The hand moved, jumping back. I moved my flashlight along with it. As I kept looking, I saw who the hand was attached to: Shawn Grayson. He was at least a half-foot taller than me, with dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, and tan skin. I gasped for the second time that night. "Shawn?" I whispered, moving my flashlight out of his face.
He muttered something, his face half-hidden in shadows.
"What the hell…" I trailed off, seeing claw marks gouged in the dirt all around him. Then I noticed that he was sweating, shirtless, wearing only gym shorts. "What's happening to you?" I asked in a whisper, mortified.
He hesitated. "I-I'm-" He howled in pain, cutting himself off. Arching his back, I saw fur start to come out of his skin.
I yelped, jumping back. "What's happening!?" I shrieked.
He fell down, claws forming on his hands. He retched, his sides heaving. As I watched, the fur retracted, his skin rippling.
I sat down, sliding closer. He tried to push me away, but failed. "It's okay," I whispered softly.
As if answering me, his claws reversed back to normal fingers, and so did his skin. He sat there, heaving, breathing deeply in and out. He looked at me. "I think you can guess what was happening. Go on, run, tell everyone. I don't care."
"I'm not going to tell anyone," I spoke slowly, trying to keep my voice from wavering. "But you need to answer my questions." I paused. "What in the world was that?"
He sighed. "No use in lying now." Our eyes met. "I'm a Nahaul."
I stared at him blankly.
He chuckled faintly, his brown eyes glowing in the darkness. "Technically, I'm a shapeshifter, but the specific term is Nahaul."
"A sh-shapeshifter?" I stuttered.
He looked at me. "What did you think was happening? I was turning into the Easter Bunny?"
I laughed softly. "Damn. That looked painful. You okay?"
He looked at me again, as if studying me. "No one's ever seen me turn before. No one else even knows. But, I think I'm all right."
"Good." I punched his arm.
"Ow! What was that for?" he yelped.
"For scaring me. I thought you were dying!" I scolded. I gestured at his arm. "And like my punch hurt. You're supposed to be a shapeshifter. Aren't they like, super strong?"
He shrugged. "I suppose. The only reason I know anything about this is because this isn't the first time I've turned, and I got curious and looked it up."
I looked at him. "How many times have you turned?"
"Like two or three times. The first time I thought I was dreaming, but when I woke up in the woods, pretty much naked, I put the clues together."
"Wow. No offense, but this is pretty messed up."
He chuckled again. "So what are you doing out here? Do you come out here often, or just trying to stumble across a grumpy Nahaul?"
Now it was my turn to study him. Was he just curious, or did he know something? "Needed to clear my head. After the party."
He nodded. "I get it."
I paused. "So what exactly is a Nahaul?"
"Do you want the long version or the short version?"
I shrugged. "I've got time."
He studied me again, breathing heavy. "Alright." He sighed. "Well, the legend says that a Nahaul is a Spanish type of werecreature. I'm Venezuelan descent, so I guess that fits. They don't only turn into wolves, they can also shift into large cats, coyotes, bulls, stuff like that."
"Can you shift into all forms, or can you only choose one?" I asked, curious.
"I don't get to choose my form. That's all genetics. Although, I don't really know what animal it is for me yet. It's definitely on the smaller side, so we can rule out the bull."
"Don't get me wrong, and I know that was painful, but isn't it cool that you can change into an animal? Isn't that awesome?" My eyes shone in the moonlight, bright with curiosity.
"It's kind of a blessing and a curse. I haven't actually turned into a full on animal yet, these are just the first couple times. After that, then yes, maybe I'll think it's cool, if it stops hurting as much."
"Maybe if you didn't fight it, and you just let yourself turn, maybe it wouldn't turn out so bad," I suggested.
He looked at me. "Maybe you're right. But if you were in my position, would you want to accept it? Becoming an animal?"
I shrugged. "Are you still in there when you're an animal? Is your mind also altered, or can you still think like a normal person?"
Almost sheepishly, he mumbled, "I don't know."
"Well, if you ever want any help, you can trust me, okay?"
He nodded.
"Good," I said, standing up. "Then we should both go home."
