by Noelle Marie
Taken aback, Katherine hastily looked at the alarm clock on her night stand. She groaned aloud when she saw the time – 7:13 – blinking innocently back at her. She had overslept.
“Thanks mom, I’ll be downstairs in a minute.”
Acknowledging her daughter with a nod, Elaine left the room.
Katherine fought for a moment to untangle herself from her bed sheets. In her restless sleep, she had somehow managed to wrap them around herself in a complicated cocoon. Once up, she quickly stripped off her pajamas – an old, discarded shirt of her dad’s and a pair of too big sweats – and hurried across the room to the small adjoining bathroom. Ignoring the small chill that swept through her as her feet hit the cold, tiled floor of the room, she hopped into the shower. She knew she was already running late and probably should have foregone the quick wash, but after waking up in a cold sweat, with pieces of her long, brown hair sticking to her damp forehead, she felt the shower was needed.
After fiddling with the silver knobs of the rather ancient-looking shower, Katherine breathed a sigh of contentment when warm water finally burst from the worn shower head. Relaxing under the spray, she allowed her mind to wander.
It had been three days since she had been attacked by that wolf on Miller Road and she doubted she would be forgetting the incident anytime soon. After Abby had helped haul her home that Friday night, she had been bombarded by her worried parents, made even more frantic after the two girls had explained what had happened. As predicted, Katherine was immediately driven to the hospital of the town over – Hayfield Medical – to have the wound looked over.
In a turn of good luck, which Katherine still had trouble believing, the wolf bite was found to be clear of any infection, and she was sent back home, ankle bandaged in soft, white wrappings, in less than an hour. In the weekend of rest that followed, the pain of the wound had slowly subsided into nothing and she found she could walk and put pressure on the limb without feeling any discomfort at all – almost like she hadn’t been mauled by a wolf just three days ago.
No, the only side effect Katherine seemed to be suffering from was the dreams.
Every night since the attack, the intense blue eyes of the dark wolf had haunted her sleep. They weren’t nightmares – she didn’t feel the least bit afraid in them – but they were bizarre, and not just a little unnerving.
After waking from them, she’d always feel guilty that she couldn’t understand what the blue eyes were trying to tell her – like she was failing the owner of the eyes in some way. Katherine sighed softly at that thought, scolding herself for thinking so absurdly.
She grabbed the shampoo and began working it through her thick hair. Why should she feel guilty about upsetting a wolf – one that had attacked her no less?
Now that she was out of immediate danger and far away from the violent beast and its strong jaw and sharp claws, she often found herself looking back on Friday night and admiring the beauty of the animal that had attacked her. Both the wolves she had seen had been remarkable, but the blue-eyed one especially. Its body had been huge and powerful, and its dark – almost black – fur had been sleek and beautiful. Even the snarl that had dominated the wolf’s face had done little to take away from the animal’s handsome features. He – Katherine was almost positive the wolf had been a male – had truly been a magnificent creature.
Katherine shook her head a little at the directions of her thoughts. Was she really describing the ferocious animals that had attacked her as magnificent?
Perhaps she had been infected by the wolf’s bite after all and one of the side effects of said infection was slowly going insane.
Reaching for the shower knob to turn off the warm spray, Katherine forced herself to stop thinking such thoughts.
Quickly rinsing her hair of excess water, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry herself off. After wiping herself down, she used the same towel to clear away the condensation that had formed on the bathroom mirror during her brief shower.
Katherine sighed when confronted with her reflection.
She had never been particularly impressed with her looks. Growing up with an exceptionally beautiful mother and older sister, she had always thought that she herself was rather plain looking. Her pale face was mostly unremarkable with a small nose and nondescript pink lips. Big, wide eyes dominated the majority of it, their color an odd mix of green and grey. Neither color really overpowered the other, giving them a rather murky appearance overall – almost like mud. Unlike her mother and sister, who both had beautiful – not to mention manageable – blonde hair, Katherine’s was a dark chocolate brown and refused to lay straight no matter what she did with it.
Deciding that she didn’t have time to blow dry the dark mass atop her head, she grabbed another towel and dried the wavy hair as best she could before reentering her bedroom and quickly throwing on a fresh outfit – a pair of black skinny jeans and a simple white t-shirt. She snatched up her blue and green plaid jacket from atop her desk and her book bag from where it lay abandoned on the floor before exiting and rapidly descending the stairs.
Following the smell of burnt toast into the kitchen, Katherine immediately spotted her father near the toaster, cursing as he attempted to remove the blackened bread from the small machine’s still hot slots.
Benjamin Mayes, Katherine supposed, was a handsome man for his age. His head was still full of brown, though graying, hair, and his dark eyes were easily capable of charming anyone – even the meanest of old spinsters – in Middletown.
Elaine was seated at the kitchen’s island, chuckling at her husband’s antics as he attempted to free his burnt toast with a fork. They both turned their attention to their daughter as she entered.
