Chapter 4
The last thing I wanted do right now is to have a conversation with Ryder. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes and cut out my tongue than speak to him. But here we are, in the middle of the night.
“Look, I'm really tired and a little pissed off with you and your friends. So just say what you got to say and leave me alone.”
Hopefully, he'll never have to speak to me again. “What happened to you last night?”
I should have moved when I had the chance because right now, my boobs are getting to know his chest really well.
“Absolutely nothing. And anyway, it's not like I owe you an explanation.”
Ryder cages me in with both of his hands on either side of my head. “You think I didn't see you inside that diner? We all did! So I need to know what happened to you last night.”
“Why is it so important for you to know?” I duck underneath his arm, and start walking.
“Alice! You need to listen to me.”
Before I know it, Ryder grabs my wrist and turns me around to face him. “You may not believe me, but I'm trying to help you.” “Help me!?”
“I'm trying to help you understand what you're about to go through.”
“And what would that be?” I take my hand from his hold, and place my hands on my hips in expectation of his answer.
“You might think I'm joking, but trust me I'm not.” Ryder turns his back on me, places his hands in his pockets and sighs in defeat. “In a few days, you'll go through the change.”
I frown. “The change?”
“Very soon, you'll experience the change. The change of becoming a wolf.”
A what?
I look at him in confusion, then burst out laughing.
He turns around and looks at me, his nostrils flaring “Stop laughing. This is not a joke. I don't joke about things like this. By the look of things, it's going to happen pretty soon.”
Surely he doesn't mean that I'm actually going to turn into a wolf because that's just crazy.
I roll my eyes, “Okay, I'll play along. What happens during this change?”
“Pain. A lot of pain.”
I sigh, “I've been in pain before you know.”
“Not this kind of pain. You'll start sweating a lot and you're gonna feel really hot. You'll also start to feel nauseous and if I remember correctly a headache too. Just think of it as a bad fever because that's not the worst part.”
I scoff. “What could possibly be worse than turning into a monster?”
He ignores my question and continues. “Your body is gonna feel like it's going to explode, and the last thing you want to do is fight it. Your body's telling you that the wolf inside of you is ready to take over, and if you fight it the first time, you're most likely to not survive the next change. So, whatever you do, don't fight it.”
“How do you know all of this? Are you a wolf?” Ryder merely shrugs. “We all are.”
“Who's we?”
Ryder doesn't answer me. He only gives me this knowing look that gives me the realization that I need to know what he means by his expression.
“You're saying that Bane, Silver and Kellan are wolves? Come on, be serious?”
“You think I'd be helping you if you weren't becoming one of us? Your scent was all over that diner for any wolf to pick up on it.”
Ryder's hands are balled into fists as he stares at me with a dark evil glint in his eyes. I don't care if he's angry or frustrated with me. I just wanted to go home and forget this conversation ever happened.
I scoff in disbelief. “I'm not becoming one of you! This kind of thing just doesn't happen to people!”
“You what to know what happened to Mr Daniels!? How his body was found ripped to shreds in his own home!?”
I can't take this anymore, I do the only thing I can think of to block Ryder's voice. I cover my ears and pray that he stops.
“Stop it!”
I beg and beg for him to stop, but he only carries on. “What's going on out here?”
Not only has Ryder stopped shouting, but his whole body stiffens when he notices Terry standing with a flashlight pointed right at him. “He giving you trouble, Alice?”
I take my hands away from my ears and shake my head. “No, he was just leaving.”
Ryder looks back at with me desperation in his eyes, but I can't listen to another word he has to say.
“Goodnight Terry.” I walk away, leaving both men standing alone in the dark.
The walk to my home was surprisingly peaceful. There were no run-ins with Ryder nor an encounter with a wolf. Just me and the sounds of nature. I hear the blood-curdling screams of the wild fox and the loud belching of the red deer stags in the night.
I take the shortcut home and come across the clearing of the forest that stands between me and my home. I believe that many secrets are in this forest, but I feel no threat nor am I afraid to know what hides inside it.
As I stand at the clearing, I feel nothing but power. I've experienced the feeling of becoming close to death, and I couldn't feel more alive.
I dash through the forest and leap over the thin winding creeks and the slippery rocks. I dodge and zip past rotting oak trees and under lowered branches. Bugs zip in and out of my ears, humming and buzzing their little song. Green leaves, yellow leaves and red leaves scatter on the ground like a rainbow of rich, autumnal colours. Ahead, the forest trees get thinner.
I'm close to home.
As I draw closer, I see the old worn bridge that leads to the road opposite my home.
Home sweet home.
I live with my mother in a quiet residential area in a beautiful detached house. It's been the only home I've ever lived in, and there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be because of the silence and peacefulness the house provides. The house has a big garden with beautiful trees, plants and even a swimming pool. The house is pretty spacious for only the two of us, with two floors and a smaller third floor with big windows.