He nodded again, standing up with me, towering over me. "See you at school?"
I nodded. "See you in school."
I trekked my way back to my house, barely giving any heed to the world around me as my thoughts spun in an endless cycle.
As I reached the side of my house, my thoughts kept spinning. How could Shawn shapeshift into an animal? How it it even possible? I kept a cool head with him, but now, all alone, every noise made me jump, every gust of wind, I stopped and looked around, freaked out something might attack me. I knew Shawn wouldn't, but could there be others? Anyone else I knew? Like Isabella? Sakura? Autumn? Austin? Everyone I knew flashed through my head at light speed. None of them had acted weird the last time I spoke with them, but then again, I thought Shawn was normal too. I choked out a laugh. Shows how much I knew.
I grabbed the lattice along my house and climbed up again. I reached my window and pulled myself up. Hurrying, I climbed into my room, shutting and locking the window with a soft click. I quickly changed out of my sweatshirt and shorts, then after I was done, I sat on my bed.
Calming my heart rate down, I climbed into bed, knowing it would be awhile before I fell asleep. I tossed and turned for what felt like hours, until I fell into a shallow sleep, my nightmares full of twisted shadows and creaking tree branches. I was in for a rough night.
***
Beep beep!! Beep beep!! Something buzzed by my head. On instinct, my eyes still closed, I slammed my hand down, clicking it off. I fell asleep again.
Moonlight shone high above, making the water sparkle under me, reflecting off of the starry night sky. Time seemed to slow and the rhythmic, gentle water soothing to my ears.
"Vera?" a knock sounded at my door. I opened my eyes, my morning drowsiness making my head fuzzy.
"Hello?" I called through the door.
"Honey, can I come in?" It was my father.
"Sure."
He opened the door and crossed the room, and sat on my bed.
I sat up in bed, not saying anything. Finally, I broke the silence. "Did you want to talk to me?"
My father nodded. "Yeah. As you probably know, you don't want to always talk to me, so I don't really know what to do here. I would like to talk, but if you don't want to, I get that."
"I really wanna be left alone today, okay dad?" I asked, my morning fuzziness clearing from my head.
My father nodded and left my room, the door shutting with a hard thump, the only indication that he was agitated.
I laid in bed for a while after that, not asleep, just not feeling like getting up. A little while later, my phone buzzed with an incoming message. I bet that's Isabella, I thought. It was.
It read: Hey V, how u feelin' today?
Rolling my eyes, I typed, How do u think? Still crappy. ;(
That sucks. So u wanna do something today? Isabella asked.
Maybe, I typed. Where do u wanna go?
Autumn, Sakura, and I wanted to go and get smoothies. U wanna come?
Sure. I'll meet u there, I typed. Our town only had the one smoothie shop called Shelley's Smoothery. Corny, but the smoothies were good. I climbed out of bed and got dressed. The weather was feeling my mood today, so I threw a jacket on over my shirt on my way out, grabbing my car keys. Making sure I left my father a note, I pulled the garage door open and headed out.
I opened the car door and threw my bag on the passenger seat. The engine roared and I turned down Main Street, the road a blur passing under my car. Soon, the smoothie shop came into view, its old-fashion sign swaying in the breeze. I parked my car and headed inside, Isabella, Autumn, and Sakura already sitting at a table. Waving, I sat down next to Autumn. "Morning," I said.
Sakura nodded at me. "So what happened at the party after we left?"
I sighed. "It was terrible. There was barely any room to breathe after a while."
Isabella giggled. "That was the one funny thing."
I laughed for the first time that day. "I guess that's sorta funny. So, what should I order?"
"We just got here, so we haven't ordered yet," Autumn told me, picking up her menu. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail, her naturally wavy hair trailing down her back
I looked at my menu as well. "I think I'll have the strawberry smoothie with a spoonful of yogurt."
"Same," Sakura said, closing her menu.
Soon, the waitress came over and we each told her what we wanted.
The chatter died down when our waitress came back and delivered us our drinks. "Thank you," we all chorused.
She nodded at us with a tired smile and returned back behind the counter, the door swinging shut behind her.
