Not all bad

Listen, before you start judging me. I never wanted this, ok?

I didn’t ask to be a werewolf, and it wasn’t my fault that I was bitten.

It was a normal day, I was only ten-years-old. My dad had told me to go pick some flowers for my mom, it was her birthday. A full moon had started the night before, I thought it was pretty, but I didn’t know that it would bring out creatures of violence and bloodshed.

I was grabbing daisies and filling my basket with them, my blonde hair shining in the sunlight like gold when I looked up and realized that I had gotten lost. I was almost back home when I heard a loud growling sound behind me. I had no idea what lay behind that noise. I thought it was a dog, so I just cautiously stepped away when I should’ve run away screaming.

Without warning, it pounced on me, he pounced on me. Sinking his long canines into my shoulder. I opened my mouth to cry out, but my eyes were already falling shut, his DNA flowing into my bloodstream, spreading around my tiny body in seconds.

By the time my parents found me, it was too late, I was too far gone to be saved.

For nine years since then, every month, I turned into a monster. After the first couple of years phasing, I learned how to control it, I wasn’t dangerous anymore. The people of my town didn’t care though. This was the year they stopped “putting up with me”. I had no other choice but to move. After me, werewolves were exposed to the world, and people started getting afraid.

I decided to move to a small town in New Hampshire, North Hampton. Population, 4,494. Perfect. Hopefully, I could blend in, go to the woods on the nights that I would phase, act like I was a normal person every other day. I had no family left to say goodbye to, they’d all moved away a couple years back, leaving me confined in the town of Merisa Montana. I was too scared to leave, I wasn’t scared anymore.

I needed something new, somewhere that I wouldn’t have to worry about being myself. All versions of it.

This bus smelled like old socks and sweaty men, I could’ve run across America faster than this dumb tour bus could drive five miles. It was hot, cramped, and I was getting antsy to get out and stretch my legs. Thankfully, I didn’t have much to bring with me, so that gave me slightly more space.

I was crammed in between a woman tapping away at her laptop, her body hunched over as she clicked and clacked away, and a teenage boy, probably 16 or so. His music was blaring through his headphones and his knee was tapping ridiculously quickly.

Not to mention all the British cursing and the obnoxious blue hair. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Finally, after hours of agonizing monotony, we stopped in New Hampshire and I shot off, practically skipping off the bus of torture. Blue hair had gotten off a long time ago, basically at the beginning of the journey, we were still in Montana when he left.

It was a lot smaller than I thought it’d be, I wheeled my squeaky suitcase down the long paved path that led to the center of town. Pulling out my phone and going through my notes to find my address. Ah, there I was, 875 Maplewood Avenue. I glanced up at the street signs, easily finding mine. I had taken the liberty to buy myself a house, instead of an apartment. I wanted to deal with neighbors as rarely as I possibly could.

It looked exactly like the pictures showed, baby blue, with grey shutters, two stories, and a bright yellow door. Unpacking went quickly, the house was fully furnished and I only had two bags and a big suitcase. This was going to be a good thing, I could feel it.

Like many other things, I had no idea how wrong I would be about that.

I settled in nicely, a couple of people noticed me, but most of them didn’t. After the first month, I really thought that nothing could go wrong. That is, until the moon rose.

I thought I was prepared for it, I would sneak out through the back roads, phase deep in the woods. No one would see me, that all changed when I bumped into Declan.

“Woah, Scarlett, hey, what are you doing walking out here this late?”

Oh yeah, my names Scarlett, I definitely forgot to tell you that.

I stumbled over my words, my textbook excuse spilling out over unsure lips and broken syllables,

“Hey Declan, I um, was just getting some fresh air, I, I didn’t think I would bump into you this late.”

He smiled,

“Ditto.”

Declan Sullivan. The preschool teacher, twenty years old, wavy brown hair, green eyes. He loomed over my 5’2 frame at 6’. He’d been one of the few people to notice me, I considered him my friend, or close to being my friend.

I felt a wave of anxiety hit me as the nerves in my legs started tingling. I needed to get out here, fast. I tried to just walk away but he stopped me,

“Are you coming to the harvest festival at the school next week?”

I stopped and turned back to him, trying not to sound frustrated,

“Um, I don’t know yet, now I’m sorry, but I have to go. I’ll text you later.”

I didn’t wait for him to return the farewell.

Practically sprinting to the woods, I stopped behind a tree and slipped off my dress, seconds before I felt the wild take over me. My limbs lengthening and twisting, warping my shape. I felt my back crack as I fell to my front paws, resisting the urge to howl. I began running through the forest, bounding ten feet at a time. I felt so free.

