Seven Souls

Chapter 3- I'm Officially Crazy

I awoke with a gasp. My head was pounding and my heart was running a mile a minute. Giving my eyes a minute to adjust to the light, I lay on the soft mattress and sheets of what I believed was my bed. Phew, it was all a dream, was the first thought that ran through my head. I mean, I wasn't in the woods, so it had to be a dream.

I thought that until I saw the wound on my arm. The same one that I had gotten running in the woods. Oh, no. The wolf. The whole reason I went into the forest in the first place. No, matter how much I tried to convince myself that she was ok, I knew she was dead. In fact, with my own eyes, I saw the gaping wound and all of the blood running out of it. Nothing could survive that. Not even the snowy white wolf.

Oh my god! Ok, so if the wolf was real, so was the bite. I hastily ran my fingers over my left shoulder, trying to feel for the spot where the wolf bit me. There! Underneath the strap of my tank top, which I had no idea how I got on, by the way, was a jagged scar around the size of the wolf's jaw. I had so many questions running through my brain right now. Like, for instance, why did the wolf bite me? Was it sick? Did the wolf have rabies? She didn't seem like the kind of rabid animal that rabies infested animals turn into...

Wait a minute... how is it scarred over. In fact, even the wound on my arm is starting to scab. And what happened to all of the scrapes and cuts that I got? They were all gone! I didn't know if I was relieved by the notation or really freaked out.

Don't be.

I fell off the bed in shock. Landing with an oomph on the hardwood floor. I picked myself up to a sitting position. "Who's there?" I said out loud.

Sasha

Ooooookay... "Sasha? Sasha who?" I was really starting to freak out now. I really don't want to be the one to start hearing voices. It'd be like going crazy! I made a face. Or at least I think it does...

Don't be silly. We've met before. Why don't you remember me?

"Um, no. I don't think I have." When the voice spoke, she kinda sounded... weird. Like her voice was meant to make different sounds other than the ones she was speaking.

Also, the way she spoke kinda reminded me of a horror movie that I watched once with Vera. Which was no help with me believing I was crazy. It was about a girl who, after being kidnapped and murdered by a man, continued to haunt the man and the whole town he was in through her voice. She would communicate with her victims head in a semi-formal sounding voice and poison them from the inside out. Not like that was happening here... Anyway... back to present day.

Oh, well. I'm the wolf you helped.

"What..." For the first time ever, I was speechless. What does she mean, the wolf? Besides the fact that there was no way that a voice would be speaking in my head, I watched it die. I blinked my eyes a few times. I didn't believe that for a minute. But... there is a voice speaking in my head. And I guess that was pretty crazy as well.

A small chuckle escaped from Sasha. It was the bite. When I bit you, I transferred my soul to yours. Leaving me as being a lovely guest in your body. It's quite comfortable actually.

The bite... was that why the wolf, I mean Sasha, bite me? Was it to transfer her soul from her body to mine? I was thoroughly confused. "But, why?"

Oh, Avery. I sensed something special in you. Something that someone rarely ever has. It's why you were granted the gift of the bite.

I took a calming deep breath. Okay, I can do this. I have a wolf who can speak in my head. I raised my hand to massage my forehead. Normal stuff. Yeah. Happens all the time, I'm sure.

No, it doesn't. Like I said-

"That was sarcasm, okay?" I cut her off.

What's sarcasm? She honestly did sound confused.

Oh, buddy. That's going to be a problem. "Okay. I think that's enough chitchat seeing as I should be getting to school right about, " I glanced at the digital gold painted clock sitting on my white bedside table, "now." Damn. I managed to kill about forty-five minutes of my time talking to Sasha. I think I finally excepted that I was going to have a wolf's voice constantly speak in my head, but I don't think my teachers would like the excuse.

I got up and walked into my small-ish walk-in closet in the top right corner of my room. I tapped my chin with my index finger and tilted my chin. What am I going to wear?

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"Where were you?!"

I turned around to find Vera's face. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide and concern was etched quite clearly on her face. I was surprised at how she looked. Normally, she was flawless with her dark brown almost black hair always tumbling the right way and impeccable makeup that never washed or was worn away. But now I saw that her hair was slightly disheveled and hastily covered bruises were under her eyes. A clear sign of a fitful sleep.

I was worried, I rarely ever saw her like this. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Ha!" She gave out a barking laugh. "Am I okay!!??" she mocked me. "No, as you can see. I clearly am not!" She lightly punched my shoulder in frustration. Thankfully it wasn't the one with the bite. A few teens paused in the school hallways and watched Vera's little outburst, curious.

"Vera," I said calmly.

"Don't you Vera me! I've been looking all over for you! When you left for the porch, no one could find you! Me, Jared, and Allan looked all over for you! All we could find was your shoes, and you were gone, so we thought the worst." She paused her fanatics to take a deep breath, small tears pricking her eyes.

Who's Allan?

Honestly, I couldn't blame Sasha right now. She was just speaking what I had on my mind. I'll just have to ask that question later when Vera won't start going crazy on me. "Vera," I said calmly, again.

She jumped at me and put her arms tightly around my torso, hugging the life out of me. "You had no idea how worried I was!" She cried into my shoulder. After a few moments, I noticed that the hallways were thinning out and people were going to their classes.

"Vera," I tapped her shoulder softly, "the bells going to ring soon. And I need to go get my books out of my locker or I'm going to be late."

"Okay," she hiccuped, released me, and then regained her bearings enough to give me the evil eye, "but you still haven't explained were you were yet, and I expect an explanation."

I sighed and responded, "All right, I will. But later, Okay?" I really didn't want to go into all of the details right now.

She gave me a nod of affirmation. Leaning against the beige colored locker next to me, she watched me put my stuff away, just as the second bell rang. I pulled out my French textbooks, my first class of the day, and shut my locker, giving the combo a twirl.

"Let's go," I motioned for Vera to come with me.