Wolf Woes

Chapter 1 : Strange feelings (part 1)

Darkness consumed her, wrapping around her mind and bleeding into her soul. She tried to fight against it, tried to break free, but it suffocated her. It pulled her deeper into the dark, until the only light that remained was a pin point at the end of a never-ending nothingness.

Josie woke screaming, startling herself as well as her twin sister Lizzie, who had been asleep next to her. Her breathing was heavy and coming in pants as she tried to separate the real from the nightmare. She looked at the light streaming from her desk lap.

Lizzie was holding her closely, whispering soft reassurances in her ear. It was helping, but not enough to help her shake the nightmare completely. She tried to sleep again, curled up in the safety of her sister's arms, but it alluded her. Every time she closed her eyes, she was right back in the grave that nearly took her life.

Lizzie fell back to sleep quickly and didn't wake when Josie gently slipped out from beneath her. Nor did she wake as the brunette slipped from their room to go find a quiet place where she wouldn't disturb her sister's slumber.

Josie knew it was past curfew, but she figured she would get pass if she were caught. After all, she had just been buried alive by her dead biological mother, who was being manipulated by yet another creature. Still she was careful not to get caught as she snuck through the school and out the kitchen door.

She walked through the wood surrounding the Salvatore property slowly and as quietly as she could. The moon was half full, giving her just enough light to see where she was going. She didn't want to use the flashlight until she was sure no one from the school would see it. She needed to do this, and she needed to do it alone.

As she walked, she went through the events of the day in her head, analyzing every second of it. She had met her bio mom, which is something she never thought she wanted until it happened. She had always felt different than her sister. Lizzie was so much like their mom, sometimes she forgets they share no DNA with her, but at the same time, it made Josie feel like she was adopted. She loves her mom, and never had she felt unloved, she just didn't always see herself in either one of her parents, despite her father always joking that she was more like him than Lizzie was.

Meeting Josette, for the short time it had lasted, was amazing. She could see herself in the woman, like she saw Lizzie in their mom. But it also made her realize what she was missing. Caroline was her mother, through and through, but so was Josette. And now, instead of just missing Caroline, she was also missing Jo and the life they could have had. She felt awful, like she was cheating on her mom or something.

Then there was the fact that she had basically helped kill Jo for a second time, and that hurt even more. Realistically she understood that it wasn't she and Lizzie who killed Jo, but the look on her father's face after she disappeared, made her feel like it was.

When she arrived at the gate to the cemetery, she froze, suddenly reminded why she was on her trek. On top of all her momma drama, she also had to deal with the cause of her nightmares. Being buried alive in a shallow grave, unable to move, breath, or dig her way out.

She slowly made her way to the grave she had been buried in, carefully watching her steps for any remains still lying around from the zombie fight that had taken place. Her grave was still half dug, untouched after her rescue. She stood over it, staring mindlessly at the hole unsure of what to feel. There was so much going on inside.

Josie kneeled, laying her hand in the center of the oddly shaped hole, as if to siphon away dark feelings attached to it. When the act did little to ease her suffering, she laid down in the hole, rolling onto her side, and let the feelings out the only way she knew how, through tears.

She cried for the mother she never knew and never would. She cried for the mom she missed every day. She cried for her sister, who was beating herself up over not noticing she hadn't shown for their party. She cried for her father, who had to say goodbye to the love of his life again. She cried for herself, who had been buried in that grave, who had lost all hope of being saved.

She cried until she had no tears left,

Still she laid there. Remembering the feeling of the heavy dirt compressing her body, surrounding her in darkness, consuming her very life. Remembering the pain in her chest as she realized no one knew she was gone, no one could hear her screaming, no one was coming for her.

Josie didn't know how long she had been laying there, staring into the darkness, consumed by her own dark thoughts. She didn't hear the heavy foot steps until they were over top of her. She felt something nudge her arm, before hearing the gentle whine that followed.

She looked up at the white fur cover beast in surprise. It's glowing yellow eyes unnatural for a regular wolf, but a telltale sign that it was werewolf. She had only ever seen a werewolf's glowing eyes in that of her classmates while in human form. Never while they were transformed. Her father forbade her and Lizzie from going into the cellar.

She knew she should be afraid. She heard the stories of how wolves in the primal state were uncontrollable, vicious, monstrous, and yet this wolf looked harmless. Sad even. Familiar.

"Hope?" she asked, her voice rough from crying. It had to be Hope, she was the only wolf at the school who could change at will, unless there was another wolf in the area.

The wolf let out a long whine, then nudged her arm again, as if to ask if she was okay. Josie cautiously raised her hand to the wolf's snout and gently ran her fingers along the underside, before moving up to her ears

Hope laid down and leaned into the hand, whining slightly. With each stroke of Josie's hand, the wolf moved ever so slightly towards her, until she was laying tightly against Josie's body. Hope laid her head in the arm under Josie's and let out a little whine again as she rolled onto her side to play little spoon.

Understanding that Hope wasn't going to hurt her, she wrapped her arm around the wolf, and allowed herself to relax. Josie didn't know what time it was, but she guessed it was somewhere just before dawn. The light of the moon was fading from the sky making the already dark cemetery look pitch black.

Despite still lying in the grave that almost took her life, Josie felt calmer. Though she was still afraid to close her eyes. Too afraid to be pulled back into the endless darkness. Too afraid to relive the biological mother's final moment over again.

So, she quietly laid there, cuddled up to Hope, gently stroking her hand over the white wolf's fur, soaking up the warmth radiating off her. Hope didn't move, but she did let out soft whines every now and again. Josie wondered why, wondered if she was hurt, but until Hope was human again, she couldn't get the answer.