Twisted Fate
By: Dani Loving
She's running.
The girl with my face, my circular head, my golden dark skin, my pout lips and pointy nose, and my vibrant eyes. It was like looking in a mirror, except she didn't have hazel eyes like mine. Her eyes were a lifeless brown and her skin was covered in bruises from years of torture. The rags she wears barely hides the taut skin that cover her legs and ribs. Her naturally curly brown hair is tangled and matted to her head with blood and sweat. Every time she scrapes her knees, steps on rocks with her bare feet, or her stomach protests with hunger pains I feel it. The adrenaline she's feeling as she runs away from her captive prevent her from feeling it, but I feel everything. She's screaming, and crying for help, but no one comes. Tears stream her angelic face as she runs from the monster that hides deep in the trees. A claw comes out and scratches her; the girl screams and runs as fast as her legs can take her. Her lungs are burning; her feet are sore but she continues to run through the forest. She's almost there; the clearing of the forest is just a couple of yards away. Even though her muscles are screaming, she's weak from malnutrition, and her lungs are aflame, she keeps running. She's is mere inches from freedom, she's never gotten this far before, she's never been this close to freedom. She's so close to finding him! She looks back to see where the demon is hiding, but that's were she makes her mistake. She trips on the uneven earth and crashes to the ground. She's not going to make it! She tries to get up but she's too weak, and no one is around to help her. She looks directly at me as she hears the howl of the monster.
"Help me!" She cries. Everything goes dark as the creature lures into the picture. He growls at the girl, and then he lunges.
I fall face first out my bed, landing with a silent thump on the floor.
"Ow."
The blanket I was wrapped up in broke my fall; it didn't hurt at all compared to the time I had tile floors- now that was painful. My alarm clock kept going off, no matter how many times I told it to shut up. I don't feel like getting up, my floor is so comfortable, but it's really hard to enjoy since my stupid alarm clock keeps screaming at me.
"Hazel! Hazel, do you not hear the alarm clock?" My annoying twin sister said, pressing the snooze button on my alarm. She just got out of the shower, she has a towel wrapped around her and ringlets of water are dropping from her hair, onto my carpet.
"No," I said giving her a look that could kill.
"Get up; we have to go to school." She nudges me with her wet feet.
I growl at her, "No," I said covering my face with my sheets.
"Fine," she says, stomping off.
I close my eyes and slowly begin to fall into a light sleep. The thoughts of being late to school don't bother me the least. I'm in a light lucid dream when ice cold water comes in contact with my face.
"Oh my gosh! I'm going to kill you!" I scream jumping up and turning an accusing glare at my twin sister and the empty pitcher she has in her hand. I take off running after her.
Vivian is faster than me; her long legs give her an even bigger advantage. But I'm not worried about that now; all I wish is to pull all of her perfect strands of hair out!
"Let's see how pretty you are balled!" I scream at her as we make our way down stairs. I almost stumble going down the last step, but quickly recover. As we make our way into the kitchen- me trying to latch onto her beautiful light brown hair, our mom smiles at us.
"Mom, she poured cold water on me!"
"I have to be at cheerleading practice at 6:00 and you're supposed to be driving me since my car is in the shop!" She shouts, walking towards the refrigerator and pouring her a glass of orange juice very diva-like.
"Do you know what time it is?! It's 5AM! No one has practice this early!" I scream, though it is really hard for anyone to take you seriously when you're standing in the kitchen in your pink Pajamas, plus the Winnie the Pooh house shoes (not that they ever do, but it doesn't hurt to try).
She doesn't really have practice this early, she has practice in the afternoons; that I knew for a fact. My family always came up with reasons to get me up before 5am on Monday's; they've been doing it since I was four.
"Hey sweetheart," my Dad said, putting his newspaper down and smiling at me. It's an unsure smile; he's trying to seem as friendly as possible; he doesn't want to set me off; it is a Monday after all. Mondays aren't the best day of the week for my family, or anyone who happens to come into contact with me on a Monday. Most people try to stay clear of me on altogether, but on Mondays they take special precautions. But today I feel fine; I give my dad a big smile.
"Hi daddy, you know I love you right?" I said hugging my dad and kissing his forehead.
"What do you want now?" He asks, smiling at me. I know he will give me anything I ask for since I hadn't become afraid of him. Sometimes when I 'lost it' as we like to call it, I became afraid of my dad. It's usually after I've had a nightmare. My dad seemed to morph into the character that's trying to kill her. I'm not sure who the 'her' is in my dream, the girl looks so much like me and Vivian, but she's nothing like us. It's almost like I'm seeing things, but they look so real. In my nightmare the bad guy is always the werewolf. The nightmare is different every time. It's always the same girl, but the situation is always different, the bad guy is always a different werewolf, and they're always out to either kill her, rape her, or torture her. To say I had a phobia of Werewolves would be an understatement, but then I am one.
"Nothing, I just wanted to say I love you. But since you ask, can I borrow some extra cash? I was planning on heading to the mall after school."
"Hazel, Will Cody be there?" My mom asked her voice becoming serious. I'm not allowed to go anywhere without Cody or one of them by my side in public, just in case I 'lost it'.
"Yes mom," I said heading towards my room to get ready for school.
"Did you take your medicine?"
At these times my talent for 'acting' (as I liked to call it, others called it lying) came in handy.
"Of course mom," I said smiling at her. "Did I mention I love that top you're wearing?"
She glares at me, her eyes cutting into my skin.
"Go take them now," she commands. If you think your mom is overbearing, try having a Black Female wolf with Beta blood still running through her veins as your mother.
I sigh, walking towards the cabinets and grabbing the bottle of pills.
