The Werewolf [COMPLETE]

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I was curled up in a ball on the floor, rocking back and forth. My arms were locked around my legs, tendons and muscles tensed, hands clutching my flesh. My eyes were wide open. I hadn't managed to close them all night, not after seeing the trails of blood and the metal bar on the floor, not after hearing what had happened and how it had happened on the floor; the floor, the same stained floor I was crouching and cowering on.

I was alone in the building, there were no murderer and no corpse, there was no crying girl, there was no Ivy Conner, not anymore. I had opened every door, searched every class and every office. I had looked under every desk, hoping to find her hiding there, in shock and in tears, harmed maybe, with an arm scratched, with a knee bruised, but alive. I hadn't found her, and I had been the one finding myself under a desk, in shock and in tears, unharmed, without any scratches or any bruises, alive. It had been me. It should have been her.

And my phone was beeping and buzzing. It had started when the sun had risen and when the first rays of light had filtered through the blinds of the classroom. It hadn't stopped since.

It had been a concert of rings and dings all morning. Texts were scrolling scrolling down the screen and calls were lighting up the screen, they were fireflies blinking in the night. I did not smother them, I let them shine, I let my phone flash and flicker in the background. I did not answer, not with my thumbs nor with my mouth and tongue and voice. I didn't know if I was ignoring it because I knew it couldn't be and wouldn't be Ivy, or because I was afraid. Both. It must have been both. But I wasn't just afraid, I was terrified.

I had lost Ivy and I had probably lost myself on this phone, if I weren't already lost before. Someone had killed a teenage girl on the line, I had heard a Werewolf and a Werewolf had heard me on this line. He must have seen my number on the phone, and even maybe my name. He knew it was me, and if one knew, they would all know. I had talked to Ivy before her death, I had been in contact with the one person capable to discover and share their identities. They had already wanted to kill me before because I had been close to the Seer, they would want to kill me on the first occasion now that I had been close to the Seer and the Little Girl. I tightened my grip on my legs, I squeezed and shut my eyes tight, and I rocked back and forth.

The school was silent without the courses, without the students chatting in the corridors and the teachers preparing the classes. The building was silent enough for me to hear a door open and close downstairs and silent enough for me to catch the sound of steps walking in and climbing up the stairs, passing each door of the hallway, never slowing, never stopping, because there was no hesitation in his steady pace, he knew where he was going, he knew.

I was as still as I had ever been, I wasn't moving or stirring, I wasn't even breathing. I was under the desk of a classroom teacher, barricaded between wooden boards, staring at the chair tumbled over on the floor before me. I had thrown it away in my haste last night, I had thrown away my sole protection. The steps reached the door of the classroom, the open door of the classroom. I had flung it open last night, I hadn't shut it, I hadn't locked it or blocked it in anyway, I had left it like that. The steps paused at the doorstep, he waited a second, a minute, an hour and he strolled in, coming closer slowly, coming closer so slowly, smugly. And I would hear him breathing, in and out, coming closer, in and out, closer, in and out, closer, in—

"AAAH!"

"Fuck! Chill, Princess! Chill!" Caleb's head was popped under the desk, frowning down at my trembling and shaking form. "It's me! It's just me! What are you doing down there?" He immediately shook his head, dismissing the question and any possible answer himself. "No, never mind, I don't even want to know. Here," He ducked and held his hand out, but all I could do was stare back at him blankly. "Come on, Sis'!" He pressed on, waving his hand around until I'd bend forward and take it hesitantly. Caleb didn't wait any longer, he thrust back and hauled me to my feet, causing me to stumble and almost trip.