I lay in bed awake before sunrise like I normally am, an internal alarm that is impossible to snooze. I start my day like I would any other day. I keep my hopes up that the day will be better than the last. My bare feet touch the cold and rough wood floor, jolting me fully awake. I sweep the room with my eyes and see that on the bed across the room from mine an awkwardly shaped lump lies under a sheet. As I get ready to leave to attend to my chores, I hear something outside. I finished pulling down my shirt, which was a size too small, when I heard it again. To avoid creaking and whining, I

opened my bedroom door slowly. I put my ear against my father's room door. His deep snoring is loud and proud; I quickly snuck outside ready for the chilly air to hug my face.

"GAAAHHH!" Someone jumped out from the darkness scaring me, as I jump back

"Shut up," I whispered, hoping no one woke up.

"C'mon Mateo, don't act like that didn't scare you?"

I rolled my eyes. I have things that need to be done and can't afford to waste time.

"Whatever," he says as he rolls his eyes flashing me with the grin on his face. We clasp our hands and do a shoulder bump. "Happy birthday, man!"

I forgot about my birthday. "Thanks. Could you help me get stuff done?"

"Nah, I'm gonna try to wake up Scarlet," he says, walking off.

I headed for the large fenced area where we keep our cows. The houses everyone lives in are tiny wood and cement huts. Our house was the biggest, and we only had three rooms and that was because my dad was the one in charge of keeping everything in order. Cold mud slides between my toes, bringing me out of my thoughts, but it is a feeling I have become accustomed to.

With a bucket in my hand i walked to our farm, a decent hike but one that's been in my routine since i was young.

"Good morning, Ophelia," I say, knowing she wouldn't be able to understand me, although She moos softly as if she can.

I start milking her and enjoying the morning when more footsteps come from behind me. However, I'm not shocked this time as I know who it is.

"Morning, mind if I join you?" a soft voice asks, still sounding half asleep.

"Yea, go ahead," I say without turning around. My cheeks are burning hot, "and good morning to you too, Elanor."

'Woah, did you slap yourself awake? Your cheeks are red."

I think about my answer with Ophelia mooing, almost urging me on.

"Yeah, you could say that," I say, stumbling over a couple of words.

"I mean I wouldn't blame you. It's hell to wake up this early, anyway happy birthday," she says happily, walking towards the cow next to me. "how long have you been up?"

"Thanks. I think I woke up about thirty minutes ago." I look up and the sky is still dark. It's nearly impossible not to notice everything around me: the trees full of life, the stars still scattered in the sky, and Ophelia. Like all the other cows, Ophelia has a thick tail and huge furry eyebrows, and the only thing that makes Ophelia recognizable is her third horn.

"What do you want to do today?" she asks.

I shrug slightly because I haven't thought about that yet, so I think about it in silence.

"It's quite lovely, don't you think?"

"What's lovely?"

"The cool air, the wind, it makes me wanna go run somewhere for fun and never come back," she says, finishing milking the last cow.

"I don't know about the running part, but I do know something else..."

"What is that something?" she looks at me so brightly I can almost see all of her features in the dark.

I tried to muster the courage to say something along the lines of how pretty she is but my stomach started to do somersaults, and nothing was helping, so I said, "can I show you something?"

She nods, and we put the milk we gathered away in comfortable silence. We walk past a loud, rushing river. I lead her to a spot I go to every morning to think and daydream, but this time, I don't have to. As we sit with our feet dangling off a small ledge, the sun starts to rise.

"It's so pretty," she says.

"I agree, and every day it just gets better," I say. "In fact, I think the sunset just winked at me!"

We both laughed

The sun was rising, making it the appropriate time to act before it was too late. My gut is telling me no or telling me yes in the most negative way. I lean back like she is with my hands behind me. Her hair flowed with the wind matching the reddish-orange of the sky, and her nose was slightly crooked from an accident a couple of years ago; it was only noticeable if you knew what you were looking for. She had freckles dotting her face and a smile that would make anyone want to pause time and just stare at it. I shyly inch my hands closer and closer to hers, and then I decide I can't, I shouldn't, so I don't. I sit up with my hands in my lap, and we are just friends watching the sun come up in silence.

