by K. R. Smith
He nodded in acknowledgement as he finished up writing a tally of what we were ‘purchasing’ today. “Here.” He threw in a bonus chocolate bar as he gave a wink. “A new Werewolf needs to keep up their strength.”
“Oh, isn’t that nice!” Mum smiled on his gesture. “Thanks Mr. Barley!”
“A Circulator for a mother and a Lokoti Werewolf for a father; now we have our tribe’s first female Lokoti Werewolf who’s a Circulator.” He said proudly.
Just then I noticed that the other people in the store smiled and nodded in agreement, as they were watching this transaction take place. The three teenaged boys by the sweets shelf waved at me again.
I could feel my cheeks start to burn as I ducked my head in embarrassment at being the centre of such attention. I was relieved to pick up the shopping in the cotton carry bags Mum brought, as I walked out of the store first. But because my head was lowered, I didn’t see where I was going and I walked into somebody who was coming in as I was going out.
“B!” Roger’s eyes widened and I caught him suck in his breath and hold it as he looked me over. He stood almost stuck to the spot whilst he stared, as we were standing outside of the store.
Mum passed by and she took one look at Roger’s face and I caught her snicker, before she walked over to Dad’s truck.
“Um, how are you?” He asked, reaching out his hand to place on my arm. “I heard what happened, are you alright?”
I passed him a look that questioned his sanity, as I moved away from his touch.
“I’m fine thanks Roger, how are you?” I forced out to be polite.
“Me? Oh, I’m fine.” He gulped nervously. “But I’ve been thinking about you a lot, especially now that I’ve heard what’s happened.”
“I’m a Werewolf Roger, I’m not dying from rabies.” I said uncomfortably.
“Oh yeah, I know that. But um, is there anything I can do to help? I mean, can I get you anything? I guess what I’m trying to say is, is there anything you need?” He prattled off.
“No thank you Roger, I’m fine.” I stood there holding four carry bags of groceries. I thought he was being a bit rude, making me stand here and talk to him when he saw my hands were full.
“Oh, can I get those for you?” He started to reach out for my bags of food but I quickly pulled back.
“No thank you Roger, they’re not heavy but my Mum’s waiting for me -”
“Oh, that’s right.” He nodded quickly. “Lokoti Werewolves are a lot stronger than humans and I guess so are you, now that you’re one and all.” I opened my mouth about to excuse myself, when he interrupted again. “I know that when a Werewolf goes through their first change and all, they’re supposed to be in training or whatever and you can’t socialize much. But um, I could come over if you like? I could bring a couple of movies over to your house and -”
However he was interrupted from a low, dangerous growl coming from the garage. Our heads quickly turned, to see Declan standing beside the truck he was meant to be fixing. His head was lowered but a fierce look was directed right at Roger. His teeth were bared and I swear they were looking sharper and I guess so thought Roger.
“See you later B.” He almost flew through the glass door of the Store as he quickly darted inside.
A laugh escaped as I watched him take off and then I turned back around to look on Declan in amusement.
“Did you forget that you already have a boyfriend, B?” He asked sulkily. Then he turned back around to continue his work on the engine of the truck.
I knew he was inferring his little brother but it pissed me off by him saying this. He just acted like Roger’s behavior was my fault! I shook my head in disbelief at his primitive behavior as I marched over to Dad’s truck where Mum was waiting inside.
After I placed the shopping bags in the back, I walked over to the passenger’s side door to climb in. Mum turned the key, started the ignition and she reversed out onto the road. However as she pulled out, I caught Declan watch us leave. I quickly turned my head away to glare out the windscreen, as Mum drove back around the sports field and headed towards the hill we lived on.
She abruptly laughed, “I haven’t noticed that much attention to Werewolf pheromones since I married your father.”
“Shut up Mum.” I said darkly as I felt myself blush, which made her laugh again.
