Dogs Chapters 3-4

III



  When the colour returned it was a garish and sickly yellow. I panicked and in a daze I hurriedly hauled my aching bones upright to try to get my bearings. My head throbbed incessantly; my body was tender and pathetic. It was what I had always imagined a hangover would feel like but having not experienced one personally I could only assume. I clutched at my temples but it did nothing to make sense of the world around me or to fill in the big blank space from the night before.

  Suddenly my stomach contorted, it made a sickening growl and an all encompassing feeling of nausea swept over me. Quickly I flipped over onto hands and knees as the contents of my gut shot forth enthusiastically to greet the cold ground beneath me. I was faced with a disgusting pile of viscous dark red gunk spreading slowly outwards. There wasn’t time to snatch a breath before the next onslaught came, filling my mouth with a disgusting, silky texture that I couldn’t place. My eyes watered, I spluttered and coughed, heaving as more vile vomit erupted from my otherwise dry mouth. Yeah I never said this story was gonna be glamorous.

  “Hey.” The words seemed distant, coming from the shadows. “Drink this, it’ll help.”

  A clattering sound followed, I shook my head in an attempt to clear it and out of the fog something finally began to come in to focus. A dented plastic bottle teetered back and forth on the ground beside me. I had to peel my hand away from the unexplainably sticky steel floor to reach for it. My movement felt unsteady and I wavered but managed to keep my balance, sluggishly I removed the cap and began to drink deep from the bottle. It helped to settle my stomach somewhat which was a relief.

  “Are you with us yet?” The shadow asked me, I twisted and slumped into a sitting position in a slightly fitter state to assess the situation. Thick metal bars stood all around me, unflinching. Overhead was a dusty old bulb, showering me with that yellow light. It hung limply from its broken fixture. A figure stood outside my cage patiently, hidden in darkness.

  “Who the fuck are you?” I asked wearily, trying to inject some anger in to my voice but failing rather pitifully.

“Hey, take it easy. I’m Matthew, what’s your name kid?” I ignored him and took another swig from the bottle, leaving it empty I dropped it on the ground and slowly stood up, holding on to the bars for support.

  Now I’ll level with you, I was more than a little scared, as much as I hate to admit it. I had woken up trapped, I had no idea where I was or who was keeping me there and I was in no fit state to defend myself. If there’s one thing you learn at school though it’s that if you don’t give the impression that you’re not to be fucked with, people will fuck with you. I wasn’t about to let that happen, not if I could help it.

“Take it easy? How about you let me the fuck out of here?” I said coldly. Foul language always helps of course. I took a step back and kicked as hard as I could at the bars. It was in that precise moment I realised my feet were bare, it hurt like a bitch. Score one to Matthew. I kept my face expressionless as my freshly damaged foot pulsated in sync with my heartbeat and tried to grab a hold of the cage again as casually as I could manage. My head was still swimming but it was beginning to clear.

“Whoa, calm down, I know this must be a little strange for you but please give me a chance to explain...” He pleaded far more rationally than I was willing to accept.

“Hell yeah it’s a little strange, how often do you wake up in a fetish dungeon? Judging by this, I’d guess a lot more often than I do.” I spat the words at him defiantly, within my heart was racing; I peered around hoping for a way out but the cage surrounded me on all sides. The bars at the top were spaced widely enough for me to easily get through, slim and nimble as I was but immediately above were wooden beams and thick oak planks. Not a chance of escaping that way. Beyond my prison all that was visible was the silhouette of the man calling himself Matthew. The dim bulb was a spotlight on the world’s worst one man show, starring yours truly.

  It was then that Matthew decided to join the act; he stepped in to the light revealing his features for the first time. A man of around average height he was barely taller than me and looked to be in his early forties. Soft lines adorned his face making him look sort of wizened; from what I could make out he had brown eyes and short hair that matched them in hue. He appeared doughy and malleable, all curves rather than harsh lines and suddenly I didn’t feel nearly as threatened. His attire made him look professional, although just how professional one can be at holding minors against their will is questionable. Unless he got an apprenticeship with Joseph Fritzl I couldn’t see how he could possibly have gained the experience required for such a title.

“What? No it’s nothing like that.” He chuckled awkwardly. “I’ll take that as the result of a vivid imagination, no this place has it’s uses but it’s nothing as sordid as all that.” He assured me but decided to stop his sorry excuse for an explanation there.

“This place? Well where exactly am I? If you could be just a little more vague in your answer this time that would be great thanks.” Back to my old self in no time, even under the circumstances.