The sun had been up by now for an hour or two when she finally got up.

"This was nice. I'll come out here with you tomorrow if you want me to," she says brightly.

I give her a genuine smile, hurting my cheeks since I don't do it much. "I would love that."

"Okay," she says before skipping back to our village.

I don't know if it was my imagination, but I think her cheeks turned a bit pink, which made mine turn a touch brighter. I stared across the field below me for another minute before heading back.

As I walked around trying to figure out what chore I wanted to finish next, I decided I would go to the cookhouse. There they do all the meal prep. I would see if they needed my help there.

Frank, do you need any help?" I asked the main cook.

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"Nah man, you did enough with the cows," he says with a bright smile.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Of course," he answers, "um, could you get the feasting table ready? We are almost done here."

"No problem. I'm on it like a donkey on a waffle!"

Thirty minutes after I finished cleaning the table, the food was finally put out. Everyone was in a line starting with the elders and then moving from youngest to oldest. There were plates of fresh apples, corn, ham, cheese, and bread. I picked up a roll and pried it open with my fingers. I then shoved a piece of ham in the middle, grabbed an apple, and left the line. I sat down leaning on the stump of an old tree. The sun was now directly above my head, beating down on me; the only thing keeping me from really feeling the wrath of the sun was the cool fall breeze. My brother Leo jogged over to me with his arms full of food.

"Yo, where's your food?" he asked, sitting down next to me.'

"I'm not that hungry today," I replied, chewing the last bite of my sandwich.

"Is it because Eleanor rejected you?"

My sandwich is stuck in my throat. I start hacking and coughing. "What?"

"I'm joking, chill dude," he laughed.

I swallow hard and clear my throat, "don't say stuff like that out loud. Someone might hear you."

"Relax, you shouldn't worry so much. You'll get wrinkles on your forehead before you're thirty."

"Yeah, whatever," I scoff. "I'm gonna go take a walk and I'll see you later."

"When later?"

I ignore his question and continue walking.

I had just gotten back from the forest and was near the mid-house when I heard two voices that piqued my interest.

My dad was talking to someone.

"They're closer... at the...vision. " I move closer so I can understand them better.

"We can assign more guards to the night shift, and set up triggers all around the village," my dad said. I can hear the worry and stress in his voice.

"Sir, are you sure? If the triggers aren't controlled, the whole village will burn along with the forest," the guard answered. I recognize his voice. It's Luke. He wasn't a bad guy, he was just kind of bland and always focused on his job.

"Then let's just hope they see the first ones and get scared away."

"We'll be right over," Luke replies.

I wait until Luke leaves the building for me to make my presence known.

Concerned, I asked, "What's the matter?".

He chuckles and all the worry on his face is wiped away. "Happy birthday my boy," his smile reached his eyes, "I meant to say that earlier but you were already up before i had gotten up."

"Thank you, but what's going on?" I repeated.

He ignored my question and continued, " why don't you go down to the elders and get your new clothes?"

I pushed on, "what's getting closer to the gates?"

His smile dropped, along with the rest of his cheery expression, and turned into a face of devastation. "It's all just shadows and they don't really know what it is, only theories."

I decided I shouldn't have pushed at all and finished the conversation with, "ok, um ill go and grab the clothes from the elders. Thank you. I'll see you later."

"Alright, have a pleasant rest of your day," he pauses and I turn around to leave then he continues, "oh yeah, Frank said he's making you something special for the feast."

"Okay, I'll make sure to thank him," I exited the building and headed for the elder's court.

I try to tell my friends what I just heard, but when I find them I can't. Their laughter stops me; I can't ruin their moment by ruining their laughter.

"Hey Teo," Scarlet greets me. She looks like an older version of Elanor.

With so much attention being paid to me, I nervously stutter, "What's up, guys?"

"We were just trying to match Elanor with someone in the village," Elizabeth explains. "What do you think?"

"Hmm I don't know," as much as I want to I can't answer myself, "how about Luke?" I just said the first name that came to mind.

