"Don't know about you, but I've been itching to get back into the studios," Fred said as we entered the big art's department building.
"Same. I didn't think I'd miss school, but here I am, after just a weekend. Seems silly." I snorted and turned a corner coming to our cubicle, halting to a hard stop.
Black paint had been sprayed and tossed all over our studio. Every painting, sketch, sculpture. It was all covered in black paint.
Fred stopped right next to me before she went in and gently put her fingers to the paint. It was dry, leaving no marks on her skin. The painting of Cal she had worked so hard was entirely ruined.
I went to my sketches, flicking through them until I stopped. "Mutt" was written with the same black paint the rest of the studio was covered in.
I immediately dropped the paintings and stepped back out of the cubicle.
"I don't think I can touch the paint," I said and looked down at my hands, rubbing them on my jeans.
Fred looked to the floor, finding the sketch with the letters on it. "I think that'd be wise." Her voice was shaking. She took out her phone and then put it to her ear. "Hey Cal, can you come to the studio? Uhm..." Her voice broke entirely, and she handed me the phone.
"What's happening?" Cal's voice sounded through the speaker.
"They ruined our work and studio," I said sighing, deeply. "Fred's paintings are ruined. I don't think I can touch the paint."
"Okay, I'll be right there. Just don't touch anything, alright?"
"Yeah."
She hung up and I handed Fred her phone back. "We should get out of here."
"Yeah," Fred sniffled and rose back to her full, scarce height. I grabbed her and gave her a hug.
"I'm sorry you're getting pulled into this, Fred. I'm really sorry."
She hugged me back fiercely for a second, before pulling back and looking up at me. "Don't apologise for something that you didn't do, Gael. This is them. Probably those vampire assholes."
I nodded a bit, but I still felt like shit. The last time, this only hurt me and that was fine. But now people were getting hurt by even associating with me. Collateral damage. I didn't wanna do this anymore.
"Cal's gonna meet you outside... I'm... Gonna go home. I think. Take a shower to make sure if there was something in the paint, it's not still on me..." I said and escorted Fred out of the building.
"You don't wanna go with us?" she asked, her eyes big.
"I... No, that's alright. I should really take that shower." It was a total lie. I knew it was. I was bailing so hard. It's what I did when things became too hard. I justified it with no one needed me around when everything bad happening was my fault. It was all my fault. I was ruining the town; I was ruining Fred's education and maybe it was just better I stayed the fuck away.
So, I bailed.
He's running. He likes running. It's nice to run. It's even nicer to run when there's nothing holding one back anymore. When one can be entirely free to run.
It's been days. Actual days. Feeling the sun is nice. He hasn't felt much of the sun before. He usually only sees the rays of the full moon, but the sun is nice. He enjoys laying in the beams, shooting through the withering forest treetops.
He has free reign of it all. He's been running further and further away from the house that he knows is his home. He likes it there too. There's a boy there who's nice and shares meat. His smell is nice and comforting.
He wants to go home. He knows I won't like it, but he doesn't really care. He's been out running for days and now it's enough. He realises he doesn't like the control like this.
He needs to go back.
There's also something unsafe in the forest. He has felt it for a while now. He doesn't like the presence of it.
He needs to go back.
He steps into the garden in the dead of night. He knows others would be afraid of him, so usually he'd stay away. But this is his home.
He claws at the kitchen door, sniffing it before it suddenly opens. The boy who shared meat stands in it, blocking the wolf's way. He pushes the boy aside with his snout and heads towards the place that kept the meat.
The boy says something and pats the wolf's head. The wolf really likes getting his head patted. It feels nice.
And that's where he forced the control back to me.
I gained the main conscious, fur dropping off my body. Big fangs dropped out of my mouth, my own teeth growing out instead. I whimpered as my talons fell off clacking against the floor, my own nails growing out rapidly as my paws turned into hands. I immediately clawed at my face, tearing the skin of the wolf off, going for my chest next as the skin started falling off on its own.
I panted, looking up at Abel. He pulled his hoodie off and handed it to me without a word. It was way too big and reached all the way down to my thighs.
"Thanks," I muttered and ran a hand through my hair, going for the living room, hoping to find some trousers somewhere.
"Gael," Abel said and leaned against the empty doorway between the kitchen and living room.
"Trousers," I muttered and went up the stairs.
Abel followed me up to my bedroom and closed the door behind him. "Gael," he said again as I rummaged through my wardrobe finding some sweats. I pulled them on and turned to Abel, cringing as I pulled, realising the cast had fallen off, obviously, and my arm was still very much broken. The wolf had grown new bones for his leg and then obviously didn't feel like sharing those when I changed back to this form.
Bastard.
"You're hurt," Abel said and carefully came closer, taking my arm in his hands.
"It's alright. It might still be a little broken though..." I muttered, without meeting his gaze.
"You shifted."
I nodded.
"And it's not the full moon."
I shook my head.
"I heard what happened at the studio."
Nod.
"I was worried about you."
I looked up and clenched my jaw, trying to keep myself from bawling my eyes out. "I ruined Fred's degree."
Abel sighed and pulled me to him, pressing my face to his chest, resting his chin on my head. "You didn't ruin anything, Gael."
"If it weren't for me, there'd be no problems."
"Except the murders."
That punched the air out of me. I had been so wrapped up in my own head, I had forgotten how this all started. The murders. Someone was out there murdering people.
"You're a real easy scapegoat when you turn into a wolf, you know. A bit of a branding issue with wolves in general."
I couldn't help but kind of sob-laugh. "We need to hire a PR firm."
"Do some community outreach and charity. Maybe knock down fewer houses that pigs built terribly."
"They asked for it."
Abel chuckled. "See, this is what we need to work on. No more pig-victim-blaming."
"Can I still go after girls in red hoods and old grannies?"
He burst out laughing this time. "Yeah, sure, why not. That red hood is just a banner saying 'eat me, eat me' anyways." He pulled away and looked down at me, taking my face in his hands. "I was worried about you."
"I uh... I didn't mean to..." I couldn't even lie. I definitely meant to disappear for a bit. "I had to get away. The wolf wanted back. I ruined Fred's degree, Abel."
"Actually, you need to talk to her about that. Because she has a pretty great idea what to do."
I nodded and sniffled, taking a step back and dried my nose in the sleeve. "Sorry, I'll wash it later."
"Don't worry about it. Snot is also cool and something I actually don't produce. Which sounds like a nightmare for your nose and stuff, but it actually isn't?" He shrugged and I couldn't help but laugh. No matter what, he was a dork first.