“Good morning,” Katherine greeted before making a beeline for the cold cereal. She had had enough of her parents’ concerned lectures this past weekend to last a lifetime and hoped to escape the house that morning before being subjected to yet another one.
“How’s your ankle feeling?” her dad asked as she sat across the island from her mother, placing the bowl of corn flakes she held in her hands on top of the dark wood.
“Okay,” she answered. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
She tried to ignore the pointed glances her parents gave each other. “That’s good news,” Elaine finally offered. After a brief pause she added, “Does this mean you still plan on trying out for cheerleading?”
Katherine tensed slightly at the question. Sometimes it felt like her parents were always pushing her to join the same extra-curricular activities, like cheerleading, that her older sister Samantha had been a part of when she was still in high school. Katherine didn’t mind some of them and actually enjoyed the book club she was a member of and the track team that she would be joining again in the spring.
Cheerleading, however, she despised.
It mostly had to do with the fact that some of the other cheerleaders, like Mallory Flanders for instance, seemed to enjoy making her life miserable. It didn’t stop her from trying out every year though. She knew that her parents would be let down if she didn’t. “That’s the plan,” Katherine answered her mother.
“That’s great,” Elaine encouraged with an enthused smiled. “I’m sure you’ll make the squad. You always do.”
Katherine didn’t bother to point out that everyone who tried out always did make the squad. With a town as dinky as Middletown, coaches couldn’t exactly afford to be picky.
Benjamin, unlike Elaine, wore a concerned frown at his daughter’s answer. “Are you sure you’re up to that? That ankle of yours is still healing and I don’t want you injuring yourself any more than you already have.”
Katherine clenched her teeth, a little irritated at those implications. “Right. Because it’s always been my lifelong dream to become the chew toy of a rabid wolf,” she bit out testily before standing up and dumping out her half eaten bowl of cereal into the kitchen sink. “I have to get to school.”
Benjamin
cringed slightly at his daughter’s harsh tone. “That’s not what I meant,” he immediately began to explain, but Katherine had already been told enough times by her parents how reckless her actions had been on Friday night and was in no mood to hear more on the subject. Sometimes if felt like they just wanted another perfect Samantha clone and it made her feel like such a disappointment. She knew they didn’t do it intentionally, but it still hurt.
She hurriedly exited the kitchen and shoved her feet into the new pair of sneakers her parents had bought for her. After all, one of her old pair had been lost to that wolf.
Ugh.
It seemed that no matter the topic, her thoughts always strayed back to that wild animal.
Berating herself, Katherine threw her book bag over one shoulder and headed for the attached garage where her car – a beat up Chevy that used to be Samantha’s – sat waiting.
Moments later, she was reversing out of the driveway and heading towards the high school located less than a mile away. The trip only took a few short minutes before she was carefully parking her vehicle in the student lot.
The high school in Middletown – creatively named Middletown High and home of the “fierce” cougars – was perhaps the biggest building in the entire town.
Which wasn’t saying much.
The brick structure was a mere three stories high and, combined with the teacher and student parking lots, took up a little over half of the small block it was located on. It was only the second week of the new school year, but to Katherine, it felt like school had already been in session for months.
She entered the school from the south side doors, the ones nearest the student parking lot, and swiftly made her way to the junior hallway where her locker was located. She was relieved to see teenagers still mulling around, indicating she had made it on time. She was even more glad to see Abby waiting for her by her locker.
“Hey, Abby.”
Startled by Katherine’s greeting, the redhead nearly dropped the bedazzled cell phone she had been furiously texting away on. “Kit!” Abby exclaimed excitedly, automatically causing Katherine to cringe at the nickname. “You’re not going to believe this!”
“What-” Katherine began to ask, but was abruptly cut off as her arm was grasped by her worked up friend. She was hastily tugged into the nearest girls’ restroom.
“You’re not going to believe this,” the girl repeated more quietly after checking the stalls of the room and making sure they were all empty, “but the rumor mill is going absolutely berserk with stories about you!”
“What? Why?” was Katherine’s instant confused response. She stubbornly ignored the butterflies that had suddenly sprouted wings in her stomach, firmly telling herself that she didn’t care what others were saying about her.
“Somehow the fact that you were attacked by that rabid wolf on Miller Road is going around the school,” Abby explained intently. “Half the students who’ve heard the story apparently think you’re dead and the other half thinks you’ve been mauled so badly that you’ve lost a limb or that your face has been deformed or something.”
Katherine fought the urge to roll her eyes at the dramatics of the student population. “Let me guess,” she replied, “Mallory started these rumors.”
Abby winced slightly at that. Despite Katherine’s contempt for the snobby blonde girl and her gang of friends, Abby got along with them all rather well. “It’s possible,” the redhead admitted, looking a little sheepish.
Katherine sighed. She determinedly repeated to herself that she didn’t care about stupid rumors – especially about any concerning her.
“It’s fine,” she breathed out, forcing the tension to leave her body. “They’ll all have seen that I’m alive and well by the end of the day. Let them talk until then if they want to.”
