Extravagant Life

Lydia Swain gave a heavy sigh as she threw down the pen she had been holding. Her mind was a complete blank. The composition notebook in front of her was filled with the disturbing thoughts of her childhood. Ever since she had returned home from the hospital, her parents would shout that she needed to go write or something, like it never meant anything except that she didn't explode. The last time that had happened had been catastrophic and she wasn't anxious to have another 'episode'. She rested her head against the small half-filled book. There was nothing left to write about.

She was stuck.

It was hard enough to keep her temper under control and find something to write about in the one horse town of Chadton, Nebraska. She sighed again and closed the composition book. Nothing ever happened in this town worth writing about. Slipping the journal under her bed, she placed her decoy on the desk. Lydia knew very well that her parents liked to snoop through her journal and see if there was anything worth convicting her on. At least this secured anything she didn't want known. The house was quiet, ceasefire in a war zone. Rubbing her eyes as she looked at the grandfather clock in the hallway, she started walking downstairs where she could hear the TV on.

The news was playing. All over Nebraska there had been sudden vicious attacks. The police stated that they believed it to be the work of coyotes from the south as Lydia sat on the couch. "We plan to find any coyotes and shoot them with a tranquilizer and transport them to a safe location in a desert reserve where we can keep check on them." Lydia frowned slightly as she hugged her legs. Coyote's weren't often seen in Nebraska much less so far north in the state. Lydia winced as she saw the picture of the man who had been murdered. His throat was ripped out and his whole body was ravaged.

Shaking her head, she picked up the remote and turned off the TV. Again the silence in the house worried her. It seemed that everyone in the whole world had temporarily disappeared. Lydia cherished the moment, closing her eyes and listening to the darkness surrounding her. Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud purring sort of growl. Lydia jumped, startled at the sound. Peering out the sliding glass door leading from the living room to backyard Lydia's eyes grew big as she saw a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at her. The growl grew deeper before she gave a scream and dashed towards the hallway. There was a shatter of glass, alerting Lydia that the creature was inside now. She rushed towards her parents room at the end of the hallway and looked back as she started to shut the door.