Authors: Jordan Deen
Trevor and Matt both stood from the couch when I entered the room; both their eyes wide staring at Brandon who kept his calm and remained seated at the table looking over some papers.
“I can’t let you go back into danger.” His voice was calm and authoritative.
“But…” I started to object, but Lily had already linked her fingers into mine.
“You can’t leave us now, we just got you back!” Even this little girl understood more of what was going on than I did. I’m sure she understood why they didn’t want me to go home, but my parents were all I had.
“I have to go home. I have to go back to my parent’s.”
“They aren’t your parents.” Matt said.
“Those people stole you from your real family.” Trevor added.
“What do you mean stole?” I looked harshly at Brandon.
Brandon stood from his resting place and walked over to Trevor jamming him in the shoulder as he went by. “Honey, you just need to trust me.” He reached out but I backed away seeking security against the front door. “Don’t be silly. If you go home, they will
hurt
you.” Brandon clenched his fists and then released them. “I can’t let them do that.”
“I want to go home.” I practically screamed in Brandon’s face. He had to be lying, or this was by far the strangest dream I’ve ever had.
“YOU CAN’T. YOU ARE A THREAT TO THEM!” Brandon raised both of his fists and screamed louder than I did. The back of my head hit the door as my back pressed harder against it, terrified at what he would do to me and he confirmed my nightmares were real. I couldn’t stop staring at the pulsing veins in his arms.
“I’m so sorry.” Brandon unclenched both of his hands as he took several deep breaths and stepped back from me. He raised his palms to me showing me his crescent.
“Babe, we don’t have much time. I’m afraid if you go home now, they’ll know that you are already changing. If they see this on your hand…” He pointed to our shared mark. “You’ll be in danger. I can’t…” Brandon swallowed hard. “I can’t stand to loose you now. I’m already transformed so my senses…” He paused searching my face for approval then stepped closer. “Your visions will get more intense, more longing the further into your transformation you get. Once you are transformed… you won’t be able to stand being away from me.” He ran his hand down my arm and pressed my hand into his. “It will be like someone is taking away the air you breathe; you will become more exhausted and fatigued the longer we are apart.”
I stayed trapped in his eyes for several moments; my trance broken when a dish crashed in the kitchen. “Damn...” Trevor poked his head out from the kitchen. “Lily can you help me?” Lily let out a sigh and headed to the kitchen, never taking her eyes off us.
I looked away from him trying to calm my thoughts. I barely knew him, knew these people, but for some reason, I wanted to believe him. I felt I had to. But I
couldn’t
. “You’re wrong. My parent’s would never hurt me. My Aunt would never hurt me.” And the more important issue- “I’m not a…” I looked at my slight reflection in the window. “
werewolf.”
Brandon took a step back and grinned.
“I didn’t want to believe it at first either. But that’s what we are, WHO we are.”
“Brandon, can you come here a minute?” Lily stood at the door with blood on her hands.
“Shit. What happened?” Brandon walked a few steps closer to the kitchen.
“Matt cut himself on a dish.” Lily shrugged her shoulders. The smell of iron and metallic flecks in the blood dripping from her hands filled my senses. The sound of the floorboard creaking under her tiny feet flooded my ears. Brandon’s weight caused forceful pounding on my eardrums. I heard shallow breathing and a slight heartbeat in the other room and a dog barking somewhere outside in the distance. The hair on the back of my neck stood as a car pulled up outside and footsteps on the sidewalk. I came unglued when the doorbell rang sending thundering ringing through my ears, vibrating my brain.
“I HAVE TO LEAVE!” I screamed over all the amplified sounds and flung open the door rushing past a petite older blonde.
Trevor, Matt and Lily rushed after me to the sidewalk and watched me running down the sidewalk. Lily covered her mouth with her small hands. Blood dripped onto the sidewalk from Matt’s rag covered hand. I couldn’t go back. The sound of birds flying overhead inundated my senses as the wings fluttered up and down. My mind told me to hurry and my feet thudded hard up and down against the concrete sending pains through my body as the heavy hitting echoed through my ears.
