Wolfsbane

19. I'm passed out during this chapter

Luca was in the middle of a conversation when he felt the pain in his chest. It was a sharp pain, a heavy sharp pain which he had felt many times in his life. It took the wind right out of him, forcing him to keel over. Maria, who he had been talking to at the time had witnessed Luca have an episode before. She placed her hands on his back.

"You need to breathe" Maria said

The source of these episodes was unknown. They had been happening his entire life with no explanation. When they happened it was as if he couldn't breathe. He would feel intense levels of pain, to the point of passing out.

This one was different. Luca could feel it. He could hear things, breathing. Not his breathing, light breathing. Someone else's breathing.
Then he could hear a voice, someone else's voice. A voice that sounded light and airy, a familiar voice, a voice which was asking him over again to

"Help me, please"

It was Melody's voice.

Immediately Luca snapped up. He pulled his phone checking for the time.

How long had Melody been on that walk.

An hour. It was now 7:00. Melody had been out there for an hour.

To make matters worse Luca was able to hear the increase of snow pounding on the windows. He shoved Maria's hands off of his back.

"Hey" she says "You need to lay down"

Luca disregards this and runs into the Tv room where Francesca sits on the couch. Her eyes are glued to the screen.

"Put on the weather channel" Luca growls between his heavy pants.

He's athletic, he doesn't know why he's panting. He doubts it's from the short run he's just done. He's panting because he's worried.

Luca had no idea why he was so worried, he barely knew the girl. He couldn't care less about her. However it felt wrong to not care. It felt wrong to leave her out there alone. It felt wrong not to stand by her side and protect her from her enemies. Their enemies.

Luca had no idea why.

"There's a snowstorm, which could evolve into blizzard passing over" Francesca said.

"Shit" Luca swore.

He was worried now. She was lost, in the middle of the woods in a snowstorm.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Luca" it was Maria, there was audible concern in her voice. "Luca what's going on?"

"Melody's outside, in the storm." Luca said

"You should stay here-"

"No" Luca interrupted

Maria crossed her arms over her chest. She was obviously worried. When Luca was younger she used to be frightened after his little episodes. Maria was quite protective, of him.

"Well I'm coming with you" she said

Luca nodded.

"I didn't expect any different"

The two looked at each other in agreement, then took off to the front door. Luca swung it open and a cold gust of wind hit him right in the face. It was almost arctic outside.
He ran down the steps, looking for a direction to go in. There were no footprints. What this meant was that he would have to rely on one of the only gifts of being a werewolf. A heightened sense of smell.
Melody smelled like apples. Green apples. She smelt like fresh apples, not apple candy. Luca visualized her face in his mind. Her green eyes, her freckles cheeks. Her playful nose. He visualized her red hair, which was so distinctive. He had never seen hair so bright. He saw we cynical smile which she would pull whenever she made a joke.