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“You got some mail here kiddo.” Kate commented, handing Laura a coffee-stained envelope after she got to her feet. Laura thanked her, and I realized Kate was smirking. I heard her make some comment about some dude from France but I couldn’t really focus. Memories were threatening to burst the dam in my mind. I had to breathe. I felt my nails digging into my palms as Laura left the room. Why did she leave me alone? With Kate of all people? I had to get out of here. I couldn’t do this again. She would know. She would recognize me.
I didn’t want to be sent back or have to relive what happened. I was trying to keep my breathing under control, knowing already that my face was blank. I knew she was waiting for me to say something. She looked at me with a smirk still on her face. I looked away from her, unable to keep eye contact. I felt my nails pierce my skin and I prayed that she didn’t notice the small wince or the blood.
“I, um- I, um- I-I need to use the restroom.” I stuttered, edging a bit toward the door.
“No, please don’t go. I made tea for you, honey.” she stated, as she handed me a cup of ‘tea’.
“I-I’m fine. T-Thanks anyway.” I mumbled, setting it down on the small coffee table then tried to go around her. I was two steps away from the door, when she continued on.
“Oh, and by the way, you need to get a new shirt. Pink isn’t really your color.” She quipped.
“I never asked you.” I snapped, turning back to her. I instantly regretted it and I didn’t move as I felt my face pale.
“Excuse me?” She responded, flabbergasted.
I couldn’t say anything. I was immediately filled with fear and I felt my hands shaking the slightest bit. I could feel where my palms were bleeding because of my nails. I hoped she wouldn’t notice any of it. I really hoped this was all a bad dream. She grabbed something out of her purse, grabbed my wrist so tight, that it was losing circulation. She then opened the cap of the item, and squeezed a liquid onto my wounds. A roaring-stinging pain sunk through my hands, as I could feel a horrid stinging sensation from my wounds.
I let out a small sound of pain and tried to yank my arm away as tears threatened to leave my eyes.
“It’s just some alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Because you know, you don’t want any harmful bacteria to enter your bloodstream. It's pretty beneficial to the skin, you know? Just the downside is that in some cases, it can actually harm the tissue even more. Seems like this is one of those situations. Funny how that works.” She shrugged, with a small smirk on her face
“L-Let go.” I choked, trying still to get my arm away. I was scared out of my mind and I knew she had no intention of helping. She wanted to hurt me. What if she knew? What if she recognized me? I felt my hands shaking a little harder as I started to shout Laura’s name. She walked in quickly, but not because she heard her name. She had gone to the fireplace, and thrown the letter that she had just received, in the fire.
“M-Laura?” I asked, looking over at her. She would help me. She wouldn’t let her aunt hurt me like this. She was about to look up from a piece of the letter that she was holding, when the doorbell rang.
“Okay, I’ll get that.” She chimed, and swiveled her body towards the opposite direction that I was.
I felt a tear slip down my cheek. She hadn’t even looked at me. Maybe . . . Maybe the letter was something bad and she had been so upset that she hadn’t noticed? That had to be it . . . didn’t it?
“Look how much your friend cares about you! She even looked at you to make sure that you were okay!” She sarcastically stated, knowing fully well that it would tinker with my emotions.
“Why are you doing this? Just leave me alone.” I whispered, more tears slipping down my face.
“This would all be over if you answered my question the first time.” She growled.
“W-What are you talking about?” I asked. I had stopped trying to get away from her. I knew I wasn’t going to and I felt like I was too weighed down to even pick my foot up off the floor. No one was even going to help me. Not even Laura. Was this on purpose? She was the one that drugged me so did she set this up too?
“I don’t want to have to keep hurting you. Just answer my question. Where have I seen you before?” She demanded
“I-I don’t know. I-I don’t. P-Please just let m-me go.” I choked, weakly pulling against her grip again.
“Welp, we’re not leaving here until you answer the question,” she remarked, as she awaited my response.
“I-I did. I d-don’t know!” I exclaimed, my voice breaking. I was a terrified mess and I couldn’t even hide it anymore.
The worst thing was remembering. Meeting her hadn’t been the worst of it all but it had definitely been a chilling beginning. It scared me sometimes how vividly my mind remembered things. Every detail was there and I could recall all the conversations I had. I had tried time and time again to forget things but nothing seemed to work. As I stood there unable to do anything to get away from Kate, I was reminded of the helpless feeling I’d had when I first met her.
I had been walking through the woods as I usually did. There weren’t many in Arizona but in the more northern areas, pine forests could be found. I enjoyed walking through them anytime I could. I had run away from my foster parents again. My luck was awful so it had been yet another abusive home. I liked being in the woods because it made me feel free.
