by Sammie Joyce
While I wasn’t a hundred percent confident, I felt a lot better now that I had some handle on what was happening. There was no need to chase them anymore. I knew exactly where to find them in the small town beyond. The bumper sticker on the rear fender boasting “Novak High 50 Years Strong” told me exactly where these kids would be if there was any trouble.
With a smirk, I fell forward onto my paws and leisurely headed down the roadway without any hurry now. After all that running, I was sweaty and hot. I had earned myself a bath at the river. Without having to pursue the car, I was free to do just that.
As I walked back to the spot the whole mess had started, I found myself wondering about the brave blonde who had to be forced away and the grin on my widened some. It had been a long time since I’d see that look of intrigue on anyone’s face, let alone a townie. But she had been fearless, curious and somehow, that had piqued my interest.
Don’t get too interested, I growled to myself, splashing almost playfully into the rushing water. Townies and shifters have nothing in common.
Before I could argue with my own good sense, I dropped my head beneath the surface and permitted the current to take away anymore inane thoughts from my mind.
5
Lowell
I didn’t sleep a wink that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the black-haired man morph into the massive, powerful animal. My mind was on a loop. The scene was always exactly the same, like my memory was a video recorder and I was watching my favorite movie.
I imagine if I had managed to get even a few winks of sleep, I would have dreamt about him. Instead, I found myself staring up at the ceiling of my shockingly large bedroom. This house had that going for it, at least. It had a lot of room compared to some of the other places I’d slept. Not that I was overly choosy but it was nice for a change. It was a cute bungalow, tucked away on the edge of town and I’ll admit, it was very charming.
Not that it made me like Alaska more than Delaware but it did help.
As I gazed blankly at the white paint of my bedroom, I played out new scenes in my head.
I envisioned that the others had left me there to observe him and eventually, we’d made our way to one another. In my mind’s eye, he let me stroke his fur and nuzzled his snout into my hand like I was some fictional Disney princess character. Then, he’d throw me on his back and ride off into the sunset as I clung to him, the wind rushing through my hair.
Since when are you that girl? I snapped at myself, disgusted that I was so enamored with the romantic idea of the bear. The air up here is making you loopy.
It was true—I’d never been a happily ever after kind of girl, so these thoughts were strange to say the least…but not so strange that I stopped myself from having them.
When the sun struggled to crack over the horizon, I jumped out of bed and hurried to make coffee. Dad appeared a few minutes later, rubbing his eyes warily as he gazed at me.
“What?” I chirped, knowing full well why he was looking at me like that. Getting me out of bed had never been an easy feat. Seeing me there must have alarmed him.
“What are you doing up so early?” he demanded. His voice was scratchy and I wondered if he was getting sick. Every time we moved, his immune system seemed to take a hit. Not that anything would keep Colonel Robert Carey down, certainly not a few sniffles. I don’t think I’d ever seen my strapping, Army man father take a sick day and admittedly, it made me proud of him.
Who needs Disney princes? This is what a real man looks like, I thought. My dad made me hold the bar high for potential suitors and so far, no one had come close—not in any country or language.
“Making coffee,” I said brightly, nodding at the percolating urn. “Want some?”
At first, he seemed even more stunned but reluctantly, he ambled forward.
“I’m off today,” he grumbled slightly but I thought I caught a glimpse of appreciation in his eye. “Are you eager to get to school?”
He was watching me, trying to make sense of what his usually sullen daughter was doing bouncing around the kitchen before the sun was barely up. I couldn’t fault him for his suspicions. I hadn’t exactly been a pleasure to deal since we’d moved there. The fact that I’d been wrenched away from my friends in Delaware had left an acrid taste in my mouth and I’d freely taken it out on Dad.
“Sure,” I replied in answer to his question, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly. I didn’t want to tell him that school had nothing to do with any of it. If anything, I wanted to skip school and begin my search for the mysterious grizzly. I didn’t entertain the idea that chasing after a killer bear alone might not be the best idea. It wasn’t like I had a choice. I couldn’t very well ask Madison to come—or Dad.
“I will take a cup,” Dad conceded, falling onto one of the stools at the kitchen island and rolling his shoulders. “I’m awake anyway.”
I nodded and turned to fix him a cup in his favorite “Because I’m the Colonel, That’s Why” coffee mug. I’d bought it for him off Amazon last Christmas when we were still living in Delaware. To see his eyes light up, you’d have thought I’d given him a Rolex or something. He grinned slightly like he always did when he saw the mug and put it to his lips without speaking. Then, he cleared his throat.
“I’m glad you’re giving it a shot here, Lowe. I realize how hectic your life has been since your mom and I split…”
He trailed off, a pained expression crossing over his face and I realized he was responding to the look on mine. Quickly, I wiped the grimace off my mouth but it was hard not to feel something, even all these years later.
My mother had left me with my then, Army Captain father, over a decade ago to marry some millionaire from Malta. Before that, we had all traveled with Dad together, but even when I was very young, I knew she hated every minute of it. Sherry had been bred to be a debutante, not an Army wife, and while the notion had been romantic, the reality had been much harder on her.
