My Eye of the Storm

Chapter 4

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Edited 5/16/19

    Landon walked me through the forest, the trees proudly standing around us. The ground underneath my paws felt cool and soft. It felt as if I were honed into my surroundings, able to hear the slightest sound of any animal or wildlife phenomenon. 

    "Do you have an idea of what we are called?" I hear and look forward, seeing Landon slightly glancing back at me. When I just gave a blank stare in return, he continued, "We are werewolves." 

    I slightly stuttered with my steps but caught back up after trotting faster. We were mythical creatures? I wanted to question that, but it's hard to do so when you are walking on four paws with a bushy tail and fur covered body.

     "I am the alpha of the pack in this region," Landon introduces this new information to me which has me understanding why I kept bowing in his presence. "I kept sensing you while in school, found you, but I could tell I was triggering your transformation. It seems you are late to it, we typically all shift at the age of babies." 

    I tried to make sense of this information. I do remember back when the guests arrived months back that they mentioned me having a gene that they suppressed back that it would not be dormant forever. This must be what they were talking about, but why would my parents hide this from me? 

     "This being discovered, it makes me believe that you are a lone-wolf, no? You have no pack, and I assume your parents are no wolves or they would have informed and trained you," Landon tells me, and I find myself baffled. I always figured I was adopted, but now it feels positively confirmed. "I would like you to join my pack then, but that requires you to move away from your parents and in with me and the others," he offers up, "or else you will be classified a target by the other werewolves and possibly get attacked."

    With not much-needed consideration, I knew I would join him, but I would need to confront my parents beforehand. They had answers I needed to know, and I wanted to know why they would keep my oblivious. Whether they did it to protect me or hide me, I don't appreciate it. I have to embrace this anyway as it is who I am now. I am a werewolf.

    We started to come up to a break in the trees. I could see the school through the cover of the woods and look to Landon who is paused just inches from the forests' edge. He looks back at me, his bright eyes regarding me. 

    "Imagine how you look like as a human then you'll shift back," he informs me which I do immediately without a second thought. Thinking of my dirty blue eyes and brunette hair causes a wall to feel as if it just broke because soon my body is cracking and deforming once again. I see fingers forming from paws and fur turn to skin. Soon, I am in my human form. 

    I automatically feel the cold air against my bare skin, fully aware at the sight of my nudity but having no care for it. Landon, still in his wolf form, seems to point his head and nose towards the trunk of a nearby oak that has a hollowed-out hole visible. I walk up to it and see inside is a maroon shirt and a pair of black jeans which I take graciously. I don't mind going commando anyway.

    Once dressed, Landon motions me to walk forward, to go on, and I do after giving him a long stare. He was so tall in his wolf form, standing up to my rib-cage. In my own wolf form, I was smaller than him and probably reached to about my hips.

    I walk out of the treeline as if I just hadn't been roaming around in there and hoped no one passing by had any strange thoughts. I didn't see anyone, however, so that eased my thoughts slightly. 

     After making it to the sidewalk lining the roads, I decide to walk home because I knew my mother wasn't still waiting on me. She was most definitely fuming and angry, and I knew I would hear about it when I get home. I'm leaving though, and she nor my dad will stop me. I need to get away, and they won't be any blockade towards my plans. I wish to hone my wolf senses. I want to understand who and what I am, and they have tried hiding this from me. 

    The walk isn't far, as we live about ten minutes from the school by car, and I find it soothing towards the raging anxiety I felt as I approached my neighborhood. The house, now in sight, makes me extremely paranoid, but I had to do this not just for myself, but for the fact I needed to stand up for how they treated me after discovering I wouldn't be a normal child. I would forever resent them for that, too.

    I paced up each step as I approached my front door and turned the knob to open it. The lights were on inside the rooms, and it smelled of fresh meat that wafted out from the kitchen. I felt drawn to that smell but knew to ignore because I had a mission to achieve first. 

     I walked down the hall, quickly bypassing both the entryways for the kitchen and living room so I could run up the steps quietly. I have long since learned how to be quieter than any mouse. When I round the corner upstairs for my room, I enter and lock the door just in case. 

    With bags quickly drawn out from the closet, I race in the bathroom to gather my toiletries from the shower and sink counter. I throw them on the bed when I get out of there and then go to my drawers to retrieve all the pants and folded shirts I have in there. Necessities like underwear and socks are also a top priority, along with deodorant and toothbrushes with a minty toothpaste to go with. 

    Afterward, I grab my extra pair of shoes and a hairbrush, too. I knew to leave prepared or I would never make it far at all. Shoving all those items and articles of clothing into my bags, I find it quickly filling up and figure I am almost ready. I didn't have any charger to grab as my parents never bothered buying me a phone or providing me with interaction to outside people besides inside school. 

     I bent down and looked beneath my bed. A wooden chest under there made me sort of giddy feeling as I retrieved it and slid it out. Flipping the silver latch up, I opened the box and assessed the bundles of cash inside. For years I had been stealing, as bad as that was, from my parents. I knew I would either be on my own one day or would run like I am now, and this money was for this purpose. I would make it long enough, and Landon wouldn't allow me to perish, I'm sure.

    For my next step, I would have to tell my parents so that they didn't harm me as if they caught me leaving. I also really wanted to be told why they wouldn't tell me of the reality of what I am. This is not something I am ashamed of, rather scared, and they do not help my case. They prefer to be selfish and care for themselves rather than for their terrified son who doesn't understand what's going on still.

    I would get my answers, and I would leave, too. One step at a time, and one answer at a time, as I like to say. 

    I feel my breath grow faster as I walk towards my door, hand reaching for the handle as I prepare to inform my parents of my departure. I have no clue how they will react. I have no clue what will happen to me. I do know that whatever does happen, I am standing up for myself. No more belittling the truth of who I am. 

    After all, this uniqueness makes me, well, me.