Crys was anxiously walking alongside Brandon as they made their way to school the next morning. The day itself was fairly nice, but there was a tense feeling that made things seem a lot worse than they were.
"And so when I woke up, this man was just sitting in the chair by the window." Crys was explaining, somewhat frantically. She was caught somewhere between anxious and confused.
Brandon had noticed Crys acting extremely antsy earlier that morning before they had left. She barely even touched her breakfast. He had asked her if she was okay, but she had told him to wait until they were outside. Now, Crys was explaining everything to him.
"He just... I don't know exactly how to explain it." Crys continued explaining. "He wouldn't explain anything to me. He just said he was here for me. He threatened me with this gun thing so I wouldn't get up. He knows I'm a werewolf. He used my full name. I-I don't know what he's going to do... I'm scared that he's going to come back." Crys frowned and looked to the sidewalk below her.
"I uh... I don't really know what to say." Brandon said. He was trying to take it all in. It wasn't all that easy to believe, but at the same time, he had been through weirder. "Do you think it might've just been a dream?"
Crys pondered the idea for a moment. "I... I don't know." She murmured, worriedly. "It didn't feel like a dream."
"You've had nightmares that felt real before, though." Brandon said. "You've told me what some of them were. Like the ones you had when I was missing, or the ones about that other werewolf."
"I mean... it could have been one?" Crys said, second-guessing herself. "I-I don't know. I remember the conversation with him, but then... I just, uh..." She hesitated, trying to remember. "I think I just fell back asleep? Or... maybe the dream just ended..." She sounded doubtful and slowed her pace.
Brandon looked to his friend. She looked so disheartened and scared. To anyone but him, she might've just seemed lost in thought, but he knew better. He tried to think of something comforting to say, but nothing good would come to mind. He thought for a few moments. "I have an idea." He said suddenly and rather calmly.
"What is it?" Crys asked, a little bit eager, hoping that it would be helpful.
"Well, okay, maybe try putting your phone next to your bed like usual, but have it be recording." Brandon suggested. "That way, if that man comes back, you can check the recording for that night-"
"And if I go back and can hear him, then it's not a dream!" Crys tacked on before Brandon could finish explaining that part himself.
Brandon nodded his head. "So?" He asked, wanting an appraisal of his idea.
"It's a good idea." Crys said. "Thanks. I guess that can help put my mind at ease for now. I mean, it gives me something to do, at least."
"Well, I'm definitely glad to hear that." Brandon said with a smile.
Crys smiled back at her friend. "Hey, let's uh, not tell Tomas and Emma about this just yet." She added on.
"Tomas isn't going to be happy about that." Brandon mentioned.
"It's not their problem yet. And what if it really was just a bad dream? Then we'd just be worrying them for nothing." Crys said.
"Tomas'll still be pretty upset, I think."
"Look." Crys stopped walking. She got much more serious. "I still don't think it was just a dream. Whoever he is, that man knows I'm a werewolf. I'm willing to bet he at least knows that you know I'm a werewolf, too." She explained.
"Okay, that makes sense." Brandon said to show he was keeping up with Crys' logic.
"But he might not know that Tomas and Emma know too." Crys continued. "If we tell them about what happened, then he might try and target them. I don't want to put them in danger. If this really did happen and that guy, whoever he is, really is after me... then I don't want Tomas and Emma to have to deal with it. I don't want them to get hurt."
Brandon took a second to think it over. "Okay, I can accept that." He said. "If he's real."
Crys sighed. "I know." She said. "Look, I'll try not to worry about it. For now, I'll just assume it was one of my nightmares... I mean, I've been so anxious about something happening again that maybe I'm just having nightmares about it."
"That's true." Brandon chimed in. "You have been worrying a lot about werewolf stuff, especially with school starting."
"Maybe it's all in my head." Crys hoped. She took a deep breath. "Alright. I'll uh, I'll try not to think about it." She knew it was going to be difficult not to think about it, but she was going to put forth her best effort. She didn't want to be riddled with anxiety over this right now.
"Well, let's change the subject, then." Brandon suggested.
"Gladly." Crys said, a bit glum.
The two friends were nearly at school by now.
"How do you think school's going to go today?" Brandon asked.
Crys shrugged. "I have no idea. I mean, I was stabbed yesterday. Hopefully it'll be better than yesterday was."
"Agreed." Brandon agreed.
Crys frowned to herself. "I'm hoping I don't get a whole lot of attention because of it." She said with worry.
"You probably will." Brandon said frankly. "I mean, you got stabbed. Kind of hard to avoid attention after that."
Crys gave Brandon a glance. That wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. "Well, I guess we'll find out, won't we?" She said, half teasing, as the two of them made their way into school.
As Crys and Brandon made their way down the cramped hall, some students noticed them walking by, then some more, and then even more. They all started to murmur amongst themselves.
Crys could easily hear everything, but purposefully tried not to listen in on any of it. She kept her head down and only glanced out of the corners of her eyes.
