SCHOOL HAD ENDED AN HOUR AGO, after having to pick herself up from whatever that was, her day went by pretty quickly. The moment she had come home, her feet had made her go into her room. Avoiding the two people she loved so much, but she felt drained.
Her mind raced with theories as to where the burning pain came from, but initially her mind always came up black. Maybe she was ill, had food poisoning or stress. Stress was the one number one on her list, for the past two days that's all she's felt.
Stress and panic, fear consumed her entity. Everything felt so off, she felt off and now her body was failing her.
What else was there for her to experience? From the unknown suspect of someone breaking into her room, to finally finding out the real name of her mysterious mate.
Her body collapsed on her mattress, her face smudged into the softness of her duvet cover. It constricted her breathing, so she turned.
A knock at the door had her head raise slightly to see white was, but then she remember she had locked it. "Harlow, sweetie." Her mom called, "Are you okay?"
Sighing, her head instantly lowered back down. "I'm fine, I'm just tired mom." She was more than tired, she was burnt out. Completely and utterly drained, she had been since lunch when that mysterious burning pain had made itself know to her. Her mom's footsteps faltered, becoming distant and Harlow knew she had gone downstairs.
Whatever it that pain was, she hoped it was the last time she would ever have to feel it.
Harlow curled up into a feral position, a sigh leaving her mouth. Her brain was on zero percentage, maybe sleeping early wasn't such a bad idea. She needed as much sleep as she could get.
Pushing herself off the bed, walking towards the bathroom just as she did before in the morning. She washed her face and teeth, her eyes connected with the ones that was staring back at her. They looked so dead, so cold- a great representation to her mate's Michael ones, the same look he had given her upon meeting.
A reflection of the mate bond. Maybe she wasn't so different...'Stop it!' She was nothing like him, he wasn't a murderer.
The reflection of herself, it made her angry. She didn't want to look at it any longer, it always reminded her of him. Someone she didn't want to spend anymore of her time thinking about.
Turning, she grabs the pyjamas on her chair by the desk she had left them hanging in the morning. Harlow grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off, as she did the same with her jeans. When fully undressed, her eyes widen at the sheer sight of her body. What it had suddenly become, what it had morphed into.
Her feet moved in their own accord towards the length mirror near the bathroom. When her eyes took in what was happening, what traced on top of her skin she couldn't help the horror that faced upon her face. An expression of true fear, panic.
'What is happening to me?'
Harlow traced a hand over where the burning pain had made itself know, hissing at the soreness it seemed to ignite. It was so close to her most delicate parts, to her lower region. Her stomach was laced in that deep purple, back colour some might describe as a bruise. The bruise come bold and bright, and in the moment she felt fear inside her. Nothing mattered anymore.
"What is happening to me?" She whispered. Her body looked like it had been beating a thousand times over and over again. It looked like a wound, the spreading purple and the yellow blotches is only the surface wound.
Another whimper echoed into her hollow mind, her wolf had been doing that since it happened since the pain had started. Harlow felt everything she felt, a wound not only the outside, the real one is within, that feeling of betraying. That breaking of trust is so essential to true love.
She was confused, what did this pain have to do with her wolf side? This was a physical pain, not an emotional one, so what has her wolf feeling so betrayed, so conflicted to the point where Harlow couldn't feel her anymore. She just couldn't understand it, her wolf didn't seem to voice her thoughts on the matter like she always did. Even when Harlow had tried to reach out for her, she only moved further into the darkest parts of her mind.
What was it? Had she missed something, something that was right in her face but somehow she couldn't quite clock it- maybe it was obvious, so obvious in fact that it made her feel even more stupid from not figuring it out by now.
Her face scrunched up into disgust, her body looked gross. The already insecurities she had seemed to have increased now. It wasn't that she hated her body, but was little things little the shame of her waist to her full cupped breast that had her cowering away and now her waist became even more repulsing than it was hah been.
Sighing, she forced herself to turn away. The negative thinking in her mind was becoming more intense by the minute, she couldn't bear it. Harlow preferred to not feel anything at all, yet, somehow she felt everything all at once.
How was this fair? Guess, life just wasn't fair.
Never for her.
Slipping on the pyjamas, which basically concluded of a large t-shirt with the graphic writing, 'Looool' on. Nothing else, just that. When she had bought it, she'd thought it was cool but obviously it wasn't since she wore it for sleep. Her black comfy leggings on the other hand was just as basic, nothing interesting on them.
This was a routine for her, her feet knew what they were doing even as she wasn't consciously aware of what her body was doing, it had become like a ritual. Like a robot she moved to her bed and instantly flopped like she had done before.
By the time she had done everything was completely and utterly ready for bed. Her eyes shifted to the alarm clock next her bedside. 9:34PM, it read. Most like her mom and nan had decedent to their beds by now.
The moment her eyes closed, it was like the burning pain knew when she was at the most relaxed, it attacked her with a vengeance, a fierceness.
Pain. Red hot rain. That's all there was, just pain. Her eyes shot open as the worst pain in her life, it almost made her body crash with its crushing force.
