H.O.W.L. (Heedful Occult Witty Lunar)

Chapter One

Chapter 1

Howls filled the night. Like they did every night. At this point, she felt used to it. It still sent shivers down her spine, goosebumps erupting on her skin, but it didn't cause her to hide under her bed anymore.

This night was different.

They seemed close. She had heard them from miles away before, but tonight they were near. Before they seemed worlds away, now it was as if they were in her backyard. She suspected wolves, though even her dog didn't seem to mind them, ignore them even.

Every night, she waited for the inevitable. What if they really were wolves? There was no other explanation, and, come on, she heard howls...

She didn't really know, nor did she care what they were. But she couldn't help but question: why can she hear them? No one else did, not even Bruno, who, being her dog, had much better hearing than humans.

Just yesterday, Bruno was barking nonstop at another dog they hadn't even known was walking down the same path that they walked on, until the dog rounded the corner, leashed to his care-takers and frantically tried to get loose and greet Bruno. The two dogs had seemed desperate to play together and it took way more muscle power than was probably necessary to pry them apart and continue walking.

But to no avail, the merciless howls that kept Calliope awake fell on deaf ears to everyone else.

She turned over in her bed, looking at the cracks in the ceiling. Her house was so old and it looked the part, like something out of a movie. It was a wonder how they only had to pay for two repairs so far. Once, when the shower had started leaking onto the dining table the next floor down, and twice for when a bird had smashed into one of their windows and cracked the glass.

Calliope, however, was betting that a third repair was on its way, and that the roof would collapse. The thought had first come to her when she was twelve. Now, at seventeen, the thought still hadn't left her mind.

Another howl sounded outside.

Calliope sighed and turned to look at the alarm clock sitting on her bedside table. Too-bright numbers glared back at her tired eyes. Three o'clock in the morning. Damn, had it really been that long?

A howl.

Calliope sighed, rubbing her eyes and turning over once again. She had really hoped she would have been able to get at least four hours of sleep tonight. She would have to get up in three hours to get to school on time and she wasn't even tired yet.

Calliope sighed again, trying to relax her stiff muscles. It didn't work.

Another earth shattering howl.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to think of soothing childhood memories. Her mind practically scoffed at that, showing scenes from her bleak and painful childhood as if to say, yeah, right, fun is what sums up your life.

Howl.

This was her problem. Whenever it was dark and she couldn't sleep she just had to think of her childhood. The days before she had escaped the grasps of her mom. Dad was lucky. He managed to get out just in time, leaving little Calliope all alone. With nothing but dark memories that- at the time, felt like reality. Calliope's eyes reared up, and she buried her face in her pillows, frustrated, as if she could pretend that didn't happen and she had the ability to will herself to sleep. She hadn't gotten a good night of that in forever. So she just laid there, defeated, trying her best to at least relax.

Her alarm blared.

Calliope groaned and slammed down on the snooze button, not ready to get up yet. Another night without sleep. All because she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her to have her dad leave them like that, had made her own mother ignore her, abandon and call her a mistake.