Barely Breathing

FLASHBACK (Willow's age 4)
"Papa, what you doin'?"
Little Willow looked skeptical at his father's painting as she pouted and bend her head sideways. Mason laughed heartily at her
daughter's antics.
"Oh, papa you got paint on your face," She said with big eyes pointing her little forefinger on her face where her papa was
smeared with paint. She looked at her mama over her shoulder and whispered low. "Mama's gonna be angry."
Mason boomed in laughter again as he scooped her little daughter in his arms and showed her his painting. It was a messy
painting of a wolf, a scarlet wolf with white hollow eyes.
"That is mama's wolf sweetheart. Look, is she as beautiful as mama?"
Mason is the alpha of the Storm Forest Pack of the north. A peaceful living pack near the mountains. His wife, Lily, and her little
Willow are his most precious treasure in the world.
He could only hope that the rumored war against the royals is nothing but a bluff. He and his pack are a strong alliance of alpha
Caden, the reigning king of wolves. Her lovely wife is a royalty herself, a far relative of the royal family.
"Pretty papa." She smiled at her father. “Will I be like mama?"
"Of course, you will sweetheart." He kissed her forehead. If things come to worst, he wouldn't let anything happen to his family.
He whispered at her playfully. "Now, who wants to play hide and seek."
At hearing his papa's word, she beamed and ran onto her mama. "Mama, mama, papa said we play hide and seek."
Lily smiled at her daughter. She just finished unpacking their afternoon snack from the woven basket. The wind blew and she
reached the ends of the picnic cloth to stop it from flying but her scarlet hair messed up with the wind. Mason came and kissed
her on the forehead, love visible in their eyes as they stared at each other.
Willow pouted, pulling her mama's arm. "Come on mama, papa's gotta catch us."
"You want to play baby?" Lily playfully asked her daughter which the latter enthusiastically nod and pulled her arm once
more. "Alright, alright." She chuckled and sing the first two lines.

"Little wolf come and run,
Little Willow hum around,"
Her father joined the singing while Willow giggled.
"Twisting toes,
Swirling fun,"
"In count of one,
Let's take a run,"
Mason leaned his head on the tree trunk, ready to count up 'til ten after the song.
"The wind whispered three"
Lily held Willow's little hands on her own, giving her daughter an encouraging smile.
"Two hushes more it can be."
Willow giggled once more.
"Roaring wolf make it one."
Lily and Willow sprinted at the forest just as Mason started counting ten. They were laughing as they entered the forest but were
soon cut off as a group of wolves appeared out of nowhere.
Lily quickly put Willow behind her and growled at the wolves just as a large midnight wolf covered them both from view in a
protective stance. It growled furiously at the intruders.
"Mason!" Lily said worriedly. There were at least ten wolves in front of them.
"Lily take Willow away. I can handle this, now go!"
Lily shifted on her scarlet wolf and carried a crying Willow on her back.

Chaos. That's all they saw when they reached the packhouse. The warriors were fighting against what Lily distinguished as
Darkwood Pack, one of the packs who want the royalties ruling to end.
Blood was everywhere, dead bodies littered the ground, the once peaceful pack of Storm Forest had shed blood in the hands of
Darkwood.
‘The war must have started’, Lily thought. She hurriedly went inside up to her daughter's room and mind-linked two warriors to
guard the door. She locked it and took on her teeth Mr. Cushcush, Willow's teddy bear as her head nudged Willow inside the
closet.
"Willow baby, listen carefully, hide in the closet, and don't make a single sound, don't come out until I ordered you to." She mind-
linked at her daughter.
A crying Willow hugged her mama's neck at least what she could reach with her two little hands. "Will papa be alright?"
"Yes baby, papa's gonna be alright. Papa's strong and so is mama. We love you Willow. You are our little princess." Lily consoled
her daughter. Her wolf licked her daughter's face and nudged her again inside the closet.
"Now go inside. I will protect you. I am just here."
Willow tried to find comfort in the clothes that surrounded her, acting like a shield. Her mama will protect her and she believed it.
Sounds of growls echoed from the outside, a fight of wolves to wolves, something crashed on the door creating a splitting sound
of woods.
Willow heard her mama growled furiously to which series of growls replied. She couldn't see anything, nothing but a frequent
growl, things crashing on the floor, a whine that didn't sound like her mama, and a lot of fighting.
More and more wolves entered her room. She closed her eyes and hugged Mr. Cushcush, tears were rolling in her eyes. A
familiar whine reached her ears, a fatal howl, followed by a loud thud, a sound of someone falling.
She held her teddy bear close to her heart and covered her mouth with her hand to suppress her scream of agony. She rocked
herself back and forth to find comfort but to no avail. Next thing she knew she was being dragged by her hair with rough hands
outside the packhouse. She was tossed in the ground and her knee was scraped by some rocks.
She looked around and saw other children in the same position she was in, bend on their knees. Lots were crying, trying to reach
their dead parents but they were being held back by vicious wolves.

She tried to focus on finding her parents and that's when she saw her papa soaked with blood sitting on the ground. His eyes
looking afar, the once glint on his eyes vanished and seemed lifeless.
On his arms laid his loving wife, lifeless and beaten.
She screamed and run to her mama but a boy blocked her path. He was two years past her age, blond hair, and tall. His smile
was scary and Willow took one step backward. Suddenly the boy lifted his hand and pointed at her.
"I want her father."