“Kid you’re asking all the wrong questions, how about the really obvious one, how are you still alive?” It was then that it dawned on me, that moment was one of realisation. The previous nights events came flooding back in an unavoidable torrent, the bickering friends, the shining moon, the searing pain, those things...

  I glanced down instinctively, to the place where claws had met flesh. I wasn’t wearing my own clothes anymore, dressed in a white button up shirt and a pair of slacks a lost property box would be ashamed to be seen with. Both garments were too big for me but I was far more concerned with what lay beneath. I lifted the shirt, heart rate picking up, nerves returning in full force. As I peeled it back what lay beneath was unveiled, a quartet of scars running up my side, tracing the path of the monsters savage assault.

  So, you’ve probably heard of an “out of body experience”. Well that was what most of my organs were having when I had blacked out. Imagine my surprise when all that remained the morning after were scars that already looked faded, like an injury from years ago, lacerations that had long since recovered.  That was enough to make me drop the attitude.

“Alright... so how am I still alive?” I said the words softly, eyes still fixated on my wound.

“See this is going to sound kind of crazy to you. This is how it is though. Had it not been a full moon, you wouldn’t have survived last night.” He told me solemnly.

“Well if this is the alternative I wish I hadn’t.” I said without ever giving my brain the order to march those words out of my gormless face. Call it force of habit. I was half expecting the marks to disappear, to fade from existence before my eyes or to wake up in that tent with various profanities scrawled across my forehead in bold black ink. Sadly it never happened, it was reality and I was stuck with it.

  Matthew let out a short bark of laughter at whatever chemical imbalance in my brain causes sarcasm to leak free even when in the back of my mind I was considering the possibility I might be sliced thin and served on bread before the day was out.

“You’re taking this surprisingly well... erm, sorry what was your name?” When he asked this I considered giving a sarcastic response. Pretty quickly I changed my mind though, thinking perhaps it would be like getting a pet. Once you’ve named a pet you form an attachment and can’t dismember it in the basement right?

“It’s Zack.”

“Okay then Zack, I think it’s about time I told you what was going on. Through an unhappy accident you’ve become involved in something beyond what most people are aware of...” He took a deep breath and then sighed to himself, stalling. “You remember that thing that attacked you last night?”

“You mean that thing that chased me, that thing that made my insides my outsides? It rings a bell yeah.” Curiosity was evident in my tone.

“Well that thing was one of us.” Disbelief was my immediate reaction. It wasn’t possible, that creature was like six feet tall on all fours with fangs and claws. How could that become a man. I snorted derisively.

“Yeah right, you expect me to believe that shit? Let me out of here you fucking freak and give me my clothes back.” My body was sore in its entirety and my head still buzzed with a continuous ache.

“I can’t let you out and you can’t have your clothes back kid, they were destroyed in the transformation. Just hear me out.” He was calm and measured when he spoke, unlike me.

“Tranformation? What the hell are you talking about? Open this damn cage!” Increasingly aggravated I wasn’t in the mood for incarceration. I slammed the bars with an open palm and proceeded to throw myself against the locked gate; it bounced in place but easily repelled my feeble attack.

“If, you’ll just calm down and let me explain...” Matthew pleaded, still remaining prim and proper.

“Fuck your explanations let me out!” I shouted at the top of my lungs creating a racket with my futile attempts to break free.

“Enough.” A growling voice came through the blackness and I stopped dead. Matthews eyes widened, fear reflected in the low light, they mirrored my own. I heard the flick of a switch and a long halogen light began the stutter into life casting light on the rest of the room. It looked to be a cellar; dusty bottles of wine lay dormant on carefully arranged shelving, there were boxes neatly stacked and other cages, smaller than my own.

  The scariest thing there though, more fear inducing than the cages and the now clearly visible coppery stains beneath my feet was the towering figure of a man. He strode across the cellar towards me, my attitude had entirely evaporated. The man stopped still, he dwarfed any human being I had ever seen, I took a step back from the cages door in an effort to put some space between me and him. In that lingering moment of silence the stench of my own vomit flooded my nostrils and I felt like puking all over again.

  He had slicked back silvery hair, deep wrinkles and wore an expression that could curdle milk. The guy looked like he’d been carved from stone wrapped in leather. His broad features were spread wide across his face and his nose looked like it had been broken on several occasions. He peered at me through narrow eyes with utter disdain.