As I stared out at the trees whizzing past, I couldn’t get Declan out of my mind. He was the one who put his hand over mine that morning he drove me home. He was the one who kissed me on the borders of Lokoti land when he stopped me from running into town. And HE has the hide to remind me of MY loyalty to Derik…?
Mum was still laughing about what happened when we arrived home. As I put away the groceries in the kitchen, I had to relive the experience as she told Dad all about it. Whereas she could laugh about it, I noticed he didn’t. In fact, this just made him look more unhappy.
“B, I don’t think you should go out again where people will be, not for a while at least.” He frowned.
“Hunter.” She looked on unimpressed. “What’s that going to prove? B didn’t try to EAT anybody while she was away.”
Dad frowned even deeper, “THAT’S not what I’m worried about.”
“Hunter - ” She began to object, but I interrupted.
“It’s fine with me!” I huffed as I turned away.
Speedily, I left the kitchen to run upstairs to my room to hide underneath the cover of another history book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15th September 2084
I read and re-read all of my books about Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and even Ancient Egypt. I studied the ancient myths of Greek Gods and their cousins, the Roman Gods. I daydreamed about what it would be like to study these at Cambridge University. I either read on my bed or downstairs sitting at the dining table with an ever-watchful Dad hovering nearby.
This morning when I was in my bedroom reading a book on Tutankhamen, I overheard a knock on the front door downstairs.
Since becoming a Werewolf, my hearing has become sharper than what it used to be and I could eavesdrop a hell of a lot better. As soon as I heard the knock, I looked up from my book as I next listened to what took place when Dad answered the door.
“Hi Uncle Hunter.” Derik’s voice sounded.
Derik? He’s here? I sat upright in anticipation of seeing him.
“Hello Derik.” Dad said formally.
“Um, is B home?” He asked.
“Yes she is.”
“Can I um, see her?”
“No you can’t.” He said gruffly. “I’m sorry Derik, but since B’s change she can’t have any visitors for a while.”
“Oh.” I heard the disappointment in his voice. “Well um, can I leave something for her?”
Pause… and then Dad said; “I’ll see that she gets this.”
“Thanks Uncle Hunter.” He sighed reluctantly as he prepared to leave.
“Bye Derik.” Dad said. “Send my regards to your mother for me.”
“OK.” He spoke as his voice grew more distant… sounding like he was stepping down from our front veranda.
Derik! Quickly I jumped up from my bed as I raced over to my window to watch my best friend slowly walk down my gravel driveway. Derik! Anxiously I knocked on my window, minding the glass with my increased strength, then I waved furiously hoping that my best friend would see. But he didn’t turn around as his eyes or ears didn’t pick up my efforts to attract his attention since he was only human…
…only human…
…I was no longer human and I felt like this Werewolf business was pulling me away from my bestest friend in the whole world because he was.
Just as I was about to open my window to yell out, Dad walked into my room. He saw me standing by the window and he immediately guessed what I was looking at.
“Here.” He placed on my bed what Derik had given him. “He left this for you.”
“Why did you t
urn Derik away?” I cried out, upset. “He’s my best friend!”
“I’m sorry B, but you can’t have any visitors right now.” He said gravely. “Not friends and not even family. It’s why you haven’t seen your Gran or your Aunt or your cousins for a while. They know you’re supposed to be using this time to learn self-control.”
Then he turned around and left me alone in my bedroom. I watched the back of my father disappear down the stairs before I walked over to my bed and I picked up what was left for me.
