The Rise of Carolyne Magna

Chapter Two

Carolyne Magna

So far, the past few days had been a hurricane of crazy, from one moment to the next, and now Carolyne was left to sort through the wreckage. There she stood, in front of Juli, arms crossed over her chest, one hip popped out, glaring at the blonde woman. Her guardian-aunt-therapist-whatever-else-she-is.

"I promise, ladybug, I was only out looking for a job," Juli says defensively, holding her hands up in mock surrender. Or, at least it seemed like a mock surrender.

"I'm not upset about that, I'm upset that you actually drugged me." Carolyne's steely gaze trapped her aunt, freezing her to her spot on the couch. That's the conclusion Carolyne had drawn while waiting for her aunt. It would explain that funny tingling feeling that she always got every single time she drank her aunt's 'special drink'. Every single time. Plus, somehow, it always made her sleep, despite her insomnia. Herbal remedies were one thing, that was something else.

"Okay, yes, I'm sorry. Guilty as charged. But you were in pain, and I knew you would never get back to sleep after... that." The woman gestures, again, towards the woods through the window.

"So all of... that," she repeated the motions of her aunt, "that all really happened? That wasn't a dream?" Care's voice grew softer, quieter. The quiet before the storm of her hysteria.

"Yes. For some reason, you decided to take a walk under the moon out in the woods. I heard you go out, and I searched for you. I heard the wolves and I panicked and ran back to the house. I was afraid you had run into them or something. When I came home, you were there on the porch, lookin' like hell."

"You didn't have to be so blunt," Carolyne grumbles, brushing her hair through her fingers. She was freakishly calm, but Carolyne knew she'd start freaking out any second. The voice in her head was quiet, listening.

"Then, this morning, you were still fast asleep, so I decided to go prowl around town and look for a job." Juliane continues, ignoring Carolyne's comment.

"I don't understand though."

"What, that I needed a job? I think that's pretty obvious." Her aunt claims, her arm sweeping out towards the shabby, nearly empty room. She was avoiding Carolyne's questions.

"No, not that." Carolyne sits beside her aunt, looking down at her hands as they fidget in her lap. "I mean, why did the wolves come so close? And why were they so big?"

"I think they were curious. Nobody's lived here for a few months. They probably wanted to see what all the noise was. And I think your imagination did a big part, too. You were hyped up on adrenaline, and that can cause the mind to conjure up things to help it cope. It's a mechanism of the 'fight or flight' response. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time you over-exaggerate something in your mind."

Carolyne still couldn't wrap her head around it. She sighs, rubbing her hands down her face, ignoring her aunt. She looks over at the woman. Long ago, she remembered a time when her aunt would take her out into the woods, back in North Dakota, by a little stream, on top of a big flat rock. From there, they could see the little herds of deer, sipping at the water.

"Look at them, Carolyne. So beautiful and free. And naive." Juliane's tone was different, deeper. Harsher. They were being quiet and cautious, hiding, while Juliane's eyes scanned the area around them.

"What do you mean?" The small child asks, too young to understand what she was saying, or even what those big words meant.

"You'll know when you're older, ladybug." The child just nods. Like most things, it was always just 'you'll know when you're older'.