37
I couldn't stop staring at the numerous alcoholic drinks on the shelf, covering every inch of the wall. The memories inside the Toasty bar were running through my head. Whenever I struck the deep end, I came here and lost myself completely. The last time I came here, I had an argument with my ex-boyfriend, Bryce. He was no longer working here, nor I had seen him over the past few days.
"So, then, I realize I shouldn't be dropping out. I had killed myself trying to get through the past three years, I couldn't just stop now." Beatrice placed her hand over my shoulder and ranted while her other hand was wrapped around her drink. Her eyes found mine, for a moment only. "Now, my fourth year is almost over and in no time, I'm going to have a degree in my hand."
Beatrice spoke with a wide over her face. She had changed a lot since we last met—six year ago. Her personality was little more bubblier, sweeter and full of life while I no longer had a personality.
I lost the spark in my life after my parents were murdered.
"That's good!" I exclaimed, raising my brows, and hoping to show some excitement. She had been going on and on for the past hour about her life and it seemed like it was going just perfect. "I'm proud of you."
Her lashes fluttered and she pressed her hand over her chest, "Thank you."
Beatrice had come so far along. We were children the last time we were together, finishing our school, stepping into the adult life and suddenly, we were separated from each other. There was no contact between us for years due to the fear of being caught by the people who had murdered my parents.
"Tell me about yourself. How is your life?" Beatrice asked, folding her leg across the other one. Her eyes came on me once again, studying me for a minute.
Thoughts gathered up in my head. What had I done over the past few years? I asked myself and tried to come with an answer but there was nothing.
Beatrice began looking at me with concern. She stretched her arm and squeezed her hand over mine. "It's okay, Eos. You have been through a lot—more than anyone else. It's completely understandable if you're still living in the past. It takes time to move on." She understood me well.
I cleared my throat and replied, "No, no, I'm no longer living in the past." I took a deep breath and accepted new reality. "I tried finishing school, but I was kicked out long time ago. I do a little work here and there, hostessing and managing events whenever I get lucky."
"Oh, that's different!"
"Yes. It's kind of different from what I thought I would become one day but I'm happy where I am now." With the bite and the curse.
A voice rang through my head, a voice closely similar to mine. The smile washed off my face and I swallowed hard.
"I'm so glad to hear that. How's Carol doing these days?" Beatrice asked, changing the topic.
"Oh, she's doing great. I've never seen her better." I replied, remembering Aunt Carol who had been enjoying her life since the moment I saw her.
There were some hard times we both went through as a family but we both made out and healed. I was no longer the troubling child she needed to take care of, and we both were managing our finances now. She was concerned for me for a very long time—the entire time I was in a relationship with Bryce. It was her words that opened my eyes and forced my paths away from my cheating ex-boyfriend.
"I wish to see her soon. I hope she won't be angry at me." She said, shaking her head and laughing while taking another gulp of her drink.
My eyes fell on the orange juice at my side of the table. I didn't want to drink anything alcoholic as I had already drunk a lot this week.
"She won't be." I replied.
As more time passed by, the rowdier the bar got. People began surrounding us and drinking. There wasn't any loud music being played but someone was doing a karaoke at the corner.
Beatrice and I got caught up with a several more things before we left the bar and took a walk outside. It got chilly quickly enough that we needed to grab jackets from the car before finishing the rest of our walk.
"Frostford is such a different place from the city. There isn't any rush or people pushing upon each other." Beatrice said, hands inside her pocket as she enjoyed the cold weather. "You must love being here." She continued, glancing at me.
I nodded, "It's great."
It was great. Frostford was a good town to live in until I realized what lived among us—werewolves and many people weren't even informed about them. I had been living here for more than six years and all those years, I couldn't figure out what was the secret of this town until I was bitten and turned into of the creature that crawled out at nights and bowed to the full moon.
"Well, I'm here for the history! I hope it has a lot." She smiled, taking a few steps more forward.
"It does but most of it isn't available for public, so you'll have to dig very deep." I said, spilling the truth—some of it.
As much as I wanted someone to share the secret with, I couldn't. I had promised King not to utter a single word about the animal I had become—the animal he had turned me into.
God, I missed him.
It had been more than a few years since I last saw him. He was getting on the plane while I was leaving the airport. I wondered hard and for long what he'd be doing right now.
Would he be missing me as well?
What if he has a girlfriend in the city?
I quickly brushed the last thought away from my head and neared Beatrice while striding faster.
Her dark eyes fell on me. "So, are you seeing someone?" She questioned, and the same thought rushed back into my head.
I took a deep breath and pushed my fists deeper into the pockets of my jacket. "Yes, yes, I am seeing someone."
"Really?" She jumped. "Wait. I hope it isn't that ex-boyfriend you were talking about earlier because he really sounded like a douche and while I wasn't here for you at that time, I'm here right now and it's a girl code to not let your friend date a douche." She quickly said, her words blabbing out her but there was concern within them.
I pushed my head back and laughed, "No, no."
She sighed in relief, "Thank god. Who is it, then?"
"Well, there is someone I really like. He's a good man and he has a great heart as well. We have been seeing each other for a few weeks now but I'm confused if I want to follow where my heart is going because everything is happening really quick between us." I explained, releasing a bit of tension off my shoulders.
"Did you have sex with him?" She blurted out, no thought given to question.
I choked on my breath and then nodded, "Yes!"
"Oh, that's quick."
We stopped walking and sat on a nearby bench underneath a tree that trembled along with the wind. Cold air gripped us from all sides, and we rubbed our hands together, creating warmth between our palms.
Beatrice and I had a close bond since we were children. I could share anything with her, and she'd never judge me. I had been waiting for someone I could share my life with for once and she arrived right on time.
"We met at one of the events I was working at, and we clicked off from there. He helped through a few problems in my life, including taking care of my ex-boyfriend who couldn't leave me alone." I began, starting straight from the welcoming event hosted by the Mayor. It was then we met for the first time, but King had already met with me before that—at the cemetery. "We saw each other for a few times more and he's really sweet to me but..." I paused when I remembered the morning I woke up at the manor, kidnapped by King.
"But then what?" Beatrice began getting curious.
I twisted the story and continued, "He did this one thing that harmed me, and I don't know if I can forgive him for that." I avoided the exact details as then Beatrice would be on the plane back to the city if she knew the curse he had given me.
"Did he do it on purpose?" She asked, understanding me.
"He claims it was an accident, but I have mixed emotions about that. If he could do it to me, he could do it to anyone else and I don't know if I want to be with a man who does that to other people." I said, crossing the words and hoping she would get me again.
King was an animal—a werewolf and he turned me into one. The bite he had given should've killed me, but it didn't. But what if it killed others? How many people have he killed? What if he was a monster? What if he was worse than Bryce?
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