The gate is on the ground floor where the big hall communicates with two comfortable airy living rooms, a bathroom, and a modern large kitchen is placed in the heart of the house. One living room has a door that leads out to the terrace that overlooks the garden. On the first floor are four rooms which consist of two doubles and two singles with two bathrooms.
My mother sleeps in the main bedroom which has its own bathroom and her own balcony.
I walk across the road and reach the wraparound porch in front of the house, and turn the handle to see that it's locked.
Mum should be home by now.
I tap my knuckles on the pristine glass door, and wait for any sign of movement.
I tap again and wait a few minutes longer. Nothing.
I move to check underneath the doormat and see the lone silver key.
I guess she's not home.
I pick up the key and enter the house, “Mum? Are you home?”
Not once did she answer me when I called her. Maybe she had a date tonight?
I take the stairs down into the kitchen, and notice a piece of paper stuck on the refrigerator.
Alice,
Got called down to the hospital, Probably won't be home till morning, Supper is in the microwave
Love you, Mum x
I guess that adds up to where she is.
I open the microwave and groan in satisfaction when I smell the sweet aroma of the pepperoni pizza.
My mother knows me too well.
Before I change out of my clothes and into my nightwear, I reheat the pizza and grab myself a can of coke.
By the time I come down the stairs, I take the pizza and can over to the sofa in front of the TV, and download the season finale of Game of Thrones.
Again, questions rush inside my head.
What if what Ryder says is true? That I'm changing into one of the most dangerous predators known to humans?
Whatever happens to me, the last thing I want to do is hurt somebody. I'd never forgive myself if I did.
I come out of my trance to the opening theme of Game of Thrones when suddenly everything in the room starts to blur. I can't see anything.
I wipe my eyes with the palm of my hands to feel that my face is burning.
I hear my heart beating rapidly inside my chest, and I start to notice that I'm struggling to breathe properly.
I stand on my feet to work my way towards the bathroom when suddenly I feel a stabbing pain in my stomach. It was like my insides were being twisted and pulled.
I pull the bathroom door open and balance myself on the sink.
I look in the mirror to see myself completely drenched in sweat.
Oh no...It's happening! What do I do!?
My head starts to throb as the pain in my stomach becomes too excruciating to cope with.
The more I try to stop the agonizing pain, I feel the most intense agony searing into my lower back, and all I can do is scream.
The pain becomes worse whenever I try to fight it, and straight away I feel nausea creeping up my throat. I double over and vomit violently to see black liquid coating the edges of the toilet.
I lose count of the amounts of time I vomit, but I refuse to stop fighting.
I refuse to change.
I don't care how long the pain takes, I won't give in to the change.
After what feels like intense hours, I sigh in relief as I rest my cheekbone on the cold surface of the toilet. My vision was starting to clear ever so slowly. The pain in my stomach, and lower back have subsided, and I can finally breathe again. My heart beats to its normal two-beat rhythm, and my head stops throbbing.
With unsteady legs, I get up from the position on the toilet and clean the bathroom from top to bottom.
After I finish cleaning, I sit on the floor and promise myself to only rest my eyes for a couple of minutes.
I don't hear the door open, nor do I hear my mother calling my name several times. She finds me exactly as I am sitting on the floor with my head resting on the toilet. I open my eyes and look at her.
“Alice honey, what are you doing on the floor?” She looks at me with worry in her eyes.
She stands by the bathroom door in her pink scrubs, holding her black knitted cardigan in her arms.
“I got sick.”
My mother kneels down on the floor in front of me and places her hand on my forehead.
“Did you catch a fever or something?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
'Right, well I think you should rest and drink plenty of water, and I'll call the doctor tomorrow if you want before I go to work, okay honey? No school for you tomorrow.”
She kisses me on the forehead and helps me slowly off the floor.
“How was work?” I follow my mother into the kitchen, and sit on the bar stool as she turns off the TV.
I've missed Game of Thrones. Again.
“Work was a little hectic but I'm happy to be home. Everything okay in school?”' She brings the uneaten pizza, and the unopened can of coke, into the kitchen and sets them on the counter.
“School was okay I guess. We have a new English teacher.”
“A new teacher? What happened to Mr. Daniels?” “I don't know. Maybe he quit?”
I don't know why I didn't tell my mother about Mr. Daniels, but I don't think telling her that he was supposedly found ripped to shreds in his home a good idea.
Who knows? Maybe Ryder only told me that to scare me?
“Well that's a shame. He was such a good teacher and he adored you.”
“I know, but.” I shrug my shoulders and stand to give my mother a hug. “Goodnight mom.”
She squeezes me tightly as she kisses the top of my head. “Goodnight honey. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
I walk up the stairs into my bedroom and lean my head against the door.
I actually did it, I did not change into a wolf.
I laugh hysterically to myself, feeling a great amount of triumph.
My body feels incredibly weak and drained after the events of last night and tonight, but at least the vomiting has stopped.
A part of me feels relieved that I won't have to face Ryder tomorrow, but the other part of me wants to tell him what happened here tonight.
He did tell me though that if I fought the change the first time, I'm less likely to survive the next change.