Did You Hear About Brianna?

Chapter 11

Alec and I drove down to the garage owned by Carson. I told Annabelle that he would drop me off at University later.  

"Do you like Country Music?" Alex enquired aloud. 

"I can't remember." I said I shrugged my shoulders. Some singer played in the background. I didn't identify who it was or the style. I didn't hate it nor did I love it. It was just a sound playing abstractly in the background.

"Well, I love it. I like that each song tells a story."  Alec said, increasing the volume. Alec sang along to a part of it. His voice was good but he couldn't sing some of the higher notes. Those parts he hummed. That was his style a combination of singing and humming. 

"Does Carson know we're coming?" I asked him too loudly, nervously tapping my finger on my knee.  

I was starting to realise that my volume was off when I was nervous. 

"No. We're just driving by. No pressure." Alec said. 

I looked at the road ahead. I liked that Alec drove much slower than Anna. The trees didn't blurry into tunnels so it was more scenic. It was a pleasant summer morning. The air filled with the scent of cut grass. Benefits of nice neighbourhood. 

"I used to play soccer." I told Alec. The smell of the grass made me remember. 

"I remember the high school wining state. " Alec said. 

"I loved it. The running in the heat. Long training sessions. It just seems so exhausting." I frowned. 

"Have you tried running outside yet?" Alec enquired. 

"Nope. Too tiring." I wondered how my bones would handle the pounding of running.

"Walking?" He asked.

"Only on Monday at university." I winched, thinking back on the joint pain.

"Shifting?" He gently probed.

I sighed deeply, looking out the window. I didn't want to answer.

Alec remained quiet, leaving the vacuum of silence for me to fill. 

"My first year, they tied ankle bracelets onto my legs. It would eletrocute me when I shifted. Also when I placed my foot the wrong way. They'd take it off  for and would put collar on me when they wanted me to wolf out." I said, my voice monotonous. 

Alec kept driving. My thoughts drifted back to those first few months of lock up. 

"The collar would send signals to the spine, causing painful shifts. When they wanted human forms the collar would emit a high pitch sonic signal. The kind only dogs hear. It would only go away when I went back to human form. The pitch would make my ears bleed. Maybe that's why you can hear better than me." I shrugged. I looked at his ear, briefly wondering if mine internally looked the same as his. Probably not after all the damage. 

Alec remained quiet, his breathing was even. I saw his hands clenched the wheel so tightly, there was indentations in the frame. He cleared his throat.

"So you haven't shifted since you've been out?" He inquired, his words carefully chosen. There was a deeper tone in his voice. Wolf was slightly ascended. 

"No. I got so used to seeing it as a bad thing. Shifting.  My body's been programmed to think its going to kill me. It did once. They did CPR and paddle me back." I said with no emotion.

"Do you remember the moment you came back?" Alec asked.

"No. I remember the electrocution. It hurt. All my nerves felt hot and burning. Then the death part because it was nice. It was darkness. The light went out in my head. They brought me back. I don't remember that part. I just remember pain. Chest pain." I wriggling in my seat, suddenly uncomfortable as I remembered the pain. I tried to physically shake the thought away. I couldn't.