ʜɪꜱ ᴘʀᴇʏ || вαηg ¢нαη

Chapter 3: Maybe Autumn

This chapter is dedicated to @storminsidemycore <3 

How did he know!? How the hell did he know I was going to the market!? A shiver invaded my body, from both the cold and the creepy stranger who could possibly be stalking me.

"How-" I began to say before I was cut off.

"The list is in your pocket. I can see it."

I looked down at my pocket. He was right, it was. I sighed in relief, turning back around to continue walking.

"A girl like you shouldn't be walking alone. Let me escort you." He offered.

As much as I would've considered his offer, it's the way he phrased it that made me upset.

"A girl like me? What's that supposed to be? I've lived here almost my entire life, not once has anything bad ever happened to me. Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I can't defend myself." I argued.

He smiled to himself, which gave me the creeps. "If you insist, Collete."

A blink later, he disappeared. Wait... I never told him my name? How did he disappear so quickly? I looked at my grocery list, then searched myself. There is no way in hell that he could've just guessed my name. He's been stalking me, I'm sure of it. Why am I just standing here!? I needed to run to the market if I was going to make it back soon. I've already worried Grandma enough, I don't want to show up late and make her question where I was or what took me so long.

Proceeding towards the market, I ran through the snowy woods, careful with each step. It was like running in water, all the snow was holding me back, so I had to take long strides, almost jumping. The snow went way past my shins, almost past my knees.

By the time I got there, half the shops weren't even open. It was an outside market, so people usually set up their shops here where they sold food, clothes, jewelry, and books as well. All of the non-food stuff was in the far back; the strip went for a good 1.2 kilometers, a dirt path (which was actually cleared from snow) stretched all the way back to connect the shops.

I wandered. This is what happens when you live so far from civilization. We do everything ourselves since the nearest Walmart or industrial factory wasn't within an 80 kilometer radius. Most of us didn't own cars, so we usually walked everywhere. Electricity was rare, but not unheard of. Some people had generators, unlike my grandmother and I who just used good old fashioned fire to cook or heat everything.

Eventually, I found the shop I was looking for. All baking stuff like vegetable oil, flour, baking powder, etc. I grabbed a bag of flour, scratched it off my list and paid the woman selling it. She smiled at me as I handed her the money.

"Did you hear about the wolf attacks recently?" The woman asked me, making small talk. I nodded my head in acknowledgement.

"I heard about it before. Did it happen again?"

"Yes it did! To good old Uncle Jin who runs the farm, too. Half his live stalk was either missing or found dead in the woods by his barn." She informed me.

Uncle Jin is what the local ranch owner from Oklahoma goes by. His real name is unknown to all of us; all we know is that he owns a ranch here to help his business profit.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, putting my hand over my mouth. Wolf season comes and goes, but it's usually just a few chickens that die. This was much worse than it's ever been. "Where are these wolves coming from? I thought they lived further up north."

The woman shook her head. "Apparently there was a forest fire up there in the summer, so they all came down here. They're Arctic wolves. Now that it's winter, the Arctic wolves are coming out to play while the forest wolves we've got here are hibernating. It's going to be wolf season all year round now, except maybe autumn."

My brain processed what she said. My jaw dropped as I spoke. "This is a lot. Is anyone planning to get rid of the wolves? Are we not going to take action?"

"Yes we are," She answered. "Right now, since wolves are a native species, we need permission from the authorities. Once we get it, we're pushing the wolves back up at all costs. Even if it means death. I'm glad, they were starting to get on my nerves."

She voiced her opinion loud and clear. Personally though, I didn't approve of killing animals. Pushing them up is alright with me, like she said, they're starting to get on everyone's nerves. I didn't know how to feel about this, it was a lot to soak in at once.

"Well, Sweetie, you should get going now." The woman at the shop told me.

"You're probably right, I've got a lot of things to get. It was nice talking to you, have a good day." I told her as I left the shop.

Every shop I went to after that all talked to me about the same thing. So much so that I now knew just about everything about how wolf season was going to go this year. When I tell you nothing good could come out of it, trust me, I mean that nothing good was coming out of this.

The walk home was calm. About an inch or two of the snow had thawed to nothingness, so the walk was much more bearable. I wasn't looking where I was going when a familiar voice came from behind a tree. This is why I hate walking in the woods.

"Collete!" He called after me, walking towards me. "Let me help you."

"No! We just met, I barely know you. Besides, how do you know my name anyways?!"

He completely ignored my question, grabbing the grocery bag out of my hand. I rolled my eyes. So this is how it starts. He was giving me such a messed up vibe, I knew I couldn't trust him. It's not like I could do anything about it. More importantly than anything though, I didn't want him knowing where I live.

"If you aren't actually going to go away, then at least tell me your name." It's the least he could do for me.

The air was still, everything pin-drop silence. Then, he spoke.

"Call me Chan. You won't know how much that means until later." His voice was colder than the snow outside.

Something was going to happen. I could feel it in my bones.

Something was going to change. And it started with him.

Chan.