It was a square envelop with Derik’s writing scribbled on it. On the front of the envelope was a huge ‘B’ and I quickly and yet carefully opened it up when a CD and a letter fell out. I picked up both as I unfolded the letter to read;
‘Hi B, I’m not sure if I’m going to be allowed to visit you so I wrote this just in case. Declan says as a new Werewolf you’re going to be in ‘lock down’ for a little while as you train. I just want you to know that I’m thinking about you and I miss you. I was really worried about what happened to you as Declan won’t tell me about the first night you changed. I wish I had walked you home from our place now so maybe I could have been there for you and helped you somehow. Please know that as soon as your Mom and Dad tell my Mom that you’re allowed to see people again that I’ll be there in a flash. Rachel and Mandy say ‘hi’ and they came over yesterday. Mandy was getting books about teaching from my Mom and Rachel helped me to put together my assignments that I’ll be submitting to Cambridge. She brought her laptop with her so I could type my stuff out in an email to Cambridge with my application letter. Mandy and Rachel are worried about you too and when they asked Declan what happened since he was there the first night you changed, he refused to talk about it and stormed off into his room again… like he always does. Your Grandfather only repaired Declan’s broken bedroom door from where the wood split with Declan always slamming it two days ago… what’s the bet he’s going to have to fix it again? LoL! Anyways just know that I’m there with you in spirit and that my thoughts are with you always. I made you this CD of our favourite songs for you to listen to and think of me. I love you B… Your best friend Derik.’
My heart hurt as my eyes filled with tears whilst I stared on those last four words; ‘Your best friend Derik’.
I miss my best friend so much, it was part of the reason why I couldn’t concentrate on the meditation exercises I was given to do. It was even part of the reason why I wasn’t enjoying studying either, because I was so used to studying with Derik.
My best friend and I always studied together. We sat together in school and when school finished we went to the library together, to get more books to self-school ourselves. We either sat at his dining table or mine, reading and making notes. Aunt Susan as well as Gran, would set assignments for us and together Derik and I would do them and hand them in to be marked. Derik would do something scientific and I would write up a paper on a topic in ancient history. Half of the time, Rachel and Mandy joined in. As Rachel began to study Naturopathy, Mandy would brush up on a broad range of subjects to become a teacher.
Occasionally, he and I would go to either Rachel’s or Mandy’s houses, but most of the time we hung out at his place. Aunt Susan would come home from teaching the tribe’s younger generations and then she would check on our independent studies. Her patience and ‘welcome one and all’ view on education ran at levels which verged on sainthood. Sometimes Declan would complain when everyone stayed for dinner at Aunt Susan’s invitation.
“What, you’re not only educating them but we’re feeding them too?” He whined when she checked that he was cooking enough for six people instead of three.
Derik’s patience with my mischievousness or even my temper, came from his mother. I knew I had it good, having a best friend like him as he always supported me in everything I did. He never ridiculed my ‘tom boy’ ways or he never felt that his masculinity was threatened by me occasionally beating him in running races. He always jumped at the chance to be on the same soccer team with me. Derik and I were nicknamed ‘the terrible two’ by our parents or even the tribe. He became my partner-in-crime in everything… even when I used to misbehave.
One Sunday afternoon at the Sabre’s house when I was 10 years old, I remember being babysat by a 13 year-old Declan along with Derik, Mandy and Rachel. Our parents were attending a meeting held by our Tribal Elders in the hall. I think it was during the period of the full moon so Declan was not just his grumpy self, but he was also tired from hunting all night with the pack. He repeatedly yelled at us to shut up as he wanted to nap on the couch in the lounge room so we went to play in the back yard.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer and we were bored. Then I had happened to notice a large bag of flour that Aunt Susan had recently picked up from the store, I guess to use to make bread and pasta. It was sitting just inside the kitchen by the back door.
I don’t remember the specifics now, but there were no adults around to stop us; so Mandy, Rachel, Derik and I got into a ‘flour and water’ fight! White flour went everywhere! White flour was sprinkled over not just our clothes, but all over the back yard and it was spilt all over the floor in the kitchen as well!
We had a wonderful time, not only throwing flour at each other but water as well, which made the flour congeal and turn into glue. So four 10 year olds had flour-glue all through their hair, their clothes and over the walls of the back of the house! When Declan woke up from our shouting…to say ‘the shit hit the fan’ would have been an understatement!
