Howl (Howl #1)

by Jody Morse

  When Luke reached the end of Old Mill Road, he pulled into a dirt parking space behind a grassy field. There were no other cars around, and the place looked completely abandoned. It was dark out, and the forest that lined the road looked incredibly dark and eerie.

  Samara froze. Did Luke have the wrong idea? She really liked him, but she wasn’t like most of the other high school girls who were willing to have sex on the first date. Samara was a virgin, and she planned to keep it that way until she was positive that she had found the right person. She had seen Luke around school and it was obvious from Emma’s party the other night when they kissed that they had good physical chemistry, but she didn’t know him well enough to know if he was the right one (or the wrong one) for her. If sex was what he was expecting, he was in for a world of disappointment.

  Luke reached behind them and pulled a bag out from the backseat. “I have lawn chairs in the trunk,” he told Samara before stepping out of the car.

  Samara opened her own door and climbed out of the car. She was glad that she had talked Emma into letting her wear the black sequined flats instead of the kitten heels that she had been insisting she wear because wherever they were seemed a bit like the wilderness. Luke might want to take a hike or something – although that didn’t explain why he was getting the chairs out of the trunk. Samara didn’t mind a date involving nature; she’d always been somewhat of a tomboy. In fact, she would rather go hiking than pretend she was cool, calm, and collected in her heels. When she was a child, her mom had always hated this about her because she wanted a girly-girl daughter who she could dress only in cutesy pink outfits and buy Barbie dolls and Easy Bake ovens for, but Samara had always preferred her denim overalls, playing with Transformers, and making mud pies.

  Luke came around to the passenger’s side of the car, unfolding the chairs as he carried them. “Okay, so, the surprise is over here,” he said, leading her over into the grassy field. He stopped abruptly, planting the chairs into the grass and taking a step forward. Samara gasped as she looked around and saw that a section of the field was lit by a dozen flaming torches. He must have already been there to set it up before he picked her up for their date. The fact that he had planned their date out this much meant a lot to Samara. No one had ever done anything this romantic for her.

  Luke reached for her hand and led her over to where he had laid out a blanket on the ground.

  When they were standing on the blanket, Luke set up the lawn chairs and placed the cooler on the blanket. While she waited for him, she noticed that he had also set up a telescope. Samara looked at Luke questioningly.

  “You mentioned the other night at Emma’s house that you love stars,” Luke explained. “So, I thought that our first date could be stargazing.”

  Samara smiled up at him. “I do love stars,” she admitted. Samara glanced up at the night sky. “It’s so pretty out.”

  “It is really pretty, but not as pretty as you,” Luke whispered.

  Samara felt her heart skip a beat. She moved in closer to Luke. Just as she brushed her lips against his, she heard a low growling sound coming from behind her.

  Turning around slowly, she found herself staring back into the icy blue eyes of a gray wolf, which was baring its teeth. Samara froze, unsure of what to do. The car was only feet away from them, but she knew that running would draw even more attention to herself and make the wolf even more ready to attack.

  The wolf, which had a patch of light brown hair in the shape of a heart on its side, took a step towards Samara.

  Before she had a chance to do anything, the wolf lunged at her. Samara opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

  Chapter 4

  ****

  Samara stared at her arm, completely mortified by the river of blood that streamed out of her wrist and dripped down the back of her hand.

  “Are you okay?” Luke asked after a few moments, his voice even. Samara felt relieved that he wasn’t acting nearly as panicked as she felt. At least one of them had to remain calm.

  “I - I don’t know,” she replied hastily, knowing that the shock in her voice was obvious. “I’m bleeding pretty bad. I hope the wolf didn’t have rabies or anything.”

  She saw Luke nod his head in the darkness. “Yes, it was a wolf. We should probably get you to the hospital to bandage up that wound.”

  Luke opened the car door for her. She climbed inside and sunk back against the leather seat. Was this a bad omen? Of all the times for her to get attacked by a wolf, it just had to ruin their first date?

