To the Wolves

Chapter 36

It was an ordinary day at school for Lillian. She attended all her classes regularly; whether she listened to the lectures or not was another thing. At lunch, she entered the loud, crowded, and busy cafeteria and grabbed the plate of food. She looked around to see that all the tables were occupied. Groups of friends sat at the tables and chatted away while eating. Not wanting to socialize, she walked outside the building and into the open grassy area where she sat down and began eating.

Joe, who was sitting with his friends, had reserved a seat for her Lillian at his table. When he watched her walk out, he too stood up from the table with his plate and followed her out.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked, seeing her comfortably sit on the soft grass.

'Yes, I do', she thought but did not say it.

He sat down beside her on the ground, with a couple of feet' distance between them.

"You left abruptly that day," he said. "Umm... I was waiting for the answer."

Lillian stopped chewing her food. Looking at him she said, "Do you want an honest answer?"

"Yes, that would great," he said. "I always appreciate honesty."

"Good. My honest answer is no," she said. "No, I don't think I can be your friend. I know this might be hurtful to you but that is how I feel and I can do nothing about it. But my therapist says that I won't make any progress unless I make new friends. I don't believe her."

He felt disappointed as his shoulders sagged and the smile fell off of his face.

"It's okay. I respect your decision," he said. "I won't be your friend but can I at least sit with you while eating lunch?"

"I don't care where you sit," she said.

They ate in silence. A tiny bird flew in front of them and landed on the grass, casting a huge shadow with its wings. Lillian suddenly felt bad for her rudeness.

"I saw you sitting with your group of friends earlier," she said suddenly. "Why don't you go back to them?"

"They are not my real friends, as difficult it is to admit," he said. "I bet they wouldn't have even noticed when I left the table."

"Then why do you stay with them?" she asked.

"I don't have a better option," he scoffed, looking down at the grass. "I have always struggled with talking to people and making friends. So I have to work with whatever I can get."

Lillian nodded, understanding exactly how he felt.

"Is the weather always so grey here?" she asked, looking at the grey sky.

"I don't know about always. But ever since I moved here a couple of years ago it has been gloomy," he responded. "What did you mean by that? You don't believe what your therapist says about making friends?"

"It's complicated. Let's just say that I had a friend who left and went very far away, so far that I cannot see her anymore. And now I don't want anyone else because I have the constant fear that they might leave me too," she said before realizing that she had just confessed something that she had been trying to admit for weeks.

"Now I understand why you are so reluctant," he said. "Don't worry. I will not try to be your friend anymore. But I will sit with you at lunch."


***


Olivia silently sat on the seat of the half-empty bus, watching the view with glassy eyes as she waited for the time to pass by. The bus moved closer to her hometown. She rapidly started to tap her foot on the floor and checked her phone multiple times. No missed calls. No new messages. Her last text to Ethan glared at her, mocking her for expecting a response.

She let out a deep breath as the bus reached her stop and she quickly got off of it. The walk from the bus stop to home was a long one; however, Olivia had her loud thoughts for a companion to accompany her.

The cold, dim evening confined most of the townspeople to stay indoors as the streets were left empty. Olivia shoved her hands into her coat pocket as she continued walking on the sidewalk. Suddenly, she heard the sound of faint footsteps from a distance behind her. She stopped and looked around to see the source of the sound; however, she was met with the same sight that she had left a few seconds ago. 'That's strange', she thought and continued down the path, but this time, she increased her pace. The sound of footsteps returned but she didn't turn around to have another look. Instead, she kept walking faster and faster. Still far from home, she worried for herself and prayed that she would make it home safely. The loud footsteps were now closer to her. Her eyes instinctively shifted to see what or who is behind her when she bumped into somebody and let out a shriek.

"Geez, Jones. Stop yelling!" Will exclaimed.

With a look of shock on her face, Olivia looked to find Will and Sean standing in front of her. She slowly grasped her surroundings and noticed that she was near the old theatre.

Seeing the flabbergasted look on her face, Sean said in a mildly soothing voice, "it's just us. Are you okay?"

"Looks like she saw a ghost," Will laughed.

"Yeah, I am okay," she said to Sean. "I'm sorry... I thought someone was following me."

"Must be blind," Will said under his breath.

Ignoring Will, Sean asked Olivia, "where have you been for so long?"

"I..." Olivia started, thinking of a reasonable excuse, "I have been busy with school."

"Your absence really affected the team. We had to cancel several rehearsals because of it," Sean said. "In the end, we decided to hire new actors to replace you and Ethan."

