CHAPTER 2 : The Notorious Trail

The sun finally set, giving the sky a beautiful hue of orange and pink. It’s time to end a stressful day and enjoy a hot tea at home and be indulged with a good book.

Luna was preparing her things to go home, she still had a lot of paper works to do, but she decided to finish it all tomorrow instead. Her day was packed with court trials and client meetings. She was about to get lost in trance remembering the last case she handled this afternoon; it was about a child being sexually abused by her father and been used by her mother to be sexualized by other men for money. Her wolf instinct almost went out of control in the court as she saw the girl’s parents, she wanted to reap them both until they’ll plead for their life.

At the thought the whole trial, the indignant feeling was creeping back in her. Good thing her Alicia broke her off of her daze. Alicia was Luna’s best friend; they’ve been friends since college to law school until now—even working at the same law firm. Days never went dull and dry because of Alicia. She never ran out of things to do even on weekends. She’s just active, extroverted and full life, despite specializing on murder cases. To Luna, Alicia was a breath of fresh air, a friend she needed and wanted. It’s an amusement and a wonder to her where Alicia get her enthusiasm and zeal.

“Come on, it will be fun. Join me. I beg you.” Alicia implored.

”Why would you want to go outside on a weekend? It’s the perfect time to rest and lounge on your bed. You know, do nothing.” Luna argued with a smile on her face.

“See? That’s why you don’t have a boyfriend. You rarely go out. You should date your books instead.” Alicia teased. She knew that smile on Luna’s face—it was an invite for a friendly bicker.

“You know what, I might do that.” Luna retorted, winking at her best friend.

“On a serious note though, I know you love nature. I saw you solemnly watching the trees in our campus before and just got lost in the moment as if you and the trees were as one. A hike wouldn’t hurt, don’t miss the trees and the fresh breeze?”

Luna was quite stupefied by her best friend’s words. She’s indeed in love with nature, she missed the trees and calmness they bring to her. Nonetheless, there’s still this beleaguering feeling that she couldn’t shake off, hiking in the woods might instigate an encounter with the Summer Pack and she’s still not ready for that sudden—out of the blue—confrontation.

“Okay, fine. I’ll go with you, but for now, let’s go home.” She finally surrendered, raising both her hands in the air as if she was being held at gunpoint. Alicia beamed at her and proceeded to give her a tight hug.

Alicia knew there was something amiss about Luna. The uncertainty and anxiousness were very palpable in her voice and behavior, so to comfort her and keep her calm, Alicia started teasing her again.

“We can invite Ciro, if you like.” Alicia playfully said, slightly nudging her at the hips.

“The ever so calm, witty, hot and intelligent Massimo Ettore Cirino. Smexy. Though I always wonder why his name was so old school, it doesn't suite his face at all.” She continued.

“Sssshhh…”Luna uttered with a giggle”..he might here you, Alicia. We’re just friends. Let’s go home.” She mumbled, consequently dragging Alicia out of the office along with her bags and things.

Like she always wanted and planned, she’s now living a normal and ordinary life among the humans. She pursued law as her career and specialized on abuse-related cases because she didn’t want anyone to experience the kind of torture—physically and emotionally—that she went through, so she decided to save maybe not all of them, but at least most of them in ways she could. In that way she can still be a heroine to some people in her own little way.

It's hard to have a job correlated to something that deeply scarred you, hence, she’s always been exhausted after a day’s work. Regardless of the grueling work and the constant emotional burnout—it’s always a wonder to her on when she will ever get used to her job—being able to help children, teens and even adults and hearing their words of gratitude made it all worth it. And thanks to her best friend, Alicia, everything was quite bearable.

Being friends for so long, they know each from head to toe, seen each other’s toxic and good traits. They know how to handle each other’s mood swing. Twin Soul. They do a lot of stuff together and share a lot of things, not only stories and experience, but also clothes and whatnots. Routines were a norm to them, one of it is walking from the firm to their apartment, since it’s just 20 minutes away and about 5 minutes if they’ll commute. On the way home, doing their usual thing happy strides and small talk, they decided to do a light shopping for their hike tomorrow. Excited about her best friend joining her on one of her hobbies, Alicia bought a lot of things—food and whatnots.

“You know we can’t actually eat all of these, do you?” Luna blurted, helping Alicia carry her grocery bags.

“Yes, mum, I know. Well, maybe we’ll meet a hot guy along the way.” Alicia responded with a wink and a sly smirk. Luna just rolled her eyes in response.

Finally, in their apartment, they’ve arranged their grocery in the kitchen and got on readying and fixing their bags and things for tomorrow. Alicia planned to go on this hiking trail in the woods, it was a notorious trail for there were a lot of stories like if you passed the small hut at the middle of the trail, you couldn’t come back anymore. There were already around five to six people missing these past two months, and all of them went hiking on that trail. It’s still unknown if they’re still alive. Alicia just wanted to know what’s in there and the mystery behind it, she’s always been a curious girl. Luna thought that maybe they were abducted by the werewolves and turned them into one. Werewolves were very careful not to be known by humans, however, there were times that a human will catch a glimpse to them, specially if they weren't careful. Despite of all the myths and stories about them written by humans, they always preferred to stay unknown, undiscovered and continue to be a myth.

The thought of it horrified her, she didn't want Alicia to be near the people who inflicted her in the past, and she then again got lost in trance, thinking about what will happen to them tomorrow. She was worried about Alicia’s safety, if ever something bad will commence as they embark on their hike, she couldn’t save her. She still couldn’t shapeshift, she may be more advanced and skilled compared to a mortal, but she’s no match to her kind.

“Hey, what are you thinking? Why the worried face?” Alicia asked her, breaking her from her train of thoughts.

“Nothing, just worried about tomorrow. Can’t we just hike on a different trail? I mean that trail is very notorious for being dangerous.”

“We will be fine. We will head back right away if something feels off.”

Once Alicia’s made up her mind, there’s no altering it. She’s very adamant and stubborn with her decisions. There’s no point in convincing her not to go there, they both know she won’t cave. So Luna just nodded in return.

“Okay. As long as you promise to head right back if I say so then I guess we’re good. Let’s rest now, we need to wake up early tomorrow.”