7

Blood.
I wanted to ask her about it but I was anxious about the answer. I didn't want to get personal or presumptive but I may make this already awkward encounter a lot more awkward. I settled for anxiously playing with her sleeve, shooting worried glances at her while she leaned back on her shoulders with closed eyes. Her skin was so pale, she seemed to soak up the moonlight.
"I tripped as I was running." She commented in a bored tone, she must have seen me out of the corner of her eye as I obsessively twisted the stained sleeve over and over.
I took advantage of her diverted gaze to find the wound. There wasn't one, her pale skin was unharmed. She turned her head to me slowly and smiled slightly, finding amusement in my concern.
"My nose. I had a nose bleed." She chuckled softly and shuffled closer to me, as if my obvious concern was endearing, rather than creepy. My body automatically went rigid as she rested her head gently on my shoulder. We stayed like this, our hair contrasted sharply, mahogany and platinum. I was frozen like a statue, I didn't want to ruin this moment. The only sound was her steady breathing, my erratic breathing and the slow bubbling of the stream.
A slight rustling to my left caught my attention, I sharply turned my head to see a pair of glowing amber eyes staring at me.
"Look," I whispered softly to Aurel, who was already staring at the fox. She hushed sharply and shuffled back slowly.
"Don't move, let it come to you." She commanded in a whisper, still crawling behind me.
I slowly stretched my arm out, offering my hand to the fox. It cautiously crept forward, taking loud, rapid sniffs of the air. It became braver, standing right in front of me, letting me pet it.
"They're used to the students, you often see them in the edges of the forest." Aurel hissed in my ear, she was behind me, seeming too scared to venture further. It was so peaceful and pretty, a splash of colour in the dark forest. I wondered why she didn't go closer.
"Don't move." Her low voice came from somewhere next to me but I was too busy staring at the fox to see her, I couldn't take my eyes off the fox. I heard her jacket rustle as she crawled forward slowly, almost not moving. She came to a stop slightly in front of me and extended her hand cautiously, as if the fox was dangerous.
The fox caught her scent and turned to face her. It let out a low whine and shot into the darkness, disappearing completely in the thick foliage. Aurel let out a low hiss, like an animal.
In the same 10 seconds this took place, a guttural scream echoed in the empty air. My head shot up, automatically seeing if Aurel was okay. Her dark eyes were scanning the forest, as if she was prepared to fight off danger. Obviously finding nothing, she turned to me and smiled tiredly.
"I think it's time I get you back. You don't know the dangers that lurk here in the early hours." She rose, just as gracefully as she descended, and offered her hand to help me. Blushing, I took her hand and rose too. I didn't fail to notice how clammy my hands were compared to her smooth hands.
I was glad Aurel seemed to have some sense of direction, as I had no idea which path was the right path. She rested her hand on my shoulder and steered me through the trees.  Again, we fell silent. My heart jolted in my chest as I heard the animal behind us.
No. Heard wasn't the right sound. It was silent. I felt it's spine chilling presence behind us, just like I felt Aurel's grip on my shoulder tighten as she propelled us forward. We sprinted through the trees, Aurel was like a gazelle, so sure of her footsteps whereas I
stumbled and tripped under her firm guidance.
At last the trees opened into the field, although it wasn't much of an improvement. Under the early morning mist rolling around, it was a sinister area. But it was open, nothing could hide here. The animal. The searing pain in my side had obstructed my thoughts and it was only then I remembered the danger. I spun round wildly to see the animal. Aurel was there, she was stood in front of me. Her posture resembled an animal, she was crouched with her arms out, shielding my view of the forest. A low hissing sound was coming from her throat again. She was primitive.
A lower ripping growl answered her hissing but I was still unable to see the source.
"Go inside May," her low voice instructed me, as a parent would command a child they deemed unable to deal with adult business. I decided not to protest, after all I didn't know what was happening. As I spun around, I caught a glimpse of glowing green eyes staring at Aurel through the trees. I ran.
I was relieved that PE wasn't a mandatory subject in this school, I thought my days of exercise were over. I didn't expect I'd spend my first 24 hours in Ambrose running until my lungs burst and my chest splintered with the pain.
I crashed through the doors of our building, chanting C5 continuously in my head. I finally got to the door of my room but it was locked. The sound of Daisy giggling escaped through the crack under the door and I assumed she and Cal had locked it for privacy.
Unsure of what to do now, I paced awkwardly outside the door. I wish I knew the time, if it was late enough in the morning I could make my way to the library and find a good book.
"It's 2am. Why are you still out?" Her low voice answered my question, as if Aurel could read my mind. Another giggle came from the locked room and Aurel smiled in second hand embarrassment.
