No one expects their life to change at the drop of a hat, not really anyway. There's supposed to be a grace period, or that span of time leading up to it, or even that whole procrastination bit. Thinking about it, I guess we did sort of get a warning that things were about to take a turn, but we never could have guessed it would have been so drastic...or so painful.
Kierra
Tuesday, 10:32 am
"Faline! Are you done yet?"
I swear if I have to 'request' for my sister again, she's not going to like the consequences. I need to check my email to see if my publisher has gotten back to me yet. The man is impatient if I don't answer back in a 'timely fashion', and I'll never hear the end of it.
"Just a second, I'm almost done."
I do believe she said that about an hour ago.
From the hallway entrance, I go the few feet back to my room, perturbed that I've been put off yet again. I'm hoping there's also a message from Tristan. We don't hang out as much since we graduated high school several years ago, although we still chat often. He's only a year older than I, but there are times that he pops out with some decent aged wisdom.
Pacing to release some pent-up energy, I glance out the window as I pass it. It's closed, annoyingly, showing me my reflection in its wake. I'm five-foot-four, thick, and muscled. Meaning I love my food, but I don't let that stop me from 'hanging with the boys'.
Long wavy hair reaching my lower back sways behind me as I move, the colors changing depending on the light. One moment brown, the next red or copper. Even have some natural black streaked through it. Just call me calico.
Glasses perch on my nose over light green eyes, concentrating on my steps as I wait impatiently.
"Faline!"
"Yeah, yeah, almost done!"
***
Faline
11:12 am
"I gotta get going, she wants the computer, you know how demanding she gets."
"Don't go, she can wait a little longer, please."
"She's already waited two hours, Nicolaus."
"Then meet me tonight, after sunset, I have to see you."
"I can't, you know that. She would freak if I left."
"Then I'll come to you, I'll be quiet."
"I don't know... I'll have to think about it."
After logging off, I gather up all my stuff from the computer desk, putting all my notes into a binder. Sliding backward on the swivel chair, I call for my sister.
"Hey, Kie? You wanna come here for a minute?"
After waiting for a few minutes, my older sister finally comes in, looking down with a distracted look.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, what d'you want?"
"I'm done with the computer. What's wrong?" I look at her expectantly.
Kierra looks up at me, shrugs, then walks back through the hallway that she emerged from. I sit there for a few seconds wondering what in the world's going on. Following, I find her in her room writing.
Whenever she's upset, mad, or troubled she ends up writing or doing some artsy thing. I've known her to go on writing or painting for hours at a time, especially since we moved in together out here in the woods. It's not much, but it suits our needs, which is privacy and lots of outdoor space. Even have a full basement. We live on the outskirts of Loves Park, past the partially closed down mall into Machesney Park. Kinda works for her whole eccentric writer-artist look too.
Her friends Tristan and Ava don't live that far away either, which was a major perk for her. I don't know very many people, but enough to say that I do have friends, like Nicolaus for example. I'm not sure just where he lives, but he says he's close.
We've talked for about a month and a half now. He knows a lot of supernatural stuff, which I think is really cool. Vampires, Werewolves, the paranormal, magic, he indulges all my questions.
We've gotten really close for only talking online. Kierra says it's cool and to just be careful. She's really protective of me, her baby sister, and usually tells me what's going on, but right now, she's being real evasive.
"Hey you, what's on your mind?"
I ask, not really expecting an answer, but hoping for one. She's laying on her bed, head down, concentrating intently on her notebook. I glance from it to the stack of notebooks on a small table against the wall. Rough drafts and shorts she'd gotten published years before her current set.
She stops writing and looks up at me, her bright green gaze guarded as ever, eyes that hold many secrets that anyone can only begin to guess at. Some would say they're jaded, but I can argue the personality behind them. She pushes her glasses up in habit before answering.
"Faline, I'm..."
She starts but stops to sit up, adjusting her glasses once more, then tries again. Right when she begins to speak, Tigger jumps onto her lap. She loves that cat to death.
He would have stayed with our mom, but he'd mope around her house all sad like. Tigger is an orange and white short-haired tabby. He has stripes and spots, kinda nifty really. Stroking the animal, she looks down at him.
"I'll be going out tonight; Tristan wants to talk to me about something or another and I'm not sure just what time I'll be getting back. I won't be going far, but I don't want you going outside. I've had a weird feeling since he called and I can't shake it. Can you do that?"
Kie looks up at me as she says the last. I blink at her for a minute, stunned. She's never left without me, even when she has to run to her publisher, and she knows it will take longer than an hour, she drags me along. She freaks out when she can't find me.
She'd told me before that ever since she and Mom were able to get me back from my foster care guardianship, that she's afraid to lose me again. Not to mention what she went through when we were younger.
We were both put into foster care at a very young age due to child abuse from Mom's old boyfriend. Lots of drama and thirteen years later, we reunited. After many different foster homes for each of us, separation at a young age, and juvenile for her when she was fourteen or so, I can't remember exactly. Our childhood was kinda hell and details have gotten skewed over the years.
Sitting next to her on the bed, my hand goes to her shoulder.
