Turning ✔️

Chapter 5. Dreams

Will led the way to the student parking lot and over to his mint green 1968 VW Beetle. He led me over to the passenger side where he opened the door for me before jogging over to the driver's side and hopping in. We both fastened our seatbelts and he looked over at me with a smirk.

"So where am I going?" He questioned.

I gave him instructions on how to get to my house and he backed out his parking spot. We whizzed through the parking lot and out onto the road. He turned on the radio to an oldies station as we cruised down the asphalt, the vast amount of trees passing by in blurs.

I glanced over at Will, wondering what prompted him to be so friendly with me today. He noticed me staring at him and smiled.

"Do I have something on my face or something?" He said wiping his face with his right hand, keeping his left on the steering wheel.

My face turned bright red when he caught me staring. I just couldn't help it, he was like a drug to look at. Once you started, you couldn't stop. I quickly shook my head, laughing nervously.

He smirked. "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing. I'm sorry. My house is coming up any second now on the right." I changed the subject, pointing over to where my house stood.

He nodded in response before turning into my driveway leisurely.

"Thanks for giving me a ride home. I appreciate it." I said while quickly unbuckling my seatbelt. I opened my door and stepped onto the driveway.

"Anytime. I hope to see you again soon, Nathan."

"Thanks again Will. See you later," I said closing the car door. I walked up the stairs to the porch, thinking about how I just got a ride home from freaking William Harper.

When I woke up this morning that was the last thing I would have ever expected to happen. I smiled thinking about my day as I headed into my house. My mom wasn't home yet, she was at work. Genevieve had cheerleading practice and Eleanor wouldn't be home for almost an hour.

With the day I had, I decided to go straight upstairs to my bedroom. I grabbed my headphones and plugged them into my phone's jack. After turning my music on shuffle, I jumped onto my bed, wrapping myself in a cocoon of blankets.

Sleep quickly took ahold of me as the warmth and exhaustion of my day kicked in.

I awoke face down, sprawled out on the forest floor. I stood up abruptly, fear immediately taking hold of my body and I bolted. I sprinted through the woods, jumping over fallen trees and large stones. From behind me, I could hear twigs snapping and leaves crunching. I didn't dare look behind me and pushed myself to run faster until I hit a clearing in the woods.

I no longer heard anything from behind me as I took in the sight before me. There was a small brook running into a pond that had the reflection of the full moon from the star-stricken violet sky.

The smell of apples and cinnamon wafted to my nose causing me to sniff at the air. I followed the scent, trying to discern the cause of such a wonderful smell in the middle of a forest. My legs moved as if on their own, inching forward step by step closer to the stupendous aroma.

From the shadows, I saw copper orbs glowing out at me. Something about them pushed me further, wanting to get a closer inspection. From out of the shadows stepped a massive silver wolf, meeting each of my steps as we neared one another.

Everything in my head was telling me this was a huge mistake, my body ignoring every attempt my brain made at ceasing my movement. It was as if the wolf and I were walking in slow motion towards one another. When we finally reached each other, I heard cracking and then the wolf was suddenly William Harper.

I awakened to my dark bedroom, panting slightly from my dream. My stomach gurgled angrily as I hadn't eaten since lunch. I took a peek at my alarm and it was midnight on the dot.

Happy birthday to me! I thought to myself. Today's the day I am finally an adult. I don't feel that much different than I did before.

I rolled out of bed with a groan, before silently padding downstairs to the kitchen. On the kitchen table, I saw a note from my mom.

Happy 18th birthday, kiddo. I love you so, so, so much. I have a very important client I'm working with so I won't be back home until around 5 pm. I'm very sorry I won't get to spend your day with you, but I promise we will still be going out to dinner tonight. I have a present for you on the coffee table in the living room. I hope you like it.

XOXO MOM

Forgetting about eating, I bolted to the living room to find my present. Just as my mom had said, I found a small teal package wrapped with white string on the coffee table. When I lifted the gift up, I found it was very light and jingled a bit. Perplexed, I quickly tore at the paper, opening the gift and finding a pair of keys.

One was a tiny key that I wasn't sure what it went to and there was another key that obviously went to a car. I was jumping in excitement at this point, flying out of the house to find a dark blue Jeep Grand Cherokee sitting in our driveway. I let out a tiny scream and jumped into the driver's seat. On the passenger side was a sealed envelope, addressed to me. I quickly scooped it up into my hands as my stomach growled at me again.

I got out of the car holding the envelope as I headed back into the house and into the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator looking for some leftovers I could easily reheat in the microwave. I found some leftover pot roast from the night before and made myself a plate before popping it into the microwave.

While the food was heating up, I went back up to my room and threw the envelope onto my desk taking a mental note to open it later on.

I went and grabbed my food from the microwave and went back up to my room, sitting down at my desk. I booted up my laptop and put in the password when the screen came to life. When it was all done loading up, I double-clicked on Chrome and went to Google.

Reoccurring wolf dream, I typed into the search engine. The results loaded up slowly, so I began to eat whilst it did so. I clicked on one of the first pages in the search results and quickly skimmed over what it read.

A wolf in a dream can indicate that you feel a need to express your true desires or let go of your inhibitions. Wolf dreams often challenge us to confront our fears and live without shackles or shame.

Well, that's interesting, I thought to myself. I took a few more bites of food before searching again. This time wolf turns into man, clicking on a selection titled Lycanthropy.

"The word lycanthropy means the transformation of man into wolf. According to lore, they are said to be very fast and ferocious and endowed with a superhuman force. The legend of the werewolf deeply permeates the culture of western people."

I read through the article before hitting the back button, searching through the results again. This time I clicked on a website dedicated to Native American legends.

The website told of a man who had two wives with no shame. To teach them to be good, he moved them away from their village.

When the man went hunting one morning, his wives plotted to kill him for taking them from their home in the village. They dug a large hole, covering it up so that their husband wouldn't suspect a thing as he fell to his death. When the wives saw him fall, they packed away their house and went back to their village.

The man did not end up dying from his fall but was very injured. He was in the pit for a while before a wolf found him and took pity upon him. He howled and his pack of wolves and even some coyotes came running. They all agreed to help dig the man out, but on a condition that he must live with the wolves in the forest.

The man agreed and was brought to the alpha of the pack who was very powerful. He could not heal the man's injuries as a human but he could in another way. The alpha told the human he would have to bite him and he would transform into a wolf, healing his injuries. The man in so much pain from his fall reluctantly agreed and the wolf immediately bit him, turning him into a wolf.

I had finished eating my dinner by the time I was through reading the story of the man with two wives. I closed my laptop and climbed back into bed, falling back asleep quickly with werewolves on my mind.