"Is she sane?" My brother Jake questions. Everyone knew who the 'she' is that he's asking about.
"Yes I'm sane you idiot," I reply, growling at him.
He comes into view in his boxers and a tank top on; then grabs a piece of toast from the stack on the table. "For once she's normal on a Monday. You guys better watch out, I think pigs are flying." He jokes, then he laughs like it's the funniest thing ever.
"Shut up," I grumble.
"Jake leave your sister alone," my mom says, refilling my dad's' coffee cup.
"Fine, but mom I'm going to be over Rachel's house tonight. Oh and I'm going with Rachel and her parents to Michigan to see her grandparents this weekend."
Rachel was Jake's mate; they were inseparable and to be honest totally disgusting. They were worse than most couples when they find there mate. They were even getting married when no one got married nowadays! It made me sick the way my brother got that stupid love sick look in his eyes.
"That's fine honey, tell Rachel I said hi. Now Hazel, do you feel like going to school?" My mother asks. On Mondays I rarely go to school, but I make up for it by staying after school sometimes, or taking Saturday classes. Most Mondays I'm not stable, considering the fact that half of our school are werewolves from our pack.
"Yes I'm fine," I said. That's my family for you, and just in case you're wondering, I would trade them in without a second glance if I could.
"Now if you don't mind, I have to get dressed for school," I stomp back upstairs and into my room.
***
I pull into the school parking lot in my red Lexus car, technically it belonged to my grandmother, but since my parents spent their money getting Vivian the perfect car for her sweet sixteen my grandmother decided that I needed a car too. She gave me her old car, but it was still nice, it was a 2010 Lexus car without a scratch on it. Vivian was jealous when I first got it, and she had every right to be, the car was perfect; and unlike hers the car wasn't in the shop every four months.
It took Vivian two hours and thirty minutes to get ready and eat breakfast, plus the extra fifteen minutes she spent brushing her hair and applying makeup. Vivian forgot all about supposedly having practice at six, and I wasn't complaining. Vivian jumped out my car before I could fully park it. I growl but she just waves bye at me and runs to catch up with her friends. I chunk the bottle of pills that I 'accidently' forgot to take to the back seat with a disgusted look. I take the keys out the ignition and get out the car.
"Hey Chica," my Latino friend Rena comes up to me, her hair flowing down her shoulders.
"How's my Pup?" she teases. All of my friends had shifted and became full wolves, I still hadn't shifted yet; So they teased me constantly about it by calling me 'Pup'. Not that I was looking forward to becoming a full wolf.
"I actually feel fine today."
"Oh, great," she says, her accent thick. "Let me just tell the rest. They used me as bait just in case you were going to go all crazy on us." She takes her iPhone out of her bra.
"They thought I would go crazy?" I ask, grabbing my backpack and getting out of my car. My stomach growls because I haven't eaten a thing.
"Duh, the whole school is worried you're going to have a freak attack!"
I cringe at the way she says 'freak' and ''attack'. Leave it to Rena to make me feel terrible on the one day I felt normal.
"I'm perfectly fine. I didn't even have the nightmare!" I say, even though that's not exactly true.
She looks up from the text she's sending, "Really? That's so great! Alpha Michael was thinking about kicking your parents out the pack if you attacked another Werewolf. But now that you're getting better you won't have to go!" She throws her hands around me and her phone crashes to the ground. "Darn-it, I just got that phone!"
I'm frozen; her words are swarming through my head. "He's going to kick us out the pack?" My voice isn't panicky, it's monotone. It always is when I'm feeling sick on the inside. I really should've taken my medicine.
"Well that was just a suggestion, there were many suggestions. We had a Pack Meeting last time you went all Cray-Cray on Tommy; it was no big deal. Luna Rose happens to really like you, she said there was no reason for us to send you away, or put you in a crazy house. She says the nightmares are trauma- induced from what happened to you when you were younger. She says it might be your way of handling the death of your sister." She picks up her phone and puts it into her purse. Her phone is a maze of cracks
"What do you mean? I don't have a dead sister! And how come my family didn't know about this Pack Meeting?" I ask, crossing my arms around my chest, but not because I'm angry- which I am-it's because I'm freezing. Plus members of our pack are starting to stare.
"What do you mean? Your whole family was there. Everyone was- well except you. And you're a triplet- which you never bothered to tell me- but your other sister has been missing since you were four. You don't remember because you forced yourself to forget; or at least that's what your parents say. You and your sister were very close but when she went missing they say that's when you started having the nightmares. Luna says you'll get over it once you turn 18, which everyone is glad it's only a couple of months away." She's inspecting her nails as she says this.
"What's her name?" I ask, but I already know. The name is eating up my insides and I feel bile rising up in my stomach.
"Oh, it's Sally."
Sally
I knew it was Sally.
Sally, Sally, Sally.
Pretty Sally....
Images start sprawling through my mind and I know I'm about to lose it. I unlock my car and grab the pill bottle I stashed in the back. I push past Rena and run to the school, dodging cars in the parking lot. This isn't my Wolf phobia acting up, it's the girl. These aren't dreams, I know they aren't. I run to the girls' bathroom, turning on the faucet and letting it run. My eyes are wide, and my heart's thumping in my chest, is this what an anxiety attack is like? I stuff two pills down my throat, and cup some water in my hand to get it down with. Even after I take the pills I still see the images. They're demanding, and I can't fight them. I can't breathe and before I know it I'm crashing to the ground- and only one word can I utter, and I don't know what it means. But the word is so powerful it shuts down my whole being.
Sally.
Sally.
Sally.
Who is Sally?