I had gone a bit later than usual that day. I had stopped atop a hill to watch as the sun began to set. It had been a beautiful array of colors and I’d smiled the slightest bit from looking at it. I had turned back to make it to where I’d been staying at the time (a homeless shelter) before it got too dark. I was humming as I walked and there was no trail but I knew where I was going. I guess I’d veered off only a bit from my original route or maybe I had gone the exact way and the trap had been laid while I was watching the sunset.
I had just stepped over a large tree root when suddenly-
Snap.
I didn’t even have time to scream before I was suddenly yanked up into the air and held upside down by my ankle. My hair had fallen over my face and I’d heard a laugh as I tried to get it out of my face. That was when I’d seen her. Kate was beautiful and she had a natural sort of coolness about her. She was standing there with her rifle like she was holding a hairbrush. I hadn’t known about the supernatural world at the time but this was where my education on it began.
“Hello, little werewolf.” she’d said to me with a smile.
I looked at her like she was crazy. “Um, I think you have the wrong . . . idea.” I’d replied, trying to reach up and get the rope off my foot.
“Nice try, kiddo.” she’d sighed, walking over so she stood only a foot away. She’d then crouched down so her face was level with mine.
“Okay, you are crazy. Werewolves don’t exist. I have no clue who the heck you are and this isn’t funny.” I had told her, eyeing her rifle warily.
She studied me for a moment before smirking. “So you don’t even know. Oh, honey, you are so clueless. Werewolves do exist and so do numerous other nasty creatures. My job is to make sure that you don’t hurt anyone. I hunted you and now soon enough you won’t be a problem anymore.” she continued finally.
“Y-You’re insane.” I retorted. I felt a little light-headed from being upside down. I tried to grab her rifle just to do something.
She moved away easily and rolled her eyes at my effort. “I’ll tell you a little more before I kill you. At least let you know what a monster you are before you die. It’s better to know the truth instead of being dead and clueless.”
I hadn’t had a chance to respond before she’d moved behind me and hit me hard in the back of the head with her rifle. Everything had gone black a few seconds later.
I hadn’t been paying attention to the current events. I’d visited the past and I blinked as if coming out of a daze when I finally returned to the present, just in time to find Kate digging her nails further into the cuts on my hands. I tried to jerk away but all it did was make her nails dig deeper. I did not however make any sound of pain.
“Listen. You have two days to tell me, or I will find you and will inflict damage way worse than this.” She stated, taking a grainy substance from her pocket, and forcefully rubbed it into my wound. It stings as it seeps into my cuts.
“This is leverage. Your hand will most indefinitely fall off in two days and more limbs will soon follow. If you tell me the truth, I will happily grant you the privilege of using the antidote. Otherwise, you’re a lost cause.” She explained.
What is up with the Argents and their sole purpose to dislodge limbs? I was shaking from the fear that consumed me. I didn’t want to have a dead hand. I was so terrified but I was also not giving up this easily.
“Y-You’re c-crazy.” I whispered.
“And you are just a lost little orphan,” she leans and whispers into my ear, “No matter how many homes you go to, or how many friends you make, no one will ever care about you.”
My tears flowed quickly from my eyes as I shook my head. I didn’t want to believe it but in a way I always have. I felt the tears running through the makeup I had on my face. I knew what I had covered and so I tried desperately to get out of her grip. I couldn’t let her see.
“Listen, it’s simple. You tell me the truth, your hand will be relatively fine, depending on how soon you make your decision, of course. And then you can go on living your pathetic life bouncing from home to home. Don’t you ever wonder why nobody keeps you?”
“I-I know w-why.” my voice broke as I said it and more tears left my eyes. I needed to get away. I found the words leaving me before I could stop them. “I-I’m that t-teenage w-werewolf that e-escaped.” I choked out.
“See, that wasn’t so hard to admit now was it.” She takes a glass vial filled with a clear substance out of her pocket and extends it towards me.
“This is the antidote.” I reach for it, but it falls out of her hands and shatters into a million tiny glass pieces. “Oops.” She smirks.
A small sob escaped me and I couldn’t stop my tears. I kept thinking I was going to die. She was going to kill me. Suddenly her cold hands grasp my face. She swipes her thumb across my cheekbone. I felt the makeup that was once covering the scar there get smeared away. She drops her hands in shock.
I stumbled back and it only took me a second to sprint from the room. My tears blurred my vision but somehow I made it to the front door. Laura and Stiles were talking there and Laura turned as I approached. I shoved past them both and bolted out the door. I heard them call after me but I didn’t look back. I honestly had no idea where I was running but soon enough I recognized the path.
I made it back to my apartment and I collapsed on the floor. I couldn’t move and I couldn’t breathe. I heard the people above me shouting and that brought horrible memories to my mind. I dragged myself near my bed and used my old dirty pillow to cover my head so I didn’t have to hear it. I didn’t know what to do anymore. The one person I had finally started to trust after all these years . . . didn’t help me when I needed it most. She’d abandoned me just like everyone else.
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