WEREWOLVES NO.1 || Unchained ✔️

23; aftermath

Rhi groaned loudly, feeling like she was coming out of another hangover. she held her head in her hands as she sat up, her eyes still blurry from sleep. did i just get back from another party?

but then Rhi saw leaves and grass and trees all around her, then gasped as she realized what had truly happened last night. i turned into a monster!

she hurriedly got up, but felt dizzy and propped her body against a tree. she had no clothes, and the chilly morning breeze stirred around her. she was totally screwed.

"shit shit shit," Rhi mumbled to herself as she scrambled away from the tree and began to cover her body as she began to speed-walk through the cold forest. her teeth started to chatter; this was no place to be naked. she began to look around for her clothes, but then flashes of last night popped into her head and she stumbled as they came into her head; brief glimpses of teeth and claws against other teeth and claws, rolling down a hill, killing stuff...

wait, KILLING stuff? no way—

but then Rhi felt something sticky near the corners of her mouth, and her fingers came away with fresh blood. her mouth opened to scream, but nothing came out.

i've got to get out of here!

she hurriedly began to scrub at the blood on her face until it was all off, then she began to run through the forest; despite having no clothes and running with the freezing Colorado wind. nothing else was on her mind except for getting the hell out of the cold forest and going back home before her mom found out she was ever gone.

but wait... i came here with two people last night... Kassidy and Jace! i need to find them!

another cool breeze blew over her, and like some weird animal instinct, Rhi closed her eyes and sniffed the air. at first she couldn't detect anything besides the frosty air blowing down from the mountains, or the scents of numerous other animals from miles away, but then she smelled the distant scents of her friends and relief nearly made her faint. yes! now i just need to find them and get the hell out of here!

of course Rhi still had to find some clothes, but finding Kassidy and Jace was her only priority at the moment.

the scent grew stronger and stronger, and she was following it back to the grassy clearing when she came across a bundle of clothing that was drenched in Kassidy's scent. this must be her stuff.

but then Rhi saw a sticky note with words scrawled on top of it, and she knelt down to read it: Dear Rhi... if you ever happen to find this message, I wanted to let you know that I brought these clothes from Kassidy's closet earlier last night and figured you needed a fresh pair of modesty. As soon as you've finished reading this note, keep following the dirt path until you come back to the grassy clearing. We will wait for you there. - Jace

Rhi felt like fainting again when she realized that she now had some actual clothes to wear, instead of freezing her naked ass off in the frigid mountain weather.

when she finished putting the hoodie and sweatpants on, and the shoes as well, she jogged along the dirt path with a faster speed than she had ever jogged before until she came across the grassy clearing. there she saw the faint outline of Jace and Kassidy through the long grass, and she burst through the dewy green mini-forest until she came across them with the biggest sigh she had ever let out. they both stood up immediately when they saw her coming and both gave her a tight hug. "oh my gosh, when we woke up we were looking everywhere for you! Jace and i were lucky that we were even remotely close to each other, but we're so glad you found your way back."

Jace gave her a lopsided grin. "so i suppose you found my note? i figured i would leave it out there this morning."

Rhi nodded, pushing her messy brown hair away from her face. "yeah, thank you so much for that. i thought i'd have to walk back into town as a naked weirdo."

the siblings laughed at that, then Jace began to pack up some stuff in a backpack. "well, there's no reason we should be out here anymore so let's hightail it out of here and get back to town."

as they walked through the frosty forest, Rhi literally just remembered that it was Wednesday morning, but then thought that there was no way in hell that the three of them would be able to go to school today. after all they endured last night... resuming life as a normal teenager just didn't seem possible in the slightest.

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once the Jeep pulled into Rhi's driveway, she hoped against hope that her mom hadn't checked on her room this morning to see if she was there. she usually never did since Rhi took the bus to school, but since Rhi had claimed sick yesterday, her stomach dropped like a stone at the thought of her mom coming into her room.

"gee, if i don't survive till tomorrow, make sure you guys tell me more about your awesome werewolf lives when i'm in the afterlife," Rhi said with a nervous laugh as she got out of the car.

Jace burst out laughing, but Kassidy grinned and shrugged. "hey, who knows: maybe she doesn't know that you're at home today. i mean, if she ever finds out, you do have the excuse of being 'sick.'" she inserted air quotation marks at the end of her sentence, and Rhi grinned back and waved goodbye as they left the driveway and zoomed off down the street.

Rhi used her house key to get inside, then inhaled sharply as she entered the house. she was lucky to even be back here; without Kassidy and Jace, she'd probably still be out in the forest right now, naked and alone and starving.

her body went into autopilot mode, because apparently she was now in the basement, staring at the cooler full of meat. she opened the lid and began to devour as many piles of bloody goodness as she could.

 

well.... hope you guys enjoyed Rhi's wonderful aftermath of shifting into a wolf, and in the next chapter we'll find out whether her mom noticed her absence or not 😬

stay tuned!