Of the Shadows

Chapter 9: Greif

I couldn't remember how I got home. I recall getting in my car and leaving Angie's place. After that I remember crying. My tears stung the scratches from the monster's tongue on my cheek. All but blind from my swollen eyes and a scattered mind I managed to make it home. Grief rested heavy on my soul. It squeezed my chest too tightly and tossed my thoughts around like debris in a hurricane. The image of Angie's inviting crooked smile, elegantly placed teeth in the curtain of her soft pink lips. The way her ears and nose blushed with her cheeks when she was embarrassed. The fire of determination that burned in her hazel eyes when she was creating art or working on a project. Her bubbly energy, always there to hype me up when I was feeling down. Her sweet scent that clung to her belongings and invaded my senses. It all overwhelmed me. I hugged myself across my stomach and cried dry sobs-  sadness beyond tears. My head rested on the steering wheel as I stared at the passenger seat. It was empty besides a hoodie Angie had tossed in the front and the money jar that sat on the floor. The hoodie was one of her favorites, almost a galaxy themed tye dye with deep purples, blues, turquoise, and fucia. It was one of the few oversized things she had that did not belong to Chris. I picked it up and started to slip it on when I noticed all the gunk plastered to my arms. They were painted with blood, body fragments, dirt, and other debris from the forrest floor. I took a deep breath and forced my way out of the car, hoodie in hand, and into my home.
Mum knew Angie was gone before I could utter the words. She had a way of knowing things.  She was sitting in the living room floor by the fire.  A large puffy towel was near the hearth getting warm. As soon as the door opened Mum rose effortlessly and had me in her arms before I could replace the salt. We cried together.
"I am so sorry honey." She muttered into my hair. I gripped Angie's hoodie in a tight wad  behind my mother's back and shook with grief as Mum gently rubbed mine. I didn't have to say anything.  She led me to the bathroom and started a hot shower for me.
"I'll be right here." She motioned to the door and cracked it behind her.
I stopped in front of the mirror and observed my reflection. I looked almost feral. My eyes were bloodshot and puffy  from crying. The tears washed away patchy streaks through the brownish red blood and grime that painted my face, revealing slivers of my tawny skin. Leafs, twigs, and grass were woven into my wild hair. They jutted out at odd angles throughout the dark tangled tresses. The scratches the monster had licked into me burned on the right side of my face and my collar bone. I was such a bloody mess I wouldn't be able to fully examine the wound until I was clean.
I got in the shower fully dressed. The coating of Angie's blood had glued my clothes to me. Brown and red filled the bottom of the tub and made their way down the drain. I finally removed my clothes and stomped on them, flooding the water with more pigment. It took an eternity to get  all of my friend and all of the dirt off of me. The warm water stung my wound. The pain kept me focused on the task at hand. I picked a chunk of her flesh from my hair and threw up in the shower.  Yellow bile amongst the muck.
My mom came back in when she heard it. She finished washing my hair for me. She combed it out lovingly like she used to do for me when I was a child. She made sure my back was blood free before she disappeared breifly in the house and returned with the warm towel. She wrapped me up in it and helped me out of the shower.  We let the water run a while longer to help clear some of the mess out of the shower. I grabbed a cleaning rag from under the sink and Mum snatched it from me.
"I've got this my sweet Maura, go rest."
I gave a weak nod and slumped off to my bed. I lay there on top of my blanket, naked, wrapped in a towel. Mum must have lay Angie's hoodie on my bed because I held it now.  After I was dry I put it on. It wasn't too big on me, the sweatshirt that once swallowed my friend, but it was warm and comfortable.  I wrapped my blankets around my lower half, laid on my side, and curled into fetal position.
Images of the turmoil of the day flooded my mind. The creature. The sick warmth of Angie's blood. Her hollow body after it sucked out her innards. The pain my blood had caused the beast.  
I wondered if I could hunt the thing down and force a pint of it down its throat. Maybe it would die. It wouldn't bring my friend back but I was sure it would make me feel better. I also couldn't understand why my blood would have that effect on the beast in the first place. I was nothing special. Maybe the necklace protected me. It buzzed warmly on my chest. I hadn't removed it when I showered.
Mum knocked lightly on my doorframe before she stepped through the open door and sat on the edge of the bed beside me. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear and rubbed my head lovingly. She traced her finger as gently as possible along the scrapes that stretched from my temple down my cheek to my collar bone. I drew a sharp breath as I winced at the pain.
"What did this?"
"I don't know." I croaked, voice shot from the day. "It ate Angie." A tear slid down my cheek but I didn't move as my mother studied the wound.
"It reeks of a turned soul. A powerful thing thats too far gone into the darkness. A demonic thing." Mum ran her hand over the area without touching it as if she were reading a message in braille that only she could see.  She drew in air through her teeth and hummed softly to herself. There was a rhythmic entrancing feel to the process. The humming stopped as her face crumbled into fear.  She spoke in a whisper I could barely hear. "Skinwalker."