When the Alphas call

Chapter 2

The preparations were going in a full swing. Packing for two people was still a lot, so Brie was all too mindful of getting it done on their behalf. It took around a whole week to complete it and then there was the house hunting. Joe had to spend several hours apart from his work, searching for the house.

All of it was finally getting to Sansha. Her nerves were on edge this time. The idea of staying away from Brie was already haunting her. She had never stayed away from Brie right from the time she was small.

The mother-daughter bond that they shared was no less than the one an actual parent-child had. No one could tell that they were not blood related.

Sansha already felt a little homesick. Without Brie, it could never be a home.

But she was also scared of the other side that she had in her. The side that could hurt Joe and Brie anytime now.

Sansha would randomly feel possessed by an aggressive spirit that wanted to make a run to the forest. She longed for the woods that the concrete city could not offer her. The freedom that her inner self wanted to feel at the tips of her fingers was not something that could be found in the city.

For the safety of her parents, she had to get away from here. If not both, at least one of them would be safer.

Sansha had been planning for a long time now, to make a run right after she turned eighteen. But her recent incident and the suspension had Joe to decide for her.

It hadn’t been long since she started to feel different. Her snappier, less happy side had only resurfaced a few months ago. Like she was missing something. As if a part of her was a stranger to herself.

Throughout the journey, she either slept or listened to the music that both her parents would have cringed at while staring out of the window.

Brie had taken a few days off to help them settle into their new house before heading back to the city.

To Sansha’s surprise, a part of her had already calmed down when the endless forests came into view. The air filled with the smell of freshly cut leaves and grass. The chirping of birds and insects. The humidity that hugged the skin. And the smell of the mud after the rainfall. It all felt at home even before she knew it.

The rock music couldn’t cut off the soothing sound of the forest that was calling to her.

The snappier part of her was eager for the first time. It in fact wanted her to leap out of the moving vehicle and run into the forest.

The car had only come to a halt when the backdoor flung open and Sansha was already making her way to the trees covered in the algae.

Even before she could see the house, she wanted to feel the forest under her fingertips.

Joe and Brie were surprised at her eagerness.

The woods felt alive under Sansha’s touch and her eyes flashed in excitement at the way evening sunlight passed through the canopy and hit the ground.

“At least, she likes it here,” Brie smiled at the back profile of Sansha that exhibited the fascination that she had been seeing after a really long time.

She hoped and prayed that her daughter would always be this happy and lovely.

The packers and movers truck arrived soon after. The rest of the day was spent moving all the things from the truck to all over the house. The house was surrounded by the jungle from all sides and Sansha loved that.

The house had two floors and a small backyard where Brie and Joe were planning to have a kitchen garden to avoid going all the way to the town that was a few miles away at the last minute.

Sansha had to get to the town to register herself for the incomplete junior year in high school. Joe had arranged for a beat-up beetle that he had brought from an old lady who had lost her strength to walk. Though Sansha had no practise of driving, Joe had more trust in her driving skills than he had in his own.

Sansha was a fast learner and her evolved senses made it easier for her to navigate compared to her clueless parents.

Though Sansha preferred walking, 'the forest was more dangerous than the city' was what her father always told her.

Just for the sake of her father, she tried the new beetle, or perhaps should she be asking the old beetle about all the musty smell and the dust that had collected in the car?

The car cried to come alive. Choking and coughing black smoke upon ignition.

How had Joe even managed to drive this thing all the way here without it breaking down even once? Sansha wondered. It was a miracle in itself that such an ancient thing even existed, let alone work.

After a lot of patience and trying, the car started to move. The speed though, Sansha wasn't really happy about it, though her father and mother had other opinions.

Joe was happy that the car was working! While Brie was satisfied that its acceleration was stuck at twenty miles per hour speed. That way, their daughter would be safe from getting into an accident.

It was a completely another matter that Sansha wanted to run it into the tree trunk to not let anyone else suffer from the torture that the metal piece of junk was able to induce.

She might even have to wake up an entire hour ahead just to be able to drive this thing to school!

Nevertheless, she had no other choice.

It was either the torturous beetle or her dad dropping and picking her to and from school every morning and evening like an elementary kid. Anything would be better than waiting for the parent to drop her and pick up, right?

That was the sole reason she surrendered her argument even before she could start it.

She parked her necessary evil car before her new house and ventured towards the lush green forests while her parents were arguing about something that sounded like where to place the sofa.

Sansha was already so thrilled that a mere sofa's positioning in the house couldn't stop her from further into the forest, which her parents had particularly asked her to stay out of, especially during the evenings.

Joe had heard about people going missing in the forest after the sun goes down. Especially when the wild bears and wolves have become common visitors, during this particular season.

Though his little girl was no ordinary, a father's heart was a father's heart, it worried about her all the time.

With her parents still oblivious to her whereabouts, Sansha was already deep inside the flora she had been craving for from the time she had arrived there.

There was a small stream that flowed without a sound and the birds were returning to their nests.

Oh, the joy she felt! Where had it all been her entire life?

She heard the chirps of young birds somewhere near her on the ground. Without a thought, she pushed the leaves away to spot four ugly young birds chirping to their tiny colorful mother who had a worm in her mouth for her children.

The sound of twigs snapping behind her, made the mother bird fly away, abandoning her kids.

Sansha looked over her shoulder to find the most handsome guy she had ever seen standing by the stream half naked. His golden highlights over the chestnut hair glistened like gold under the spotlight. His sculpted muscles showed how hard he must have worked to be that ripped. His low hanging jeans gave a delicious sight to imagine what played cladded behind the tough cloth.

His defined sharp features harbored hostility like his growl through his straight clenched teeth that sent a shiver down her spine. The eyes of his seemed to be ablaze with anger or was it perhaps the light from the setting sun that played tricks on her mind?

Nevertheless, she couldn't ignore the fact that even her sharp senses hadn't picked his presence until he stepped on the twigs. One thing was for sure, her breath was taken away. It might be due to the fact that she found him attractive or the fact that he felt dangerous to be around in the middle of a forest, while the evening was only setting in.

A part of her was on the edge. Not knowing what to do or how to react.

"Sansha!" that was when she heard a familiar voice call out to her. She looked over her shoulder from where her father had called for her before whipping her head back to look at the stranger who could possibly be dangerous to her, only to find him missing.

She looked around, trying to find where that handsome stranger had vanished all of a sudden. There had been no sign of anyone even walking or running in any direction.

By the time she could get out of her shock, a hand landed on her shoulder, startling her to turn and look at the familiar warm eyes of her dad, which now had worry all over them.

"Stupid girl, you took away ten years of my life from the anxiety that you caused us in mere half an hour when I took my eyes off you!" Joe scolded his daughter. Brie was right behind them with a torch and a stick just in case she had to defend herself from any wild animals that might have lost their way.

The birds and the insects had all gone silent, only her father's voice was the only sound that could be heard in the forest.

The only thing she could do was let her eyes fall on the place where the strange man had been standing, before her parents took her back home.