“If you’re sure,” Abby replied, still looking concerned, but letting the subject drop. She glanced down at her cell phone. “Shoot, it’s already past eight. We only have three minutes to get to Pre-Calculus.” She made a face, her opinion of the math class obvious.
The bell rang immediately after the girl’s announcement, almost as if in support of her assessment. “I’ll meet you there,” Katherine quickly assured her friend as they left the restroom. “I still have to drop by my locker and grab my books.”
Abby nodded and bounded off to class, leaving Katherine on her own by her locker.
She was all alone in the hallway, the other students having set off for their own classes. After what the animated redhead had told her about the latest gossip, Katherine was relieved. She wasn’t looking forward to the stares and prying questions that she knew would be directed at her all day long since apparently, an animal attack was big news in Middletown.
She was actually surprised Abby had gotten the chance to warn her about all the gossip before she'd been stopped and questioned by other students on her way into the school.
Dreading the rest of the morning, but already on the verge of being late to class, Katherine forced herself to speedily enter the combination of the padlock protecting her locker. Snatching the lock off the metal handle, she opened the slotted door. With a startled gasp, however, she banged it shut again.
What the...?
She felt as if her heart had leapt into her throat and was now lodged there, pounding hard. After taking a moment to calm its erratic beating, she carefully reopened the locker door, convinced she had been mistaken. Cautiously peeking into the metal box, however, she quickly realized she had not been.
For there, sitting innocently on the top shelf of her school locker, was the sneaker she was sure had been lost forever on Miller Road.
Katherine wasn’t sure what to think.
Was this some sort of prank? Perhaps, but she was almost certain that, besides herself and her parents, only Abby had been aware that she had lost a shoe last Friday night.
And she had literally just unlocked her locker two minutes ago. It had been locked all weekend and no one, not even Abby, knew the combination. Maybe her friend had told others that she had lost a shoe, but that still left the question of how whoever had planted the shoe had gotten into her locker in the first place.
She was getting nowhere with these thoughts.
And worse, that familiar feeling of awful foreboding was rising in her gut.
Taking a deep breath, Katherine forced herself to calm down. There’s no point in panicking, she told herself firmly. It’s probably just a dumb prank. Deciding that it was best to forget about it for now, she quickly gathered her books.
She closed her locker firmly and double-checked to make sure the lock was fastened correctly. Then, pushing thoughts of the shoe steadfastly to the back of her mind, Katherine made her way to Pre-Calculus.
Despite what she had been trying to prevent all morning, she was five minutes late for class.
Katherine noticed the looks in Pre-Calculus, but didn’t let them get to her. It helped that she shared the class with the rambunctious Abby, who was not-so-secretly doing her best to distract her – both from the stares and the class itself. The redhead absolutely detested math in all its forms.
Her next class, English, passed in much the same manner. In fact, it wasn’t until Katherine’s third period class, the one directly before her lunch break, that she was even questioned about the animal attack.
The class in question was American History. Katherine could swear that the class had been covering the same information since she had first had it in fifth grade. Every year, the teacher would spend way too much time on the Revolutionary War and the class would end with the students barely having touched upon the Industrial Revolution. Forget anything that had happened after that. Katherine seriously doubted any student in the school knew much of America’s history past the early 1900’s.
As it was, Mr. Jeffers was in the midst of explaining how the British government had formed the thirteen colonies – something Katherine had heard a dozen times before – when it happened. A neatly folded
piece of notebook paper was placed atop her desk.
She looked questioningly at the girl who had put it there – Beth Sanders – who, in turn, gestured across the small, clustered classroom, until her finger was pointing directly at one Brad Thompson.
Brad was perhaps the most popular boy in the entirety of Middletown High. Like Katherine, he was only a junior, but he was both the quarterback of the football team and the point guard of the basketball team.
In addition to his prowess in sports, he was also considered to be very good looking. He was tall and muscled with dirty blonde hair and supposedly irresistible blue eyes. That thought made Katherine reflect briefly on the intense eyes of her dream wolf. And she couldn’t help but think that in comparison, Brad’s eyes were rather dull. Said eyes suddenly caught her staring, and Katherine quickly looked away.
Crinkling her forehead in confusion, she wondering why Brad Thompson of all people was sending her secret letters in class. She hesitantly unfolded the paper note. Are you okay? Mallory told me what happened.
Now she was even more baffled.
Why did Brad care? He was Mallory’s boyfriend – had been since junior high – and the blonde had undoubtedly told him many nasty stories about Katherine.
Like how she had stolen her favorite marker from her in third grade or something equally stupid.
Not wanting to give Mallory any more reason to dislike her, she wisely chose to ignore the random note. Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape fast enough when the bell signaling the end of class rang.
“Katherine!”
She winced at the loud call, but had no choice but to slow her fast pace to allow Brad to catch up. There’s no way she could have pretended to not have heard that. “Hey, did you get my note?”
He had obviously seen that she had. Katherine sighed, hugging her history book closer to her chest. “Yes, and thank you for your concern, but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
