Full Moon

002 - meeting the pack

may 23rd, two days after the full moon

I walk into my forensic-science class with the rest of the crowd. I glance up at my teacher and smile, she smiles back before going back to talking to another student. I take my seat at my lab table and lean on my hand.

She stands up and announces to the class, "Some new news for Aspen this week. There has been a murder in a bar right outside of Basalt, a thirty-eight-year-old woman."

Someone raises their hand, "How'd she die?"

My body starts to shake involuntarily and I try to take a deep breath to calm down. My cheeks heat up and I lean on both of my hands instead of one to cover them. Our teacher answers, "Not much of that information was released but pictures of evidence were..."

She pulls the pictures up onto the projector, black and white photos of the bar and shattered glass show up.

"There were bloodied pieces of glass lying around and she was found dead with a gash in her neck so I assume that was how she was killed."

My breaths become shorter as she continues to talk about the case and I look around the room, hoping no one is looking at me on the verge of an anxiety attack... luckily no one cares to look at me. A class of seniors could care less about people they don't know, we're all just trying to finish high school and move on with our lives.

Although I didn't have a plan for college yet, I was going to go to junior college for my first two years to save my adoptive parents some money. They shouldn't have to put me through school, especially when they didn't raise me from a young age.

I run my hand across my neck, something I've always done when I feel anxious, and continue to shake. The noise around me starts to drown out as my heartbeat throbs in my ears, louder and louder. My vision blurs by I do my best to keep my eyes open so I don't get singled out for sleeping during this conversation.

I need to leave the class, I need to go get fresh air, this room is too stuffy. Will leaving now make me seem suspicious? What if they figure it out and by the time I get back from my lap around the school the cops have us all locked in here while they're trying to lock me up.

I quickly raise my hand and the teacher calls on me and excuses me to use the bathroom. I walk out of the class and speedwalk my way to the bathroom. I lock myself in the stall and take a couple of minutes to breathe and calm down before pulling my phone out from my back pocket and texting the number Adrian gave me.

Dylan ~ school is the absolute worst

Adrian ~ agreed , how are you doing?

Dylan ~ meh

Adrian ~ understandably considering what happened monday

Dylan ~ lol

Adrian ~ what class are you in right now?

Dylan ~ forensic science, but i'm hiding in the bathroom. i'm just counting down the minutes until my next class period

Adrian distracting me helped me calm down, we've been texting almost every day and he keeps me distracted from all the negativity in my life and all of the stress.

Adrian ~ what do you have next?

Dylan ~ i have off so i think i'm going to go to the cow to get an iced coffee and a sandwich