"Just leave me alone, Brenda!" I huffed, jumping to reach my notebook from her hand.

Her bright red lipstick was almost clown-like as she smiled at me, her curly blonde hair flipping over her shoulder like she was some kind of model. Ha! What modeling company would take her of all people?!

"Come on, jump for it, Jemma! If you think you can," she taunted me mercilessly.

"Dude, just let it go already!" Jackie whined behind her.

Finally, Brenda shrugged and loosened her grip on it. I snatched it from her fingers and held it tightly to my chest, shooting Jackie a grateful nod of thanks. She gave me a small smile as Brenda turned away and stalked out of my room, her heels clicking on the linoleum floor of the hallway. Jackie followed after her hesitantly. Sighing, I cradled my journal in my hands. Brenda was the head mean girl of the orphanage.

Honestly, you wouldn't expect to find someone so cruel living in an orphanage but I guess the world took all kinds. Jackie was so much nicer than Brenda. Although I never really did understand why those two were friends in the first place. I guess she was just too kind-hearted for her own good. Shrugging away the thoughts, I cracked open the journal only to be interrupted.

"JEMMA, CAN YOU TAKE OUT THE TRASH PLEASE? IT'S YOUR TURN, LOVE!" Miss Carlisle yelled up the stairs to me.

Sighing, I threw the journal onto my bed in the corner and made my way down the stairs. Another kid, Tommy, zipped by on a skateboard and I chuckled as Miss Carlisle ran after him, reprimanding as she did. I pushed a strand of brown hair behind my ear before picking up the trash bag sitting by the kitchen door. Trekking outside in the darkness, the overly-full bag bumped against my leg as I walked to the trash can. Crinkling my nose, I tried not to breathe in the horrible stench when I lifted up the lid. I heaved the bag and smiled.

Finally! I was done! Now I could go back to my writing. But just as I spun around to leave, I heard something hit one of the other trash cans. The heavy metal lid slid off with a loud clang onto the ground. I sucked in a breath nervously. There wasn't supposed to be anybody out here with me. All of the other kids were inside.

"Hello?" I called out into the darkness, "Is anyone there?"

Complete silence greeted me and for a moment, my breathing slowed down to normal. It was just me. I was imagining things. There couldn't possibly be anyone else out here but me. I hadn't heard anyone even come outside. I started to make my way to the door then when the sound came again but this time, from behind me.

I whipped around and almost shrieked when I came face-to-face with a wolf! Its eyes were a deep yellow color and its fur dark and matted with dirt. I let out a shaky breath, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Nice wolfie..." I breathed out, shaking slightly.

I tried to take a step back but the ground was still wet where it had rained the previous night and I fell down on my behind. My feet skidded across the dirt as I backed up far away from it. But it didn't growl, not one sound left its throat. It just watched me intently, those amber eyes penetrating me.

"Please don't hurt me..." I whispered softly, on the verge of tears at the prospect of being mauled by the creature.

It leaned forward slowly and I stayed stock-still. The wolf sniffed me once, taking in my scent. I bit my lip nervously but all of a sudden, there was a howl off to the right of us. The wolf's ears perked up instantly and with one backward glance at my shaking form on the ground, it took off into the woods. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and fell onto my back, my chest heaving up and down. Why hadn't it hurt me?