Canis Lupus

CHAPTER III

Twisting and turning all night, I haven't been able to sleep a wink. I had no clue as to why I couldn't sleep, putting my pillow under my head, sleeping on my right side, none of it worked like it usually did. You would think after spending the last two nights, barely being able to sleep in the back seat of a truck I would be fast asleep by now, but I wasn't. There were many reasons I could have been awake, but which one if not all I did not know. It could have been the tall, and eerie tree that stood outside my window, it's looming shadow dancing around my room as if it were alive. Or maybe it was the tree's branches scraping against my window, causing my mind to travel to memories I didn't want to remember, causing my mind to play tricks on me. It could also have been just being back in this small tourist town. The town that I had been attacked in... the town that caused me to need months of therapy after being attacked.

Truth be told, I didn't want to return here. Not unless it was just to visit my mother once every year, to remind her I didn't forget her. To- to remind myself not to leave those who needed me at their worst. Letting out a sigh, I took the pillow off of my face and accidently threw it onto the ground. Maybe it was this mattress, it was at least my fathers' age. And for a mattress that was old. Well it was also kind of old for my father too.

Staring up at the ceiling, I breathed in and out slowly, thinking of what was to come. I had one more year of highschool, my father told me he had left the marines so I would be seeing more of him for now, I now lived in the middle of the woods, no one close enough to hear my cries of help if I was attacked by another animal, soon I would have to start thinking about college, like if I were going to go like my parents wanted me to do or if I would just wing life with a highschool diploma. What I had thought about the most was how I was supposed to call this place home. Especially if my father was serious about settling down here for good. My father irritated me a lot, the latest being how the only reason he left the military was because my mother was dead. They got into so many arguments when they were home, my mother wanted both of them to and I quote, "get out of this line of business," yelling something about someone named Alexander and how he had already been forced to "Do what they do." But at the mention of Alexander's name, they went silent as if the name had brought up a dark and horrid memory, one that they wanted to forget.

Letting out what must have been my one-hundredth sigh and groan of the night, I sat up in bed. Falling asleep was no use. At least not when my mind was wide awake, and torturing me with old memories. Memories that I tried to bury, memories that seemingly didn't want to stay buried, memories that- I started to feel a burning sensation, my bones starting to ache. Not now. I groaned in pain. Ever since I started puberty, I started to get these pains that started whenever they felt like it. They happened at school, at home, at the store, in the shower, at the parties everyone was invited too that I decided to go to with one of my 'friends,' who probably doesn't know I still exist, even at the therapist who told me I was starting to have growing pains. But this was worse than ever. Choking on air, I stumbled out of bed, ruining the covers that were making me start to sweat. Stumbling to the bathroom, I ran into the door frame making me wince. I winced in both pain, and the hope that I didn't wake my father because knowing him he would yell at me without even knowing I was dying. Well dying wasn't what was happening to me, but it sure damn felt like it.

Making my way into the bathroom, falling in the process, I felt the walls with my hands, looking for the light switch. After only seconds of failing, the light flickered on. Hunched over in pain, I held onto the counter with one hand and the other held my stomach. Falling towards the bathtub, I felt like I was going to puke, but the feeling went away as I turned on the shower. Crawling into the bathtub, I let the cold water run over my body and clothes, instantly cooling me down. But it didn't take away all the pain. Feeling something move under my skin, I started scratching my face like a crazy person, as if something were trying to claw its way out. However, nothing did, but the burning sensation remained in my throat and face as my body continued to get soaked in the shower. A knock sounded on the door.