Girl Meets Wolf

Chapter 11

Ashlyn

For some strange reason I thought the campus would have had a bigger reaction to the wolf attack. I mean, yes there were some students that were taken out of school and yes, we did have some deaths, but life just kept going. I guess that's life a 40,000+ student school.

We all still had classes, there were still assignments and test, and we still had things to do. There was a candlelight vigil the following friday, but other than that life was almost the same. At least to the naked eye.

After the attack everyone seemed to get into their own routines. Izzie after the attack became very quite and not at all like her bubbly, witty, sassy self. After a couple of weeks, Becca and I were able to convince her to seek professional help. She's been going this past month, every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. Sometimes, she even goes with Becca in tow. She tells me that since Becca was with her during the attack, it makes it easier to talk about the attack at therapy. There's a closeness between them now that I just can't get through. It hurts sometimes, but I just try to chalk it up to the healing process and I've tried my best not to take it to heart. Little by little, Izzie has started to get better too, but I don't think she'll ever be back to the way she was before.

Becca, on the other hand threw herself into her studies after the attack and stopped partying as much. It was a little off putting at first because of how much she was studying, but I guessed that was just her way of coping. We would still go out once in a while, but it definitely wasn't the same. Although Becca seemed fine for the most part, sometimes I would glance at her and she looked haunted. I never truly found out what happened to Becca that night.

I think out of all of us, I've probably seemed the least affected, and I blamed it all on Axel. He's literally been my rock. At first after we swapped numbers things were rocky. He was very wishy-washy,but slowly we began to build a relationship. We haven't put a label on our relationship, or even discussed if we are in a relationship, but we have something special. We haven't even kissed either. But we have done some heavy cuddling. Does that counts?

After the attacks my anxiety took a turn for the worse. While I may seem the most normal, I was having the most embarrassing ptsd symptom, which was anxiety attacks. I already was an anxious person, but with the attacks it seemed to unlock a side of myself that I wasn't ready for. It hasn't been easy either. At night thoughts of the attack among other things were constantly on my mind, so sleeping wasn't coming easy for me.

I don't know what made me do it, but one night it was really bad and I just needed to see him. He somehow had become an anchor to reality for me. Becca and Izzie were god knows where and I was alone in my room with my thoughts. I knocked on his door around 2 am and it seemed like he knew I was coming. As if he was waiting. He welcomed me in without saying a word. He went over to his bed, laid down and opened the covers so that I could squeeze in. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me close and it was like all of my fears disappeared. Tingles shot out from where he touched me and I was enveloped in this cocoon of safety. Our bodies molded together as one. His smell wrapped around me and before I knew it I was sleep. That was a couple weeks ago, and now I've been sleeping in his room quite often. Sometimes just to get away from Izzie and Becca who are now twins.

He's different than he was. He's much more open and a lot nicer to me. I guess the attack affected him too.

Sometimes, I wish I was with them when it happened, Becca and Izzie. Maybe things would have been different. But, if I was with them I doubt me and Axel would have gotten as close as we have and I couldn't imagine my life without him. He sort of filled a gap in my heart that I didn't know I had. He makes me happy beyond belief. My life has changed so much these last couple of month, I thought to myself. Just thinking about all that my friends and I've gone through sent a shiver down my back. I hope I never have to see another wolf again.