It took forever for me to finally get through my front door. The sizzling and popping coming from the kitchen made my head throb. I covered both my ears and felt my fingertips pressing too hard into the side of my head. I didn’t bother going into the kitchen, I rushed to my bedroom and slammed the door- instantly regretting that decision since it felt like my eardrums would explode. By the time I kicked off my shoes and tossed myself into the bed my whole body was shaking and I couldn’t control any of my thoughts. The popcorn dots over my bed looked like they were swirling in hazy, unrelenting dances. They were growing closer to the bed as my eyes blinked trying to stop their insanity or my own.
I concentrated on my breathing: breathe in 1…2…3… breathe out 1…2…3…
“Hey honey, I thought I heard you come in. Ready for dinner?”
My stomach was twisted and contorted into a double knot- there was no way I would be eating anything. “No.” I barely choked out not wanting to even listen to my own voice. Silently I begged her to go away.
“Are you ok?” Mom crossed the room to stand next to my bed. She gently rubbed her hand down my forearm.
My response: “I’m…” head pounding, heart convulsing, lungs straining, body heaving… I threw up all over her, the bed, the floor, and myself. Everywhere.
“Oh no! Jack! JACK!” My mother screamed causing my body to cringe.
“Mom… no…” I tried to silence her as she grabbed towels out of my bathroom and started to wipe my face and mouth with them. When she touched my face, my nostrils started to flair and the hair on my arms stood up. Oh no. I didn’t think it was possible that my heart could push blood out any faster, but it did. It sent blood and adrenaline to every part of my body. My arms and legs all tensed as she leaned in again to take another swipe at my face.
“What happened?” Dad entered the room and looked at the floor then my mother. “Sara- back away…” He held up both his hands and braced himself in the doorway; his white knuckles held fast to the door jam.
“What’s wrong…” Mom’s eyes met mine and she quickly dropped the towel.
“Baby, calm down...” Dad’s voice was eerily calm and soothing. My hands tightened on the comforter and my body slightly thrashed. The pain had faded into the background again and the sounds around were muted. I watched as both my parents backed out of my room. There was a monster staring back at me from my dresser mirror with eyes black as night. I barely recognized myself. But I understood the pain I was feeling, the nervousness and uncertainty was clearly looking back at me as my face and arms turned red.
I looked away from the monster in the mirror. Brandon wasn’t lying and I ran from him today. My parents were my
enemies
, the smell of my mother caused the pain I was suffering
.
I was transforming and my parents knew. I’m a teenager, a high school student, a daughter, a friend, an enemy… and a
werewolf.
THIRTEEN
My mother didn’t smell nearly as bad as Alex. If they were truly my enemy, wouldn’t they have smelt just as bad and killed me by now? Maybe there was hope for them or maybe Brandon was wrong.
I rose from the bed slowly, as every inch of my body tingled and pulsed from the touch of my clothing. A fly bounced against my window as the sun coming in strained my eyes. Every thread in the comforter felt scratchy under my fingertips. New bruising surfaced on my arms, legs and sides. I inspected my face and neck slowly; my eyes were once again green, but now they were also bloodshot and sunken in.
I felt like I stayed up all night playing video games and eating junk food, but didn’t nearly have as much fun. I stood at the top of the stairs listening for any noise below indicating my parents were home: nothing. I crept down stairs and pulled out a large glass for some water.
DING DONG… DING DONG… DING DONG
I glanced at the note on the counter from my parent’s that said they went to the grocery store. “I’m coming!” I screamed as I headed towards the door. “What?!” I said before I got the door open, prepared to give my morning visitor a mouth full. I’m taken aback when I see Brandon leaning against the side of the house and his breathing is strained.
“Their gone right?” He leaned towards me. I reached out barely catching him before he fell over the threshold into the house. He was much heavier than he looked.
“Brandon?” I wrapped my arms around him and temporarily forgot my own pain.
“You can’t stay here. They know that you are changing sooner than they thought you would.” I helped Brandon to the couch and waited for him to catch his breath. He ran his hands down his pant legs several times and took several deep breaths before he finally reached out and touched me.
