HOWLER

Chapter 41: Rocking in fear

Really short chapter, but it is important :)

In the distance, I hear weeping. The mist of my unconscious slumber dissipates more and more when the pain on the back of my head pluses.

The voices around me exchange a few words but it is very faint to me and zones out again before I sense my body resurface from whatever comatose condition I was in.

"Austry...Austry", a muffled voice says shakily. The person's breath fans over my left wrist and tightens their hands over my hand. The fog slowly blurs away as my eyes adjust to the yellowish orange dew of the room. My eyes clear up and I see white bed sheets and a metal pipe frame at the end of the bed.

"Look who's finally joined us in the world of the living" a melo soft feminine voice says. The owner of the shaky one quickly stands, to this, peers over the edge of the soft bed. It dips toward them and I shift my body cry in protest when the bruise along my arms scrap the owner's arms.

"Austry!" the person at the side of the bed yells excitedly. When my eyes fully clear, my eyes meet Daniel and Cynthia's brown eyes.

"I see you're awake" Cynthia smiles sweetly. My body jerks toward and I clench my jaw as I do so. The pain strikes down on my stomach and my hand hold it to somehow deal with it without bringing too much attention to myself.

"What happened where's-" suddenly the memories flood in and I bit my lip to say more. What on Earth happened? My voice is hoarse and deep but I think that's because my throat's dry as a desert. The brutal motion of the fight makes me shake my head side to side. He attacked me with no mercy just as he said he would. I fell in his trap, allowing him to see how weak I am in his opinion like some kind of test subject in all this.

"You knocked out during training", Daniel's voice bring me back to the present. I look at him gently before Daniel turns his face away from me and runs his arm across his face and sniffles, "Don't do that, Senpai. I-I don't...No! I don't want to cry!". He wipes more vigorously at his face.

Cynthia throws him a surprised look before looking at me, "Once you feel okay to walk, tell me ok? Steven needs to talk to you". Her concerned eyes were clouded with an unknown expression. Perhaps I look really out of shape. I nod silently. Cynthia looks at me with the same expression before walking out of the room.

"Wow you look terrible" a voice says. My head turns to the other side of the room. Alice has her earphones in her ears as she scrolls down her phone.

"Is it...that bad?" I ask nervously. As I look down, I see the dry cracks on my lips with blood. My arms are like a mural of colorful veins that vary from purple to red. Plus my head is aching, hooray.

Daniel shrugs before sitting on the bed and turning towards me, "I think you look like a badass with battlescar all you need is to put bandages and you're all set as a badass anime girl...But they do look painful", he frowns as he inspects them more closely.

A smile curves my chapped lips. His humor and love for anime and games always puts a smile on my face. I guess that's why I can't imagine myself here without them. I can barely even be here with them. It has nothing to do with the face, they are criminal. It plays a part but in the whole picture it's really small.

I hurriedly run my fingers through his hair, fluffing it up "Hey!" he shouts. He pouts and angrily messes my hair up, yet careful to not hit the bandage I feel tightening my jaw close.

"But at least you did a number on him. He was really shakin'" Alice says seriously. She throws herself off the bench she was lying on and stands next to the bed, looking at my condition.

"Shaking how? Did he go wee wee or soil himself? How awesome, I feel so great for making people fear me"I roll my eyes and shake my head disapprovingly.

"What the heck that suppose to mean, Austry!?", Alice shouts crossing her arms and tilting her head. I can feel her eyes like laser beams, digging holes into my skull.

"That I don't like...to..whatever forget it" I gulp. Sheez, I gotta watch my tongue. When I see the vicious smile on her face, the tension washes away. There are times, we fight but in most times we handle it playfully or I give up because you don't mess with Alice. I knew that since I was young. She is a firecracker who can burn underneath the skin if she chooses to.

"Guys", I felt myself feel a bit courageous to ask although I feel plagued by the answer they could give, "Are you, like, do you...like knowing we are werewolves still?".

The fight and the conversation Steven forced me to talk about has left me with a very heavy emotion; guilt. But in reality, I did feel that discovering I was this species that I use to read so much about every day in books was anything but what I wanted in real life.

The thought of a wolf living inside me and being driven by anger and has the ability to kill makes me scared to summon it. Then there's the wars, I don't want to see people die, I don't want to see wolves die and then I don't want to see my friends and people around me die. The click I felt yesterday made me feel like I lost control and someone shoved me aside. It was a click that made every fear inside of me surface and boil which made me panic and begin to want to hide. Someone else surfaced and ran at Steven. I have no idea what or who it is but I know... violence triggered it.