A High School Werewolf

Chapter 3-Kinda the First Time Dealing with Emotions

Legs burning, lungs burning, distance closing Sarah felt panic overtake her as she crashed through the underbrush, but despite her efforts the masked man following her caught her and threw her against a tree. Except it wasn't a tree it was another man. His blacked garbed arms held her tight as the masked man approached sword in hand, and removed his mask revealing the face of the man Sarah had killed, and just as he jabbed the sword at Sarah, she woke up in a cold sweat. Breath coming heavy as the panic ebbed. I'm fine. I'm safe. I'm in my dorm. They aren't here. They aren't here. He isn't going to come back for revenge. I killed him in self-defense. It's not my fault. Not my fault. Not my fault. A glance at her clock confirmed her suspicions that it was way too early to be awake, 4:00 am. "ugh" Sarah groaned. She knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep. She never could when she saw his face. Despite her logical side knowing better, she still felt guilty. Guilty for killing a man, guilty for not protecting her family, guilty for having to rely on others. She punched her pillow. Anger at herself for not being strong enough, anger at the lunar army for taking away her family. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Do it again. And again. Again. Sarah calmed herself before moving to the end of her bed and quietly retrieved her book from her desk. Reading was one of her coping mechanism since the nightmares had begun. She had never told anyone about them because one, who would she tell, the orphanage staff, they had other problems, and two, she felt that it was her own problem. She would escape into the world of the book forgetting all about her own complicated life in favor of reading about someone else's. A little twisted, but it worked.

A sleepy Amy disturbed Sarah by asking incredulously, "Have you been reading all night?"

Without looking up Sarah replied, "No."

"So, did you get up early to read?"

"No."

"Did I do something to offend you?"

"No."

"Then why are you giving me one syllable responses?"

"Sorry. I just really get zoned into reading and kind of forget about the outside world. If you don't mind me asking why you were upset last night?"

"I don't mind. My brother told me that our dog died last night. I should have seen it coming she was really old and had cancer, but it still hurts."

"I'm sorry I wasn't much help. Emotions aren't my strong point."
"Are they anyone's? Come on let's go get some breakfast."

When they arrived at the cafeteria Taylor was already there eating, but when she saw the mournful expression plastered on her two friends' expressions, she sighed rolled her eyes and asked the obligatory, "Ok, obviously I missed something. Mind filling me in?"

Amy and Sarah exchanged a glance and Sarah awkwardly avoided the question, "I'll let Amy tell you, it's kind of personal for her."

Amy shot Sarah a glare, "Way to throw me under the bus. Long story short: my dog died, and my brother told me last night, Sarah didn't know how to deal with emotions, so she just read her book-"

Taylor interjected, "Totally understandable emotions are hard; books are easy. Oh, and I'm sorry about you dog."

Amy continued "Jeez, thanks. Anyway, I woke up to find her still reading-"

Taylor interrupted, again, "You read all night, Sarah. Wow! And you call me a nerd Amy."

Amy huffed, "Actually no, she didn't read all night and if you would let me finish-"