I greedily took a sip from my straw, the rich flavors making my eyes roll backwards. "I haven't treated myself to one of these in forever," I commented.
Isabella nodded in agreement.
"You know, I think I should get a job here," Autumn added, looking lost in thought.
"Really?" Sakura asked.
Autumn shrugged. "My mom's been on me lately to find work, and I think I just did. Look." She pointed to the window. A help wanted sign was plastered next to the door.
"Well what are you waiting for? Go up and ask for a job application," I urged.
Biting her lip, Autumn stood up and went to the counter. We watched silently until Autumn came back with a piece of paper in her hand.
"So? What did they say?" Sakura asked jubilantly.
"They said I was the third person to ask today, so I probably won't get the job, but I'm going to at least submit my application," Autumn answered.
Isabella and I nodded simultaneously.
"Good idea," Sakura said approvingly.
Autumn sat there in relative silence and filled out her application while the rest of us drank our smoothies happily and conversed about the party. Soon, Autumn walked back up to the counter and with a smile and handed in her application. She was all smiles for the rest of the day, hurriedly drinking the rest of her smoothie.
Our waitress came back and we paid her, then walked out of the double doors, a gaggle of giggling girls. We took our smoothies with us and walked down the sidewalk, the scent of sunflowers and marigolds mingled in with the beautiful scenery. We walked to the park a couple blocks down and sat in the gazebo, sitting peacefully along the small duck pond.
We sat here for about an hour, then Isabella and Autumn had to go for a school track meeting, so Sakura and I decided to ask her mother if we could borrow her small boat and go out on the bayou. Sakura dialed her number and a few minutes later, her face elated with the good news: she said yes. Since Sakura had a license, it really wasn't a big deal, and we've done it on more than one occasion. Normally with more people, but it was fun either way.
The two of us walked along the edge of the bayou until we reached Sakura's house. She dashed inside and came back with the engine keys in hand. Then, Sakura expertly untied the boat from her family's dock and twisted the rope up onto the boat. Sakura jumped on and extended a hand for me.
I took it with a smile of gratitude and we started on our way. The engine came to life and the water parted for our vessel as we went up stream, the boat speeding up. I watched in awe as the engine chugged along, a breeze blowing my hair around.
"This is so cool!" I exclaimed.
Sakura smiled. "I know. I've lost count of how many times I've done this, and I still can't get enough."
I grinned. "Where do you wanna sail, Captain Lazarov?"
"Down the currents I'll bet," Sakura said in a captain's scruffy voice.
"Aye aye," I saluted.
Sakura dissolved into giggles and I joined in, tears of laughter springing to my eyes.
"Now, your first job as my crew is to swab the poop deck!" Sakura howled with laughter.
Playing along, I said, "But cap'n--"
"No buts!"
I giggled and used an imaginary broom and pretended to swab the wooden deck for a few minutes.
Sakura giggled and returned to steering us in the right direction along the bayou. The Green Ash trees passed so close along the boat that I was able to reach out my hand and skim my fingers along the leaves. My view shifted and I spotted the clearing where I saw Shawn turning into a Nahaul. The memory sparked back in a flash.
I shifted my shoulders uneasily. The memory was still new, and still made no sense. I tried to suppress it, but it wouldn't go back under the surface. Another memory was also floating around in my head: one night, two years ago when my window opened mysteriously. Sakura must've noticed something in my face, because soon, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Is something wrong?" Sakura's disembodied voice asked from behind me.
"Hmm?" I murmured, turning around.
"You have that same look in your eyes as you did earlier today at the smoothie place. I noticed it then, but I didn't want to say anything in front of everyone else. What's going on?" Sakura sked.
"Perceptive," I commented, stalling.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "No, I'm just not an idiot. Plus, you're very conspicuous when it comes to things like this. Now quit stalling."
Damn, she really is perceptive.
I bit my lip. What should I do? I didn't exactly promise Shawn I wouldn't tell anyone, but I did tell him he could trust me. Telling Sakura would probably break that trust, but Sakura's my friend… crap, what do I do? What do I say? Sakura wouldn't go spreading it around, right? I thought worriedly.