Elanor quickly responds with "No, he's like-"

"Oh, that would be adorable. You two would look so cute together," said another girl, cutting her off.

"No, he's not my type," Elanor retorted.

"But do you think he's hot?" Scarlet asks.

"Yeah, but he's so serious all the time," Elanor buried her face in a pillow.

"We should set up a date tonight," the other girls giggle, and with that, I leave without another word, afraid of either embarrassing myself or ruining everyone's mood.

I could only think of one thing left to do, which was to get my new clothes. As I was walking up I started to notice how uncomfortable my shirt was. This is not only because it was too small but also because it was worn out, dirty, and had a couple of holes in it. I didn't like entering the elder's court because something creepy always happened when I was there. Last year all of the elders were awake one moment and the next they were out cold. I don't know though that might just be old people's behavior. I walked in and greeted everyone. They all looked pretty happy to see me; I left as fast as I could. I had only grabbed my clothes, seven pairs of shorts, shirts, and pants. I hurried to my modest abode hoping that maybe the weird thing that happened or will happen wasn't too bad.

I threw away my old clothes and changed into brand-new ones, but when I unfolded a pair of shorts, a piece of paper fell out. I picked it up and it read:

The death...

It slowly becomes night and I dread what's likely to happen. It's all too much for me to handle, so I decide to sleep.

Bang, bang, bang, I hear three knocks on the door.

"Come in," I groan

Elanor walks in bringing me food, and my stomach starts hurting since I haven't eaten much today

"Hey, are you in bed already?"

"Yeah, I um, I wasn't feeling well."

"Oh, probably because you haven't eaten anything."

"How would you know?"

"You never eat anything," she glares at me, "that you shouldn't do."

I thanked her and ate the food, which was a bread roll and an apple.

As I eat, she breaks the moment of silence. "Luke?"

"I don't know, I just said a name," I answered, slightly embarrassed.

Silence pierced the air and my throat was dry. "Can you look at this?"

She took the piece of paper from me. "Um, it's blank," she said, puzzled.

I took it back and said, "um, never mind, I thought it-nevermind."

"Okay, well, I just wanted to ask if you were interested in taking me on," she started but was cut off by Luke and Alex yelling outside. We walked out there and the sunset was already below the horizon. They were fighting, but it was controlled, and I knew exactly who they were trying to impress.

I walked over to her and whispered in her ear, "Scarlet, do you just like watching them for fun?"

"Yeah, it's funny when two mud-for-brain bozos fight each other over me."

She's only like this when she's drunk, which is technically not allowed at our age yet. Just then a bell rang, signaling the arrival of night. Everyone but the guards retired to their own private wooden houses, and I just lay in my bed wondering what Elanor was trying to say. I don't know when, but I drifted off to sleep again.

I woke up to another bell. It's not ringing softly like it usually does, but frantically. The attack has begun. I get out of bed and run outside. It's hotter than normal. Some of the triggers have fired off, and there is a huge wall of fire at the front of the village. I first saw a wendigo, then its leader and its army following behind. The only difference between the leader wendigo and the rest is the fact that it has a deer skull with horns on it. The rest of them are all tall, with only skin and bones except for the torso, which appears to be a fat bowl.

A hand on my shoulder spins me around. Behind my dad are all the teenagers, almost adults.

"Run to the back of the village. You need to get out of here," he says, but why is there such a huge sadness spreading across his face?

On the outskirts of the village, the wendigos are pouring in. We take off running and I keep looking to the side of me as I slowly make my way up to the front. I see each person getting picked off one by one. We get to the edge and my dad stops. I whip around and see him, one hand on a lever and the other waving goodbye. I ran at him, but it was too late. He pulled the lever, activating the trigger, and a wall of fire separated us from the village, trapping everything else inside.

"No," I screamed before something hit me hard in the head. With a final thought of how my dad had triggered a secret escape route, designed to protect us from the enemy forces that had invaded the village. The firewall was a last-ditch effort to keep us safe, and he had taken the risk of sacrificing everything else to save us. Then everything was black.