“You are alive because of him, listen.” His voice resonated to my very core and something within me submitted. I was terrified; it wasn’t fear of harm, it was as though some kind of intrinsic dominance was inbuilt within him. The fact that he could probably kill me with one gigantic hand didn’t do much to comfort me either.

  Matthews posture had stiffened up, he looked as tense as I felt when he spoke again.

“Okay, so Zack, we are Lycans. You’ve probably never heard of the term, it’s not widely known. You may be more familiar with the term werewolves...” he spoke like he was in a rush, like he wanted the conversation to be over as badly as I did. I just stared blankly at him trying to redirect my focus in his direction and ignore the looming figure beyond the gate.

“You saw us last night, you know what I’m saying is true. You were saved by the moon; all Lycans are born when the moon is full... you don’t remember last night but you can feel that something has changed within yourself, can’t you?”

  When he asked me that, I knew he was right. That white hot burning sensation, the intense pain and the fact that I had survived injuries that would be fatal to anyone. Something did feel different, I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was but I felt alien, less than comfortable in my own skin. I nodded slowly.

“Okay... so you left us in a bit of a predicament. Obviously we can’t allow you to go free without knowing what you are, you would be a danger to our secret and to all those around you. We cannot be discovered Zack that is of the utmost importance. Some of us had a solution to this problem that I found to be... distasteful, to say the least. You seem intelligent so I’m sure you understand what I mean by that.”

  I knew what he meant alright, they were going to kill me, make me disappear to keep their little cult a secret. My eyes flashed to the silver haired man, his face unchanged. So that was how it was, these people were serious.

“Thankfully I managed to convince them otherwise, this was not of your own doing and because of that, you deserve a chance.” Matthews face was grave. I didn’t speak, I couldn’t speak. The soundless seconds passed.

“You’ve been given another chance at life kid think of it that way. You will have to return to us though; we have to teach you to control what you are, it’s the only way.” It was hard to think of my second chance as a gift from these Lycans when I only lay dying in the first place because of one of them. He said I would have to return to them though which gave me hope of being freed.

“Alright Matthew, if that’s what I have to do.” It was insane, completely ludicrous to be agreeing to that. When had creatures of myth and legend stepped from fable into reality? Regardless, knowing what they were willing to do, I had no real choice. I was getting out of there as soon as possible.

“I’m very glad to hear that.” He said smiling weakly. “It’s time to get you home, before people wonder where you are.” Immediately the giant spectre pulled a large key from his pocket, rattled it into the lock and swung the cage door open. I didn’t have time to react; he brazenly kicked the back of my legs with a lazy swing of one gargantuan boot, causing me to drop to my knees. He took a piece of fabric from his pocket and used it as a makeshift blindfold; the musty cellar disappeared from view.

  Being blind was further pressure on my already battered nerves, an instant hatred had formed for the anonymous asshole who took it upon himself to drag me back to my feet and bind my hands. I was scared of him sure but deep within my very soul I already loathed him intensely.

“Sorry about the blindfold Zack it’s just a precaution.” Matthew said apologetically. I ignored him as I was dragged forwards. Shuffling sightless I felt myself being handed over.

“This kid is your problem, he causes us any trouble and it’s your head.” The rough voice spoke joylessly.

“I know, I understand.” Matthew replied.

  Our steps echoed across the cellar floor, I heard creaking hinges and an obtuse clattering of wood on stone. I was then pulled upwards, slipping on hard steps my shin connected painfully with a solid edge. I resented my blindfold even more so then, my progress didn’t slow when I fell and moments later I felt the piercing crunch of gravel under bare feet. Then came the unmistakeable sound of a car door opening, it slammed shut. Matthew came to a halt and I strolled carelessly in to the back of him, he apologized under his breath and the metallic clunk of the door could be heard again. I was threaded carefully in to the soft leather seat. My aching muscles were given some relief as the weight was taken my legs and the carpeted interior was much kinder on my little toes than the piles of pointy rocks were.

  Aside from the telltale sound of rubber on gravel as we pulled away, the tyres meeting the road and a clinking sound of unknown origin the drive was mostly in silence. They asked for a phone number which I begrudgingly gave them. I was informed with dead certainty that had I lied about the number they could find me anyway, I believed them without a shadow of a doubt although I didn’t understand how that could be possible.

