Skylar loaded up Skype, fluffing her shoulder-length red hair, the waves cascading down to frame her face, making her emerald green hues stand out. Rubbing her perfectly kissable pink lips, she opened a chat with her boyfriend and began the call. It rang several times, and he answered just as she was about to give up. His blonde hair was tousled, reminding her of all the times they had sex before his departure. She frowned deeply, her chest tightening as her eyes stung, tears threatening to spill over the edges. She blinked several times in an attempt to dry them, finding anything and everything on the screen to focus on other than Jace. It wasn’t until he started to speak that she finally looked at him.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I was out like a light, and Zach had to wake me to answer your call. I guess I forgot to put an alarm on, and man is that embarrassing.”

His eyes widened as he blew out air, rubbing the back of his head as he chuckled sheepishly, and for a moment, Skylar believed him. The tightness in her chest loosened, and she sighed in relief, leaning back in her chair, obviously more relaxed.

“Have they been working you to the bone out there?”

“You have no idea; twelve to fifteen-hour shifts are brutal, not to mention mind-numbing. Standing at a post for hours is rough enough, but doing so alone is even worse.”

Skylar winced with sympathetic pain; though she had never had to endure the kind of work he did, she could understand how rough it was. They talked briefly, catching up on their week, what was new, and when he would return home. As they were ending, she saw movement in the background. Focusing her attention on the spot, she leaned forward towards the screen to get a better look, and it was then that the figure stood up and walked into view. She possibly assumed that the call had already ended, but when she noticed Skylar, her eyes widened, and she stood there frozen as if uncertain what to do.

“What the fuck, Jace?”

Skylar’s pain turned into rage, causing her blood to boil and her face to turn red. Jace’s expression was of confusion, and he looked over his shoulder to see what she was looking at. When he turned back to her, his expression was strained and aloof, as if whatever he was about to say was a lie.

“Baby, this isn’t what it looks like. She’s just a friend who came over to hang out and play a few games. I forgot she was even here.”

She wasn’t listening; her ears rang as she stood up, shoving the chair backward so hard that it slammed into the wall behind her.

“No fucking way am I going to believe that. I mean, seriously? Look at her, frozen like a kid caught doing something they shouldn’t be.”

He started to protest, to continue spinning his lies of deceit, but she put a hand up, cutting him off. A laugh of disbelief and surprise escaped her lips, but when she looked at him, a certainty washed over her features; she knew what needed to happen, and there was nothing he could do or say to stop her from it.

“It’s over, Jace. I’m so done playing these games with you. I hope you have a great life and that everything goes well. I will pack up all of your shit, then put it in a storage unit under your name. I’ll mail you the key and pay for the first week; after that, it’s up to you to figure it out.”

With that, she ended the call, pacing around her room. She breathed heavily, rage still controlling her thoughts and emotions. With an extreme need for an outlet, she grabbed a suitcase and filled it with Jace’s clothing, haphazardly tossing it all inside without a care whether it looked nice or remained folded. All she knew was that she had to remove every trace of his existence.

~~~~~

A sigh of relief escaped her lips. Looking around her apartment, she saw nothing that reminded her of him. All things were in order, just how she liked it. Smiling to herself, she opted to make dinner for the evening. Her roommate was due to come home within the hour, and she wanted to surprise her with a home-cooked meal- something they often did when they had the time to spare.

Fishing out the ingredients for enchiladas, she set to work preparing them, setting the oven as she moved the heavily seasoned turkey around in the pan. True to her usual routine, Ember entered the house, kicking off her shoes as she locked up the door and headed further inside.

“Hello?” Skylar called out, drying her hands on a paper towel.

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“Hey, it smells good, but uh…what happened?”

She asked, looking around. Ember didn’t miss anything, did she? She questioned herself. Waving a hand, she answered dismissively; however, her heart hurt, and her chest tightened at the words.

“I caught him cheating, so I broke it off.”

Ember gasped audibly and rushed over, pulling her best friend into a tight embrace. At first, she resisted, but the longer the hug lasted, the more her walls fell, and a few moments later, she was in tears, burying her face into her friend's neck. The firm hand rubbing soothingly along her back only caused her to cry harder. They stayed like that for a while until the timer on the oven beeped loudly, announcing its presence and demanding that their dinner not be forgotten. Skylar pulled away, wiping the tears away from her mascara-streaked cheeks.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Em, I got mascara all over your neck.”

“Don’t worry about it. How about you clean up, change into something comfy, and meet me on the couch? I’ll finish up here.”

Nodding, she turned and headed down the hallway. Turning into their shared bathroom, she washed her face, using a wipe to remove the remainder of her makeup. When she returned to the living room, she had ditched her sweaty and dirty T-shirt and jeans and opted for a pair of yoga pants and a new T-shirt.

Claiming a spot on the couch, she flipped through the movie list and selected Ghosted, a movie which, in the title, seemed fitting, even if the description didn’t. Taking the plate of food and a glass of wine from her friend, she started the movie, and they hung out for the evening, chatting about anything and everything but her ex and that whole situation. Neither of them wanted to deal with another meltdown, though Sky knew she would start all over again when she went to bed.

Hours later, and several movies in, she found she had trouble opening her eyes. Sighing, she threw off the blanket, collected their dishes, washed them off before putting them into the dishwasher, and then walked over. Placing a hand on Em’s shoulder, she gently shook her awake.

“Hey, you fell asleep.”

Ember rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking around to get her bearings before nodding.

“Right. I should head to bed.”

“Good night.”

“Night.”

Skylar entered her room, closed the door behind her quietly, changed for bed, then climbed in, and to her surprise, she fell asleep fairly quickly.