  “I’m really sorry this had to happen,” Luke said when he got into the car, as though he had read her mind. “I honestly didn’t know there were wolves in this area or I never would have brought you here.” Luke reached into the back seat. “Here, wrap this around your arm to stop the bleeding.”

  “Thanks,” Samara replied, taking the t-shirt from him. “It’s okay. I know it’s not your fault. What’s kind of weird is that it wasn’t even really a vicious attack. I mean, yeah, it bit me, but…I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. It’s like it bit me and then it just walked away. I thought you were going to need to pry it off me. I wonder why it even bit me if it wasn’t going to attack me worse.”

  Luke shrugged. “Wolves are supposed to be really territorial. It was probably just trying to put you in your place.”

  “I guess,” Samara replied. As Luke drove past her street, she said, “Actually, I think I just want to go home. I’ll bandage my arm up myself and if I still think that I need to go to the hospital, I’ll have one of my parents take me. There’s no reason you should have to sit with me for hours in the emergency room.”

  “If that’s what you want,” Luke shrugged. “Where’s your house?”

  “We passed it already,” Samara said. Luke did a U-turn in the middle of the street and turned onto her street when she told him to.

  “I didn’t realize you lived that close to Starlight Lake,” Luke said. “I went there a lot this past summer.”

  “I’m surprised I’ve never seen you there then. I’m always at the lake once school’s out. It’s that house,” Samara said, pointing to the narrow driveway that led to her family’s two-story white house. The McKinley’s house wasn’t as huge as Emma’s family’s house, but it was big enough for the four of them.

  “Alright,” Luke said, as he put the car into park. “I’m sorry that our date got ruined, but I was really glad to see you. I’m so happy that you agreed to go out with me. Do you want to try it again sometime soon? I think we’ll stick to something indoors this time, like dinner and a movie. Something where no wild animals can ruin it.”

  Samara nodded and smiled at him. “I would love to go out with you again.”

  She waited for a few seconds and, just as she was about to get out of the car, Luke leaned into her. Running his fingers through her hair, he pressed his lips lightly against hers. Samara felt her heart skip a beat.

  After a few minutes, she pulled away and got out of the car. Once she was in the house, Samara went into the kitchen to grab some paper towels. She figured she was going to need them to take care of this wound.

  “Samara?” Mrs. McKinley asked. “How was Emma’s house?”

  Samara whirled around. She hadn’t realized that her mom had been sitting at the kitchen table in the dark. “Um, it was fine,” she replied, hiding her arm behind her back. How would she explain that she had been attacked by a wolf if she was supposed to be at Emma’s house the whole entire time? Her mom had taken her over there earlier and, even though their houses were only about two blocks away from each other, Emma’s mom always drove Samara home if she was there after dark. It wouldn’t sound believable for her to say that she had gotten attacked in their own front yard. Her mom would have heard her scream.

  Samara sighed. If her wound was really that bad, she was going to just have to fess up and tell her mom the truth, but she really hoped that it wouldn’t come to that.

  “What did you girls d
o?” Mrs. McKinley asked.

  “Just makeovers,” Samara answered shortly. That, at least, explained why her hair and makeup looked different now than it had when her mom had dropped her off earlier.

  “That’s nice. I hope you had fun. Seth still hasn’t come home yet,” Mrs. McKinley said, twirling around the tea bag that was resting in her mug.

  “He hasn’t?” Samara asked, surprised. Her brother was known to go away for a few days at a time, but for some reason, she expected him to be back by now. If he didn’t come home by tomorrow, he would probably skip school, and Samara already knew that his attendance hadn’t been great so far this year. The last thing he needed was to get into more trouble at school.

  Mrs. McKinley shook her head. “He might stay away longer this time. It’s never been so bad that your father ended up in the hospital. Seth might actually feel guilty for once.”

  Samara doubted that her brother would ever feel guilty for the things he said or did to their parents. She cringed thinking about how awful her dad’s face had looked when she’d peeked in on him while he was sleeping before she left for Emma’s house today. Both of his eyes had turned black and there were bruises and cuts all over his face. It was scary to think that her brother was able to inflict that much pain on his own father.