I don’t really remember the details of how their marriage dissolved but when I think back, all the signs were there. In hindsight, I knew if she hadn’t married Aaron, she would have run off with someone else. The stresses of Army life and motherhood had always been too much for her.
Well, maybe not motherhood. She had two boys of her own now with Aaron, half-brothers whom I’d met all of three times. Maybe just being my mother.
I’d be lying if I said it didn’t still burn at me sometimes, the fact that she’d never asked me to go to Malta to live with her new family. She had just cast me aside like yesterday’s news and moved on with her new life.
For years I’d wish she’d come back for me but when I asked my dad about it, he always gave me evasive answers. It took me until I was twelve to figure out that Mom wasn’t coming back and that Dad was doing the best he could for me.
Dad was right—my life had been hectic, but given the alternative, I was probably better off for it.
“What I’m trying to say,” Dad sighed, as if he thought he was messing up the words. “I want you to try to make friends and fit in.”
“Why?” I asked before I could stop myself. “So we can move again?”
I saw a muscle in Dad’s cheek twitch but as always, he controlled his temper and met my eyes evenly.
“You have every right to think that and I can’t promise that we won’t, but that doesn’t mean you have to be miserable while we’re here, Lowell.”
“I’m not,” I said quickly, forcing a smile. I wanted to let him off the hook. None of this was his fault and I knew that. “I’m not miserable.”
Not really, I added silently. At least not anymore.
No, now I had something to excite me. Something lurking in the woods.
Dad accepted my smile and returned it, running a hand through his short-cropped hair.
“Good,” he said. “As long as you’re trying. You know what I always say—if you’re happy, I’m happy.”
I could tell he didn’t entirely believe me but it didn
’t matter. I had more pressing things to think about than convincing my father that my social life was in intact.
“I gotta go,” I chirped, pouring my own java concoction into a thermos cup and grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl.
“Lowe, it’s not even seven o’clock yet! Where are you going?” The suspicion returned to his voice instantly.
“Volleyball try-outs!” I lied, dropping a kiss on his stubbly cheek. “See ya!”
I was out the door before he could comment on the fib. He knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t really going to volleyball. Athletics weren’t really my thing.
I should have said book club. He would have been more apt to believe that.
I knew that I wasn’t apt to run into may people at that hour of the morning. It would be a good time to get a handle on where to start looking for that bear creature.
And Dad and I can keep pretending that everything is all right, I thought, noticing the bitterness that crept into my thoughts.
* * *
To my chagrin, there were lots of people at school when I arrived just after seven fifteen. Even though it had been a lie to my father, there were actual football try-outs that morning and a shocking number of students stood around.
So much for figuring out where to go in search of the bear, I thought wistfully, eyeing the student commons. My plan had been to hop online and figure out the area but there were too many people milling about to hope for peace. I knew from experience that the second I started typing, someone was bound to come and look over my shoulder, demanding to know what I was doing. Even as I was thinking it, I heard someone call my name.
“Lowell!”
Automatically, my head jerked up, the straight strands falling over the straps of my knapsack as I met Madison’s eyes from across the hall. Alex and Hailey walked behind her as she picked up her pace to join me at the entranceway. They didn’t look up from where they were staring into each other’s eyes.
“What are you doing here so early?” Madison asked. “Are you trying out for soccer.”
I swallowed a scoff. I needed to work on my delivery to people, Dad said.
“Sometimes you come across as very…angry,” he explained gently. Of course, I had snorted at him.
“No,” I replied quickly, checking my smart-assed reply. “I-I was just going to catch up on some homework.”
“Me too,” Maddy sighed, linking her arm into mine and half-dragging me toward the student commons. I groaned internally but I didn’t stop her.
Note to self: Coming to school early is a bad idea.
Maddy released my arm to drop her bag on a round table and pull out her laptop. Almost instantly, we were flocked by a group of four girls.
“Oh my God!” a tall redhead sighed, flopping at the table uninvited. “That social studies test is going to be brutal. I can’t believe they’re giving out test already. I mean, we just started! Where is their sense of mercy?”
“I’m more worried about my biology class,” a brunette countered, also sitting. I wondered what was happening and I eyed Alex and Hailey helplessly. They were too involved in whatever was going on between them to give me any assistance. Instead, I was forced to listen to the girls squawk around me.
“Speaking of biology,” Madison said coyly, leaning forward in a conspiratorial gesture. “We saw something that defies the very laws of nature yesterday, didn’t we guys?”
I froze, my mouth parting at Madison’s unexpected words. Hailey and Alex jerked in unison as if they’d been burned. We looked at one another nervously.
“What?” the redhead asked, a sparkle of interest in her green eyes. Madison looked at me as if for confirmation and I shook my head with a twitch. Apparently, she didn’t care.
“We saw a werebear!” Madison declared with a note of excitement in her tone. “All of us. And Parker too.”
Realizing that Parker hadn’t materialized, Madison raised her head to look about the study hall for him as if she wanted as many confirmed votes as she could get.
I balked, falling back in my chair as my insides quivered. I thought we had agreed not to talk about this.
