One Drop

Chapter Two: Will

I watch through the window as she drives away. Something heavy drops into my stomach as she turns the corner. I love her so much, she's like the air I breath. When she isn't there it's like being underwater with no scuba equipment. I walk slowly down the hall, already counting down the minutes till I can see her again. I trudge into the kitchen to the warm, inviting smell of Mum's homemade cooking. Five of my six brothers, Mum, Dad, and my twin sister Jilly sit waiting for me, even though Joel and Evan are already sneaking chicken drumsticks when Mum isn't looking. "Hi honey, we were waiting until you got in to eat. How was Emily?" Mum asks as I sit next to her and start piling my plate. "Emily's great Mum. She told me to say hi to everyone, especially you Jilly," I say as I grin at my twin over the table. As well as being my twin sister, Jilly is also my best friend, as well as Emily's. Emily and Jilly had been best friends since Emily first moved here, and they were as close as sisters. "Wait a minute, where's Phil?" I ask, noting the absence of my eldest brother. "He's ill, I think with chicken pox. It looks serious, but I'm sure he'll pull through," says Mum, and she glances worriedly at Phil's closed door. "Do you want me to take him some food? I've had the pox before, so there's no contagion problem," I offer, and Mum smiles gratefully at me.

After I've eaten until I'm bursting I fill a small tray of food and take it into Phil's room. The lights are all off, the curtains all drawn, and I can hardly discern Phil as he shivers under the blankets. "Hey Tank, how you doing?" I ask as I place the tray on Phil's nightstand. I hear a groan as Phil surfaces from under the covers. He seems to shrink away from the light spilling across his bed, cowering from it like some kind of vampire, as though it burns. "God, I feel like crap," he croaks as he weakly shovels food down his throat. "Mum says you've got the pox, is that right?" I ask, and he jerks his head in assent, his mouth full of Mum's cooking. "You've had it, haven't you? I remember you moaning about you feeling like you were dying. Personally, I thought you were lying, but God, I know now you were right." Phil says. It's sad to see my oldest brother, the one person I could count on to always be strong, looking like some sort of reanimated corpse. "Do you want anything else while I'm here? More food, medicine, Mum?" I ask, but he shakes his head as I pull the blankets up to cover him. As I turn to leave, he grabs my wrist, and I turn. "I'd like some company though," he says, and I smile and pull up a chair beside his bed. 

I wake up in the early hours of Wednesday morning, slumped across Phil's legs as he snores like a foghorn next to me. He's still the Titanic even when he's sick. I think to myself, smiling slightly and getting up quietly. It's time to get up anyway, time for school, and time for Emily. But, just as I reach the door, I hear it. A low moan escapes Phil's lips, and his bright green eyes fly open. He screams in pain, clutching his abdomen as though something is trying to get out. He scrambles to a standing position, then crumples to the ground, writhing and shrieking as though tortured by invisible men. I crouch down beside him, trying to calm him when it happens. One minute he is Phil, in pain and writhing, and the next Phil is gone and in his place lies a huge wolf, the colour of the trunk of a tree. The wolf stops moving and opens its eyes, which aren't green but pure white, like ice. A growl echoes from behind clenched teeth as the wolf stares at me, sizing me up. I stand and back slowly towards the door, and the wolf rises with me, those icy eyes following me as though waiting to strike. Inside I am panicking, thinking, 'this is it, I'll never see Emily again, never see Mum, Dad, Jilly, Joel, Evan, Mark, Colin, Ben, Phil. I'll die in this bedroom, and there's nothing I can do about it.' My head fills with images of my family and Emily, but, just as the wolf looks ready to pounce, a cry rents the air, a howl of absolute misery that makes me want to cry. It's another wolf, and the wolf in Phil's bedroom answers its call. And then, with a flick of its tail it turns and leaps swiftly out of the window and bounds off across the patio. Soon it has disappeared over the fence into the national park, and I feel as if I might faint, even though I don't. But then, I think of Phil, and it hits me. Phil is the wolf. My own brother, my own flesh and blood just tried to kill me, and damn near succeeded. My brother is a werewolf. And then, I faint.