PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  This makes me gulp. Wolves aren’t the friendliest animals. Especially if they’re as large and terrifying looking as the wolves in my dream. I shiver and duck my face into Seth’s chest.

  “I’m not ready to see them like that, yet,” I say, but it sounds muffled even to my own ears.

  “Do you want me to ask them to leave?”

  “No, they can stay. I’m just not ready to see the wolf part,” I explain, and he nods in understanding.

  “Do you want to stay in here until your uncle comes?” he asks quietly, as he rubs circles into my back.

  “I don’t know. I need more answers, but I’m afraid of what I might hear. Does that make sense?” I half smile.

  He grins. “I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.” He seals his promise with a kiss to the top of my head.

  “I know, but I’m still scared,” I shiver.

  I know deep down Seth is right, but this is weird.

  Someone knocks on the door, and Seth leaves me to answer. When he pulls open the door, I see Flynn’s bulking figure in the doorway. I instantly picture him as one of the wolves from my dream, a larger than life wolf, dagger-looking teeth, and talons for claws. I shiver and shake the image away.

  “I don’t think this is a good time Flynn, she’s kind of . . . ”

  “Seth, I’m fine,” I say, sitting a little straighter.

  “Can I have a few minutes with her, alone?” Flynn asks.

  Seth’s anger skyrockets. I try my best to let him know that I’m okay and he needs to calm down, without speaking.

  “I’ll be fine, you’ll know if something isn’t right,” I say. He nods, tight lipped and glares at Flynn before leaving the room.

  I scooch to the foot of the bed and hug my knees, while I wait for Flynn to begin.

  “I’m sorry, Jazzy. I didn’t want you to find out, especially not like this. None of us wanted this,” he says nervously.

  I nod. “Does Henry know?”

  “Not yet, but Barry is planning on telling him soon, because of this soul-eating prick,” he responds.

  “I hope he takes it better than I did,” I mumble.

  “You would’ve taken it better with some warning. From what I understand, no one really answered your questions until you got here, and, well, I don’t blame them. I can’t say I would’ve done anything differently. I am sorry. We didn’t mean to overload you.”

  “No worries, it was probably coming anyway, or another breakdown,” I shrug. “I should be used to crap happening by now. My life was never really normal, and it’s gone off the deep end since March.” I’m trying to play it off like it doesn’t matter, but I’m sure he can see through me.

  “I should warn you about a certain part of our protection plan,” he says and fiddles with the carpet. “Barry is going to ask your uncle if he can stay with you until the end of the year. The story is his parents are moving out of state, and he graduates in a few weeks, so he wants to stay until he graduates. The truth is his dad, our Alpha, will never leave our territory, and neither will he.”

  “Why can’t you stay instead?” I groan. “Barry is so . . . Barry.”

  He laughs. “He’s not all bad. Besides, he’s stronger than us, he’s the Alpha’s son, and Alpha ordered it. We don’t argue with the Alpha,” he pauses and taps his finger on his shoe, while giving me a once over. “You’ll be in good hands with him there, and with Jaynie, and I’m sure Seth will be around you more now.”

  I purse my lips. “I guess I have to be okay with this arrangement then, huh?”

  “At least it’s not permanent,” his face becomes a mask of seriousness and concern. “The guys and I are rearranging our schedule, so we have classes near you now. You’ll have one of us within yelling distance at all times. You’ll never walk to class without one of us, except when you have Seth.”

  That’s wonderful. I roll my eyes. “Oh, well that’s going to be cozy, more time with you guys. I appreciate having you guys as protectors, but you guys can go a little, wait that’s a lie, a lot overboard.”

  “Your being safe is worth more than rearranging a schedule,” he counters. “Who wouldn’t want a sweet girl like you to be safe?”

  I let out a hollow laugh. “Who wouldn’t want me safe?” I repeat. “Uh, the jerk that’s stalking me?”

  “We’ll get that demon,” he says icily.

  It chills me and reminds me that he’s not just a human, like I once thought. “I have a question,” I say quietly.

  “Fire away.”

  “Will I have to see you guys in your other forms?” I cringe.

