Moon Rising: A Wolfland Novel: Four - Book Part Vampire and Wolf series. (The Wolfland Saga)

by E. S Night

  “I won't, I promise. I’m sorry – all right? It

  won’t happen again – just don’t tell mum.”

  Logan begged. If he was any other kid, I’d understand him pretending he was ill to get out of school, hell I’d be encouraging it to annoy mum. But Logan is not your average kid.

  When I was eight years old, mum and dad sat me down and told me about the surgery that Logan had to have. I found out after asking them about the scar on his chest and why he had to visit the doctor so often. When Logan was a baby, he had a medium VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) also known as a hole in his heart. The Doctor first spotted it during Logan's first health check. Often when a baby's born with a hole in their heart, it closes on its own after birth. The way I understand it, Logan’s hole was too big for his body to deal with and he needed surgery to repair it. The surgery went well, but the incision left a scar in the middle of his chest and to this day Logan is still self-conscious about it in gym class.

  For years, my little brother has had to take medication to help his heart pump more effectively. The meds get rid of any extra fluids around his system. Recently, his chest has been hurting again, so the Doctor has prescribed

  stronger pain meds. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried.

  I sighed. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” Logan jumped out of bed with enthusiasm and put on his slippers. “I’m sorry for shouting bud, but you had me worried. Just don’t do it again, okay?”

  “I, won’t, I promise, can we get pizza?”

  “Yeah, anything you want.” I agreed, walking down the stairs. Just as I was about to pick up the phone, it rang. “Hello? This is the Wheelhouse; how can I help you?”

  “Is this Abigail?” A gruff man’s voice answered.

  “Erm, yes, sorry, who’s this?” I squinted at Logan, wondering who the strange caller was.

  “You should leave. There are things you need to know. Please trust no one.”

  “Jackson, is that you? Nice voice app you've got there. Stop ringing the house you’re making yourself look pathetic.” I shrieked slamming the phone down.

  “Jack, again?” Logan asked, seeing the fearful expression on my face.

  “Yeah, I guess. He’s beginning to be a creep - I'll call Konrad, I bet he’ll stay with us for the

  night.” I said trying to sound more confident than I felt. I reached for the phone again.

  “What a loser. What's that now? Four nights in a row.” I only spent two short minutes on the phone asking Uncle Konrad to come and stay the night with us before he agreed. He wouldn’t miss an opportunity to play Xbox with Logan for the evening. My uncle was the man I wanted around if something bad happened. He's like a second dad to Logan and me, and for the last three years, he’s been our only dad.

  From what I know, Konrad had a tough childhood, he was troublesome and angry when he was younger and mum always tried to protect him. My mum is two years older than my uncle and as his older sister always felt responsible for him, she still does, even now. My mum was twenty years old when she and my uncle were coming back from a joint friend’s birthday party. They stopped for money on the way home. My uncle stayed in the car and watched my mum collect her money from the cash point; he was less than twenty feet away from her.

  The way my mum described it, a man in a mask appeared from round the wall and grabbed her. He groped her and started pulling at her

  dress. Konrad rushed out of the car and in a rage reached for the screwdriver in his toolkit that was sitting in the back seat. Mum still to this day believes that Konrad only meant to scare him but that wasn't what happened. My uncle plunged the screwdriver into the man's chest with no hesitation. At least that's what a witness said on their statement. They called the Police who had no choice but to take my uncle into custody. They found out later that night the man had died on the way to the hospital.

  It was so unfair, Konrad's sentence was four years in prison. It should have been much longer, but the judge showed leniency and assured our family he did the right thing. Just before the verdict, my uncle made mum promise she wouldn’t visit him in prison. He said she wasn’t accountable for his actions and that he didn’t want reminding of everything he was missing in the outside world. Mum agreed but my uncle had threatened to never talk to her again, so she had no choice. After serving his sentence, on his release from prison Konrad went straight back to the Island to see my mum. Mum said Konrad returned a different man. Apparently, he became confident and self-assured, more

  intelligent even.

  She saw how much prison had changed him for the better. Mum said she announced her pregnancy to him as soon as he got back and that alone encouraged him to stay, I guess in a way, he stayed for me.

  While I was waiting for Konrad to turn up, I saw how the wind was attacking our fences. I thought it wise to lock all the doors and windows. I’d just finished checking the bathroom when a sudden crash came from downstairs.

  “What was that?” Logan shouted, running towards me.

  “Get in your bedroom and lock the door!” I screamed, pushing him towards his room. “Stay in there until I tell you to come out.” I heard Logan locking his door. I crept down the staircase, clutching the handrail. I felt sick, like something terrible was about to happen. As I made my way down to the bottom of the stairs, I looked around the corner – this wasn't happening. The front door was wide open. I froze in terror, I knew I had locked the door minutes before. Another noise was coming from outside the house. A shadowy figure was walking around to the kitchen window. My body wouldn't move. I

  heard footsteps coming in through the doorway and to my relief it was Konrad.

