Phantom Wolves

Chapter 3

My butt hit the chair with a resounding thud.

They say everyone has a look alike out there, and I do get mistaken for other people all the time, so I must have one of those familiar faces.

I scrutinized the picture. We had the same longer haircut, the same beauty mark, and the same worry line crease in the forehead. If I didn’t know better, I would think it was me, except they had the name wrong.

I studied the picture more closely. Amazing how much she looked like me. Crossing my arms, I rested my chin on them and read the obituary. If this was the girl whose stuff I’d purchased, this had to be more than mere coincidence. I was just going to have to go back in the morning and find out. In the meantime, I sucked in every detail from the article. There was nothing familiar there. I didn’t know any of the people listed as her relatives, and none of the organizations she was affiliated with rang a bell. We didn’t share any interests, unless it was a passion of anything having to do with wolves. Maybe it was just a coincidence we looked alike. My mind turned the questions over and over. Still nothing made much sense.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

The phone rang, and my eyes flew open.

I lifted my head and the newspaper came with it, attached to my left cheek with the slobber that had dribbled out while I slept. I pulled it off and wiped the remaining drool from my mouth with my sleeve. Had I really fallen asleep right there? Thank goodness no one was there to see my humiliation.

The phone rang again.

Jumping up, I grabbed the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hey, Kat, it’s Eric.”

“Hey, Eric.” I must have sounded the way I felt, not quite awake yet.

“Were you sleeping?” He sounded concerned.

“Yeah, but it’s okay. Fell asleep at the table. Guess I really need to go to bed.”

“I’m sorry, but your message sounded like you were having a bad day. What happened?”

I pulled the cord tight and sat back down at the table.  “Alice and Jenny dragged me to the Art Flea Market today. I found some really cool stuff.”

“Oh, yeah, like what?” 

“Wolf stuff.”

“I should have known. Would be that or unicorns, right?”

A smile spread across my face. He knew me well. “Yeah.  I got two bone handle knives, really cool, a totem, and some tiles. It’s the tiles I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What about them.”

I looked around. Although I was in my own house, somehow I didn’t feel safe. Was there was someone out there who knew all about me?  Maybe even snapped my picture without my knowledge?

“Eric?”

“What?”

“Can we meet somewhere? I don’t want to talk about this over the phone.”

He didn’t say anything.

“I know it’s late, but it would make me feel better if you’d give me your opinion.”

“Fine.  How about, The Den? I hear the Wolfboys are playing there. I like their stuff.”

The Den was the bar I’d been to earlier, and I was hesitant to go back there, but there would be a crowd and the band probably wouldn’t notice me.

“All right. Give me twenty minutes to get cleaned up.”

Eric agreed to pick me up and hung up the phone.

Rushing into my bedroom, I picked out an outfit and headed into the bathroom to clean up. At least had to wash my face and fix my makeup.  Pulling off my shirt as I entered the bathroom, I stood at the sink and turned the faucets on, holding my hand under the running water until the temperature was just right. The warm water pooled in my cupped hands before I looked at myself in the mirror. 

I was a sight. My sandy brown hair was all mashed up on one side and appeared to have had half a dozen rats nesting in it during the short time I’d slept at the table. The side of my face, where the paper had clung, was covered with black ink.

“Great.  I look like hell.” 

I turned my face sideways to get a better look at the black ink on my cheek. Right under my cheekbone was a disturbing likeness of the picture in the paper.

The water fell out of my hands when I noticed something more. 

Very clearly under the face on my cheek was a name.

Galdelome.

I looked closer.

Yep.  That’s what it said, Galdelome.

I rushed back to the kitchen table and the newspaper. Grabbing the sheet that had stuck to my face, I raised it up. The picture was smeared some, but it was still there. I examined it closely. There was no way I could make out anything that remotely resembled the name imprinted on my face.

I set the paper back down.

This day just got more and more confusing.

Slowly, my feet carried me back into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and turned my face so my cheek showed clearly there. I read the name one more time before splashing water on my face and scrubbing it clean.

Turning the water off, I grabbed the hand towel and dried my face. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour. The name didn’t sound familiar. I’d never even heard it before. As I worked the knots out of my hair, my mind kept going back to the picture and the name.

The doorbell rang.

Dang, I hadn’t even gotten dressed yet.

Did I spend the whole twenty minutes staring at myself in the mirror?

While I slipped my shirt on, the doorbell rang again. Hopping into my jeans as I walked down the hall, I zipped them up, reached the door, and swung it open.

There stood Eric.

He was handsome, six-foot-one with wavy brown hair and emerald green eyes. He always had a smile on his face, which showed off his cute dimples.

“Hey.” He walked past me into my living room. “What’s all the fuss about?”

“I’m not quite ready. Could you hang on just a couple more minutes?”

“Wha‘cha been doing for the last twenty minutes?”

“I’ll explain on the way. I just need to get my makeup on then we can go. Have a seat.”

He laughed. “You want me to hang out with the wolves for a few?”

“Yeah.”  I laughed also, a welcome release from the drama of the day. “See if you can find your friend.”

Eric walked over and plopped down on the couch. “All right, but hurry.”

“You afraid to hang out with the Watcher?”

He rolled his eyes as I rushed back to my bedroom to finish getting ready.