~~~~~~~~

Two months later.

Skylar breathed unevenly, hoisting herself up and over another fallen tree trunk. She hadn’t planned to walk so far into the woods that morning, but the tracks were fresh, and she didn’t want to miss an opportunity to photograph it in its natural habitat. Taking a seat on the trunk, Skylar pulled her bottle free from her bag and took a few sips to slow her breathing while looking around. She had been here many times and knew where she was and how to return.

“Good. I should be fine.”

She muttered to herself, calming the nagging thought of getting lost. Putting her bottle away, she moved a few of the leaves; the tracks were much fresher now, which meant the wolf had picked up her scent and was waiting for her, and it had killed. She hoped it was the latter as she continued through the trees, pushing branches out of her face as they suddenly became too thick.

“Damnit.”

She muttered under her breath, spitting out the pollen from the leaf which had smeared across her lips. Using the back of her hand to remove the rest, she stopped, the sounds of chewing finally reaching her ears, and she froze. Using only her eyes and a slight movement of her head, she searched for the source and spotted the lone wolf she’d been tracking, but it was huge. His fur was black, covering thick muscles like the wolf had fought many battles alone. Pulling her camera strap off her arm, she removed the cap and took several pictures. The clicks were quiet, so it didn’t bother the wolf. What did capture its attention was the twig snapping beneath her feet as she maneuvered to get a different angle. She winced, taking some pictures as the wolf honed in on her position and acted. He bolted towards her, and she stumbled over her own feet as she tried to run backward. Using a tree trunk to the right herself, she rounded it and ran through a loose population of trees, but she made it less than fifteen yards by the time the wolf was on her, knocking her down while tearing into her backpack, biting into her shoulder and neck, claws ripping through the fabric and then her flesh. She cried out in pain, screaming as it sliced through multiple layers of skin. She clawed at the ground, searching for anything to help her escape the wolf, but she found nothing but brush and wet soil. Then, suddenly, the weight was gone, and snarls filled the air.

Looking towards the sounds, she saw another wolf, matching in size, but its color differed, with brown and gray and just as vicious as its counterpart. Skylar allowed herself only a moment of relief before she winced, grunting as she did her best to stand up. Her back screamed in protest, burning pain searing through her veins. She was on fire from her neck to her waist, but she managed to right herself. Breathing heavily, she turned and began stumbling through the woods, desperately trying to get home and put as much distance between herself and the wolves still fighting. Yelps, branches snapping, leaves rustling, and bones breaking filled the air, egging her on even as the world around her grew dark. She was losing blood quickly, and there was no way she was going to make it out of the woods alone, let alone alive, with the damage the wolf had caused. She struggled anyway, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other, but when she got to that fallen tree, she collapsed, the world fading to blackness before she completely lost consciousness.