Ocean Eyes

"Seduce my mind and you can have my body. Find my soul and I'm yours forever."

                                                                      -Anonymous

I used to think there was something especially magnificent about the ocean. The endless blues and greens and the fluffy white foam that collected on the golden sand astounded me. On our yearly trips to the beach I could stand with my feet in the water for ages, staring out into the ocean that seemed infinite. That was all before the Accident. After that I could not even think about water. It reduced me to tears every time.

And it was for that exact reason I found it exceedingly hard to believe what my mother was saying.

“I’m going where?” I asked, heartbeat increasing with apprehension. My fingers punctured through the apple in my hand, juice streaming down my arm. I paid it no attention.

“To Miami, to live with your Aunt Theresa,” she repeated for the tenth time, slower. “So I need you to pack your bags because we're leaving tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” The apple full-out fell out of my hands, splattering to the kitchen tile.

My mother rolled her eyes. “Yes, stop looking at me like that. And make sure you bring that backpack sitting in the corner of your closet. You will be attending school.”

The stone in my stomach dropped lower. “To school? What the hell, Mom!”

She held up her hands. “Aunt Theresa said she wouldn’t take you unless you attended school, so you’re going to have to. Plus, it will be fun! Don’t you love meeting new people?”

Meeting new people? Was that supposed to be a joke? I ground my teeth together, clenching my hands into fists. No, on the contrary, I detested meeting new people. I detested people in general, which was why I had no friends outside of my pack. Even majority of the pack found me bitter and strangely cynical for a teenager. Their words, not mine.

But relations with my pack were beside the point, because if I was going to Miami I wouldn’t be seeing them. How could my mother wait the whole summer and then, a week before September and the time our pack moved on to find another campground, tell me they were shipping me out? If I was getting in the way, all they had to do was say so. It wasn’t like I chose not to be a wolf; the universe just liked screwing with me.

“I haven’t been to school since I was thirteen, Mom!” I shouted, dogging her into the living room of our temporary one-story home. “I don’t remember how it works!”

My mother scoffed, plopping down on the couch and unfolding a newspaper. “Please, June, you can’t forget how school works. Stop making excuses, it’s already been decided.”

I stomped my foot, an annoying thing I did when I was frustrated and had no voice in the argument. “Was this a unanimous decision on the pack’s part?”

“Yes,” my brother, Solomon, piped up as he appeared from the bathroom. He shook out his mousy brown hair, similar to mine, an evil smile on his face. “You need to be around normal people for a change.”

I huffed, folding my arms tightly across my chest. “You guys are my family. I’ve been around this circus all my life; you think I want to ditch now?”

“Circus? Are you calling us freaks now?” Solomon asked, gasping. He clutched the shirt over his chest in a dramatic manner, stumbling backward. “Oh, my God. The truth comes out!”

My father stepped out of his study, his signature brown hair disheveled, and cuffed my brother upside the head. “Stop goofing off, Sol,” he scolded. “Your sister needs change.”