The wolf side of me relished these nights, the human side, feared them.

I would normally hunt during the time that I was in this form, but over the years I had learned to control the urge. I had three more days that I would take to this form, those days were the most exhilarating, and terrifying days of my life.

I only had until the morning until I would phase back, so I used my time to stretch my achy legs, and feel alive, knowing that I was safe. The smells were so new, there were so many that I had never smelled before. So many places for me to explore, so many chances to be me, not a werewolf, but not really human either.

After hours of running around and leaping over things, the sun finally started to show itself. I raced back to the tree where I had left my clothing and whimpered as my back un-contorted itself back into human form. Throwing my dress back on, I ran to get back to my house, knowing that the energy I had used last night would come back and smack me in the face. As a human, I just didn’t have the energy or stamina to do that, so once I changed back, it would hit me, suddenly. All at once. I would sleep for hours before being able to move.

I was getting close to my house, but I wasn’t fast enough. Fatigue and exhaustion overwhelmed my senses, I felt myself tipping sideways. I remember seeing Declan, running towards me, as my eyes clamped shut and I fell onto the earth.

—————————————————————————————————————

The smells were gone, instead of the rich odors of the freshly fallen leaves or the comforting scent of oak wood; I smelled only coffee and cologne.

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up, I was in my house, in my bed. Looking at the clock, I realized that I had been out for five hours. I held my head and tried to remember what had happened, just as I did, he walked into the room.

“Hey, you’re finally up.”

I nodded,

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened.”

He sat next to me and handed me a cup of coffee, somehow, he knew the blend that was my favorite. He shrugged,

“I mean I’d be dead-beat too if I was just trampling around in the woods as a hugely out of proportion wolf.”

I choked on my drink, nearly spitting it all over him.

“I-, I’m sorry, what?”

He sighed,

“You're wearing the same thing you were last night, it explains why you were out so late.”

I set my jaw, putting my cup on my night stand and jumping out of bed,

“I’m sorry but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He shook his head and stood up. Crossing the room to face me, his body inches from mine. He gently laid his hand on my shoulder,

“When you fell, I carried you here, your sleeve rode up. I saw the marks Scarlett, I know what you are.”

I tore myself away from him, tears filling my eyes. Here I was, thinking that I could free, be wild, be me, and now I would have to leave, again. I threw my arms up and let them fall back to my sides, defeated.

“Well, now I have nowhere to go.”

He looked at me,

“What do you mean?”

I bit my lip as angry tears slipped out of my eyes,

“I can’t exactly stay can I? Once the rest of the town knows they’ll never let me.”

He tilted his head at me,

“When did I ever say I was going to tell anyone?”

I sniffed and stared up at him, confused,

“What?”

He laughed a little bit,

“Scarlett if I’m being honest, I already knew. Your eyes are a dead give away.”

My eyebrows knit together, I was only more confused. He looked into them, my eyes, like he was memorizing them so he could remember what they looked like later.

“Green, with a band of yellow across the outer part. That’s the mark of the wolf.”

Resisting the urge to run to my mirror to examine my own pupils, I gave him a questioning look,

“So, you knew already and you weren’t going to tell anyone?”

He nodded,

“Precisely. I may not know everything there is to know about werewolves, but I do know that I hate it when I can’t trust people with my secrets. Especially-”

He gave me a sympathetic look,

“If it's a life changing one.”

We heard the church bell start ringing and he smiled at me, a careful smile, but with confidence in it.

“That’s the bell that means set up for the harvest festival next week is starting, would you like to accompany me? Or are you going to kill me because I know too much?”

I thought for a moment, still contemplating whether or not I should leave. Find a new town, be extra careful, but then I made eye contact with him, for just a split second. I had met someone, who was willing to keep me safe, when really, he should’ve been keeping himself safe. Someone who texted me every single morning, asking me how I slept. The closest thing to a friend that I had ever had in my life.

Did I really want to lose that? I could picture all the moments that we could share. For a second, I could even see myself falling for Declan. I mean, obviously he’d never date a werewolf, but he really could end up being my best friend.

After a minute, I decided that friendship wasn’t something I was willing to give up. It’d be risky to stay, if word got out it would spread like wildfire across this tiny town, but I would just have to trust him. He held out his arm for me,

“What do you say?”

I smiled, wiping away my tears and hooking my arm around his,

“Why not? Besides, I've got to prove to you that we're not all bad."