Her mistake was thinking that it was some sort of dream, a nightmare. Yet, just like before, it didn't go away, it worsened.
She gasped out loud as the pain got even worse, how it was possible she didn't know. Harlow pleaded her wolf inside of her for help, reaching a hand for her to hold but it was like she had been abandoned, just like her father had left her.
Whatever was burning inside of her, it begged to come out. She ripped off the t-shirt she had wore and the leggings that kept her comfy during the night, laying there naked. She wiggled around on her bed trying to make it go away but nothing she did would executed it. It seemed to love living there, taking a residence in her stomach.
A silent scream left her lips as the pain got even more worse, it was far more worse that before. The pain peaked. By now, her eyes were spitting tears like a river flow. Harlow had experienced helplessness before but this was worse, this was some sort of sorcery that had her completely and hopelessly shattered in so many ways. What was worse is that she didn't know where it came from.
Her breath became like pants and she held her stomach, just like last time. Where the pain seemed to be emitting. The burning increase, and it felt like she was literally on fire, a hot deadly lava, melting her body to submission. Another sob escaped, making her hand instantly rap itself over her mouth, muffling it completely.
All of a sudden, just like last time it decreased. It stills, becoming like a numbing feeling in her gut. Her panting slowly became normal, slowing its hectic pace and her eyes eventually stopped spilling those tears. As her body relaxed from her tense position as the burning subsided. She took her hands off her stomach and her mouth, wiping the remaining tears away.
Harlow didn't understand where these pains were coming from, something about them that just seemed not normal. At first they came as little cramps, then somehow they came at full force, seeking vengeance on her uterus. The feeling was so surreal and not in a good way.
Automatically, her body curled in the feral position, whimpering from the numbing pain in her gut, only to stare out into the darkness that had taken refuge in her bedroom, when she realised what time it was. 12:17a.m, it read.
The blue light from the alarm clock. shone out against the darkness of the room. She had been asleep for three hours. Three hours of sleep is not enough, but she found herself not fall back asleep. She only laid there, waiting for the pain, sleep, or something completely strange. She found none of those things.
2:36 a.m. Her eyes still did not shut, her brain would not turn off the hectic thoughts consuming her mind. 'Why is this happening to me?' She just didn't understand what was wrong with her, why her body was failing her completely and the worse part of this whole thing was the fact that no matter what it may be, she couldn't do anything to make it stop. Not even painkillers seemed to make it stop.
The pain wanted revenge, that much she knew.
3:57 a.m. Harlow's eyes started to flutter shut, her brain seemed to take a break from over-analysing everything. Her body finally began to stretch itself out to a more comfortable position. She let her eyes fall asleep and she prayed for no more surprises.
And somehow, she knew deep down that thought alone was far from the truth.
"Harlow," She heard a soft but panicked voice call out her name. She stirred in her bed hoping that whoever it was shaking her tired form would stop and walk away before she murdered them. Anyone who knew her also knew she didn't like to be awakened from a deep slumber. She always need up in a bad mood for the whole day.
"Harlow," that same voice said. "Please wake-up."
"Go away," she mumbled into her pillow.
She felt someone's hand start shaking her harder which only resulted in her slapping it away and pulling the covers over her head. Can they not understand that she just wanted to sleep? She had school tomorrow and from the amount of time she had spent wasting it away because of the pain, she really needed this extra sleep.
"Lisa, she doesn't wanna wake up, what should I do?"
"Harlow, wake up now." Her nan's voice registered her mind but sleep somehow was consuming her even more.
"Let me take care of that."
As quickly as that was uttered, she felt the covers being removed and two warm arms wrap themselves around her waist - lifting her up. Her eyes shot open just as her butt hit the ground causing a moan to escape her lips.
"What is wrong with you?" She screamed, a scowl making its way upon her face as she stared at them. Her nan, Mia and Ryan? What where they doing in her room? She couldn't help but see their panicked faces and out of breath unlike all the other times where they would surely laugh at her. Slowly she stood up while rubbing her butt trying to reduce the pain. Something wasn't right here. "Guys, is everything alri-"
"No time to explain, we need to go." Mia replied in a hurried manner that she barely caught what she had just said. She took hold of Harlow's wrist and dragged her outside. The cold air hitting her naked arms and legs which made her start to shiver uncontrollably.
"Mia, can I at least get some time to get changed?" She asked She- with doubt- is going to have a cold tomorrow if she stayed dressed like this. The pyjamas, and even though they were comfortable, she didn't want to walk around the entire pack village looking like this.
"No!" All three of them replied in unison. What was up with them?
It was then she had realised the state the pack territory was in. Houses in the near distances had collapsed, trees had burnt down and people were running around screaming their heads off. Children were crying on their mother's shoulders while they ran off looking for safety. It didn't look like residential area anymore...
"What's going on?" She asked the question that had been on her mind for a while now. She looked over at the three of them to see that worry and fear were the only emotions visible on their faces.
Mia looked over at her and whispered two words that had her search clenching.
"Michael Collins."