  He appraises me again before answering. “You’re not ready for it yet. I’d probably send you into a coma if I shifted now. We aren’t that bad, I promise,” he laughs. “Just think of us as overgrown guard dogs.”

  I nod. I don’t find any of this funny at all, in fact I’m feeling extremely overwhelmed. Tears prick my eyes, but I blink them away.

  Knuckles tap on the door before Seth pokes his head in.

  “Jaz, your uncle will be here soon,” he says calmly. I can feel his inner turmoil, so I know he’s trying to curb himself.

  I nod and slowly stand so I don’t trigger any lingering dizziness. I step out the door and am met with a smirking Barry.

  He gives me the once over and snorts. “Dang Jaz, it won’t be that bad living with me.”

  I roll my eyes and sidestep around him.

  He continues talking, obviously ignoring my reaction. “It’s for the protection of you and your family, Princess. I think we’re gonna have fun,” he bumps my shoulder, knocking me off kilter and stumbling into Seth. “Come on, I promise not to show you my kills,” he laughs.

  I choke a little.

  “Dude! She’s freaked, don’t be an ass!” Flynn pounds him.

  He deserves it for that comment.

  ***

  Once we get home, I take a long hot shower to try to wash away some of the craziness from the evening.

  I wrap my towel around my head after I toss my pajamas on, and grab my ear buds and iPod, before sitting at my desk. I fish out my sketchpad and a pencil, and stare at them. Breathing deeply, I focus on the song to get a mental image of what I feel I should draw.

  I envision a soldier sitting in the sand, holding a picture of his family, so I begin sketching.

  Not much time passes before I’m startled by someone tapping on my shoulder.

  I whip around and see Henry smirking. “Damn it! Don’t do that!” I pat my chest and yank out my ear buds.

  “Sorry, for a minute there I thought you were sleeping. Whatcha working on?” he asks.

  “I knew I wasn’t going to fall asleep yet, so I figured I’d just draw something. When it’s done, it’ll be a soldier.” I shoot him a small smile.

  He nods. “You okay? You’ve been kinda . . . off, today.”

  “Yeah, I’m just nervous for tomorrow.” Not a total lie. I cross the room to the tote bag with the paintings and drawings I’m taking in tomorrow. I dig out the one I’m looking for, and without looking at it, I cross back over to where Henry is sitting on my bed.

  “Do you remember, when I wouldn’t leave my room for a while after the accident?” I ask him.

  “Yeah, Leland and I thought you’d have to be admitted with Mom,” he looks away from my eyes.

  I know it’s still painful. It is for me.

  He moves to stand and I hold my hand up to stop him.

  “Don’t freak out, okay? I’m not a masochist. I just had an image stuck in my head, and it was driving me insane. Every time I closed my eyes, there it was. I couldn’t get away from it. So I did what I always do, I drew it out.” I hold up the protective sleeve. “I never looked at it again. I never really planned to, but I decided to take it in for Mr. Becker to see. Since you’re going to be there with me, I don’t want this to be a shock. I’m sorry I kept this from you.”

  I take a deep breath before handing him the drawing. He takes it from me and slouche
s against my headboard. His breathing is uneven, but his eyes never leave the paper.

  I know what’s going through his head, because it’s going through mine, too.

  Mom’s shriek woke me up just before the slam of her brakes slid me to the floor of the car.

  As I collected myself, Mom and Henry swapped seats and the car started moving again. But Henry was driving faster than he would, given that Mom was in the car. I still didn’t know what happened, or when I even fell asleep. I reach up and pat Mom’s shoulder.

  “You okay, Mom?” I asked her quietly. She shook her head and said something that sounded like, “It can’t be them,” but I couldn’t be sure.

  Flashing lights suddenly filled the dark car, the ambulances, patrol cars, and fire truck being the reason. I could see a shiny red sports car with a crunched up front end. This S-turn is so dangerous, which is why Mom refuses to take this road. Even though they posted the speed limit down to 25mph, people don’t listen, and there are accidents here all the time.