Before Olivia could respond, Will laughed out loud and said, "I have never been happier," although he suddenly stopped after a few seconds and continued, "however, the agony of having to learn that Ethan would never return or perform the play written by me," his throat closed up as he pretended to be at a loss of words.

Olivia looked at him with a dead expression and said, "you are a disgrace to all the Williams."

Will and Olivia glared at each other.

Feeling awkward, Sean cut in, "anyway... I am sorry that we had to replace you. You were good for the part but so inconsistent. Your unannounced absence was a deal-breaker," he said regretfully.

"It's okay. I am sorry too and I understand," she said. "I'm sure Ethan would understand too. Were you leaving the rehearsals just now?"

"Yeah, we overworked ourselves on this one," Sean said as he and Will continue to walk down the road.

Olivia stopped to look back for one last time before matching their steps.

They silently walked for a few minutes until Olivia turned right at the crossroads, while the boys continued down the street. Turning around, Will looked at her and asked, "why are you going that way? Isn't that where the haunted house is?"

Olivia pursed her lips and looked from side to side. "Umm... I'm doing some research on the paranormal." She let out a dry laugh.

Will said, "I have never liked you and I never will, but that might be the only cool thing about you."

She stared at him dumbfounded for a second and then mouthed, "whatever", before walking towards home.



***

Back in her room Olivia sat on her new bed as the light from her laptop reflected from her face. She repeatedly hit refresh, yet no new emails popped up. Occasionally she would take a break from her emails and check her phone only to find no new messages.

She took a pillow from the side of the bed and screamed into it. After letting out some of the frustration, she looked at her laptop again, and defeated, she shut it down after staring at it for too long.

She opened her window to get some fresh air but then decided to get out of her room altogether. Upon entering the living room, she saw Lillian watching TV while completing her homework.

"Hey", Olivia said monotonously while sitting beside her on the couch.

"Hey, where have you been?" Lillian asked.

Olivia sighed, "Interview."

"How was it?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I am hoping it was good," Olivia replied while blankly staring at the TV screen.

Lillian wrote one paragraph for the essay and then started doodling after flipping the page. "I'm gonna need some tips for the future."

Olivia scoffed, and mumbled, "I'm not sure I'm the right person to go to for help, especially after receiving so many rejection letters."

"On the contrary," Lillian said, "you are the best person to ask for advice. I'll make sure to not do anything that you did."

"Ouch," Olivia said pretending to be hurt by her statement and lightly hit her with a cushion. "How's school? Are you getting along with everybody?"

Lillian merely shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to talk about it. She switched the channels. 'Pride and Prejudice' movie was on. Olivia suddenly got excited to see it. She hadn't watched it in a long time and could use some comfort from the film. But Lillian changed the channel again, this time to a documentary about crime.

"No! Switch it back," Olivia whined. "I want to watch the movie."

"No way, I want to watch this documentary about psychotic murderers. It calms me down," Lillian said.

Olivia looked at her with dead eyes and said, "give me the remote."

"No."

"Give it." She lunged forward to snatch the remote control but Lillian had already jumped off the couch.

"No!" she said taking two steps away from Olivia.

Olivia stood in front of her. "You know you should be thanking me. If it weren't for me there would be no roof over your head. I had to literally beg Ethan to let you stay here."

"Believe me, I know," Lillian said. "He never lets us forget. What do you want me to do about it? Kiss your feet?"

"Yes," Olivia said while rolling her eyes.

Lillian immediately grabbed Olivia's leg and lifted it up to her mouth as her canines elongate to bite into the foot.

Olivia's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her sockets as she yelled, "what the hell, Lillian! Stop!"

"What in the world is going on?" Victor exclaimed, having just entered the house.

Lillian let go of Olivia's foot and placed her arm around her shoulder. "We're just playing."

Victor gave them a weird look before walking off to his room. Olivia and Lillian wound up back on the couch before Lillian turned off the TV.

"What's going on?" She asked, turning her full attention to Olivia.

"Nothing," Olivia said, shrugging her shoulders while looking at the newly purchased carpet.

"I know you all think of me as a kid but I can sense when something is not right. So tell me about it. Is it Ethan?" Lillian asked.

Olivia sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

Lillian nodded and went back to doing her homework. She clicked her pen multiple times before giving in, and said, "you don't want to talk to me but maybe you could talk to someone else?"

"Like who?"

"My therapist? Ever since... ever since that incident, I couldn't sleep, eat, or do anything really. It's still difficult but I'm much better at coping, because of my therapist. You could try talking to her. I'll come with you to her office if you want."

Shrugging her shoulders, Olivia thought, 'might as well give it a try.'