  They asked me where my unfortunate excursion into the forest had begun, I told them that we had crossed the school athletic fields and Matthew suggested that I be dropped near the grounds. That was fine by me, it was close to home but I didn’t have to show them exactly where I lived, I was sure it would make no difference. If they wanted to come for me they would. Still there was a small degree of comfort to be found in any tiny amount of anonimity I could manage.

  The minutes slipped by uncounted, it felt like a great length of time but when you’re not allowed to see seconds seem to stretch. The car had a kind of damp smell to it and this was what I fixated on for the majority of the journey, all the while thoughts of just how insane my predicament was bounced around in my head.

  When the vehicle finally came to rest and my blindfold was removed I was relieved to say the least. I was sat in the back of a worn out old range rover, dark green and mud spattered. The leather seats were battered and faded, cracks were abundant throughout and odd lengths of rope and random tools were scattered on the floor. That explained the clinking I heard, one mystery down and a shit load to go. The old giant spun around in his position in the passengers seat, large knife in hand and for a second I expected it to become buried in my neck. He cut the rope and I rubbed my sore wrists.

“You’ll be hearing from us very soon.” Matthew stated.

“Get out.” Yeah that other guy really had a way with words, I was more than happy to oblige. I dropped heavily out of the huge 4x4 and landed in a heap on the concrete outside the school gates. I stayed sitting on the ground until the filthy Range Rover pulled away and rounded the corner out of sight. It had blacked out windows so no one would have seen me perched in the back seat like planet earths least valuable hostage. I dragged my fragile frame up from the floor; it was ice cold on my bare feet. With a last glance in all directions to make sure I wasn’t being watched I hurriedly staggered home.







IV





  So after one crazy night and a pretty fucked up morning I was finally back where I belonged. I returned to find a text from Jake asking if I was still alive. I text back a single word, “barely”, turned off my phone and then fell into a state of near hibernation for the rest of the weekend.  It felt good to slip into denial and disregard everything, the fucked up attack and the unbelievable revelations about mythical creatures being a reality. Well, one mythical creature at least. I didn’t even worry about how I was going to explain my scars to anyone or how I was supposed to cope with my newly acquired wolf-man status.

  It was always night in my room, the blind was always down. I didn’t depend on the sun, that unreliable orange sphere. It seems to come and go as it pleases, its light often blocked by lesser things. I took real comfort in the unchanging darkness, unchanging that is apart from the intermittent glow from the television, with all its flashing and flickering, often interfering with the soothing blackness. The best part of two days is a long time though so I thank television for being ever present and helping me through those monotonous hours, television and sleep, my allies and my friends. Given what had happened to me though I’d say that my preference for solitude was more justified than ever that weekend. I didn’t even have the heart to eat having fully lost my appetite after puking up my mystery meal.

  Sadly my self induced seclusion had to come to an end when that most imperative of things, education, beckoned. I wanted nothing less than to go back to school, over that long and wasted weekend I had numbed myself to all facts and feelings both new and old. I had existed within a bubble, a safe and warm place. A place where that feeling of comfort and near nothingness, the one you get in the moments before falling asleep, was perpetual.

  The bubble burst when my mother who had appeared in my doorway a few times over the two day span, mainly to see if I was still breathing or on the brink of starvation, appeared yet again and informed me that I was to arise from my sloth-like state and get myself to that wonderful house of learning. She had got me some new trainers though after I told her I had stepped in the worlds biggest shit and threw the old ones away, so I forgave her for being the bearer of bad news in return.

  Reluctantly I dragged my creaking bones from my pit and made for the shower, water was the cure for whatever it was that was making me feel utterly broken and I found this out when it cascaded down in the way it’s prone to do and dragged me away from the very edge of slumber. With every drop more and more of my usual self returned and with it came all the crap that had happened to me and all the talk of the werewolves and my uncertain future. It hit home even harder when I glanced down to see the scars still there plain as day as they always would be, a mark of my new tribe.

  My hair is long for a boy, I don’t know if I mentioned that already but it felt the need to remind me by getting all in my eyes while I washed, but wash I did and by the end of it all I was reborn. I was my former self again, with some minor tweaks of course.

  I dried hastily, not because I was in a hurry to get to school and face a full day of a scholarly nature, you should know me better than that by now. No it was because I didn’t want my mom to see the marks on my body. Thankfully the uniform our school chose to make mandatory wasn’t exactly a revealing ensemble. It was comprised of a white long sleeved button up shirt, smart black trousers and an equally black blazer. It was supposed to be topped off with some shiny black shoes, yeah they really like their black.

