The wolf woman

The Argument

Accalia has been very happy since that small movie date at home. We have now made it into a habit of watching a movie every Sunday together and going on a walk after that. She has become more open now. She has gained the confidence to walk around the neighbourhood on her own. I showed her how to use the map on her smartphone, with which she has been exploring the city. I know she's quite capable of taking care of herself, yet I have also given her a Taser in case of emergency. Surprisingly enough, She now knows better about the city than I do. When we plan to go out, she knows more places than me.
"Uh... umm... I am here to see Leo." I heard a hesitant voice saying my name. My place is not so far from the reception, so I usually get to see people who are entering and exiting the office. I peeked over the cubicle wall to see Accalia standing at the reception, shyly holding onto a lunch box. The receptionist pointed her in my direction. She had a curious look on her face. It hasn't been once in my whole stay at this company that someone has brought me a lunch box. I could sense people were winking and gesturing at each other about this rare incident. Accalia, clearly affected by the stares, tried her best to keep herself together and walked up to my desk. I immediately stood up and placed her on my chair while I sat on a stool. I am in the habit of keeping a stool in my cubicle just in case I need another seat or a side table while I work. "What brought you here today?" I asked, leaning a bit towards her. Upon hearing this question, she gently placed the lunch box on the table and smiled brightly. "I brought you some lunch!" She exclaimed. I could see how proud she was feeling about herself. I wanted her to feel appreciated for going to such lengths. "Whoa!" but I was at a loss for words, "What did you cook?!" I asked while gently petting her head with a smile. "I saw a rabbit ragu recipe on youtube! I wanted to make it for you." She opened the lunch box, it had rabbit ragu inside. The fragrance of the dish encompassed the whole office. It had a savoury aroma of rabbit meat cooked perfectly with a sweet scent of onions. The freshness in the aroma was brought from the herbs she had used for the dish. I could feel my mouth watering. "Did you bring the pasta to eat with this?" I asked eagerly while licking my lips. Her face suddenly dropped. "I... they...they didn't show how to make one." She placed her hands on her face in sorrow. The person sitting next to my cubicle, Mrs LaBron heard that. She walked up to us and softly whispered, "Hey kid, I have some pasta in the refrigerator. You can eat with that." Accalia's face lit up again. "What about your lunch then?" I inquired. She asked us to not worry about it. I stood up, and before leaving to collect the pasta from the pantry, I introduced Mrs LaBron and Accalia. I also thanked Mrs LaBron. I rushed to the pantry and came back with pasta. I had also picked up plates on my way back, three of them. The dish was then divided into three equal parts, one for me, one for Accalia and one for Mrs LaBron.