  I ran to him, giving him a huge hug. My shaking body collapsing in his arms. “Abigail, what’s the matter? Did something else happen? Abigail?” I sobbed into the left side of his suede jacket failing to answer him. Someone had been inside the house and that terrified me. After I'd calmed down a little, my uncle pulled me into the living room as he wrapped me up in a blanket.

  “I’m just going to get Logan, where is he? The bedroom?”

  “Yes, he’s in there; just tell him it’s okay to come out.” I explained still shaken with worry.

  Logan bolted downstairs and headed towards the living room. He ran straight to me. “I have to ring the police, now are you two sure someone was in the house?” My uncle asked.

  Before I could even answer, Logan spoke. “We're certain. I heard them myself, there was a phone call and then a crash and a –”

  “Did you unlock the front door? Did you knock over the vase on the shelf?” I interrupted.

  “No, I didn’t.” Konrad responded.

  “Then someone was in the house.”

  “Okay, I believe you Abi. I wanted to make

  sure – okay.” My uncle tried to justify his questions. I grabbed Logan to pull him down next to me on the sofa. I sensed his confusion, so I tried to comfort him by draping the blanket over his shoulders, holding him close. My uncle headed into the kitchen to call the police.

  I still had the thought something or someone was still here, watching us. My Uncle spoke to the police which made me feel more protected somehow. I turned on the outside lights to the front porch, leaving the blanket covering Logan. I made my way to the window next to the front door, not able to shake the feeling that something wasn't right. To my disbelief, I saw a man standing outside wearing a white mask holding his head to the right, he was almost touching his own shoulder.

  I didn’t realise that Konrad had followed me. I screamed in fear, just as my uncle charged through the door racing onto the beach to chase the man threatening our home.

  He tackled the stranger to the ground yanking off his mask just as the police were pulling onto our property. It was a man I hadn’t seen before; he looked a little younger than Konrad, in his early thirties perhaps. His eyes were a steely

  grey gazing into mine. He wouldn’t stop looking at me. My uncle must have seen his obsession because it
took three policemen to pry my uncle away from the man.

  Thankfully, the police didn’t feel it was necessary to arrest my uncle for his behaviour. The officer in charge decided that Logan, and I had been through enough of an ordeal already, without our uncle getting arrested and spending the night in a cell. Konrad moved to the porch, pushing straight past me. I stayed outside to watch the police. I kept watching until the cars pulled away. Even from the car window the man was still staring at me, smirking as if he got what he wanted.

  As the car lights were fading from the road, I looked towards the water. I noticed two men walking along the beach, entertaining themselves with the drama that had unfolded. I couldn’t see them and I didn’t care to, I wanted to make sure my uncle was okay. I stepped back inside and turned down the porch light whilst kicking my trainers off into the living room.

  “We will have to go down to the police station and provide a statement.” Konrad said.

  “What? They're making us go now? Can’t it

  wait till morning, I’m shattered - Logan’s shattered.” I complained.

  “Yeah, they said we can leave it until then. You two go on to bed - I’ll ring your mum and let her know what’s happened. I’ll sleep down here and make sure everything’s safe.”

  “Thank you, good night.” Logan and I said together.

  I made sure Logan was okay, but the kid seemed exhausted and he wasn’t up for a discussion. I stepped into my bedroom, closing the door behind me. The evening had been eventful but still, the only thing I thought about was missing the green light on the Garrison. I got changed into my blue nightdress and headed straight into bed. I lay there for a few minutes but was unable to fall asleep.

  I can't describe it, but something seemed to pull me towards the window. I got out of bed and reached for the slippers under my desk. Within a few seconds after seeing a glimpse of the moon, I opened my window as wide as it would go. The moon looked incredible tonight, so near, almost magical. A cool breeze came rushing into my room. I grabbed the dressing gown from the chair at the side of me.

  All at once, a sound from outside grew louder, as if someone was tapping on something, trying to get my attention. The noise carried on for five minutes and I fought the urge to shout out hello. What if someone had answered me, how would I even react?

  Even though the moon shone brightly in the sky, I saw nothing in the back garden, everything was black. I sensed that eyes were following my every move. Despite this, I wasn't frightened. I closed the window not wanting anything else to happen tonight and made my way back into bed glancing back at the window. I’d witnessed more than my fair share of madness for the last twenty four hours. The only thing I wanted to think about as I closed my eyes was Grayson Hale.

  Chapter Three

  It’s You

  ​

  “What the hell was that?” I didn’t have the dream. I think I actually dreamt of shopping with my mum on the mainland. WTF. In my mind, there were only three things to consider:

  ​

  1. In what century would I ever be shopping with my mother?

  2. I HATE the mainland.

  3. Where the hell was my dream about Grayson Hale?

  ​

  I couldn’t believe it. This was the first night in a month I didn’t see him. I worried if I would ever see him again or if this was just a fluke; perhaps the events of last night triggered some kind of breakdown in my head. Maybe tonight I’d be fine again! I wanted to test it and fall asleep again right in that moment.

  “Abigail, are you awake? We need to get down to the police station.” Konrad yelled from outside the door.

