At A Crossroads (Z-o-m-b-i-e-s Book Two)

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~six-years prior~

It's said that you never forget your first love. Puppy love counts, at least it always did to Terrance.

Terrance sat quietly on the edge of the forest reading a book, he did this every day, he had no real friends except Addison who was away for cheer camp, just like every year. Normally Terrance would attend with her, but he had grown tired of Bucky constantly yelling in his ear and need a break for a few months. 

He was reading a history book about the first settlers in Seabrook. He felt eyes on his back, but he had grown used to this feeling. He felt it every time he sat by the woods, but he never said anything. Today that would change, it was starting to bother him. He knew that it was a boy his age, he had seen him run back into the woods every time Terrance would turn around or get up, so he had no fear when addressing the child. "Are you ever going to come out?" He asked, his voice was still high pitched, it hadn't dropped yet.

He looked back into the forests and saw a set of glowing yellow eyes that matched the set in his book. The monsters of the seabrook forest. He wasn't scared, just annoyed. His social battery wasn't charged and even if it was normally he wouldn't engage in conversation. His annoyance with Bucky from earlier coupled with the newcomers presence and his sleep deprivation took precedence.

The monster crawled on all fours towards the boy, there were no other humans around so the monster saw no threat. He saw a weak and fragile child; a single swipe with his claws would do the trick if need be.

As the monster crawled farther out of the woods Terrance saw it for the first time. It, or rather he, was just a boy. "You follow me around when I walk near the woods," Terrance said. It was framed as a statement but the question was clear, 'why?"

"You're on our territory. I can follow you if I want."

"The woods are your territory?"

"All of that town was," he looked back at the small town of Seabrook as if it was a toy stolen by a bigger kid.

Terrance looked at the small boy and examined him as his attention was taken, he wasn't much bigger the Terrance height wise, but he had pretty defined arms for a ten-year-old, must come with living in and running around the woods. He had tattoo-like symbols on his arm and two seemingly drawn claw marks on his face. As his eyes dimmed, Terrance could make out dark brown eyes. His hair was brown with a patch of white in the front, long hair covering his eyes. Terrance couldn't stop the blush. He wore a purple shirt and a black vest with furs and fangs on it.

"Okay." was Terrance's intelligent answer. The boy was confused and the human child picked up on this, "You're right, even in this book, which is probably misleading cause someone from seabrook wrote it, it does say the 'monsters' of the forest were already here. The settlers invaded your land. So you're right. This is your territory, you can do whatever you want. But I live here and I can't exactly leave. I'm a ten-year-old with no sway in family matters so I can't do much to please you beyond leaving this space if you'd like."

Terrance stood but the boy stopped him, "You can stay," he grumbled. As Terrance sat back on his log the boy sat crisscrossed on the forest floor, "My name is Wyatt," he said lowly.

"My name is Terrance," he said, closing his book. "Do you live alone or do you have a family?" He looked past Wyatt as if expecting them to jump out of the woods.

"I have a whole pack, including my twin sister who's going to be the next alpha."

Then it clicked that Wyatt was a werewolf, Terrance never gave it a second thought.

That's how they became friends, it was so easy for children. The two boys ended up meeting in the same spot every day for months; about a year. Neither ever told anyone older because they knew what they were doing was wrong. Talking to humans was forbidden in the pack especially for the younger wolves. There were no monsters in the forest. That was a thing of legend, saying otherwise would insight panic.

One day Wyatt brought his sister Willa and their friend Wynter over. They both liked him, but Willa was understandably hostile at first. The four of them became as close as any pack, running around the woods with reckless abandon.

The little meetings that were just Terrance and Wyatt, sometimes turned into small kiddie dates, somedays Terrance would bring food that he snuck from his house, other days Wyatt would bring him flowers he had dug up on his way over. Terrance would sneak out of his house at night and Wyatt would sneak out of the den. These moments of pure childhood bliss were like heaven to the two.

To a child one day could feel like a year, a year felt like a lifetime. It flew by so fast and drew on so long all at the same time. The last night they met was a day that would stick in their heads for the rest of their life. It was like any other night. That's probably why, when you are young you expect big dramatic things to happen on big drastic nights, but they don't. The dramatic act makes the day more memorable.

It had to be about three am and Terrance laid back with Wyatt on a blanket he brought from his house. He read out loud as Wyatt couldn't read the human language yet as Wyatt weaved together a flower crown. "'Who am I?' Jason asked the she-wolf 'at least tell me that.' wolves don't have much of a sense of humor but Jason could tell the question amused Lupa, as if Jason were a cub just trying out his claws practicing to be the alpha male. 'You are our saving grace as always'. The she-wolf curled her lip, as if she had made a clever joke. 'Do not fail son of Jupiter.'"

The chapter ended and Terrance put down the book hearing a rustling in the leaves. Wyatt heard it too and quickly bounced to his feet, eyes glowing and growling ready to protect his human. "Don't be such a worry wolf brother," the ten year old Willa's voice said. "Hey Tel," he gave her a tried lazy wave

Wyatt scrunched up his nose, "What are you doing here Willa?"

"Sunrise is in three hours, halfwit," she snarked. "Tel needs sleep and the others will be looking for you. You have gotten careless. The elders-" She was cut off as Wyatt covered her mouth and looked back at his human who had sighed and started folding up the blanket.

She bit his hand but got the message. She quietly whispered, "This cannot go on, you'll get the both of you in trouble. The elders have already started wondering about you." Willa was being trained to be the Alpha, so she sat in meetings with the elders and heard them voice their concern for Wyatt's comings and goings.

"I know, I know," he sighed, pulling at his white hair, "I'll tell him," Terrance had heard them though. He kept his back to them, he felt tears gather in his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to rub them away but a brave few escaped.

Willa nodded and ran off into the woods. "You can't hang out anymore," Terrance said in a low heart broken whisper.

"I'm sorry," was Wyatt's big eyed response. He could hear the quiver in his voice and saw the tears rolling down his cheeks even in the dark.

Terrance was used to a lack of social interaction and disappointment, No one was ever friends with the bookworm. "It's okay, you have a family. That's way more important," he tried to convince himself as well.

The wolf boy sighed sadly. He took the flower crown he made Terrance that night from his basket and stuck it on his head. The next thing would play in Terracne's head as his fondest memory until he met Zed. Wyatt leaned in and kissed his lips for all of five seconds before running off into the woods after Willa.

Terrance stood frozen for a moment touching his lips letting the tears continue their trek down his cheeks. The boy controlled his blush and water works before returning home without being caught.

Wyatt whimpered as he laid on the floor of the den piling with the other wolf pups. "It was for the best Wyatt," Willa said as she curled into the other pups. "For both of you."

Wyatt shook his head, "That doesn't make it hurt any less."

Terrance wanted to continue his book, but it felt wrong to read it without Wyatt. Eventually he just sighed and looked out his bedroom window which was painfully overlooking the forest in the distance. He took the flower crown from his hair and pressed it between the pages of the book. It was made of lilacs; innocence and youthfulness, a first love.

Published: May 31st, 2023
Edited: Sep 15th, 2023