WEREWOLVES NO.1 || Unchained ✔️

12; the wolf within

the afternoon sunlight cast down upon Rhi as she walked back home, feeling bummed and a little peeved that she hadn't found out how to get rid of her new curse. Madame Moone had suspected there was something warring inside her, but that just made Rhi feel twice as panicked, since the psychic probably knew what she was...

as soon as Rhi got home, she never wanted to leave the house ever again. this whole thing felt like one huge nightmare; she wasn't meant to be a werewolf, just a normal and quiet teenage girl with a popular friend that shared all the hot gossip with her and dragged her into pointless parties. life was getting stranger and stranger by the hour.

speaking of her gossipy and popular friend...

"hey Am, listen. i need to talk to you..."

"oh hey Rhi! i was wondering why you weren't here today.." loud voices emanated from the background, and Rhi guessed that Amber was at lunch.

"yeah, i texted you that i wasn't feeling well today. but I was wondering if we could just chat for a little bit."

"sure! the popular kids are getting boring to talk to anyway." Rhi could hear the loud voices disappearing in the background, and she had a feeling that Amber moved into the restroom to have a better conversation. "ahh, much better. so, what's up?"

Rhi twirled her hair between one finger. "uh huh, yeah, well I have to tell you something pretty interesting. don't tell anyone but i snuck out of the house around an hour ago and went into town, and i came across this psychic parlor..."

"ooooh Rhi you rebel! and you went to Madame Moone's?? yeesh, i heard she's a real fake and a total rip off. that's why she barely gets any customers."

a rip off? it sure didn't seem like that when i was there, Rhi thought. "anyway, she shuffled a bunch of cards and i closed my eyes and picked one randomly, and I picked out a full moon card. no biggie, but still, it was weird."

"ok im lost. why is a full moon card significant to the story?"

oh shit, i almost forgot! she doesn't know that i'm a freaking werewolf now and that i've been turned on Friday night! "umm well, i think there was a full moon on the night of the party, so maybe that has some significance there...?"

then Amber got excited again. "oh ok! yeah, wouldn't that be awesome if there was some intel about that? ah shit, the bell just rang. lunch is over and I have to get back to fifth period. hey, why don't I come over tonight? just for fun."

"sure, come by anytime. Im sure I wont be 'sick' anymore," Rhi said with a smile.

as the day wore on, Rhi awaited Amber's arrival, and it finally came around 3:00. she instantly went right up to Rhi's room and flopped down onto her bed. "i feel like i haven't been in your room for ages. like, damn."

"i know, you need to come by more often... anyway, how was school today?" Rhi had way more pressing things to worry about, but asking about her friend's day certainly seemed essential right now.

"it was pretty good, but a fight almost broke out during lunch today! and it's funny because you called me right after two teachers broke it up and took the two troublemakers to detention. the lunchroom was so loud today that i had to move to the restroom to have a civil conversation."

"a fight? wow, that sounds pretty fun to watch."

Amber nodded, then grabbed a random object off of Rhi's nightstand and began playing with it. "so let's talk about that party. weren't you saying something about a full moon.."

"yeah, i picked out a full moon card from Moone's deck and i remembered specifically that there was a full moon on Friday night, and she said that there was something 'warring' inside me. like i'm somehow still trying to find out what's going on..." yeah, keep telling yourself that. why did you even bring her here anyway if you were just gonna talk about that pointless party??, Rhi thought to herself.

Amber sighed. "ok, i'm still confused. plus this is getting out of hand, so can we just drop the whole party mystery thing? i'm sure whatever we did won't really matter in the long run."

Rhi ran a hand through her hair. "maybe you're right. the topic is literally so stupid." she thought for a moment. "but you can still hang out here for around an hour, right? even if we're not talking about that dumbass party."

"of course! let's go surf Instagram for cute guys."

——————————

once Amber's mom came to pick her up about an hour later, Rhi felt exhausted for some reason. like she wanted to take a two day long nap, but with no reason as to why.

being a new lycanthrope was already exhausting.

Jenny came home yet another hour later, bringing back some delicious Cane's. much to Rhi's disappointment, her mom still kept ordering her vegetarian meals, (but of course she didn't know what Rhi was becoming) and Rhi was about to ask if she could have some of the chicken fingers. and when she did ask, Jenny just stared at her. "oh, well, if you're sure you want some, then i can give you some. i just thought you were still into that vegetarian thing..."

"ah, not anymore. like i said the other day, it was more of a phase that i knew would have no long term affect." and i missed meat, was also what she wanted to say as she devoured the delicious chicken fingers. she didn't think she could live without Cane's chicken any longer.

after dinner, Rhi took the trash out and took the time to look up at the moon through the thick canopy of branches and leaves above the house. it was a very bright crescent moon, but not bright enough to illuminate the ground around Rhi. and suddenly, out of nowhere, a rustling sound was heard near the large trash cans in the back, and Rhi felt her heart rate go up. this reminded her of that exact moment on the night of the party, how scary and fleeting it had been. but this rustling sounded much quieter and smaller than what had been there at the night of the party....

a coyote leaped out, ears flattened and teeth bared as it glared at Rhi through feral and dark eyes. Rhi nearly dropped the trash bag in shock; she had never seen a coyote in her yard before, much less this close of a distance.

it took her frozen stance as a form of dominance, and it snarled at her as it slowly walked towards her. what the hell type of coyote was this? usually they were very cowardly, and ran away at the first sight of danger...

it knows that i'm part wolf. it knows that i'm just like it, but much bigger and stronger and that i can rip its throat out without even trying, Rhi thought with a sudden realization. she dropped the trash bag and took a lower stance, slowly kneeling to the coyote's eye level so she could take on a less aggressive form. but the coyote continued to step towards her, teeth still bared and fur bushing up. of course it felt threatened. Rhi was the bigger predator here, and a rare predator at that.

"alright, you wanna play mean? fine, i'll play mean," she suddenly growled, then rose up to her full height again and bared her teeth in a snarl of her own, knowing that she probably looked much scarier than the coyote. she growled again at the coyote, and this time it actually sounded animalistic. the coyote stopped snarling, and it stared at her now with round eyes full of uncertainty and a growing fear that only prey held when they were about to be killed. it backed away now, tail tucked beneath its legs, and when Rhi made the smallest movement it turned tail and ran back across the yard, wriggling beneath the fence and vanishing into the forest on the other side.

Rhi took a deep breath, dropped her snarl, and brushed off her clothes as if she had just fallen. "shît, that was pretty intense. i can't believe i just scared off a coyote," she whispered to herself. she then picked up the trash bag and threw it into the large trash can, then gasped when she saw her reflection in an old mirror leaning against the side of the house, yet to be discarded still.

her eyes were glowing a bright yellow, and the white streak in her hair was glowing.

she then ran back inside the house as if a monster were chasing her, and vanished up into her room.