"I suppose that answers my question. Well you are welcome to stay with Skye and myself for tonight if you wish?"
I considered the offer - stay in a room with an inhumanely beautiful girl for the night or sleep on the floor outside my locked dorm room. Hard choice. I nodded shyly. She started walking down a corridor that branched off the main dorm corridor, opposite my room.
"We have tried to warn her about Cal, but she never takes notice of our warnings," she said over her shoulder as we walked. "He's no good, but Daisy is infatuated with him." Her tone was sour, she really did hate Cal. We reached her room, C12, and she opened the door.
"Keep your voice down, I assume Skye is asleep," she whispered. But the room was fully lit and Skye was sat on her desk chair. The chair was angled towards the door and she sat with her arms crossed, like a parent prepared to reprimand her children for coming home late.
"Where have you been?" Her light voice was full of accusation, she sounded pissed. I shot a panicked look at Aurel, who stared at Skye nonchalantly.
"Out, why does it matter?" Their tones were that of a parent and child, this clearly happened frequently.
"Oh, just that it's 2am, you've been out for an hour with a stranger, whom you've now brought back with you. Not that we don't trust you, we just don't know you." She directed the last part to me, smiling hesitantly. I didn't need this, I was already aware of where I stood within this clique - out of it.
"She's not a stranger and she is staying with us tonight," Aurel hissed back. I felt awkward, I didn't want to create tension between roommates.
"Look, I'll just sit outside C5 until Daisy comes out, I don't mind," I stepped back, starting to make my way out of the door. But Aurel was quick, her hand shot out and grabbed my arm. As hard as I tried, I couldn't wrench my arm out of her unyielding grip.
"No. You're staying here tonight and Skye will be okay with it." Her voice was low and calm yet we couldn't fail to pick up the cold threat in her words. Skye raised her eyebrows but said nothing more and settled for disapprovingly tutting every so often as she got ready for bed.
"You'll have to sleep in your clothes, Aurel is way too tall for you to fit into her pjamas," she commented offhandedly.
"Or she could borrow a pair of yours if you could be so gracious." Aurel shot back scathingly. Skye sighed heavily and chucked a ratty pair of pjamas at me. Not that I'm complaining, pjamas are pjamas. I childishly hid in a corner to get changed, after all I'd only just met these girls. Turning round awkwardly, I heard Skye stifle a chuckle so I guessed I looked a state. Aurel's eyes were hard as she glared at Skye but they softened when she focused on me. I could feel the familiar heat that creeps up my neck and into my cheeks when I blush.
"So, where's your girl sleeping?" Skye cut into the awkward silence. Your girl, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I certainly didn't belong to anyone. But still, it was nice to be associated with Aurel. But we weren't like that. We sat by a pond in the woods, met a fox and ran from an animal. Nothing romantic, on her side anyway. Real world, Aurel was scowling at Skye again. I knew I was causing this animosity but there was no way to stop it without being obvious.
"May can share my bed. No need to get worried." Aurel was speaking in short sharp sentences, this was getting really awkward. Sharing a bed with Aurel! I couldn't deny that the thought overwhelmed me. Even if it was platonic. Both girls were in their sleepwear, Skye in a baby blue cotton set and Aurel in a silk black nightdress that reached to her ankles. How was it that these girls looked beautiful even going to bed?
Aurel settled into bed whilst I waited awkwardly at the edge, unsure of how to get in without annoying her. It didn't seem to take much to annoy her. She patted the space next to her, with an amused but quizzical glance at me.
"Are you getting in anytime tonight, May?" I felt the blush creep up my neck and I nodded hastily while clambering in next to her. I held myself tense, right on the edge of the bed, scared to make contact.
"You can sleep, you know?" She whispered so close to my ear that her breath tickled. She was closer than I thought. I settled down a bit more, she remained by the wall but made no objections to my moving closer. It seemed we were both trying to avoid contact.  I slowly drifted off to sleep.                                                                 
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She was running through the trees. Her breathing was audible above the snapping of branches as she crashed through the thick foliage. The only other sound was the thundering, primal sound of animals baying. Wolves. She knew the danger, it was evident in her desperate panting and wild eyes as she spun round, trying to make sense of her surroundings. She was lost. There was blood running down her cheeks from a sticky wound on her forehead that was already clumping together and matting her hair. Her arms were covered in bite marks, human bites and more blood was dripping from punctured wounds dotted all over her neck and chest area, even her collarbones. She had to keep stopping to wipe blood from her eyes but freeing her vision didn't help, she was being chased and she was going to be caught.
Another primal howl erupted from not far behind her.