Part of the Plan (Book 2 in the 'part of' series)

Chapter 10 Denial

Chapter 10 Denial

Emi was not joking when she said that she would come to meet me. I could hear her coming from along the street. Her footsteps were harsh and heavy. Her breathing was surprisingly steady. I watched her curiously as she threw herself at the swing next to me, gasping slightly as it moved.

"Careful there." I chuckled as I saw her startled eyes. I hadn't had enough time to get over how annoyed and scared I currently was. I tried to play it cool though as she sent me an annoyed look. I looked down to see that she was wearing a vest and sweatpants. "You'll be freezing!" I scolded her slightly.

"Oh, come off it!" She exclaimed slightly. I couldn't read her expression. "So, you went into the forest?" She bit her lip harshly. I could see her bouncing on the swing lightly. Her fingers played with the chains which were holding the seat up. "What did you see? Anything strange? What was the wolf like?"

I rolled my eyes and looked at her with an annoyed face which soon shut her up. "Obviously I went in. The only strange thing was the wolf." I tried to sum up. The memory of the wolf made me shiver but it also made me confused. "I know you know more about this." I tried to guilt her somewhat. I was pleading for the answers to the questions which circled my head and made me dizzy.

"They're not wolves." She shook her head and looked down to the floor. This led to me looking at her with a mix of confusion and rage. My mouth was slightly open and I was staring at her as though she had grown another head. "Don't look at me like that. You asked me what I know."

"I'm pretty sure that they're wolves." I said slowly. "I saw it in the forest. It was tall and dark brown. On four legs with doggish or canine features." I shook my head lightly. "It pretty much howled at me." She looked at me extremely concerned. "Not literally." I had to try and reassure her. I was exaggerating slightly.

"Okay good. That's good. It means none of the other wolves know where you are and that you were in the forest." I continued to look at her as she spoke seriously. It was something which annoyed me slightly. There was a rather large contradiction there. She had just told me that they weren't wolves and yet she called them wolves.

"What are they if not wolves?" I tried to make my voice as firm as I can. I felt like I was back in primary school again, keeping secrets from the rest of the world. Like knowing a silly rumour or something like that. "Come on, tell me. My life was really in danger?"

She kept on fidgeting and she refused to meet my eyes. "Yes, they would've killed you." She looked from side to side, as though checking for eavesdroppers. "They're wolves. Kind of. They're werewolves." At that last word I wanted to laugh. I wanted to tell her that it was ridiculous.

"Werewolves don't exist." I shook my head and sounded rather confident, or at least I tried to. "Werewolves are a tale that you tell in order to scare children from going into the woods. It's something to explain massive dog sightings." I stopped swinging. It was as though the sky had gotten a little darker, it probably had.

"Yeah sure, I don't believe that." Emi shook he rhead as well and looked at me seriously. "These stories had to stem from somewhere Harlow." I know, she had a point. I was adamant though, werewolves couldn't exist. That would imply that the supernatural existed and I wasn't about to admit that.

"And vampires? Witches? Mummies? The Lochness monster?" I continued to question. It was clear that I wasn't expecting any answer as I continued to list. "If werewolves are real, why aren't they? Unless there's more that's being hidden." I could hear the pain in my own voice. It made me frustrated with myself.

"There's more things hidden of course." She used the same tone again, as though it was one of the most obvious things in the world. "We never get told the entire truth, by anyone. Not school, not our parents. We just have to figure things out on our own." She remained serious. It was rather philosophical, could we even trust ourselves? It made me wonder about many things. I had to stay in the moment.

"So what can we do?" I wasn't going to admit that werewolves existed, or the possibility of others. If Emi believed in them then I'll hear her out. The wolf in the forest scared me, it seemed unnatural. "We can't really ask anyone." She reached over and whacked me on the shoulder, causing me to flinch.

"Of course we can't. Especially not parents, teachers, or anyone else." She lent in closer to me. "Nobody can know that we're looking into this." She was hissing slightly. Her eyes had a look of desperation. "We need to know why dad wants to knock the forest down, why he wants to get rid of the wolves."

I thought that was a bit of a leap. Maybe he didn't know about the wolves or perhaps he didn't have a reason to destroy the trees. It could be as innocent as what they're telling the public. "Why are you so sure that he's out for the wolves?" The question caused her back to straighten and for her to clear her throat.

"I know because he told me." She seemed rather proud of the fact that she was told this directly, not having to get it out of him. "Parents say a lot when they think you're interested." I nodded. I then looked at my phone one more time and stood up. "Heading back?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah. I really shouldn't have come out." I looked around the place and then gave a weak chuckle. "Walk me to the bus stop?" She didn't have to tell me ehr answer as she stood up and started to walk, leaving me to hurry behind slightly. "I'll keep in touch though. I'll keep you updated."

"Thanks. I just really want to know what's going on." I couldn't help but notice the honesty that she held. I could also tell that she wasn't telling me something. She hesitated a lot before replying and seemed to second-guess herself. I'm used to being lied to, I can notice it pretty early on.

No more was said about the sort of plan we had. We didn't mention anything about our parents as we walked to the bus stop. We just talked about what's happening at school and things like that. My bus was only slightly late and I said goodbye to Emi. Regardless of the encounter with the wolf which terrified me. I had a pretty good afternoon, it was very rare I did anything outside of school and work.