Sakura waited patiently, her forearms resting on the boat's railing.
Finally, I came to a decision. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to speak a word of it to anyone else. Otherwise I won't tell you."
Sakura nodded.
"It kinda started at the party, when I fell off the rope swing…" I trailed off.
"Yes?" Sakura urged.
"I'd felt really off after and just wanted to be alone, you probably remember that."
Sakura nodded.
"So when I got home, I kinda snapped at my father, and long story short, I ended up grabbing a flashlight and jumping out my window to avoid confronting him."
Sakura smirked at that.
Encouraged, I went on. "I was walking through the trees, thinking, and found this clearing." she gestured back to where she had seen it earlier. "I sat there for a while and then I saw someone."
"Who?" Sakura asked.
"Shawn," I breathed.
"Shawn Grayson?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah. He was on the ground and… something was happening to him."
Sakura nodded for me to continue, looking curious.
"His skin was like, rippling, or something. Gray fur was poking through his skin, and it looked really painful. He said he was turning into a, Nahaul? I don't know, something like that."
"A what?" Sakura questioned disbelievingly.
"Some type of Spanish werecreature, except instead of a wolf, he was turning into a coyote," I managed to say with a straight face.
"So you're telling me that werewolves actually exist, and some random kid from our school is one?" Sakura asked.
"I swear I'm not lying. He explained it to me, and I believe him."
"I'm not saying you're lying to me, but maybe he lied to you." Sakura restated.
I shook my head. "I know what I saw," I insisted.
"But how does he know what he is? Did his parents tell him?"
"He said that he looked it up online."
"And the internet can always be trusted. Riiiiight."
"Whatever. I still know what I saw," I said.
Sakura stood there, looking out at the water, a thoughtful look in her eyes. Finally, she spoke again. "What should we do with this?"
I looked helpless. "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore."
Sakura looked just as helpless.
"But you can't let on that you know. He only told me, no one else. I said that he could trust me. Don't say anything incriminating to him. Please?"
"Of course. I don't think anyone would believe me even if I went blabbing. I barely believe it myself," Sakura added.
I nodded. "But it felt so good to tell someone. It's been weighing on me ever since I found out."
"So you didn't tell Isabella? Autumn?"
I shook my head.
Sakura nodded. "Then I'll do the same." She looked up at the sky. "The sun's getting low. We should head back."
I nodded again and turned to face the gunwale.
Sakura retreated back up to the higher deck and turned them around in the right direction.
Time seemed to speed up and I soon saw Sakura's dock coming into view. Sakura pulled up as close as she could and hopped off, instantly retying it to a dock post.
I jumped down onto the wooden dock and landed with a wobble. I steadied myself, then gave Sakura a farewell hug. "Thank you for listening."
"Anytime." Sakura hugged me back.
We broke apart and I walked along the bayou in the direction of my house as Sakura walked up to her own.
Should I have told her about Shawn? My shoulders felt lighter, no longer carrying the secret alone, but my heart felt monstrous about what this might do to Shawn. Surely Sakura would keep her word, right? I wasn't completely positive. Only time will tell, I thought grimly.
***
I was back at my house quicker than I would've liked. I knew what lay in wait for me. My only option was to go in and take my own medicine. Sighing, I pulled up my driveway and into my garage, parking my car. I opened and closed the door, and entered my kitchen through the garage. I saw my father's head peek out from the top of the couch in the den. He had heard me come in, and he waited patiently for me to come down to the den and take my medicine.
I sat at a chair next to the T.V. and waited for him to begin. I wasn't about to.
"Look, I can't expect you to tell me everything," my father finally started, "but I still expect you to act civilized, tell me what you feel you can share, and we can move on."
I nodded. "All I can tell is that the swimming hole wasn't as fun as I thought it would be." Please don't ask any more questions, please don't ask any more questions.
Apparently, my prayers had been answered.
"Okay. But next time, tell me the truth. The full truth, please."
I nodded again.
"You're excused."
Grateful, I headed upstairs, never not thinking about my talk with Sakura. Did I do the right thing by telling her? Or did I just betray Shawn's trust?