  Henry pulled off to the side of the road and a bumper sticker caught my attention. It’s on the back of a dark colored Mazda and read, “Pittsburgh’s Biggest Fan!” with the symbols for NHL, NFL, and MLB. The “Pitt U” sticker in the back window froze my lungs. The “My Son Tackled Your Son” and “My Daughter Spiked Your Daughter’s Face Off” stickers broke my heart to a thousand pieces.

  I jumped out of the car and took off running.

  “Dad!” I screamed as strong arms caught me.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t let you go over there,” A comforting, familiar voice said.

  “That’s my Dad’s car!” I shouted through tears, “Sophie!!” I clawed and smacked at the arms as I struggled to get free.

  “Jaz!” he yelled. “Stop right now! I can’t let you go over there. It’s too dangerous. Let them get ‘em out safely.”

  “Are they . . . ” My question fell flat and hung in the air around us. John is a friend of my Dad’s, a police officer.

  “I . . . ” He sighed and looked away for a minute. “It’s not lookin’ good, Sweetheart.” I let him walk me to the side of the road, where Henry was on the phone, and Mom was yelling at another officer.

  I ignored the conversations going on around me, and watch as the firemen began to cut into the car to remove my sister. I couldn’t believe how big of a bitch I was to her earlier. She only wanted a daddy-daughter dinner. I’ll do her laundry, cook for her, help her recover, I’ll do anything.

  I reach over and hold Mom and Henry’s hands as they remove my sister from the car and EMTs surround her. The firemen began cutting to get my dad out.

  “Please Sophie, make it. You’re strong, just hang on. They’ve got you now,” I whispered, as I wiped tears from my face.

  They retrieved my father from the car and one of the EMTs waved John to come over to them.

  Movement on my right caught my attention. There was a guy in cuffs being led to the waiting police car. His head was hung over hunched shoulders and he was crying. It was also plain as day that he was stumbling drunk. He survived the crash with barely a scratch.

  I looked back over to the EMTs and watched in horror as John came walking back over with his head also hung. With tears in his eyes and his head shaking, he said something that I couldn’t register. Mom started to fall to the ground screaming, but Henry caught her and just held on.

  I slowly walked over to the gurneys carrying my dad and sister. Grabbing a mangled hand of each, I stared at the stars.

  Why? Why now? Why tonight?

  “I love you . . . ” I said to them, as an EMT escorted me back to Henry and Mom. Leland ran over and hugged me tightly.

  The drawing is that night.

  There’s a boy holding onto a woman to keep her from collapsing to the ground. Police officers, fire fighters, and paramedics all busy attempting to clear the road and do their jobs. Two crushed vehicles, a young man being led to a police car in handcuffs, with his head hung in shame. There’s a girl standing between two gurneys, holding a hand in each of hers. She’s looking up at the sky, with tears rolling down her cheek. In the sky are two faces, Dad and Sophie’s.

  With tears in my eyes, I glance at him to see how he’s holding up.

  “This is . . . ” He clears his throat a few times. “This is what wouldn’t leave your head?” he looks at me, and I nod. He looks back to the drawing and sucks in his bottom lip as his chin quivers. “This is amazing. I love how you made Dad and Soph angels,” he starts to cry then.

  I push the drawing aside, hug him to me and cry with him.

  “It’s perfect, Jazzy,” he says into my shoulder. “One day, can I frame it and keep it?”

  “We’ll see, Stud. I won’t promise, but if I end up keeping it, I’ll make another one just for you.” I smile at him. He wipes his face on his sleeve.

  I spend the next half hour with him, reminiscing and enjoying the time together. Wiping my face again, the corners of my eyes feel as chapped as my nose. We say our goodnights, and I try to get some sleep.

  ***

  Sleeping is useless, after trying for twenty minutes, I give up. Every time I close my eyes, I see bits of last night’s nightmare or bits from the night my life crumbled.

  I turn on my desk lamp, pop in my ear buds and start working on the soldier again. My phone starts ringing around midnight. I glance at the screen and see that it’s Seth.

  “Shouldn’t you be asleep?” he asks me, sounding very groggy.

  I frown. “If you thought I was asleep, why’d you call?”

