... They can't find my mom...." I explained as best I could between hiccups and sobs. I was so distraught, I didn't care how awful I looked. Luka's face filled with something like determination. He leaned forward, kissing my forehead. He held it there like he was savoring the kiss.
"I will find her," Luka announced. I looked at him, stunned. If the firefighters couldn't find her, how could he?
"What?" Jess answered my thought for me. As she, too, looked at him, confused.
"I can't bare seeing Dani in pain." And with that, he was off. I was in shock as I watched him run, dodging police and firemen as they tried to stop him from getting close to the fire. A gasp fell from my lips as I saw him burst through the front door and disappear into the flames. Jess and I both watched for a few moments without saying a word.
"Who the hell was that, Dani?" Jess asked, confused at what had happened. Before I could answer, a familiar, deep voice asked.
"Who was who?" Joel stool next to me. Let out a yelp of surprise at Joel's sudden appearance next to me.
"Jeezzz way to sneak up on me!" I scolded as I put a hand on my racing heart.
"Sorry" was Joel's only response.
"Luka just ran into the house to look for my mom. That's who." I answered Jess and Joel's questions at the same time.
"What? Why would he do something like that? Do you guys know each other?" Jordan asked, as if he had suddenly appeared next to Joel.
"I don't know. We only met earlier in the VIP lounge when I brought up the muffins." I explained. I noticed Joel and Jordan exchanged a look, like they were having a mental conversation. Jess's eyes widened, and she gave me a mischievous smirk. I gave her a sharp elbow to her side to make her quiet.
"What's with that look?" Joel asked.
"Ohhhh, you know..." Jess teased, but before she could go any further, I gave her another elbow. She hissed out a pained sound and gave me a dirty look. "It's just girl stuff, nothing you boys would want to hear about." Jess looked at me like 'Come on, I wouldn't actually tell them anything you didn't want me to.'
"Right." Joel looked at us, and it was clear he wasn't convinced.
"I'll tell you if you tell me what that look you and Jordan exchanged was about," I retorted. I knew they probably wouldn't tell me, and that was fine.
"Hah, you got us there. Maybe one day we will tell you." Jordan teased.
Before anyone else could say or do anything else, commotion at the house caught all our attention. I tried my best not to get excited, but I couldn't help myself for a brief moment as I saw Luka carrying my mom out in his arms.
"MOM!" I screamed as tears filled my vision as I ran towards them.
I was about ten feet from Luka and my mom. My vision was a blurred mess turned upside down, and then I fell into deep darkness; for a moment, I heard my name being called and something else.? A howl?