Young Writers Society

"How can we trust others if we cannot trust ourselves?"

"You should probably stop texting him."

Caleb sat cross-legged next to his older brother. Malcolm was typing away on his phone, now slightly chipped after the short wrestling match they had - Caleb had discovered Malcolm's phone wasn't locked, and it was tempting. Malcolm had noticed, however, and put him into a headlock.

The two brothers had a habit of fighting. Caleb had noticed that they fought over the smallest of things; last week it was who would get the last Earl Grey tea bag. That had ended in a broken teapot, a few minor bruises and an empty ice cream pot mysteriously finding its way onto the wooden ceiling fan in their dad's kitchen. Otto Jakobsen would surely have been unimpressed with the state of the room after the brothers' quarrel had they not tidied it.

Caleb watched as Malcolm stared at his phone screen in confusion. He shuffled closer to his brother, leaning across to try and see what was happening. Malcolm pushed him away and tutted. "For the last time, it's my phone."

Caleb flung an arm out at the slim device, half-heartedly trying to grab it. "He's not replying," he huffed. "We're supposed to be at work - I thought you were the hard working one!"

A light ring resonated through the shop, signalling the opening of the front door. Caleb looked up and met eyes with Tabitha. "How was the dentist?" he asked brightly. Tabby gave him an odd look before answering.

"Dentist?" she replied, but quickly righted herself. "Oh, the dentist! Yeah, it was good. Nothing wrong with my teeth so far."

Caleb broke eye contact with Tabby to search for his coat. His shift had ended a while ago and usually he would leave on time, but he wanted to wait until Tabby came back. He, Malcolm and Tabby had walked each other home since Tabby had come to work at Andante Music Supplies. They had become acquainted and firm friends quite quickly. The three got along well, with Caleb being the troublemaker in the group, Malcolm the protective and grumpy oldest, and Tabby the in-between girl to balance things out. They put their trust in each other almost entirely, and when Kathryn was angry, they all managed to calm her down together. They almost worked as a unit.

Malcolm followed Caleb, pulling on his grey zip jacket and retrieving the keys from the office. "Kat left us to lock up," he explained. "Have you got everything?"

Caleb nodded at his brother and began to head towards the door. He could see the sun setting outside, bathing the rural surroundings in an amber shade. It was beautiful, especially with the coast so close and a forest filled with wildlife on their doorstep. He knew they were lucky. The town was quite small, with the nearest supermarket in Tobermory. Caleb and Malcolm had visited Tobermory a few years ago and even though the rows and rows of colourful houses had been almost surreal, they hadn't enjoyed the noise and the cars.

Caleb turned to look behind him at his brother, trying to signal he was ready to leave, but he felt a sudden prickling feeling in the pit of his stomach like someone was watching him. It was as if some creature was scratching about at the base of his ribs. He turned back to look outside - sometimes a passerby would look through the shop window - but the streets were just as empty as they were before, orange and gold in the evening light.

"Caleb," came a voice from close behind him. Caleb jumped at the feeling of his brother touching his shoulder. "Wait."

Before Malcolm could finish, a tremendous cracking noise ripped through the air. It was accompanied by a more familiar sound but nonetheless unnerving - the ear-splitting noise of shattering glass. The three of them jerked with surprise and fear; Tabby let out a small scream. "What the hell was that?" she squeaked quietly after a few seconds. Caleb could see her shaking and looked at his own quivering hands. He then glanced out of the window, wondering whether the noise came from outside.

There was a hole in the window, clean and round and small, rimmed with tiny cracks. They fanned out all around the hole like a spider's web of frost. A few large cracks spread almost halfway down the window pane. Caleb was frozen on the spot - he knew what that hole meant. Tabby was at his side as he stared in awe at the bullet hole. "Don't move," she whispered slowly.

"I wasn't planning to," Caleb hissed back before glancing sideways at his brother.

When I say go, we run, Malcolm murmured through Caleb's mind, and began to count down with his fingers.

"Go!"

 Caleb lurched forward in line with his brother, running towards the open door. He stretched his arms outwards in front of him, watching his hands turn almost instantly into small paws. He could sense his brother at his side, feel the energy radiating from him. He didn't dwell on it too much, however, as he could hear more bullets slicing the air. He narrowly dodged being shot in the foot as the two golden coyotes raced out of Andante Music Supplies into the street. Caleb felt a sharp, cold dullness stab into his gut. It felt suspiciously like a bullet, but then he remembered - Tabby. He and Malcolm had just exposed their biggest secret in front of a human, and they had left her to escape by herself on her two human legs.

"Follow me!"

A familiar voice cried out to them and a beautiful bay mare galloped up to match their stride. Caleb stared in amazement, almost forgetting to run. His legs buckled beneath him and Malcolm swerved to catch his brother's fall.  A gunshot skimmed past Caleb's ear, just clipping its edge. He yelped in pain but managed to regain his balance, bounding as hard as he could to catch up to Tabby. His paws were aching already - it had been months since he had shifted - but he still had his stamina and speed. His heart pounded against his ribcage as adrenaline kicked in, but there was something else hammering inside his chest. Caleb felt a sharp, painful snap across his ribs and skidded to a halt.

"Caleb!"

Caleb heard his brother calling his name. His head whipped round, his amber eyes searching frantically for Malcolm, but he was gone.

"Caleb, keep running!"

Tabby raced past him, grabbing the scruff of his neck. She was charging away from the town, he realised, and straight towards the forest. He understood why - she was trying to hide them. But the gun could still follow, unless she had a plan.

"What exactly are we supposed to do now?" Caleb yelled, squirming out of Tabby's grip and darted to the side, flanking the mare. Before Tabby could respond, the guns fell silent and he stopped, breathing heavily.

All around them were trees painted with autumn in their branches. They had run into a thick part of the forest he didn't know; the one thing he did know, though, was that it was laced with magic. A sweet, light feeling danced among the golden trees, weaving through their mottled branches and vibrant dying leaves. The air was clean, almost delicious with the lack of pollution. It was possibly the strangest and most beautiful place Caleb had ever seen; they had run into paradise.

They were also rather lost.