Power of the Moon

Chapter 7- Reminders

My mind awakens as a warm light hits my eyes, stirring me from what can only be a deep sleep. I groan, a string of profanities escaping from my mouth, as I realize I once again forgot to pull the drapes over my window. As I slowly emerge from the haze of sleep, the thought registers within my semi-conscious state that the sun never shines in through my window unless it's dusk as my room is on the west side of the house. I begin to twist my body to find my phone, which I assume I tossed on my dresser at some point last night. Not a second later as I stretch out my arm, muscles tightening along my stomach as I attempt to turn on my side, I feel a sharp stinging pain racing up along my left side, from my hip all the way along my ribs. Any fatigue quickly dissipates as I jolt up in the bed. A decision I regret instantly as a painful hiss escapes from my lips, my arm banding around my stomach as that burning sensation once again shoots up my body, originating from the very same place along my side. I hunch over, my eyes closed against the pain as my breath comes out in heated gasps.

I'm so lost in trying to the dwell the fire that is racing up my side, that I never sensed there was another presence in the room until they spoke.

"Easy there tiger", comes a gruff voice. Taking a deep breath and pushing through the intense burning, I open my eyes and slowly turn my head to left. Dex is sitting in the faded red armchair, the faded red armchair that is usually over by the window where I placed it so I can read whatever latest smutty novel I was currently invested in while watching the last light of day fade to endless night and stars. I look over to the space by the window where the chair is normally positioned, noting the discoloration of the wood flooring, showcasing that I have never moved it since the day I put it there and then back at Dex. He's sitting forward, his arms resting on his knees with his hands clasped together in between. He's still wearing the same clothes I seen him in when we were on the cliff before...

My head aches as I try to remember what happened between last being on that cliff... and whatever event led me to being injured in this bed with Dex playing sentry. It's like a blanket has been swept over me, blocking me from seeing whatever lies beyond it. I try to reach out to Miakoda, to see if she remembers, but our connection is blocked too. Not blocked actually, but rather muted.

Bringing my right hand up as I rub at my forehead, a steady pounding starting to form in my skull, I glance at the dresser and see a plate of untouched eggs and toast, long gone cold from the smell of it along with a full glass of water.

I look back out the window, the setting sun turning the sky a warm orange as it falls below the tree lines and then back at Dex, clothes ruffled and filthy with a day old stubble marking his once smooth jaw, then back at the food, not an ounce of warmth emitting from it. I try and calculate the time that has evidently passed based on those observations asI look down at my stomach and ever so gently, pull up my tank top to see white bandages wrapped tightly around my belly with dried splotches of blood seeping through in four straight lines. The lines run from just above my hip to my ribs and end just at the side of my left breast below my armpit. As I stare at the obvious deep wounds beneath bandages, its like someone has pulled that blanket back ever so slightly as images and sensations burst into my mind like an untamed river.

A flash of black fur, claws shredding through my skin, the taste of blood in my mouth...

The memories come flooding back like someone indeed opened the floodgates. Finding those three wolves about to drag that she-wolf back to whatever hell she clearly escaped from, fighting them, losing control, the black wolf about to finish me off, that strange dark wolf coming from seemingly no where, saving me and then vanishing without a sound, Dex and my dad arriving with Clara and then...

Blackness. Pure, utter blackness. I can't remember how I got back here, most likely Dex or Dad carried me back when I passed out. I don't even know what time it is, let alone if its still the same day. It's dusk now and from my hazy memory, the sun was still high in the sky when I spotted those wolves. It might have been only a couple of hours but based on the Dex's stubble, the cold food, and how stiff my body seems to be from lack of movement, its clearly been much longer.