“A werebear?” the redhead echoed, a jeering lilt to her question. “Is that right?”
She looked at me but I looked at the old table like it was the most interesting piece of furniture I’d ever seen. I wished it would open up and swallow me whole, taking me into another dimension where Madison was not.
“Yeah,” Hailey murmured. “We really saw it.”
I couldn’t believe Hailey was feeding the masses! Indignantly, I looked at the couple and to my horror, I saw Alex nodding begrudgingly.
Ugh. They’re indulging the popular girl. What a bunch of sheep.
“Yeah,” he said. “It was crazy. I mean, one minute he was a regular guy, fishing or whatever and the next…”
He snapped his fingers.
“He was a grizzly.”
The girls laughed nervously, shaking their heads.
“No way,” the redhead chuckled.
“Don’t be jealous that you weren’t there, Ruby,” Madison replied haughtily. “But we know what we saw, don’t we, Lowell?”
All eyes were on me and I felt the blood draining out of my face.
“Yeah, Lowell,” Ruby taunted me. “Tell us, did you see a werebear?”
It took every fiber of my being to slap on a nonchalant smile and I shrugged, dipping my head to the side slightly.
“Truth me told, I’m not sure what we saw,” I replied lightly. “I mean, there was that huge blunt being passed around…”
I chuckled. Through my peripheral vision, I saw all three of my friends scowl slightly at my assessment.
“First of all, it wasn’t a blunt,” Alex interjected, giving me a scathing look. “Second, we all ran our asses out of there, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I didn’t,” I reminded them. “I mean, there was definitely a bear.”
“And before that, there was a man,” Hailey insisted, shaking her head dubiously. “What do you think happened to him?”
Again, I shrugged my shoulders, maintaining my easy-going façade, even though I was cringing inside. I didn’t mean to contradict them or make them feel foolish but I didn’t want the entire school gossiping about the enigma in the backwoods. It was supposed to be my mystery to solve, not theirs.
I rose to my feet, grabbing my bag. Suddenly, I was feeling insurmountably hot with all those accusing eyes on me.
“I need to use the washroom before homeroom. See you guys later.”
I didn’t wait for anyone to respond but as I hurried out of the commons, I could feel all eyes on me.
And it didn’t feel good.
6
Lowell
Over the next two days, I got almost no time to myself, let alone to explore the wilds as I’d wanted. Instead, I found random strangers approaching me to talk to me about the man-bear in the woods.
“Oh my God!” I snapped at the end of the second day, my head ready to explode from all the attention. “Would you stop already? This is how the National Enquirer gets its articles!”
But it didn’t stop and the story seemed to take on a mind of its own. It wasn’t just at school but on social media. People that had never been to our town suddenly had input about “shifters” and everywhere I looked, there were hashtags about werebears. It was out of control but I reminded myself that like any ridiculous phenomenon, it would die out and people would move onto other things.
Or at least that was my hope. After all, we did live in the middle of nowhere. How much excitement could these people see in one lifetime? For all I knew, this could go on for years.
Even Dad mentioned it to me that afternoon when I stomped in the door from work. He had adjusted his schedule to work weekends so that he could be home after school for me more. It was a nice gesture but that day, I wanted to be alone with my own thoughts for once. I didn’t even want to go online lest I see even more articles about sh
ifters.
“What is this craze going on about a man-bear in the woods?” he laughed when I opened the front door. So much for ignoring the story. It was determined to follow me everywhere I went.
“What about it?” I snapped irritably. His grin faded slightly at my tone.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I just heard people yapping about it and I thought maybe it was friends of yours who had started it.”
I groaned.
“It was,” I conceded, not wanting to lie to him. “But it’s just silliness.”
The beam returned to Dad’s face and he clucked his tongue.
“These small-town folk will gobble up anything for entertainment, won’t they?” he mused. “What happened? Bad day at school?”
I shook my head, dropping my knapsack on a wing chair in the living room and kicked off my Docs.
“I just have a headache.” I realized as I spoke that I meant it—my head was beginning to pound. All the attention was getting to me and I just needed a break. A sympathetic look crossed over Dad’s face.
“I was just going to make a run to the grocery store. I’ll swing by CVS and grab you something if you need it.”
I looked at him gratefully and nodded. Maybe I’d get a few minutes of peace and quiet after all. I was sure that was all I needed.
“Sure, Dad. Thanks.”
“Unless…” he looked at me pensively. “You want to come with me and I’ll take you out for dinner?”
The hopeful look on his face made me feel guilty as I shook my head.
“I’m really not feeling that great, Dad. Rain check?”
He nodded quickly and smiled but I could tell it didn’t reach his eyes. He was trying his best to reach out to me. I knew that and if I hadn’t been feeling so miserable, I probably would have agreed to have dinner with him.
He doesn’t want my company right now, I thought, knowing that I was letting him off the hook without him knowing it. I’d be nothing but grumbling and sarcastic comments if we went anywhere.
“Rain check,” he agreed, snatching his keys off the table in the entranceway. “I’ll grab a bottle of Motrin and I’ll pick something up for dinner. Text me if you think of anything else.”