  Now I would understand this if we students worked in a bank or as undertakers but in a school, looking smart is wholly unnecessary, being smart is the key but this is something the faculty seemed to neglect to realise. Anyway in order to prove a point id shared with no one, I wore my trainers, like I always did but this time they were new, shiny and white. I knew they wouldn’t remain so for long.

  Safely hidden behind my school attire I went down for breakfast, my mom had lovingly prepared some toast for me. I wolfed it down, said my goodbyes and left. When I arrived at school I was only 5 minutes late, a personal best. This meant I had the pleasure of going to form in the morning to be registered.

  When I entered the form room, which was in the maths department, maths teacher come form tutor Mr Osborne who was perched behind his desk decided to make a scene out of my entrance.

“Ahh Zack! What a privilege to see you so early in the morning, to what do we owe such an honour!?” He said cheerfully with his arms outstretched, his sarcasm, brought grins to the faces of the class.

“Well sir the pleasure is all mine, I’m here because I’m eager to learn obviously, as if you even had to ask!” I replied emulating his upbeat manner. He was a good guy really, one of the few teachers in the school who wasn’t to put it politely, a massive twat. He really knew his stuff as well; when it came to maths he could give Carol Vorderman a run for her money. That’s probably why I actually had respect for him, he wasn’t one of those slacking, clueless, textbook teachers, who’s lessons boiled down to planting our posteriors and reading a book on the subject in silence for sixty minutes. That and the fact that he didn’t seem to have a stick up his ass about every little thing, like my lateness for example.

“Well, take a seat.” He said and smiled. I gave him a polite nod and the class went back to their usual murmurings and mutterings. I scanned the room for somewhere to sit, Jake and Venn were sat in the back corner of the room next to each other and parallel to them was an empty table, I sauntered between the rows of matching desks and matching chairs filled with matching classmates and took my spot next to my fellow former campers.

“Well look who’s back from the dead,” Jake leaned over “we didn’t think we’d be seein’ you again mate.” He said enthusiastically, he’d obviously been itching to talk to someone about the events of that fateful Friday night, you know someone more talkative than Venn. Venn gave a short breathy laugh at his comment.

“Well you didn’t seem too fussed about seeing me again when you were legging it as fast as you could in the opposite direction, I like how you abandoned me and left me for dead, cheers for that one.” I replied sardonically. In all fairness though if I was ahead of him when we were running for our lives id have left him to, fuck playing the hero.

“Hey you gotta look out for number one,” He gave the cheesiest wink of all time “what the hell was that thing anyway?” I feigned ignorance.

“I dunno, looked like a bear or something. It was too dark to tell and I wasn’t exactly bothered about getting a good look at the thing, I just ran for it.” short and to the point. Totally believable or so I hoped.

“I’m not sure it was a bear, whatever it was it shit me up, me and Venn got out of there ASAP when we heard it.” he said with unfocussed eyes as if remembering the fear.

“Yeah I noticed, there was me wasting precious breath on telling you guys to run and before I could utter a word you were long gone. Cheers again by the way.”

“Don’t mention it.” He replied causally. They really had taken the every man for himself approach but who can blame them, anyone would have done the same in their position, I suppose it’s human nature.

“We managed to stay together but we lost James.” Venn said in his monotone voice, I was surprised he had managed a full sentence without any support or encouragement. Perhaps this was the beginning of a whole new era of Venn the conversationalist, then again perhaps not.

“You lost James, have you talked to him since?” I asked them.

“Nah, I thought I’d text you to see if you had made it out alright. Fuck James.” Jake said jokingly, he seriously hadn’t called him or anything though. Jake and James really did amuse me with inability to get along; it was a source of near infinite entertainment. Those were simpler times and in a way I almost miss it now.

“Oh by the way, you didn’t happen to pick up Venns bag did you?” He asked me.

“No, why?”

“Because I could really do with that back.” Venn interjected weakly. He meekly lifted a supermarket plastic bag with all of his school stuff in. The lack of expression in his voice only served to make that even more hilarious to me. I had one of those laughing fits where you can’t breathe; he was so pathetic at times it was practically adorable. Jake reliably informed me that despite the loss of the bag the tent would not be missed. I agreed with that, it could stay there lost and forgotten for the rest of time for all any of us cared.

  Mr Osborne didn’t call out the register like most teachers, he knew every person in his form by name and he would mark them silently on his list as they came through the door. It doesn’t sound like a major thing but it does serve to make the fifteen minutes of form time more relaxed. He was one of those people you could just tell wasn’t a bad person; he never seemed to stress about anything. Not long before the end of form he beckoned me to the front desk.

