The bright autumn sun has slowly begun to set. Thick trees surround me casting an eerie yet beautiful shadow across the golden leaf-covered sidewalk. The scent of oncoming rain and decaying leaves is carried on the wind. A few Canadian geese fly overhead letting out loud echoing honks, along with the soft jingle of metal coming from the necklaces hanging limply from my narrow neck and the patterned thumps of my shoes onto the ground, all is silent.
The wind blows gently past me causing my light chestnut colored hair to whirl up into my face before settling halfway down my back. My green eyes dance from the multicolored trees to the plain colored houses as I walk. Shoving my hands into the pockets of my sweatshirt in an attempt to block out the biting wind, a soft sigh escapes my lips. A large brick building comes into view, Septicfalls High, wonderful. I quickly reach up and pull my hood up over my head before shifting my small knapsack on my shoulders. Keeping my head down I made my way onto campus careful not to run my 5’2 frame into anyone as I walk. Glance up just long enough to locate the front doors
I pick up my pace, snaking my way through the smelly horde of teenagers. Scrunching up my nose as I pass a group of jocks, they smell like they bathed in cheap cologne. Moving quickly past them I rush through the door taking a deep breath as I walk to the front desk, glancing over the small desk my eyes land on a grey-haired man who is too engrossed in his computer to have noticed me. Clearing my throat I shift awkwardly where I stand. Jerking his head up his dull brown eyes meet mine.
“I’m going to take a guess and say you’re Ms. Argent. The new student?” he asks in a gravelly monotone voice.
I nod, my face staying blank, not one for talking I stay silent. He makes a small harrumphing sound before digging around through a file on his desk. He pulls out a paper clipped packet of paper and hands it to me, his loose-skinned hands shaking as he does so.
“That’s your schedule, a list of materials you’ll need for your classes and school policy. I do hope you’ll do your best to read it over” pushing up his thin reading glasses he continued “ your first class is Advanced English with Mr. Peckler. That will be room 107; upstairs, in the English wing,” with that he went back to his computer leaving me to find my way to class.
After wandering the now empty hallways for a good ten minutes I manage to find my first-hour class. I take a deep breath then squared out my shoulders, pulled my backpack tighter against my shoulder blades and pushed open the heavy wooden door. A hush spread over the class as a dozen set of eyes landed on me, my jaw clenched as I glanced around. A few hushed whispers spread through the class, in a school as small as this one a new student is rare. From the look of it, I was the first in a long while. My eyes darted towards the teacher as he stood, I gave him a once over, he was average height and thin as a twig with one of the widest smiles I have ever seen, hell he could give the Joker a run for his money. He made his way over to me he gave me a curt nod before turning to the class.
“Alrighty class this our new student…” he looked at me waiting for me to fill in the blank.
“ Amara…” I said speaking in a clipped voice not wanting to be the center of attention longer than needed.
The class answered back in a monotone, “hello Amara” and a few “heys.” The teacher turned back to me the same grin stuck on his face. “Take a seat wherever you can find one, I’m sure someone,“ he glanced towards the class “is willing to help you with the next few days.” Nodding once more I walked between the rows of desks making my way to the far back corner, tossing my bag to the ground I slumped into my chair.
The whispers had started up again, a few students tried to steal hidden glances at me, it failed. Sighing softly, I did my best to ignore them before laying my head down on the worn out desk; it was almost peaceful. A tap on my shoulders made my eyes fly open whelp… that didn’t last very long now, did it? Lifting my head I glared at the person who ruined my peace. I was met with a tan skinned blue-eyed boy, his sea blue eyes widened a bit at my cold glare, they reminded me of the ocean right before a storm. I quickly gave him a once over his dark shaggy hair came just past his ears, he had a toned body, the kind most girls would drool over. If I said he wasn’t attractive I would be lying.
“uh-hi, I’m Jinx...” he whispered in a deep voice, not what I had expected. He glanced down and fumbled in his bag for a moment before sliding a few pieces of paper onto my desk. His dark skin seemed even darker in contrast to the white of the paper. “Those are the notes for the unit, luckily you came in towards the beginning” he continued in a hushed voice. I glanced down at the paper, Romeo & Juliet. “I figure those will help you get caught up, Mr. P should get you a book sometime, you might have to remind him he tends to be on the forgetful side”.
He awkwardly reached up to rub the back of his neck “so uh, yeah..” my lips twitched up into a soft smile, that simple gesture seemed to be enough for him. He turned back to his desk a smile spreading across his face. Shaking my head slightly, I once again turned back to my desk staring down at the slightly crumpled piece of paper. After staring at the messy handwriting for a moment longer, I decided to place my head back onto my desk. Letting a soft sigh escape my lips, my eyes grew heavy and finally fell closed with that soft smile sticking to lips; Maybe today won’t be too terrible after all.
Flopping back onto the hard bed of my motel room, my 'home' for an undetermined amount of time, I let out a loud irritated groan. Seven ear splitting bells, room after room of smelly hormonal teenagers, and a crappy school lunch of hamburgers, if you could even call that blackened hockey puck “meat".
Whoever decided that eight hours of school, five days a week for 10 months, was such a grand idea was completely insane. Eight hours of school, four-plus hours of homework, and they still wanted us to get eight hours of sleep and be active. Ha. Yeah right!