  “Mom, I think that Seth needs therapy sessions or anger management or something. He really needs to get some help or this is just going to keep on happening.”

  “Oh, Samara, don’t be silly,” Mrs. McKinley replied, forcing a laugh and waving her hand in the air. “Your brother’s fine. He’s just going through a phase.”

  “A phase that’s lasted for months!” Samara exclaimed, feeling her cheeks reddening. She hadn’t realized that her mom was in such deep denial about Seth’s anger issues. “Next time, someone could get killed if you keep letting him get away with it.”

  “He’ll grow out of the phase that he’s in soon, Samara. Don’t worry,” Mrs. McKinley replied, yawning and running an unpolished fingernail through her black hair. “I’m going to bed. You should do the same soon, so that you’re not too tired for school. See you in the morning.”

  “Goodnight,” Samara grumbled. She felt a sharp, jabbing pain in her wrist.

  Once her mom left the room, Samara looked at the area where the wolf had bitten her. The blood flow had slowed down a bit; it wasn’t seeping through the bandage. Samara breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t have to worry about getting her parents to take her to the hospital. Her parents would never have to find out that she had lied to them.

  Chapter 5

  ****

  “So, you have got to tell me all of the details,” Emma said excitedly the next day at school. “What was the surprise? Did you have fun? Did you kiss?”

  “The surprise was that he wanted us to stargaze, which we never actually got to,” Samara said, pulling her biology book out her locker and slamming the door shut.

  “Oh, so it was that hot and steamy?” Emma replied, more of a statement than a question. “You guys moved really fast. It’s about time you lost your virginity already, though, so I can’t blame you. And, I have to say, Luke is pretty hot, so good choice.”

  “No, you pervert. That’s not what happened. It would have been a lot easier if that were the case. We were going to look at the stars in the telescope that he had set up before we even got there, but before we got the chance, I was attacked by a wolf.”

  “What? Oh my God!” Emma shouted, cupping her hands to her mouth. “Why didn’t you call me last night to tell me?”

  Samara shrugged. “I guess I was in shock. It was really scary. The wolf just came out of nowhere and bit me.”

  “That’s crazy! Where did you get bit? I don’t see any bite marks,” Emma said, scanning her body up and down.

  “On my wrist,” Samara replied, pulling up the sleeve of her pale yellow sweater and peeling back her bandage to show it to Emma.

  Emma raised a thin blonde eyebrow at her. “Ha, ha, very funny, Sam!”

  Samara stared at her best friend questioningly. “Umm, no, it was actually really scary.”

  “Okay, you sound a little nutso,” Emma replied. “You don’t have a bite mark. Obviously you weren’t attacked by a wolf. Are you okay?” she asked, pressing a palm to Samara’s forehead. “If your date with Luke just went really bad, you can tell me. We’ll have a Ben and Jerry’s night or something. You don’t have to lie to me about it.”

  Samara glanced down at her wrist. Emma was right. The wound was gone. There was no evidence that she had been bitten by the wolf, except for the leftover blood that had soaked through the bandage the night before. “It did happen,” Samara insisted. “I swear to you. I don’t know what happened to the wound . . . it was there this morning! You can even ask Luke if you don’t believe me. He saw it happen. Luke wanted to take me to the hospital.”

  “Fine, fine. I believe you. That just makes no sense,” Emma said unconvincingly.

  “You’re telling me,” Samara muttered, trying not to blame her best friend for not believing her. Even she had to admit that it sounded pretty crazy.

  “I’ve also never heard of a wolf sighting in Pennsylvania,” Emma went on. “Are you sure it was even a wolf?”

  Samara nodded. “Yes, it was a wolf. You of all people should know that there are wolves in PA. One ruined one of your bonfire parties over the summer.”

  The expression on Emma’s face told Samara that she was thinking back. “Oh! That wasn’t a wolf. It was a really cute Husky!”

