The Wolf In Me

04 | The Bite

Dylan

As Ayesha had disappeared out of sight, Hyde stopped and turned to me. "Okay," he said. "How are you really feeling?"

I sighed. I knew I couldn't fool them with my constant groanings, but it had been worth a try. "Not so great," I answered. "It hurts."

"C-can I see?" He was unsure where to put his concentration.

I almost didn't recognize my best friend. Normally, he wouldn't care this much when I was hurt, but this was different. Like he suspected something, had a theory he didn't want to tell me about until he was sure he wasn't wrong.

I pulled my t-shirt up while groaning again, only to reveal an infected bite mark.

Hyde made a grimace of disgust as he saw what the wolf had left behind as a painful reminder of this day.

We reached Hyde's house about half an hour later, a trip that normally wouldn't take more than five minutes.

I immediately occupied the bathroom connected to Hyde's bedroom after catching the first aid kit he throwed at me on the way.

I didn't care about locking the door, but I closed it a little so that I wouldn't disturb anyone. Not that Hyde's two little sisters would hear me groaning with such distance.

This time I took the whole shirt off. It was easier to see that way.

The bite mark had developed into a pool of blood that colored my shirt red. I would have to throw that away. I crumpled it up into a ball and stuck my head out of the gap in the door. "Hey, do you have any extra shirts that I can borrow?" I asked, showing him the one I had in my hand.

Hyde looked at the shirt in my hands. "Yeah, sure," he said. "That one is pretty messed up."

"Thanks," I answered.

He disappeared from the door for a few minutes, and came back with a shirt not so different from the one I had been wearing. "I got you a similar one so that your parents won't find it suspicious when you get home." Smart. Sometimes Hyde actually thought of the consequences. He lent me the shirt through the gap and I pulled it over my head.

"How does it look now?" he wondered.

I showed him the part of my stomach where the bite was. Now it looked like a crust, but with a weird shape. The shape of a wolf-mouth. It pounded hard, and even if it still hurt, it was much better now. Hyde reached out and touched the wound. I grimaced.

"Sorry," he said. "But at least it looks better."

"Yeah." I didn't know how to feel about this situation. What to expect. If I'm being honest I was afraid. Terrified. What would happen?

❂ ❂ ❂

I sat down on the sofa beside Hyde, sighed deeply.

He was watching some history program about World War 2. It surprised me that he was doing that, because normally he either turned the tv off or changed channel as soon as a program of such started. I liked them though. It was something about having the knowledge of past things in our history that appealed to me.

Hyde looked at me. "Even though I don't like 'em, I thought we could watch a documentary," he said.

I raised my eyebrows. Apparently, Hyde was full of surprises this day. I knew it had to do with the bite. He was worried for me.

"Sure," I answered as I put my legs up on the coffee table, making it comfortable for myself. "Pick one."

Hyde nodded and changed channels to go through the different programs, but ended up with the one he was looking at when I walked in.

I won't lie, it was pretty interesting. But I couldn't focus, had other things to worry about. I needed to talk to Ayesha again. She needed to explain. Explain my situation.

Time flew away and I couldn't focus at all. At last, I told Hyde that I would go to the bathroom to check on the bite mark.

I tried not to worry, otherwise he would too. So when he asked, I didn't say anything, but just looked at him before continuing my journey to the bathroom.

When I stood in the small space which almost made me claustrophobic, I took the opportunity to remove the bandage I had wrapped around my stomach to look at the bite mark. It hadn't hurt for a while now—not since I was in there earlier, which now had been two hours ago. As I looked in the mirror my eyes widened. The bite mark was... gone.

It made me freak out. Was it supposed to do that? Was this... normal?

Even though I didn't want to, I needed to get help from Hyde.

"Eh, Hyde," I said. "Can you come here for a minute?"

I heard heavy steps, and then he walked in. "What is it?" he asked. "What happened?" As I figured, he was worried about me.

I pointed down to my stomach where the bite mark had been while grimacing. "It's gone," I said.

❂ ❂ ❂

"This is crazy!" Hyde said as he walked back and forth in his room again.

I followed him with my eyes, counting how many times he reached the walls.

35.

I needed to make him stop. "Hyde, your catwalk isn't helping," I said.

36.

"Hyde, stop it!"

37.

"Hyde!"

He stopped at 40.

"Hyde!" I said. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm fine."

Hyde looked at me like I was crazy. "Seriously?" he said, like I was kidding. "This is far from fine" —he paused— "You're far from fine, Dylan."

Who was I kidding?

I sighed deeply. "I know." I looked up at my best friend. "I'm screwed, Hyde."

"Yeah, you are," he said.

I continued to talk. "I don't even know what is happening to me right now."

"You don't?" Hyde said. Now he looked at me like I really was crazy. "You haven't figured it out yet?"

I shook my head.

What was he talking about?

He sighed, now annoyed over my lack of knowledge. "It's exactly like Teen Wolf, man," he said.

Now I understood what he meant. And it freaked me out even more. "Y-you don't think...?"

Hyde nodded. "That's exactly what I think."