Staring blankly up at the water-stained ceiling I continued to think the day over, all my thoughts seemed to drift to one blue-eyed boy. Shaking my head I sat up, No No crushes, no connections, do not get attached, Amara.
Turning towards the small window to the left of my bed, another groan escaped my lips as I watched the sun slowly begin creeping down closer to the horizon causing the sky to light up in an array of brightly colored oranges and purples. Realizing that I need to get going, I reached over to grab my key for my room off the nightstand and make my way to the door. Making My way down the road pulling my hood up over my head the shadow of its making my features sharper. Moving Faster my feet lead me further from houses, people, and civilization.
The dark outline of trees slowly comes into view. My tense body slowly starts to relax at the sight. Glancing up at the slowly setting sun I take a guess at how much time I have, definitely less than an hour, that’s going to have to be enough. I take a deep breath as I grow closer to the dense brush of the forest.
Ducking under a low hanging branch I push my way in. Stepping lightly I move quickly stepping over fallen branches and crunching through dark leaves. It was truly beautiful out here, the way the dim sunlight filtered through the dense trees casting long shadows over the ground along with the bright fall leaves. If only I had longer to enjoy it.
A few moments in the sound of a twig snapping sounded to my left. My head snapped to the side looking towards the noise, cocking my head slightly I squinted trying to see past the thick foliage into the darkening woods. I shrugging slightly when no further noise came from the area and continued walking, the birds around seemed to grow quieter the further along I went.
Another snap, followed by the hard crunch of leaving being stepped on came from behind. I stopped again a glare forming on my face as I whirled around to glare, that was definitely closer than before
“Hello!? “ I called my voice seeming to echo around me “this isn’t funny and I swear to god if you’re some sort of machete-wielding psycho trying to kill me I’ll let you know that won’t end well for you” That was a lie but they didn’t need to know that. I waited a moment my arms crossing over my chest the sound of rustling leaves made me tense up slightly. A tall figure pushed his way out of a bush his dark hair has a few leaves and twigs stuck in it.
“Jinx?”
The tall boy took a step towards me, I hadn’t been able to tell in class but he. Was. Tall. At least 6’3 maybe even 6’4 and compared to my height of 5’2 he was a giant. A smile broke out on his face “Amara.” he said it more like a statement than a question.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked as I pulled down my hood. My dark eyes boring into him as I spoke.
“ I could ask you the same question” that same soft smile stayed on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest causing his shirt to tighten over the muscles in his arms and chest. His voice was soft and carefree as he spoke whereas mine was tense, almost forced.
Shaking my head I run my fingers through my hair unable to come up with a good excuse. Looking back at him my eyes were drawn to his, the now quickly setting sun made his blue eyes seem to glow. Setting sun. My eyes widened as I looked at the sky. The sun was my clock and I was running late. I had less than 10 minutes. I have to get him out of here. He has to leave. My stomach does a flip as turn my attention back to him. A confused expression has replaced his once cheerful one.
“Look you really need to leave, now, it’s not safe here at night. I don’t need you getting hurt” I say leaving no room for question, his eyes flashed with hurt… Damn it. Better he is mentally hurt than physically dead. Quickly I turn and bolt out of sight trying to get as much distance between him and me before my clock runs out. But at the last second I could have sworn I heard him say “it’s you I’m worried about…” shaking my head I continue on I had to have imagined it. No time to think about that. I need to focus on the task at hand. Getting as far away from him as I can in the little time I have left. Moving faster I manage to plunge myself deeper into the darkness of the forest. Pushing myself faster I move deeper into the thick brush and foliage praying to any god that he had listened and left. Shaking my head I took off into a sprint leaves and twigs snapping and crunching loudly underfoot.
I Skidding to a stop a short while later.
looking at the sky as a shiver rolled down my spine. The once bright sun had finally set behind the horizon. With it, it seemed to pull my humanity with it. My stomach did another flip when a new light began rising in the east. The full moon.
Instantly I began tugging off my sweatshirt and tank top as I kicked off my shoes. Tossing them towards a bush in a small clearing I quickly pulled off my pants and tossed them with them as well. Clenching my teeth together I balled my hands into fists. The only things on my body were my two necklaces. One being a wolf howling towards a swollen moon. Ironic I know. The other being an inch long silver bullet, which was now burning into my naked flesh.
A moment passed and I waited a sense of calm had settled over me seconds before I dropped to all fours in agony. I heard the sounds of my bones snapping before I felt it. Then the cracking and grinding as they began to change shape. Letting out a loud scream I twisted as more things broke and shifted, my tailbone elongated along with my jaw, my once dull human teeth grew out and pointed to that of beasts. Claws grew where fingernails once were. Golden brown fur began growing to cover my shifting body. My eyes flew open as another scream racked my body, the green irises quickly became glowing golden pools reflecting the bright moonlight. The process took less than a minute but it felt like hours. My screams quickly turned into a long predatory howl. My human thoughts were quickly taken over by the instincts of a wolf. Humanity gone I stood on my newly formed legs in the bright moonlight and shook out my speckled fur. Before bolting into the surrounding forest.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