More and more students started to notice Crys as she passed by. It felt like everyone was staring at her. Brandon could feel the eyes on him as well. He didn't like it one bit. The hallway seemed less crowded than usual that morning, though it might have been that the students tried to keep a smidgen of distance between themselves and Crys. It made Brandon and Crys feel uneasy having this sort of attention.
Brandon could overhear some of the chatter that was all around them.
"That's the girl who got stabbed."
"She just got stabbed completely in the side."
"I'm telling you, there was blood everywhere."
"Hey, you should go talk to her."
"She beat those two guys up like they were nothing!"
"I'm not going near her, you go!"
"I'm not messing with her."
"What a freak."
"I can't believe she's still alive."
It didn't matter who said any of it. It didn't matter where it was coming from.
"Man, word spreads fast, I guess." Brandon said quietly to Crys, trying to put some humor into the atmosphere.
Crys just kept walking.
The two of them got to class and took their seats. Crys put her hood up and drew the strings tight to hide her face. Brandon put a hand on her shoulder for a moment, then took it back to his side.
Everyone in the classroom kept giving odd glances every couple of moments towards Crys.
"You ever miss being the most popular kid in school?" Brandon asked.
"No." Crys replied flatly in the most deadpan tone imaginable. She sunk into her seat and tried to disappear.
Class, thankfully, proceeded to go by smoothly without any real problems.
Later on at lunch, Crys and Brandon took their places with Tomas and Emma.
"How've you two been?" Crys asked almost as soon as she sat down.
"We should be asking you. You're the one who got stabbed." Tomas said.
"I told you yesterday over the phone that I was fine." Crys replied, sounding ever so slightly annoyed.
"Yeah, but are you?" Tomas continued.
"I'm fine, just like I said." Crys said back. "As long as I don't go running around and stretching a whole lot, I should be okay."
"Good." Tomas replied with a nod.
"So, anyone ask you both about anything, yet?" Brandon asked.
"About what?" Emma asked.
Brandon just gestured to Crys with one hand.
"Oh, I see." Emma said.
"Well, I had one guy approach me during second period." Tomas said. "He asked if I knew Crys and what happened, but I just told him 'look, I don't want you messing with her, just leave her alone', and that seemed to shut him up. Other than that, not really."
"Nobody asked me anything." Emma said with a careless shrug.
"Has anyone been messing with you guys?" Tomas asked with some concern.
"I've overheard a few things." Brandon said. "But nobody's really come up to us and said anything to our faces or anything like that."
Crys gave a little not of agreement, but didn't say anything. She didn't look super thrilled at the moment.
"You okay?" Brandon asked, noticing Crys' bummed out look.
"You seem out of it." Tomas chimed in.
"Just had a bad dream last night, that's all." Crys replied, sounding tired.
Brandon knew Crys was just using her possible dream as an excuse. "Crys, come on." He said gently.
Crys frowned. "Look, I don't care. I just want to be left alone." She said.
"From us or everyone else?" Brandon asked.
Crys looked at Brandon with a confused glance. She thought what she said made sense, but apparently not. "I wish everyone would stop staring at me and exaggerating everything." She said.
"Like what?" Tomas asked.
"I try not to eavesdrop." Crys replied. "But I know people have been talking about me behind my back, exaggerating everything that happened yesterday.
Brandon raised an eyebrow. "You? Not listen in?" He said, a bit surprised.
Crys shrugged. "I just don't want to deal with it today." She said carelessly.
"I mean, fair enough." Brandon replied.
"Okay but what did you overhear?" Tomas asked, a tad curious.
"Mostly just things along the lines of 'that's the girl who got stabbed'. Not much else, but it was all super exaggerated versions of what happened. Like there being pools of blood or broken bones and stuff like that. Everyone's making it out to be some big fight... I don't like it." Crys explained.
"Well, maybe people will be too scared to mess with us this year." Brandon suggested.
"Maybe?" Crys said, hesitant. "Last time I was this popular it didn't end well."
"When was that?" Tomas asked, not recalling Crys ever being popular.
"Old school." Crys replied.
"Oh." Tomas said.
"It wasn't fun. I don't want all the attention again. I just wanted to lay low this year. No drama, but I guess that's not going to happen now." Crys said with sheer disappointment in her voice.
"We'll get through it." Brandon said, trying to be optimistic.
"If anyone starts messing with us, I'll get them to stop." Tomas said.
"Thanks." Crys said with a little smile. "So, what else should we talk about?" She added on, wanting to change the subject.
The four friends kept chatting from there for the rest of lunch. The rest of the school day passed by without any problems arising, too, which was nice. It didn't mean the staring and behind-the-back rumors stopped, though. It was a bother to sit through, but somehow all four friends managed to get through it, and once school was over, they all went out to hang out for a bit before heading back to their respective homes for the night.
Before going to sleep, Crys took out her phone and had it start recording. She placed it down next to her bed face down so nobody could see the screen. She desperately hoped that what she had experienced the night prior was just a bad dream.