Timeline

The Wolf

"Sam? Are you ok?" I was rubbing my eyes and my jaws.

"I'm not sure. My head hurts really bad. I feel like I'm going to explode." There was a moment of silence as my mom and step dad exchanged a look.

"We need to talk to you about something very important and very secret." My step dad sat down next to me and they both grabbed one of my hands. I was starting to get a little bit worried. "I adopted you. Your dad and I found you inthe forest alone. Buried in leaves. We were walking and we heard a baby crying. We looked and looked and finally we found you. We brought you home and looked you over to make sure you were ok." My mom stopped talking to let that much sink in. I was so confused. Why hadn't she told me sooner?

"Why is that a secret? Why can't I tell anybody that?" I asked before they could say or do anything else.

"That was just the important part," I didn't say anything else so they could tell me what was going on. "As we looked you over, we noticed three things. First, you were shaking. Not a lot. Just a little bit. Second, your veins were showing. They weren't red or blue. They were black. And they were all over your face and your hands. Third, your eyes were yellow. As we took care of you, these things all started to fade. We spent three days doing nothing but researching what could've happened to you. It came down to one possibility. Sam, you're a werewolf."

"What?!" I got up as I said it. "So you're telling me, I'm a monster that was adopted and lied to my entire life?" I started breathing fast and hard in anger, accompanied by shaking. My mom held up a hand-held mirror so I could see myself. My eyes were a bright yellow. I had dark, black veins on my neck and cheeks. I looked down at my shaking, clammy hands. They were covered in the same black black veins that were on my face. I took a deep breath. "What does this mean?"

"It means you have to try and control your temper. You'll learn how to eventually. It also means that you're transforming tomorrow night."

"What do you mean?" The anger was slowly fading but the confusion and anxiety was replacing it. I was still looking at my hands. Why won't they go away?

"Tomorrow's a full moon. You have to be extra careful around people. And you have to come home directly after school tomorrow. You're going to be turning into a wolf for the first time." I dropped the mirror but was still completely frozen. I was angry again but I was also terrified. That's why they won't go away. There's too many emotions going through me right now.

"What about Stewart? And Ash? What about all of my friends?" I started backing towards the stairs. The second my shoulder bumped against the railing, I turned around and sprinted up to my bedroom, slammed the door, and locked it before flinging myself on my bed. I curled up in a ball and cried my eyes out. What if Stewart followed me home tomorrow? What if they found out without me telling them? Would they still love me? What if they didn't? What if they didn't want anything to do with me? I didn't have answers to any of these questions. I didn't know what I was going to do at all. But I did know one thing. I needed to calm down before I completely lose control.

"Sam? You need to calm down. You won't do you any good." Rob never was good at sweet talking or pep talks. "It'll only hurt."

"Go away," I was still crying. I could smell them outside of my door. That was the weirdest thing. All of my senses were much more pronounced than usual.

"Sweetie?" It was my mom this time. "Can you unlock the door please? It's only me." I sat up, wiped the tears off my face, walked over and unlocked the door. She walked in and shut the door again behind her. Following me over to the edge of my bed, she said, "Rob's right. It'll only hurt."

"What does that mean? Why would it hurt?"

"You can't transform until a full moon. For the first time anyway. Your body's not prepared in a way. You're not supposed to transform until the night of a full moon so, all of the signs like these," she waved her hand over my hands, that were still shaking slightly and covered in black veins, "aren't supposed to really happen either. So, the more upset you get right now, the more it's going to hurt you."