  “I’m just worried about you,” he murmurs.

  “I’m fine, just drawing, go to sleep,” I assure him.

  “Babe, do me a favor,” he speaks a little louder into the phone.

  I smile at the warm feeling that comes over me when he calls me babe. “Okay, what’s that?”

  “Put your drawing, pencil, and iPod away.”

  “How did you . . . ?” I begin to ask but he interrupts.

  “Well, for one, you just told me you were drawing, and two, the last song you listened to was Flannigan’s Ball. When they sang the part about kicking some guy in the spleen, you imagined doing that to Derik, and the idiot who chose to drink and drive. I must say, you have an interesting taste in music.”

  I have to laugh. “Okay,” I say, still smiling. “I did what you asked.”

  “Now turn off your light and climb into bed,” he says.

  “Okay,” I whisper.

  “Are you comfy?”

  “I am,” I say as I lean back into my pillows. “Are you?”

  “I could be comfier, but this’ll do for now.”

  My mind races, thinking of how he’s lying down now, what his room looks like, his house, and how he could be comfier.

  “Close your eyes and just listen to my voice for a minute, okay,” he says quietly.

  “What, are you gonna do, sing to me to sleep?” I chuckle.

  “I don’t think you’d be able to sleep if I did,” he laughs. “Just do it, please.”

  “Okay, my eyes are closed.”

  “Jasmine, when I saw you on your first day, I couldn’t look away from you. You were beautiful and I wanted to unlock all of your secrets. Then I felt your emotions, and I knew right there in the east hallway, that my life, as I knew it, was over. I was more than happy about that, and I still am. I have my soul mate, I’m complete. Just the fact that I can call you mine...” he trails off. “I don’t care how we spend our time, if we’re together, I’m happy. We have this connection that binds us together, but if that wasn’t there? I’d still want it to be you.”

  By the time he finishes his speech, I’m sitting up holding my hand to my heart. If he were here, I would probably kiss him.

  “I know you’re not asleep, but you’re awfully quiet, babe.”

  “I’m here,” I whisper.

  “Would you do me one more favor tonight?”

  I nod but realize that he can’t see me. “Sure.”
r />   “Would you mind, going on a date with me Friday? We have a half-day.”

  Good lord, he sounds like he thinks I’m going to say no after everything that’s happened between us so far.

  “Of course, Seth. What are we doing?”

  “I was thinking we could go to the city and have lunch. Then go to the art museum.”

  That sounds exactly perfect! “And Miss Jaynie said you couldn’t dig through all of my thoughts,” I laugh. A perfect date. The only way it could get better would be a beach trip and a carnival all in one day.

  “Well, I may not know you very well, but I have gotten to know some things about you. I hope it’ll be as perfect as you hope our first date will be.”

  “Our first date,” I repeat. It sounds almost unbelievable to my own ears. “I can’t wait!”

  “Alright babe, I’m going back to sleep. Sweet dreams.”

  After hanging up with Seth, I breathe a sigh of relief. He would want me, even if we didn’t have this strange connection.

  I lie back and close my eyes. Sleep finds me quickly.

  Chapter 9

  Speechless

  Seth walks me to my homeroom, and Tony meets me at the door when the bell rings.

  “You look better this morning,” he smiles brightly.

  I roll my eyes. “Well, I’ve had some time to wrap my head around the fur,” I raise an eyebrow, and he laughs.

  “I’ll meet you here to walk you to second,” he bats at my pony tail before darting away. Swallowing my growl, I walk into class.

  As I look through my bag, I realize I left my English book on my desk. Shit! I have English next!

  I move my bag to my lap and sneakily text my uncle to see if he can run my book to school quickly.

  Mr. Hare starts his lesson on the nuclear era, and try as I might, I just can’t focus on it today. My mind drifts back to last night. Seth said that I made him complete.

  I’m his soul mate.

  When I’m around him, everything feels right, and even if we don’t talk, I still find myself smiling. It’s honestly a bit weird for me. He’s my first boyfriend. Er, soul mate?

  Why do those words fit with him? And why do they scare the shit out of me?

  The class phone rings, shattering my thoughts.