THE FRONT DOOR CLICKED TO A CLOSE. "Harlow is that you hun." Her mom's voice boomed from the kitchen.
"Yeah." She responded instantly, dropping her backpack on the floor. Her mom was sat on the dinning table typing away on her laptop, papers scattered the surface of the table. "What's all of this?" She question, grasping one of the papers between her hands scanning it over.
"My résumé." She swiftly replied, to focus on what was on her laptop than to spend a moment to gain a look at Harlow, not that she minded anyways.
"Oh." Was all she said, her mom was applying for a job this quickly.
"How was school?" Her mom asked. Still furiously typing away on those keyboards, it was like she was superhuman or something, multitasking. Something Harlow could never do, her attention spam was non-existence. Mostly everything distracted her, and sometimes it was frustrating and sometimes it was not.
"Um...fine." She says, putting the paper down. "I made a friend."
Soon as it left her mouth, her mom's typing stop. She close her laptop and locked her eyes with her. Smiling, "You did, that's great honey."
"Yeah, her names Mia."
Her mom knew it was never easy for to make friends, it was always hard for her. Anxiety somehow always got in the way. Her mom's smile somehow got bigger, "See I told you it wasn't going to be as bad as you had made it out to be."
"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes instantly.
"Harlow!" Her nan entered, holding empty grocery bags. "You're home. How was school?"
"She made a friend." Her mom answered for her.
"That's great!"
Harlow eyed the bags between her arms, wondering what her nan was going to do with them. "Are you going shopping?" Harlow says, pointing towards the bag.
"Ah, yes. Do you want to come?" She gleamed.
No. She hated being around people, especially people at the grocery store. Everyone was in everyones way, and she bet in this town it would be even more crowded due to the small town people resided in. "Sure." No matter how much she hated going to places like this, she couldn't leave her sick nan alone.
The happiness that lit up into her eyes was hard to miss, "Fantastic!"
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When she'd parked the car, Harlow quickly opened the passenger door. Her nan wasn't the best of drivers, the car was parked over the lines that seemed to separate each parking space. Heck, she herself would probably be better than her and she doesn't even drive. Those metal boxes scared the living hell out of her. One wrong mover and poof! You're dead, or severely injured one or thee other.
Shoppers just like them scattered the entirety of the parking lot.
Harlow always found shoppers to be the most odd, it's as if they see pizza, ice-cream and staff as much the same... products, things to acquire and the means to acquire them. It's a disconnect of sorts, a brain-blip. If these people met the cashier at a barbecue they'd greet them, ask about their kids, enquire after their health and make jokes... but here there's a coldness, a rudeness that comes of seeing them in the same way as a product... "I pay for this food, so I pay for you, so you are a living robot, a possession that services me..."
There was nothing new about the supermarkets here, they were pretty much the same old and boring places where she acquired food and supplies.
"Come one then," her nan's voice boomed, pulling her out her own boring daydreams.
She followed her nan as she got the cart, its four wheels rattled slightly at the pavement. There was nothing quiet about it, it's sound rang through her ears loudly as they enter the entrance doors, sliding open only for the customers in rhythmic queue.
Aisles and aisles of food bombarded her vision, so much food. Everything was constructed into categories: Vegetables and fruit in one aisle, meats and dairy in another and the best part about this whole supermarket was the junk-food aisle. It wasn't that she ate a lot of it but when she did, she would indulge into a bit of everything. Why not? You only live life once, Harlow knew that better than anyone and the little things that brought her joy she cherished them.
She watched as her nan put broccoli into the cart and more vegetables into it. Most of her family were vegetarian, both her nan and her grandpas were but her and her mom was vegan- mostly because she was allergic to everything and her mom thought it was best. It's ironic how she was vegan in a society of werewolves who only craved meat, they had to because it was part of the food chain, and somehow she'd always found that to be the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard.
If it were the other way around, most wouldn't of thought in that way, mostly because they would feel fear of dying.
"Harlow, sweetie could you go to the bread section," her nan asked as she put yet another item in the cart. "Make sure it's wholemeal."
"Yeah sure,"she mumbles, making her way down the centre of the aisles. This supermarket was way bigger than the one back at the Blood-moon pack. It was probably because of the high population rates here, Crescent Pack had more members which of course they would have bigger places.
