It was the early hours of the morning and I couldn't sleep. I had spent the last few hours tossing and turning battling with my brain to let me get some rest. Defeated, I threw the blankets off me sitting upright before placing my bare feet on the cold wooden mahogany floor.

I couldn't see anything, my room was pitch dark. I could hear an owl hooting outside alongside the chirps of other birds that hadn't flown away for winter. It was an odd symphony of sound. It differed from the usual noise of night time traffic and the loud sleepless cities I was familiar to.

My stomach growled loudly and I realised I was beyond famished. I hadn't eaten since around lunch time. Moving away from my bed I left my room and walked out only to be met with the landing of the upstairs hall. This house was still quite foreign to me but it was decorated very homely much to my liking.

"Dad?" I called out hoping that maybe he would call out back to me. Maybe he had come home without me realising it. I always hated the first few nights we would spend in each new house that we would move into. Something about it unsettled me. But being alone this time just made the situation ten times worse. I don't know what it was about being on your own at night, but it always seemed to be more daunting.

Without bothering to knock on his bedroom door I swung it open instantly flicking on the light. He wasn't in there. His bed was made and the room was furnished with unfamiliar furniture just like the rest of the house.

Disheartened I walked down the stairs and turned on all the lights in the kitchen. Now I felt a little more at ease. Opening the fridge I pulled out the plate of already cooked bacon my father had fried up earlier and began to nibble on it piece after piece. Meat was basically all my father and I ate.

"Eliza?" My father's voice called out as I heard the front door to the house open and close followed by the sound of jingling keys. He was home at last.

"I'm in the kitchen." I called back relieved.

As he walked into the kitchen I gave him a sloppy smile and offered out the plate of bacon as a gestural greeting.

"You doing ok?" He enquired snatching several slices of bacon off the plate gratefully. I nodded my head and made no move to answer verbally as my mouth was currently stuffed with more than 4 slices of crispy pig.

"Manners." He scolded me shaking his head in disapproval.

"Sorry." I choked out swallowing the chewed up contents in my mouth simultaneously.

"This house is actually rather warm." He acknowledged pulling off his thick jacket and scarf placing them upon one of the many empty countertops.

"I turned on the heating for a while earlier, I got cold." I explained before plopping myself down on one of the many bar stools that were surrounding the kitchen island. He looked tired. And it came as no surprise. It was definitely around 1am or 2am by now.

"You're home late." I began cautiously wondering if he was in the mood to talk about what had happened at work. I was curious and I couldn't prevent myself from showing that.

"I know sorry. Orla, the rangers and I patrolled the north entrance where you thought you had seen those wolves earlier." He began and I took that as my opening to find out all the information that I so desperately wanted to know about. It had been torturing me since his departure. I needed to know that I had actually seen those wolves and that I wasn't crazy.

"And?" I probed swaying back and forth on the stool impatiently.

"And nothing. There were no tracks anywhere. Not even a deer hoof print."

With that he sighed leaning up against the kitchen island. His voice was laced with pure and utter frustration and I could see that it was messing with his head.

"Wait what? But Dad –"

"I know. And I believe you Eliza. You've never lied to me before; you even had that picture of the deer on your phone as proof. But for there to be zero tracks .. That's what's confusing me the most. The snowfall isn't helping, but it's almost as if like someone came along and erased them all."

"Well you know what I mean." He laughed shaking his head at the thought. But something inside me jolted to realisation. Someone. It wasn't that farfetched of an idea. Perhaps that was a possibility.

"Any inclination on what might be going on at all regarding the disappearances?"

"Not a clue. But maybe checking out that odd village in the reserve would be a good place to start. Something about that place just doesn't seem to add up to me. I mean it's not even on any maps. I tried searching for information about it too and it was a complete dead end."

"Yea, I thought the same thing when Orla spoke of them. I know they said they searched the land, but to what extent. They could be hiding something." I agreed recalling back to what we had heard about them. The ranger mentioned that they kept to themselves mostly and that they had been living there long before anyone had settled in Barnaburgh Hill. I mean to any outsiders that information seemed dodgy enough.

"Don't worry I'll figure it out. Listen I'll be away most of tomorrow working on this case. I want you to stay out of trouble and away from those woods. Maybe you could try going into town and try getting to know some people your own age. Then we'll check out some of those small town diners tomorrow evening, see if they sell any good burgers."

"Mhm.. sure." I replied unenthusiastically instantly looking down at my hands. People my own age. Socialising. Father knew I was a terrible introvert. Making friends was basically impossible for me. I could already feel myself getting anxious about the matter. "I'm sure I'll find something to occupy my time."

He didn't say anything more on the subject but instead he just looked at me sympathetically. He knew when not to push too much. And for that I was grateful.

"Ok, well kiddo I'm gonna go try get some rest. Gotta get up early so I'll talk to you in morning ok."

"Mhm. G'night old man." I smiled faintly as he kissed the top of my forehead fondly before leaving the room.

Sighing I resigned to the fact that I should probably head back up to bed myself. I cleaned up and turned off all the lights in the kitchen before sprinting back up the stairs and closing my bedroom door making sure to lock it in the process. One could never be too safe in an odd town and in a strange house. Turning the lights on in my room I threw myself down onto the double bed shoving my face deep into the pillow. And that's where I stayed for the next ten minutes.

How could there be no tracks in the woods from the animals that I had seen earlier. Fair enough it had snowed since but surely there would be some evidence left. What on earth was going on in this town. In those woods.

As I lifted myself up from the pillow I looked at the photo frame on my locker of a beautiful woman with a baby bump. Grabbing it I stared at the picture feeling my chest constrict in pain and hurt. A woman stood in a park at autumn, her curly blonde hair flowing around her in the wind. Her soft blue eyes gleamed with amusement staring right back at me. Mum.

Grabbing a hold of the photo frame I made my way over towards the window and peeked out through the curtains into the back garden. My eyes squinted slightly trying to adjust to the soft light of the moon that was fighting to shine down through the thick clouds.

The garden was quite large and was in desperate need of a little TLC. Bushes had grown wild all over and the grass stood tall through the snowy overlay reaching new unrealistic heights. Surrounding the garden was forestry. I found myself gulping as I stared into the trees recalling today's events. This town wasn't safe. Especially with those wolves roaming around freely and no one doing anything about it.

"You wouldn't believe how strange this town is mum." I said aloud, my eyes carefully searching the trees for any sign of movement. It was then that I realised how quiet everything had gotten. There were no noises coming from outside anymore. Nothing stirred.

Until.

A howl echoed through the night air and a shadow moved within the trees of the forest. I found myself rubbing my eyes and blinking rapidly in disbelief. Had I really just heard that? Were my eyes deceiving me? A silhouette of a man stood facing the house from within the woods. I couldn't quite make out his appearance.

"Dad." I said instinctively under my breath as I was too petrified to move. My heart was hammering hard in my chest feeling as if any second it would burst from the impact it made with each beat. Someone was watching the house. Someone was watching me.

Suddenly the light in my room went out and a hand slapped over my mouth. Startled I dropped the photo frame in my hand onto the floor and my arms were pulled into an unfamiliar grasp behind my back. Screaming into the hand even though the sound was muffled I began frantically swinging my legs trying to lash out at the assaulter.

It was then that I realised that there was two attackers as footsteps walked towards me from the other side of the room. It was too dark to make out their features as I was hoisted off of my feet with their hands applying a harsh pressure around my neck.

"Feisty little thing, isn't she." A male voice spoke softly almost whispering. I couldn't breathe. My eyes were starting to blur over from the lack of oxygen. And then all went black.