Too Many Secrets To Hide | ✔| #Wattys2017

Chapter Twenty

Word Count: 3146

   I still refused to turn my phone back on. I wasn't sure I could bare hearing Bel ask me to come back. I could guess that she had tried to call me and left a message for me. Of course, she would want me to come back, she if nobody else. She just didn't know how dangerous I was. So as much as it pained me, I couldn't give into a desire to return.

   What I really wanted to do was just call and tell her I was okay. I could imagine how scared she must have been, wondering what might have happened to me. I wasn't going to call though, because it could easily be traced and then they would find me. If nothing else, the sound of her voice would be a temptation to go back.
  
   It didn't matter anyway. They would forget about me eventually. Soon, they would all continue on with their normal lives without me. That was fine, perfect actually. While I hated to leave Bel alone with those people, they were better than the Derek reincarnate.
 
   At noon, just as I had suspected, the traffic picked up. People were constantly pulling out in front of me, cutting me off. I couldn't keep an eye on every mirror and every side of me all at once and it was simply becoming too stressful. I wasn't ready for this, I couldn't handle it anymore. I had to get out of this mess. So I pulled into an empty parking lot, small and suiting. I was tired anyway, so I resolved to nap while the traffic died down.
I woke groggily, and then with a start. 8:36! How had I slept that long? It was only supposed to be a short nap, I had turned it into a full sleep session. Oh well, I guess I'm nocturnal now. That really isn't so bad, it's a good thing actually. I planned to save money by hunting as a wolf and eating like that. Surely if my wolf ate, my human would get full too, right? And wolves hunted at night, I think, so it was better if I slept more during the day.

   Still trying to recover from my nap, I returned to the road. It wasn't nearly as busy as earlier, but I still had to keep my eyes wide open all the time. I switched the headlights on, deciding that I preferred driving at night. Maybe I would work nights too, when I got to the beach. Yeah, there was bound to be a little twenty-four hour gas station that would hire me. But then, maybe I shouldn't go to work just yet. It would probably be easier just to wait on that, and it wasn't like I couldn't shift and get some grub. Of course, I had never hunted as a wolf before, so I had no idea how that would work out. In fact, it might not considering how separated from my wolf my human was.

   I decided not to think on it too much. I would just go with whatever happened. If hunting as my wolf proved to be easy, then that's what I would do. If not, then I suppose I would have to get a job. The three hundred dollars I had would last me for a little while, so I would be alright for now. I would make it somehow.

   I sung with the radio to nearly every song it played. Singing felt too happy right now, but as much as I wanted Bel and the others to forget about me, I needed to forget about them too. It was the only way to go about this. I couldn't live my new life torturing myself with the memories of the old one. So I tried to just get lost in the music. Even if it was only temporary, it was a start. I put forth special effort to forget what Jasper had said about temporary fixes.

   A couple hours later, and I was getting pretty good at driving, I thought. I was seeing signs for the beach already. I followed them, getting closer to the sand. I hadn't been to the beach much as a child. Between dad's work, or whatever he did, and mom's job she got after Bel turned twelve, we didn't really get to go places much. I had always hated that, I loved to travel. Now that I was free, I could travel all I wanted! For now though, I would have to stay put. I needed to save the money I had for things besides outrageous amounts of gas. Right now, things were a matter of 'have to' and 'need', not what I wanted. That would come in time though. All in good time.

   I noticed a little motel by the road and turned into the parking lot. I wasn't going to go inside though, just park here for a little while. Even if I had wanted a room, I would have picked a place farther away from the main road where it would be cheaper. I just needed a break from driving. I wasn't sure what kind of shape I was in, as I hadn't seen my reflection in the last twenty four of the most eventful hours of my life. I pulled down the mirror on the visor and realized why everyone had been giving me funny looks today. It wasn't because I ordered no fries and water or that I looked so young. It was because of the bite mark on my neck. I had forgotten all about that. The various cuts and scrapes didn't help anything either. But that thing on my neck, it looked exactly like I had been bitten. Why hadn't I had the sense to cover that up? I quickly pulled my hair over to shield the mark as if someone were looking.