The first thing she'd noticed was, there weren't a lot of people and she didn't mind it what so ever, in fact she preferred it. Less eyes on here. There was something about being invisible that she like, and back at her old pack that all she was- invisible, it was a freedom that she didn't seem to have here.
A women in her late thirties never took her eyes off her, she could feel them at the back of her head, drilling holes. The urge to turn around and ask her what the problem was, was strong but she swallowed it, being rude to someone she barely even knew wasn't the way to go and plus it has only been a bloody day, and people here needed time to adjust. It was best if she kept her opinions to herself.
'Wholemeal, wholemeal...' She read in her mind the numerous of bread alined on the aisle, as a finger traced them.
She barely was paying attention to her surroundings as she remained focused on finding the bread her nan always liked, when her eyes caught its existence on the shelf she couldn't help but feel herself gleam at the sight of it, grabbing it quickly and turned to find her nan. But she never expected herself to face plater into someone's chest, hard.
"Aw," she exclaimed, tumbling a step backwards. Her face contorted into a pained expression, her right hand automatically raised to her nose rubbing the pain away. Had she just hit a wall? It felt like it, like it had appeared out of nowhere.
She was so focused on the pain that erupted across her face that she hadn't noticed the dark shadowy figure in front of her. The release of a viscous growl had her body tense, muscles every so still. She froze, her eyes only stared at the ground and the feet that occupied her vision. Large Dark boots, muddy and worn out occupied the ground. They seemed to face her, when she slowly began to lift her head upwards. Eyes wide, panic sinking in. The heat that ran through her cheeks made her inter-turmoil worse.
It didn't how close she was, Harlow struggled to gain a look at the sudden intruders face as it was covered with the shadowy darkness the hoodie they seemed to be wearing provided. It was obvious it was a male, he was extremely tall. That was all she could get from what was in front of her, a tall figure who wore extremely dark clothing. Alarm bells ran through her, the man seemed sketchy but somehow she wasn't running the other way, there was something about him that just didn't seem to worry her.
"Sorry." She mumbled, seeming more out of breath.
His head remained low, hands buried into kangaroo pocket of his hoodie and when he lifted his head slightly allowing her to gain a glimpse of his features. His eyes, a sea of blackness. It was like staring at the black heavens, a soul divine, one brighter than any star of the night sky.
In the sea of their blackness, there was a coldness, when there is no love within them. All Harlow could see was a deadness within them. 'Who was this guy?' He looked so familiar, like she had seen him before but couldn't figure out where, she wasn't able to put a finger on it. Just as those thoughts occurred, occupying her mind, she didn't expect the next word her wolf would utter just seconds afterwards.
'Mate.'
Harlow never really expected herself to collide with someone she'd always dreamt about. Just a few hours she'd wondered about them and who they were, and now they were in front of her...at a supermarket? The least expected place she thought to ever meet them in, maybe the universe was planting a humorous joke and she was just imagining this whole thing.
A gasp escaped her mouth without her permission, so many questions ran through her mind but no of them seemed leave her mouth. The man that stood in front of her was the person the universe seemed to have linked her soul too. "Y-you..." She stammered, unable to construct a word without stuttering never mind a sentence.
There was no reaction to him, like it was old news. He seemed unaffected by the fact that they were mates, he only stared then turned, disappearing within the aisles.
"Harlow." Her nan's voice bombed at the end of the aisles, pulling her out of the daze she had herself in, only to realise what just happened. She just found her mate...only for him to leave.
"Harlow?" Her nan called out again, this time closer than before. She didn't know what to do in this moment, shock just override her other functioning sense. She was shocked, shocked!
"Harlow?" Her nan's had on her shoulder had her jump in fright. "Oh my...are you okay?"
"Um," Was she okay? No, not really. She'd just found her mate and she didn't even know who he was, which really didn't make a difference from before. The only difference was the fact that she was certain he was from this pack, and he was a little weird...and intense. Very intense. "Yeah, sorry." She mumbled.
Her nan side eyed her, even she didn't believe her but she kept her mouth shut. Taking the bread out of her hands and putting it into the cart.
What just happened?