  “Yeah, I’m up. I’ll get ready and meet you

  downstairs.” I said, responding to his crap timing.

  Why is this family so hell bent on not giving me space when I need it the most? I collapsed back on the bed avoiding that I had to get ready. I was behaving like a spoiled brat, but all I wanted to do was see Grayson and I couldn’t even get that right. After showering, I left my hair down, it goes curly when it's left to dry on its' own. I glanced outside at the weather and saw it was much brighter today.

  I wore the white summer dress my mum bought me. I matched it with my black leather jacket and light blue converse. I looked in the mirror and for the first time in forever, I felt good about myself. I noticed the make-up on my dresser and thought I’d go for it. I applied a little foundation to my pasty white skin, some clear lip balm and then used up the rest of my mascara.

  I headed down the stairs grabbing my shoulder bag from the stack of clothes left on my floor.

  “Wow, where do you think you’re going?” My uncle said, astonished at the effort I’d put into my appearance.

  “To the police station with you, why?”

  “You look different, good different, but still,

  Logan doesn’t she look different?” He said using the only adjective he could muster.

  “Yeah, you look great.” Logan spluttered through his jam on toast. They were right – I did look different. I’m more of a T-shirt and jeans kind of girl unless I’m going anywhere nice and then I’m only about dresses. It wasn’t like me to wear anything like this during the day; I don’t know what came over me but I didn't care. It felt good.

  “All right, let’s be off then.” Konrad urged, gathering his phone from his jacket pocket. I snatched a piece of toast from Logan’s plate as he shoved me towards the door, frustrated that I’d pinched it. It was only a short ride to the police station, ten minutes from our house by car.

  I’m an extreme worrier; uncontrollable in the anxiety department. However, today that just wasn’t the case. The police station was right in the centre of Hugh Town, so everybody in town knew if something exciting was going on. Thank God, the public entrance is on the side street and not the main road. I doubt my unusual optimism would have lasted long if people were looking at me, walking into the building.

  There are two huge glass doors you must walk through to enter the building; they always remind me of the sci-fi films my granny always watched. An Officer Lindley, an older man with very distinctive features was quick to greet us at the entrance. I didn’t speak to him, but he seemed polite enough and tried to put us all at ease. He asked us to follow him through reception and as we walked, he explained that the interview would be in the rear of the building.

  We turned the corner of the second hallway. I noticed a restroom; I wanted to interrupt my uncle’s monologue about car engines and run straight into the toilet and be sick, my self-assured attitude weakened. I somehow resisted and continued moving at a sluggish pace. My uncle and the police officer were kindred spirits and belonged together isolated in a garage somewhere, far, far away from me. At the end of the hallway was a hefty floor to ceiling painting created by the children of the town. The more I focused on it, the more relaxed I seemed.

  To the right of the mural was the office we would give our statements in. The officer took us in one at a time except for Logan who had to go in with a supervising adult. Logan wanted

  Konrad by his side. I tried not to take it personally. I wrote out the statement making sure I had it right. I then asked him to read it aloud to make sure it was perfect, I didn’t want to say anything that wasn’t true. I signed the statement saying it was an exact account of what had taken place last night and he allowed me to leave. It was then my turn to question him. The Officer wouldn’t tell me much as there was still an ongoing investigation into what happened. He did, however, state it seemed the stranger had a predetermined obsession; his walls covered in photographs of my family. He assured me that the man would stay in custody for several weeks as he showed signs of severe schizophrenia.

  I didn’t want to hear any more after that, I needed to block this entire thing out. It made me sick when I thought about what could have happened. I thanked Lindley for his time and left the room, determined to put this all behind me. Although that would be easier said than done.

  My brother and
uncle had already given their written statements, so it was time to make tracks and to be honest, it was just in time. Authority figures give me hives after a while. I was glad we

  were leaving, even though I’d just remembered that I had to drop my coursework off today. My college was on the mainland, which meant I had to walk, get on a boat, walk to college, sit there, nod, and then wait for another boat later in the day to get back. I also knew my day wouldn’t finish there, I’d then have to face an interrogation by my mum.

  We made it home in next to no time, I ran upstairs to get my college material together. I was almost ready when my mobile rang on the bed.

  “Hello? Is this Abigail Lawson? It’s Claire Fletcher at Arrow-smith College.” My tutor explained.

  “Err, yes, it is. Hi Claire, is there a problem? I’m coming in today. I'm supposed to present my coursework.” I asked waiting for Claire to clarify the reason for her phone call.

  “Hi Abi, there’s no problem at all. I received your email, you're on the right track. I thought with a renowned published author having arrived on your island yesterday, you would want to pick her brain for a few days. I’ve told her all about you and she agreed that you can take as many notes as you like. After this week, you can send

  me your coursework, on let's say the 17th - Friday. It’s difficult for you to come to the mainland all the time, so just email me a copy of your presentation, but I can't let you hand in your essay without utilising a valuable tool like her first.”

  “Wow, well first, thank you for telling me. I mean, thank you for telling her about me. I’d love to meet her, who is she? Have I got a meeting set up or anything?”