The Unseen

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Just when I began to feel dizzy, I rounded the corner and dove into a clump of bushes. Their prickles pinched me, but the headache caused me twenty times the amount of pain that they did. Thankfully, nobody was around to witness some weird tall girl diving into some bushes. I fell into a deep blackness while the deafening migraine endured, and I held back a strangled scream of agony.

There. I saw an off-white wolf bounding towards a building, his head down and eyes gleaming angrily. It appeared somebody had made this wolf angry. A few people lingered outside of the building, children included, and I knew instantly that their lives were in danger. Even in the vision, I could feel myself tensing up with just the anticipation of what was about to happen. Right as The Wolf's jaw snapped towards one of the children, my vision cut off.

Abruptly, my sight returned to normal and I was just staring at green leaves. I shook off my dizziness and reached into the duffel bag that I had taken to soccer practice. It held everything I needed to change into my second identity.

I changed quickly, stuffing my old clothes into the bag and sprinting out of the bushes. It wasn't the first time I'd had to change in plants. It was uncomfortable, but it had to do. It wasn't like I ever had much of a choice.

It didn't take me long to head in the right direction once I was done changing, since I knew which building The Wolf had been heading to. It was next to the courthouse, just a few blocks away. I was trembling quite terribly with nervousness. If I slipped up here, it could cost lives. A child's life. In the past, I'd had visions of deaths before, but they were usual from natural occurences or accidents that I could prevent. This? This was a wolf. What was I even supposed to do?

I began to sprint, my mask obscuring my face and my hoodie hiding my long hair. I reached the courthouse a minute later. Then I spotted the off-white wolf. It was bounding towards the building beside me, just as it had been in my vision.

I just hoped the person who ticked this wolf off wasn't anywhere nearby.

My legs carried me even faster than I meant to run, paced by my determination to stop the danger, and I was in front of the wolf in no time, blocking its path. It growled at me ferociously, its haunches tensing, and its predatory green eyes narrowing in on me, the target. The prey. I could tell it was ready to pounce by its positioning, and I felt chills course through my body. Anything, though, to take it's mind off of the children behind me.

What could I do? I didn't have strength, yet I was facing a wolf, a predator and a villain by nature. I only had speed, and I couldn't run away now and leave these people just helpless.

The animal pounced just then, flying through the air, all kinds of deadliness bared in its razor sharp fangs. Before The Wolf could react, I had grabbed a sheet of metal from a pile by a nearby garbage can, and held it in front of me, elevating it in level with The Wolf's head. This was going to hurt.

Not for me, though.

The Wolf smacked its head against the metal with a cringing thud, and then it fell to the ground. My arms stung with the impact, and I knew I would be feeling the effects of that later. My spirits fell as the creature quickly shook itself, standing again. I hoped he wouldn't test the sheet of metal again, because the impact had really jarred my wrists, and I didn't know if I could take another hit like that.

The Wolf apparently decided something, for it then turned its back to me and scampered off, its large paws thudding against the concrete street. I didn't even know what a wolf was doing in the middle of town, but, somehow, I knew it wasn't just a simple, regular wolf.

I sighed in relief. I didn't know why it had fled, but I was glad it had. Not that I wasn't very confused about it. Several people around me stared, their eyebrows knit with the same confusion that would probably have showed on my own face without this mask. I tossed the sheet of metal in the pile where it belonged and then I ran off, stretching my arms as I went. They felt stiff from the toll of repressing the wolf's entire body weight with just a metal sheet.

On my way home, I stumbled into another large bush and changed again. When I was completely back into normal clothing, I wriggled out of the bushes and then...I ran, literally, into my mom.

Have you ever met your mother while you were coming out of the bushes looking pretty flustered? If you haven't, well... They immediately think: Where's the boy? She glared at me, pushed me aside, and dug her face into the bushes without a word. I sighed and crossed my arms.

"Mom, I just lost my phone." While she was removing her head, I yanked my phone from my pocket and held it out for her to see. "Seriously. I was tossing it up and down and it got out of control." Wow, what a lame excuse... but still, she trusted me.

She accepted my excuse without hesitation. There had been no boy, and, besides, I was a really good child. She had most likely highly doubted there had been somebody else in there in the first place, I knew. And that was probably because she also knew boys tended to think of me as a mutant.

"Why were you tossing it up and down?" she implored, most likely just to make me think she was suspicious, but I knew her enough to tell she wasn't really reprimanding me.

"I was bored, Mom. Teenagers do stupid stuff like that."

I received a text message from Rashal just then.

 Hey I saw you fighting that wolf on my way home. Nice job. Glad you werent hurt.

Pointing to my phone, I said, "Rashal." Mom still had that suspicious look in her eye. She led me to the car and we got in. As we were driving home, I texted back to Rashal.

I know, right? I joked. Fighting wasn't exactly the word I would have used.

 Riiight. Well, ttyl on AIM. ;)

After deleting the messages so my mom wouldn't ever see them, I shut my phone right as we reached home. I leaped out of the car, took off into the house, and jumped on the couch, pulling my knees under my chin.

"Let's watch a movie," Mom said, and I agreed. Anything to take my mind off of my life.