Once Upon a Werewolf |Isaac Lahey|

Chapter 7

To say the motel room was a dump would be an understatement. The orange wallpaper has started peeling away, revealing the water stained walls underneath. The only sink in the bathroom runs a slow stream of cold water, and there is mold growing both in the bathtub and on the ceiling. The sheets on my queen sized bed are dusty, leaving me to wonder when the last time someone had slept here was. Across from me on the other bed was a senior named Caitlin, who had taken to flipping through the channels on the TV. I look over to see that every station is static, and after a few minutes Caitlin just lays down on the bed with a sigh. Her hair lays out around her like a dark halo, her skin pale against the brown sheets.

"Hey," She says, speaking to me for the first time since we got paired up in this room, "Eleanor right?"

"Yeah," I respond, and I watch as she gets up from the bed to start rustling through her gym bag.

"I checked the weather for tomorrow and there's no way that meet is going to happen. Since there's no wifi here and the TV is broken, I figure we could try and make the most of this complete waste of a trip?" She says, pulling a bottle of wine from her bag.

"Do you always bring a bottle of wine to cross country meets?" I ask with a laugh

"No, my mom wanted me to give it to my aunt who was stopping by to cheer me on today, but I figure we need it more. What do you say?"

In response I stand up and search the room for something to open the bottle with. Surprisingly, the motel has stocked the mini fridge with a corkscrew, and I throw it over to where Caitlin is sat on the floor. I find two paper cups wrapped in plastic sitting on the bathroom counter and bring them with me as I sit next to Caitlin. She pours my cup up a little more than halfway and gives herself a slightly more generous pour.

"Thanks for this," I say, taking a sip. Caitlin laughs at the face I make when I taste the bitter red wine. I watch her take a sip, noticing the dark rings around her brown eyes. Caitlin has been on the team as long as I have, and though we never really spoke before, I don't think I have ever seen her look this drained. She is usually one of our fastest, most dedicated runners, but here we both are sipping wine the day before our not yet canceled meet, trying to drink our demons away.

"Can I ask you something?" She says after a long sip

"Sure," I respond, trying to keep pace with her drinking.

"I wasn't in school that day, but I heard you were the one that found the body at practice."

I slowly move the cup from my lips and peer down at shallow pool of wine. I'm brought back to that moment; the blood on the body's chest, Kyle's chest, is the same deep red as the wine I am drinking. I realize then that I hadn't let myself talk to anyone about what had happened. I still didn't think I was ready.

"I did, yeah," I respond, unsure of where Caitlin will lead this conversation. She finishes off her cup, and pours herself another. I let her add a bit more to my cup as well.

"I don't know if you have heard but my girlfriend Emily was killed. The police think the same person who killed Kyle also killed her."

"I hadn't heard," I admit. I think back to how Boyd suddenly reappeared and the immediately joined our team to travel for away race after being missing for months. It was as if nothing had even happened. I think about how no one said anything about what might have happened to Erica, and how it was getting more and more likely that she died. I feel like Beacon Hills is just getting so used to missing people, murders and vandalism to the point that people have become numb to it. But looking over at Caitlin right now I see she is still very much living in a nightmare.

"I didn't know that more than one person had been killed," I say when she doesn't respond, "I'm so sorry for your loss. Do you want to talk about what happened?"

Caitlin has moved onto her third cup, lips stained red with the wine. She looks so exhausted and I wonder briefly why she even came to this meet in the first place. At first I think she might not want to say anything about it, that she might just want to drink the rest of the wine in silence, but she looks up from her cup with tears brimming her eyes and opens up.

"You wouldn't have met Emily, she went to anyone school," She says, putting her cup down, "But she was the most incredible and kind person I have ever met. We went out camping that night. I wanted it to be a special night, just make a special night for her because she deserved it. I had set up the tent with these twinkle lights and lanterns. It looked like a picture right out of Pinterest and it had taken me hours to put together. Then out of nowhere a giant bug landed on top of the tent. I swatted it off, thinking that was the end of it, but soon they were everywhere. They completely covered the net, it was disgusting. I think Emily must have found one inside the tent because the next thing I knew she was screaming and running away. I tried to chase after her, but--"

Caitlin cuts off and I first I think it's because she is going to cry. I'm prepared to grab onto her hand and give her a little bit of reassurance, when she looks up at me with clear eyes. I'm surprised to see that it is fear in her eyes, not sadness.

"Eleanor, I know this is going to make me sound crazy, but I saw something that night?"

"You mean you think you saw who killed Emily?" I ask, feeling the mood of the room shift

"No, at least I don't think so. This was different. I saw a girl who looked like she, god this just sounds crazy, she looked like she had fangs, and claws and her eyes were glowing. I don't remember how she got there, but I remember she started fighting with another guy. At one point I think she threw him up against tree and he just acted like nothing had even happened. Then all of a sudden there were three guys, all fighting her. I just stood there watching, I don't even think they noticed I was there. I thought I was hallucinating at first, because I had just taken some X, but I had only taken half a pill and I don't think it had even kicked in at that point." Caitlin says.

I just sit there with my mouth open. Normally I would assume that this was some kind of joke but Caitlin sounded so serious. Deadly serious actually, and she looks absolutely terrified.

"I know I sound crazy, I know," She continues, "But when I was on the bus up here the memory just came back so clear as soon as I saw them. I know that they were there that night, fighting with the girl."

"Who did you see?" I ask, and watch her eyes go wide.

"Scott McCall and Isaac Lahey."

~~~

By the time I'm back on the bus the next morning I feel sick. I don't know if it is a hangover, the effect of sleeping in that mold-ridden room, or just plain nerves. I'm careful to pick a seat in the back, away from the rest of the group. I don't make eye contact with anyone but Danny, who I give my best fake smile. Even he looks a little worse for wear sitting next to a tired looking Ethan. I can only hope he had a better night than me.

Almost immediately after Caitlin told me her story last night, she crawled into bed and fell right asleep. I hadn't known what to say to her at the time, but I gave her a hug and told her I was so sorry Emily was gone. I wanted to write off immediately that everything she told me was crazy, but she seemed so sure. Maybe she had gotten a few things a bit wrong, like the claws and glowing eyes, but how was I to know whether or not Scott and Isaac could be found late at night wandering the woods of Beacon Hills? I had no idea what kind of trouble Isaac might be getting up to, and after all that had happened I couldn't say anything was past him at this point.

I let myself look over to where Isaac is sitting next to Boyd for just a moment. He looks just as tired as the rest of the bus with his head leaning up against the window. Looking at him now I wonder if I had ever really known him at all.