“What the frickin’ hell have you done?!” His blue eyes turned their Werewolf state in anger. “When Mom sees this she’s gonna freak!”
Declan’s temper scared Mandy and Rachel as they froze in fear. But since my Dad and Grandfather were Werewolves, I knew that he wouldn’t be allowed to hurt me. I marched up to my best friend’s bigger brother with his enraged glowing green eyes and I threw a handful of wet flour over his flannel shirt!
“B, no!” Derik blanched, terrified of his older brother’s supernatural temper.
Declan slowly looked down at his messed-up t-shirt and then he slowly looked back up, as I started to hear a low growl build up in his throat…oh oh!
When I turned to run away, he grabbed me with his faster reflexes. He picked me up and slung me over his shoulder! With my worrield friends looking on, Declan carried me over to the tap where he dropped me onto the grass. He held me down with his strong foot, as he sprayed a torrent of water over me from the garden hose!
“Derik!” I screeched. “Derik, stop him!”
My best friend tried to run to my aid but Declan turned the hose on him, sending him scurrying away! Then he did the same to both Rachel and Mandy! His eyes returned to their human blue colour as he stood there, laughing at us. He kept me on the ground with his foot on my stomach, as he washed all four of us down with the hose. Once he had washed off the flour from us and the back of the house, he yelled at Derik; “you’re on clean up duty!”
The European Werewolf marched all four of us in our wet clothes, into the house to clean up the spilt flour from the kitchen floor. He sat up on the kitchen bench to supervise and any time we complained or started to slack-off, he growled dangerously which prompted us to clean faster.
“I’m cold.” Rachel whined as she shivered.
“You were already wet before I turned the hose on you.” Declan said coolly.
“We should change out of these clothes so we don’t catch our deaths.” Mandy tried to talk like an adult.
“I wish!” He scoffed at the idea.
“They can borrow my clothes to put on.” Derik said helpfully.
“Change later and clean now!” Declan barked loudly.
He scared Mandy and Rachel, sending them frantically sweeping with the dust pan and brush.
“I hate you.” I glared at our bully of a babysitter.
Declan looked long and hard on me before he eventually said back, “likewise.”
As I
angrily returned to our cleaning, Derik tried to give me a goofy grin as he gently nudged my side.
“It was worth it.” He smiled my way, which made Mandy and Rachel giggle in agreement.
Then all four of us burst into laughter as we looked on each other’s wet hair and soaking wet clothes with the white flour sticking to us…
…and as I returned to the present, I still laughed at the memory of that day.
I picked up the CD which Derik had burned and put it in Dad’s second hand CD player I had ‘inherited’. As I lay on my stomach on top of the bed, I listened to bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Live, Blur, Oasis, The Verve and of course Iggy Pop, play.
We grew up with these old 20th Century bands thanks to hearing our parents or our grandparents play this music. Declan was a ‘grunge band’ enthusiast so he was always listening to this kind of music at home or at the garage. I think when Derik came over with these CD’s, he must have been borrowing them from his older brother’s collection.
This fact came to light another time when I was at the Sabre house. Declan came storming out of his bedroom over to where Derik and I were studying at the dining table, with his eyes glowing green in anger.
“Have you got my U2 CD?!” He demanded of his little brother.
“Er, which one?” Derik asked back.
“‘Rattle & Hum’!”
“Yeah, but you said I could borrow it.”
“I said that last month Derik!” He growled out. “That was over four weeks ago! When you borrow my stuff, you frickin’ return it or else!”
With that, he spun on his heel and stalked off to retrieve it from his little brother’s room himself.
“Meeeoow!” I commented to my best friend about his older brother’s behavior.
“Er, Declan’s a Werewolf.” Derik said in good humor. “I think it’s more like, ‘woof! Woof!’”
“Shut up you little pipsqueaks!” Declan roared back before…
…SLAM!
He closed his bedroom door so loudly that we felt the vibrations from where we were sitting.