The Ragu was cooked perfectly. The meat as well as the spices were balanced. I decided to give my share to everyone in the office. I turned to Accalia and asked if she felt okay if I did that. "It's so good, I wanna share it with everyone!". She blushed and nodded. I called everyone in the office, and ten people who work in my office marched to my cubicle. I offered everyone a taste. The human mind gets addicted to good things quickly. They started demanding more, but there wasn't much. "This is all mine." I said with a smug and sat down with Accalia and we both ate from the same plate. She was blushing the whole time. I could see her face turning red. Once we were done eating, I guided her to the office kitchen where she could do the dishes. I wished to help her but I was swamped with work. My stress levels were low. I was happy today at the office, after a very long time. Little moments of love can bring so much joy in one person's life. All it needs is to do something from the heart and everything gets fine. Her emotions were clear, she wanted to appreciate me as a part of life.
We left work together. I asked her to wait so that we could ride home together. "Would you like some ice cream?" I asked on our way back. She nodded excitedly. Everything was merry but things often have a way to turn into misery.
The week after this happened, Accalia stopped bringing anything from her hunts. She would stay out till late during the day and sneak out at night. I have barely seen her for more than an hour this week. She doesn't eat at home and doesn't sleep at home. I am worried that she got stuck in territorial wars between wolf clans and stuck protecting our little abode by herself. The mind often trails into truthless thoughts. And slowly yet surely worries start to haunt our minds. The mysterious moves of my marrow have set ablaze many queries in my mind. I didn't want to accept the unforgiving thoughts of Accalia fighting forces by herself, so I spied on her. I placed a small GPS tracker on her dress. It was Sunday morning, and Accalia left early for the hunt. I waited for an hour and a half for her to return, which used to be her usual time but when she didn't return, my worries started building up. I checked my phone. Details of her GPS location were right in front of me. It was pointing to the city mall. "The city mall? What is she doing there by herself?" I wondered. I hoped that she didn't get herself into trouble. I decided to check things out. I needed to buy groceries anyway, so it would be killing two birds with one shot.
I pinned my phone to the dashboard of the car so that I know if she changes places. After a quarter-hour of driving, I reached the mall. As soon as I stepped inside I saw Accalia. It seemed as though she was on a playdate with someone. The person was none other than Sasha.
Why her? There are a million girls in the world, a thousand in the city, but why did she choose the girl who socially killed me? I asked myself. A million questions at the speed of light were flowing in my mind. I looked at her and then at Sasha. She seemed happy, but for this happiness, she had been lying to me. She has been hiding things from me. That means she knows this is wrong. Yet, she's doing it. A train of thoughts bore a hole into my mind. Every cell in my body wanted to run in front of her and confront her actions but I decided it would be for the best if I didn't. I brought the groceries I needed to buy. On my way home, I formulated my thoughts on how to confront her. I stayed in the dark for the whole day, waiting for her to arrive. I was so consumed in my own thoughts that I forgot to turn the lights on.
Accalia entered the house engulfed in the darkness. Her footsteps were audible in the dead silence of the house. I was waiting for her to get close to me so that I could surprise her with my presence and bombard her with questions. "Kayush...?" She enquired the darkness, investigating my existence. "How was the hunt?" asked a familiar voice in the darkness. She turned on the lights to see the angered face. "Bad," replied she with a confident face of not doing anything wrong, "I could not find anything good to bring back home." If I hadn't known what she was up to behind my back, I would have gaslighted myself into believing her. Maybe the area has been scared off because of frequent hunting. I would have questioned myself. But I knew that I was being lied to. "Ironic isn't it? The best hunter in the village isn't able to catch a single prey, not even a mere squirrel." I remarked scornfully. "Are you suggesting that I am lying" She hollered. The first time she had yelled at me ever since I met her. "Ah, so you've finally found that voice of yours. I bet Sasha helped." I howled back. "W..What do you mean by that?" she whimpered. The fear of her lie coming to the light was clear in her eyes. Humans often lie for selfish reasons. Sometimes, they lie to others to protect them from the harm the truth can do to them. But in more frequent circumstances, one often finds themselves lying to protect themselves or their image from being muddled into the eyes of their fear. The fear of being rejected as a whole often compels people to hide their true selves. And when such lies begin to be uncovered, the fear catches up to them. This fear was visible in the beady brown eyes of Accalia.
"I know what you've been up to. I saw you at the city mall with Sasha, frolicking around." I disclosed the knowledge, playing the first sets of cards I had up my sleeves. "Oh! Controlling much?" Accalia shrieked, "It shouldn't matter who I spend my time with." Her personality has shifted. She resembles Sasha more. The influence was obvious. "It wouldn't if I was a random person, you chose Sasha over everyone in the city. The one girl because of whom I suffered so much." "You are not the boss of me, I will do whatever I want. You have no rights to control me!" She screamed and stormed out of the villa in her wolf form. "If it wasn't for me, you would be rotting in that little room of yours! Don't tell me that I don't have rights!" I screamed from the top of my lungs. My eyes followed her movement but it only took her mere seconds to get out of my sight.

It's been two weeks since that fight. Accalia hasn't come home. Her phone is turned off and there is no way to track her.