Ouroboros (being rewritten)

The Godfrey Institute for a better life ✔️

Opening the front door as quietly as possible, I snuck upstairs and undressed immediately. I felt dirty. As I was letting the hot water wash all over me, the realisation of what we had just done started to sink in, making me wish I could scrub my skin off. We had just dug up a body, the body of a girl our age, a girl one of us knew and opened her up like a biology project to put inside a jar. I felt sick to my stomach and despite the warm water, my muscles were still tensing up at the only thought looping inside my mind; were we doing the right thing? ---The night had been short, the pale and lifeless face of Lisa haunted me as soon as I closed my eyes and I was hoping the afterlife was not a place where she was waiting for us. Preparing myself to lie about my general and emotional well being to the rest of my family, I took my time to go downstairs and join them in the living room. The tv was on but no one seemed to pay attention to it. "Their brilliance and passion is the driving force behind the institute ..."

"What are you watching ?" I asked my aunt, kissing the top of her head while I was passing behind her armchair while getting the cup of hot chocolate she always left out for me. She shrugged, taking a sip out of her teacup and straightened her newspaper.

" ... The Godfrey Institute for a better life." I froze upon hearing the name, and forced myself to swallow, not wanting to let my aunt worry about me. The words seemed to hang around in the air around us, trying my best to pretend not to see Donna putting down the paper and chewing the branches of her glasses a pensive frown on her face.

"Aren't you friends with a Godfrey?" She asked innocently. My sister, sat down next to me, chuckling while scrolling on her phone.

"I am. " I simply said, wondering why my hands were starting to get sweaty, nervous of what this line of questioning might lead to. "His name is Roman. What'd you ask ?"

"No .. nothing. Just wondering."

---School that day had been an interesting experience. Knowing what we had done the night before felt like a dirty secret and the fact that no one else knew about it gave me a strange rush of adrenaline. This bubble was only burst when Letha approached the bench on which Peter and I were sitting on. She nicely greeted me but stayed silent for the next few seconds, almost playing with the dirt on the ground with the tip of her shoe.

"There's a rumour going around that you're a werewolf." She blurted out, looking down before looking up when Peter didn't respond right away. He quickly looked at me, a growing smirk making its way on his face and seemingly made no effort at hiding it. "Well are you ?" She carried on.

"What do you think?" Peter quickly added, finally looking up at her. This conversation was completely absurd for anyone else but they managed to turn it into a flirtatious exchange and I suddenly felt like I shouldn't be there. Spotting Shelley on the grass a bit further, I grabbed my bag and left to sit down next to her, looking back as Letha was taking my place on the bench. Roman joined us soon after, stroking his sister's cheek as he sat down, asking us what we were still doing here.

"I'm waiting on Peter,"

"Why?" he asked still smiling at Shelley, "Where is he ?"

"Over there," I pointed at the couple over on the bench. Roman who was laying down on his back supported himself on his elbows to look back at them. A flash of anger washed over his face and his jaw locked while getting up as quickly as he had come over urging his sister to do the same. She was about to leave with him before turning back to me and started to type away on her phone. "Do you want to come home with us ?" She looked up at me while the automated voice asked the question for her. "I'm not going to talk books with him," she looked at his brother who was still waiting for her to follow him.