  Samara sighed. She had already explained to Emma several times after the party that it wasn’t a Husky, but she hadn’t believed her. Emma also seemed to believe that the wolf’s growling meant that it was happy and that it wasn’t ready to attack her if she had taken only one step closer to it.

  “So, how did the date go otherwise?” Emma asked, casually changing the subject.

  Samara smiled, thinking back to her kiss with Luke. “It went good, actually . . . really good. After the bite, we both were kind of freaked out, I think. He ended up driving me home right away. He said he wants to go out with me again, though.”

  “Yay!” Emma squealed. “I knew that the two of you were going to hit it off.”

  Samara stared at Emma blankly, unsure if she was genuinely happy for her or fake happy for her. When Emma didn’t meet her eyes, Samara was pretty sure that she knew the answer.

  The first bell rang to let them know that class was starting in five minutes. Samara followed Emma to their homeroom class, which was biology with Mrs. Shay.

  As they took their seats next to each other, Samara couldn’t help but overhear the guys sitting in front of them.

  “I almost hit it with my car last night, dude,” Ethan Miller said. “I thought it was a Siberian Husky, but it was way too big.”

  “I believe you, man. I saw two of them last week,” Mark Klein replied. “I didn’t even realize there were so many wolves in this area of Pennsylvania. I never saw any of them before.”

  “Me either. I‘ve never heard of a sighting in Grandview before,” Ethan agreed.

  “See,” Samara whispered to Emma. “They probably saw the same wolf that bit me!”

  Emma shrugged. “They’re total losers. They probably didn’t see any wolf or a Husky. They were probably tripping and saw a bunny or something.”

  Samara sulked. She knew that it was hard to believe that she had been bit, but there was no reason why Emma shouldn’t believe that there were wolves in Grandview. It was almost as though she didn’t want to believe her. Maybe she was still hoping that Samara’s date with Luke really had gone bad.

  Mrs. Shay came into the classroom, interrupting Samara’s thoughts. She was wearing an unflattering brown maxi dress, a cropped pale yellow short-sleeved cardigan sweater, and red heels that clacked against the tiled floor. Mrs. Shay had a habit of never matching her clothes. It was like she put a blindfold over her eyes and randomly pulled clothes out of her closet to wear. Emma alwa
ys talked about how she would love to give Mrs. Shay a makeover and, for once, Samara had to agree.

  “Class, I’m really not here today, if you know what I mean, so I’m going to have you do a lab experiment,” Mrs. Shay said, pacing back and forth. “My niece, Lilly, is missing. Some of you probably know her. Lilly Phillips. Anyway, it’s been really hard on the family, so I’ve been a bit of a wreck.”

  Mrs. Shay whipped out a bottle that contained tiny strips of paper. “Your job is to test the PH level of water and compare it to the PH level of Pepsi and lemon juice. So, one of you should come up here to fill two cups, one with lemon juice and the other with Pepsi. Your lab partner should come get a cup and fill it up with water from the back sink.”

  Samara stood up and grabbed a cup. She headed towards the back of the room. She reached for the handle of the sink and immediately pulled away. The faucet had burned her skin. It reminded her of the time she had accidentally banged her arm on the oven tray when she was pulling out a batch of cookies.

  “Um, is everything okay?” Mark, who was standing behind her, asked. When she turned and looked at him, she noticed the puzzled look on his face.

  Samara shook her head. “The faucet . . . It burned me. It’s scorching hot.”

  Mark stepped forward and turned the faucet on, running his hands under the water. “It doesn’t feel hot to me,” he replied over his shoulder, with a confused look on his face.

  Samara glanced down at her hand. The feeling lingered, but there wasn’t a burn mark.

  *

  As Samara was filling up her khaki green tote bag with books that she was going to need for homework at the end of the day, Luke came over to her locker. “Hey, Samara. Can we talk for a sec?”

  “Sure,” she replied, looking up at him. Luke looked really cute today. His light brown hair was slicked back and the forest green polo t-shirt he was wearing brought out the gold flecks in his emerald green eyes.