"You know, I am able to be by myself for long periods of time. I can even take care of myself; you don't have to worry so much. I can stay here, all by my lonesome, without my big, bad sis looking over my shoulder. Go see what Tristan wants, and I'll be here when you get back."
She grins at me.
"Come on, I am twenty-one, I can take care of myself."
Kierra's laugh is sarcastic, but I didn't mind. When she's happy, life is so much simpler.
***
Kierra
7:58 pm
"Alright, I'm heading out. Don't spend the whole time on the computer, read a book or something."
I give my little sister the sternest look I can manage with other things on my mind. After telling her that I'd wanted the computer hours before, I had gone to my room, and shortly afterward got a phone call from Tristan. He sounded upset, depressed, saying that he needed to talk to me about something, but it wasn't something he wanted to talk about over the phone or amongst company.
He'd asked me to meet him tonight in the woods, in a clearing near my house. I know the place he'd been referring to, it's a small grassy area that I had found and told him about. I remember thinking it weird that he knew where to find it since he's not an outdoorsy person. He's a city boy through and through. He probably told one of his friends about it, found it, then got high there.
We couldn't meet during the day; both had other things to do that were more important. So we agreed to meet at eight-thirty tonight. After hanging up the phone, I tried thinking about what he'd got himself into this time, to where he needed my help. There wasn't anything I could think of that he couldn't do himself.
Unable to come up with anything, I began writing, talked to Faline, then bounced to a commission I had started a few days before. I scribbled till I had to run to my publisher. Also had some other running to do so I dragged my grumbling sibling along with me. When we got back home, I started writing in the book that I'd been working on for a few weeks now.
When my sister had come in, I'd explained to her what was going on. She understood, I think. Being twenty-one, she's really small for her age. Barely five feet tall and maybe weighing in at a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet, she's a tiny thing. With thin hair going to just below her shoulder blades, a red and blond that looks like a sunrise when she doesn't have it up in a ponytail, and soft hazel eyes with their blue and green starbursts, always looking at me with a bit of annoyance when I have to go somewhere that she doesn't want to.
When eight o'clock comes around, I'm grabbing a windbreaker and heading out the door. It's a clear late autumn night, a big half-moon in the sky already. Bright enough that I can see where I'm going without tripping on anything, not to mention the trees are pretty much bare by this time, so everything's pretty visible.
I hear all sorts of nightlife, from hidden crickets to owls playing peek-a-boo in the naked trees. I love the night, the crisp clean air, the calm, the beauty it holds. Actually catching sight of the large owl taking flight, I smile.
Trudging on, I'm trying to step lightly so I'm not so loud. Fat chance of that since the ground is covered in crinkly leaves. Running my hands along a few tree trunks as I go by them, the very texture acts as a peaceful balm. Looking up when several bats can be heard doing aerial acrobatics in their chase for food, then walking around a few pine trees so the needles don't get caught in my hair...again.
I wonder again what Tristan could want, but still don't come up with anything when I reach the clearing. Some old fallen logs were put in a semi-circle around a dug in fire-pit. I don't see him yet, being relatively early, so I sit down on one of the taller logs, gazing around and making sure there's no hiding skunks or raccoons first, of course.
After a while of staring into the fire-less pit, I hear a twig snap off to my left, I look over expecting to see a human male, but instead see a really big canine. Oh, goody.
It's staring right at me from under a tree, eyes catching the moonlight and making them glow. I sit still, not wanting to scare it away, startle it, or make it angry. Talking softly to it is fine though.
Crooning in a low voice, I ask it to come closer. When it does step forward into the moonlight, more details of the animal are revealed. It, no, make that a he, looks to have jet black fur, but it could actually be a dark brown in true light.
A long muzzle full of sharp teeth and shocking blue-green eyes. His eyes are what really catch my attention; a deep blue with green intermingling to look like ocean waters. When he's a few feet from me, I realize it's not a dog I'm looking at, but a wolf.
It's not possible, a wolf this close to the city? I'm not that far from Rock Cut, the nature preserve. Maybe a coyote? No, his body is too husky, too muscled. Too tall as well; I stand over five-foot and he would be around my sternum.
It's likely he's only half-wolf, probably mixed with a German shepherd or a husky, judging by the eye color. While the result is pretty, it's still annoying that people are breeding wolves with common dogs.
While lost in thought, I don't realize that he's come closer, now only inches away from me. Very slowly I reach out my hand, fingers slightly curled into my palm so I don't chance losing them, all while still talking to him.
"Hey boy, where'd you come from? Haven't seen you around here before. You're really beautiful, but you already know that, huh?"
Not really caring that I probably sound extremely stupid for asking a canine questions that it can't possibly answer, but what the hell, I talk to Tigger all the time. He even meows back, and I can just imagine his responses half the time.
A cold nose nudges my hand, then gives a tentative lick. I slide my fingers from the tip of his snout to the top of his head, then down to his back. I can't believe how soft yet coarse his fur is.
The thick coat that would keep him warm no matter how cold it gets. Fingers sink into the pelt, the thickness paired with his body heat warming them. For the first time, I notice that he doesn't have a collar, but almost like a silver necklace that has what looks to be a moon pendant. Weird.