  As I approached him I took in his features, his bushy dark brown beard and thick, wavy brown hair that linked so seamlessly you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. The crow’s feet around his eyes that made him look distinguished and world weary, the tie that made it seem like he was making an effort to look professional. He was a short man probably only around 5ft5 but no one ever seemed to take the piss out of him for it like students are prone to do to teachers, probably just because he was such a pleasant presence. See I can be caring and kind, I can say good things about people. Remember this later on when your opinion of me may start to deviate; I’m no less than a winged angel I assure you.

  “Zack I notice you’re wearing trainers as usual, they look new.” He said, a perfect example of calm, glancing down at my feet.

“Yeah they are sir, is that why you called me up here?”

“Yes Zack, all I’ll say is they stand out, so try to avoid unwanted attention. You know how some of the staff here can get.” Mr Osborne seemed like a prime example of an enlightened man; forget Buddha that was what someone who was truly content was like.

“Will do sir, thanks.” I gave him a nod again. Why can’t all teachers be so lenient, some would send you home for stuff like that and threaten you with all sorts of crap? Detentions, maybe even suspension, all to show their authority. It’s amazing what the smallest amount of power can do to corrupt. He then peered around me to tell the class it was time to head off to lesson so I bid him farewell, left the room and descended the three flights of stairs necessary to reach the bottom floor. Then I had to head for the upper part of the school where the IT department was, it was quite the trek.

  I drifted through that lesson and the two others I had before lunch time in my usual way, head down for the duration failing to even feign interest. IT makes my style of learning so much easier to pursue as there’s a great lump of plastic, glass and circuitry between me and my interfering enemy. I thought a little about the Lycans and stuff but it was sort of at the back of my mind, it seemed like a half forgotten dream and now I was firmly grounded back in the normal, the routine, the mundane. It would all become very real again soon enough. When lunch time arrived I found that James had returned and my trio of friends were arguing as usual.  That is to say that Jake and James were arguing and Venn was an awkwardly positioned bystander.

  “You just left me out there, ran for it and left me!” James was livid; his eye even twitched a little. Venn was trying his very best not to laugh as the disagreement progressed.

“Every man for himself...” Jake said and grinned with shark like teeth.

“I’ll remember that, oh and you Zack, thanks for trying to help me! No one called all weekend; I’m fine by the way!” He spat, he was so frustrated but it was difficult not to find it comical.

“Well that makes a fucking change,” I replied wryly, calling attention to his hypochondria “I was at the back you tit, if anything you left me.” Which was a fair point considering I was the one being spread about the forest like some sort of human fertilizer, while the rest of them escaped unscathed.

“Anyway,” Jake cut in “forget that, where have you been all morning?” He asked James.

“If you must know, I had an allergic reaction to something I ate and my throat was closing up, I had to go to the hospital! Yeah I’m fine by the way!” James repeated obviously hoping for more sympathy than he was ever going to get. Venn accidentally let a quick laugh escape, which was a shame after all the effort he put in to keeping his laughs in. He was met by a ferocious glare from James whose eyes narrowed menacingly. It was pretty funny because he was so short compared to Venn, he reminded me a little of the Martian from the old Looney Tunes cartoons. Venn looked a little embarrassed and even went slightly red which I found to be quite amusing. James got terrored all day about his possibly true probably false allergic episode. I even went as far as to tell him I wished his throat had closed up because at least then he couldn’t chat so much shit.

  The rest of that day went on much the same as most of those before it. Wandering from lesson to lesson and slouching through them in a daze, paying little attention to anything any teachers said or did and only really engaging with the world outside my own head when one of my acquaintances decided to drag me kicking and screaming into conversation.

  I was glad when it was over; I had regained a sense of normality that had been distinctly lacking over that weekend, being in familiar halls and seeing familiar faces and even just being bored out of my mind made me feel at ease. All that was shattered though when I returned home to find I had a text from Matthew, I never took my phone to school because I lived so close and I pretty much despise having to speak to people but I always checked it when I got back just on the off chance someone found a reason to call me. It simply read “We’ll pick you up Wednesday at 6:00pm” but behind those seemingly regular words were secrets that no one was to know, no one would understand the significance apart from those involved, the thought of having to step back into the world of wolves sent a chill down my spine for some reason, call it instinct. Forget school, Wednesday 6:00pm that was when the real lessons would start.