When his eyes finally met mine and he is breathing easier, the world melted away. We sat alone together on the grass by the creek. “Are you in pain?” Brandon rubbed his hand across one of the long, narrow bruises on my forearm.
“It’s not so bad.” Nothing felt wrong when he was touching me.
“Do you believe me now?” He held my hand tighter.
“I don’t know.” I answered him honestly. “My parents caused a reaction, but it wasn’t like Alex’s. How do you know they’d hurt me?”
“They will. That is why they took you from your parents.” He responded seriously.
“How are you so sure?”
“Jack and Sara stole you shortly after you were born. Their only mission was to hide you from our pack until you turned 18. They believed that if they could make you fall in love with one of them they could stop you from eliminating the Mare pack forever.”
He mesmerized me with his words, with his mouth and lips slowly pressing together to form every syllable. Then I considered what he was saying. “I would never hurt my parents… or Alex.”
“You are only saying that because you don’t know them… you don’t know what they are capable of doing to you… to us.” I looked away from him and tried to clear my mind, but he squeezed my hand tighter forcing my attention back to him. “They would kill me if they found me here with you.” Brandon’s expression turned serious. My parents had their flaws, but the only people they really hated were each other.
“You have to go.” I yanked my hand away from him and regretted it instantly when reality pounded on my head and we were back on my couch.
“I can’t leave you. You don’t understand.” Brandon panicked and grabbed my hand again temporarily stopping time.
“You have to. If you think they would hurt you for being here, then you should go. You are wrong about them. They love me.” I took my hand back again.
“Lacey, they will kill you. If they kill you…” A car pulled up outside and footsteps on the sidewalk told me he really had to go now. I urged him off the couch with all my weight.
“Go out the back door. If Grant barks just tell him to lie down.” Brandon hesitated before kissing my cheek.
“You have to trust me. I love you. Always.” Then he was gone.
I stared at the door to the backyard for several moments, hoping that Grant would leave Brandon alone until he could make his escape, but I never heard a single bark from him.
“We brought dinner.” Mom called as she walked in the door. She set a large food bag on the kitchen table and pulled out several Chinese containers. The reaction was inevitable, but I still held my breath trying to keep the thrashing and the smell at bay. My eyelids pressed firmly together, I counted to three and then inhaled until my lungs were full of air and the smell of sweet n sour filled my nose. No twitching, no crawling skin just 99-cent Chinese food from the donut shop.
As we sat down to dinner, Brandon’s suspicions about my parents filled my thoughts. Would they poison my food? I inspected the selections on my parent’s plates: rice, orange chicken and sweet n sour. All items that I knew had to be safe. I piled each onto my plate and didn’t taste until I made sure that they had. My parent’s laughed about Aunt Jamie complaining about a poodle that got loose and peed all over the office. Dad talked about a possible promotion that meant we would have to move. We seemed like the perfect Norman Rockwell family… but were we really werewolves waiting to attack each other? I started to think it was impossible. Other than my body reacting to my family and Alex weird, I had no proof… and I wasn’t sure if that was just a dream or not.
I helped mom clear the dishes and stood close to her at the sink. I took a deep breath and tensed my body as I brushed my elbow against her bare skin: no reaction.
“Do you want to watch a movie? It seems like we haven’t done that in forever.” Mom asked hugging me around the waist. Mom and I used to watch chick flicks every Sunday. We’d curl up on the couch together with popcorn, candy and a big blanket, which sounded amazing to me right now. We hadn’t watched a movie together since freshman year.
My mind weary from the last few weeks of bad dreams and boys that may or may not be lying to me and events that may or may not have happened. “That sounds great.” I answered as I headed towards the living room, determined to get everything out of my mind and enjoy some time with mom. “What do you want to watch?”
“Surprise me!” Mom called from behind me; her voice just as excited as my own. I turned to see mom’s crystal blue eyes studying me. “I love you.” With moisture filling her eyes, her voice cracked. “I just want you to know that. I know we don’t say it enough.” Before I could respond she crossed the kitchen and linked her arms around me pulling me tightly to her.
“Mom are you ok?” I asked nervously.