2- The dancer among the beasts

I walk towards my car and put the music back on with my cellphone and headphones. As I get into the car, I turn on the Bluetooth and Ed Sheeran's song "Give Me Love" starts playing.

I hear a noise, possessed by the moon, but I don't see anyone. Then I start the car, and an animal the size of a bear jumps onto the hood of my car. I let out a muffled scream, and my heart stops. Shocked, I watch the furry beast bury its enormous claws in the car hood. I am unable to lean towards the glass to look at the animal's head. I only see two legs that make it stand like a human. I can barely hold my breath when a hand covers my mouth to prevent me from screaming. This makes me let out an even louder scream, and the hand of the human behind the driver's seat holds me tightly. As soon as the muffled scream sounds, I understand why that human told me not to scream. The animal breaks the window, and I can see its enormous snout and head. It's a wolf. But it's a much more evolved wolf than I had ever seen in documentaries. Then, to my horror, the man who was behind me jumps towards the animal and finishes breaking the front window.

I cover my face with both hands and the front glass shatters into pieces. As I uncover my face, I feel blood on my arm, a red thread of hot blood stains my sweater, now two animals fight like beasts on top of my truck.

Oh my god - I say, letting out a whimper. Then the second animal that has pounced on the first one seems to protect me from the attacker, for while the beast tries to get closer to the broken car window, the new beast pushes it away with its teeth and claws. This beast is completely gray, except for its head which is covered by white fur under its eyes, just like its left leg where it has a white mole at groin height. Finally, the protective wolf finishes off the other one, lifting it with both hands and raising it to the sky, then the lifeless wolf's body is thrown to the side of the truck.

I hear the howl of the wolf and there's something that moves me in that song, a deep compassion. I feel a finite and latent pain in the wolf's call. Then it looks at me directly, and my eyes filled with terror meet its deeply blue, intense, and dark eyes. I hold my breath, and the beast stares at me. I could swear I've seen those eyes before, maybe in a dream. Then the wolf jumps out of the car and disappears from sight into the trees.

I hear the howl of the wolf, and there is something that moves me in that song, a profound compassion. I feel a finite and latent pain in the wolf's howl. Then, it stares at me, and my eyes filled with terror meet its deep blue, intense, and dark eyes. I hold my breath, and the beast stares at me. I could swear I have seen those eyes before, maybe in a dream. Then, the wolf jumps out of the car and disappears from sight among the trees.

The alarm clock goes off, and I turn it off as I get out of bed. My cat Charlie is sleeping next to me. The next day, I wake up hoping it was all just a nightmare. Unfortunately, as I wake up in my bed and stretch my arms above my head, I feel the sharp pain from the wound on my arm caused by the broken glass during the attack of the beasts. I clean the wound since it's not really deep, and it will heal without a trace of a scar in a couple of days. Luckily, wearing the sweater protected me from a bigger accident.

I get ready, it's a cold winter morning. I make myself a coffee in the espresso machine and sigh. I know everything that happened last night is confusing, but I can't ignore the fact that two supernatural and terrifying beasts almost killed me. Although one of them seemed to protect me, it doesn't make any sense to think that an animal can act with such a protective instinct. But there was something about everything that happened that drove my thoughts crazy, a never-ending storm.

I walk calmly and relaxed down the street. The van has to be taken to the mechanic after yesterday's accident. Last night, after the monstrous wolf escaped and left me in my car with the broken glass, I drove home hysterically on the verge of tears. I think I was still in a state of shock. Luckily, I had always enjoyed walking, I enjoyed dancing and walking through the streets while listening to music, something I couldn't do while driving. To get to my first rehearsal in the morning, I put on some music to feel calmer and drown out my thoughts, walking in circles along the streets as pedestrians walk by my side.

Luckily, we have so much work at the company that it makes me focus my thoughts only on dancing. They are launching a new dance performance this week at the main theater of the New York Ballet, and us dancers have to rehearse early. I yawn and cover my face with a sleepy expression. The truth is, I could barely sleep remembering what had happened in the forest. I had nightmares all night about werewolves and deep blue eyes staring at me. I woke up startled several times during the night.

As I enter the theater, I greet a group of dancers with a friendly "Good morning" and head towards the dressing rooms to take off my winter clothes and put on my rehearsal clothes. It had been snowing that morning, so my blonde hair has snowflakes that I brush off.