LIKE A WALK IN THE PARK, LIKE A HOLE IN YOUR HEAD

As the sound of pawsteps approached from behind her, her heart beat like a hammer inside her chest. The first bark only sends her pedaling faster into the darkness, away from the supposed threat, away from someone who may have come to take her life. It is strange this feeling of helplessness, as if she did not control her own fate, as if by poisoning Amoxtli she had signed away her life to someone else. Would it be like this forever, she wondered, would she constantly be in a state of panic, believing that at any given moment she could be attacked by an agent from Taviora? Ehiyeh was guilty for what she had done, she was consumed by it, and yet her innate drive to survive drove her to run. Perhaps things would have turned out differently had she have stayed.

But there was no use dwelling in the past- the present was here, now, and presently she was being pursued. At the second bark, the one that screamed 'stop' in a commanding tone, she could feel the presence growing closer. Close enough to see her desperate face, to hear her labored breathing. Close enough to reach out to her throat and end her life. Ehiyeh ducked her head down, protecting her throat, giving a sidelong glance to the one who ran quite nearly beside her. It was then that she realized it was not someone from Taviora who had come to kill her. It was no agent, assassin of the night- no, it was her father, and for a moment she wanted to snap at him, as if the idea of being pursued had changed his face into someone else's.

She slowed, gracefully, almost ethereal in her movements. Her wild gallop became a lope, then a trot, and finally she slowed to a stop. With shaky limbs she turned to Eden, violet eyes wide and guilt-ridden. Ehiyeh could not shake the feelings as much as she wanted to show strength in the presence of her father. She was no weakling, she was not running from anything that she could fight. But she could not fight death, surely not Amoxtli's or her own. Surely the alpha had died, especially by now. He had died and she was a murderer. The thought made her wholly uncomfortable. Killing in self-defense was one thing, or even to protect someone or something, but she had killed him on accident. And she had ran. Perhaps in some way she could have saved him but no, she was gone as soon as he had collapsed.

"Why did you stop me?" She said, her head hanging low and breath still labored and haggard. "I was just heading home, Father." Ehiyeh was lying through her teeth, but yet she could not bring herself to say what had happened unless she was pressed to. And she certainly would be- she did not know her father well but she knew, at least, that he was enlightened, that he could pick out certain things and dwell on them until they were solved. And she made no move to hide her feelings, no move to present herself in such a way that would make it so it did indeed look like she was just taking a nightly stroll.

ehiyeh