His tail wags slightly as he looks at me. We're eye to eye at this point, if he felt the need to kill me, he'd have the perfect chance right here and now. I look him in the eyes, knowing it dangerous, that it's considered a dominance thing with canines, but still feeling compelled to do so anyway.
Those canine orbs seem to see more than he lets on, eerie in their human intensity. Almost as if he was trying to say something with them alone.
"I'm sorry."
Startled, I look around, hearing the snapping of twigs as footsteps come closer to me. Turning my head to see Tristan coming, I start to ask why he's sorry when the wolf-dog mix sinks his teeth into my left shoulder, tongue following after to get at the blood, then takes off the opposite way Tristan came. I cry out more in surprise than in pain as my friend runs over.
My shoulder feels like it's on fire; hot pokers being shoved through my skin. Can feel the blood dripping down my back and chest. I grip my arm above my elbow, holding it close to my body and look up to see Tristan frantically asking me if I'm alright.
I answer -
"You're late."
***
Faline
8:06 pm
"Great, so now what do I do?"
I pace from the computer, to the front door, then back again. Kierra left about five minutes ago, and I've been pacing since. Heaving a sigh, I storm back to the computer after looking out the window that's situated right next to the door. It's in the living room, so it's not a far walk. I boot up the machine, then go back to the front door.
Biting my lip in indecision, I finally open the door, letting in a cool breeze. Kie will probably have a shit fit, but I don't particularly care at the moment. Turning, I put the breeze to my back and glance around the room.
It's not fancy, with floor to ceiling bookshelves lining the walls, the only open spaces are taken up by the computer desk, a cat tower in front of the corner window, a large flat-screen T.V. situated in the middle of the room, and a couch not far away. The shelves hold mostly books, a few knick-knacks here and there. Movies galore were put on the lower shelves with various video games.
There are small sections put in them to hold other things as well, mostly small items that we have no other place for. The books are my sister's pride and joy. A small area off by itself holds the three novels that she'd gotten published most recently.
I walk back to the desk, leaving the door open for the fresh air. Even from inside the house I can hear the nightlife outside. Mostly late-year crickets, too late in the season for frogs. Plopping down into the swivel chair, I put in my password for my account.
Kierra and I have different accounts, she says so it doesn't mix up our stuff, but sometimes I wonder. She's said more than once that she doesn't want to burn my eyeballs. I just think she doesn't want me to see the naked male anatomy, A.K.A her porn.
Like I've never seen it before. I mean, come on, I am twenty-one; what hot-blooded twenty-one-year-old-female hasn't seen nude male flesh? Even if it's by accident. Riiight.
Watching the background come into focus, I see the character Lestat from the movie Queen of the Damned. He's so yummy. Happens to be part of my obsession, but let's keep that between us.
Logging into my current messenger, I've gotten a few off-line messages. One from Nicolaus and one from my mother.
Ever since my sister and I moved in together, into a place of our own, we haven't seen her much. We talk when able, but we keep different hours. My sister works from home, an artist and writer, usually making her own hours and having a screwy sleeping pattern, whereas our mom does factory work and puts herself on a pretty strict schedule.
Opening her message, it reads that this weekend's plans to get together have to be some other time due to some stuff coming up on her end. She's probably sent my sibling the same message. After sending a reply, I open Nicolaus's message. I get butterflies doing the tango in my belly, anticipation jitters as I read on:
To My Darkest Maiden,
I know it hasn't been that long since we last spoke,
but I miss you dearly already.
I cannot wait to see you.
It is time for us to meet.
Forever Yours,
Nicolaus
I read it over and over before it begins to sink in. Meet? We can't meet, my sister would kill me! Yes, Nicolaus is my friend, an online acquaintance, but to actually meet? I'm not quite ready for this...not yet.
Turning off the screen, I pace back to the front door, my mind whirling into chaos and confusion. Thinking back to his message, it gets repeated in my head. He has a habit of speaking plainly, like he can't get out of his role-playing character's mind. 'Darkest Maiden' is one of my aliases in our R.P. stories.
Pushing open the screen door and walking out to the porch, I lean onto the railing and look off into the woods that surround the house. The wind picks up, blowing fallen leaves around like macabre dancers. Before long, I see a big dog running towards town, the moonlight acting as a backdrop behind it and the trees it's weaving through.
Kind of weird since the closest neighbors are a ways away, and as far as I know, they don't have any dogs; a horse or two and a cat, but no dogs. With that on my mind, I turn to go back into the house but stop when I see someone standing silhouetted at the end of the porch. At first, I think it's my sister, but she isn't that tall.
This person is over six-foot, in the shadows, and staring at me. Something brushes up against my legs; I jump and make an "eep" sound as I look down.
"Tigger!"
Meowing up at me, the stupid cat looks like he's grinning from ear to ear. Looking back up to the corner, I'm about to yell at whoever's there, just to see nothing. No one is standing there.
I didn't even hear them move. Picking up the cat, I quickly go back into the house and shut the door. Locking it, the cat gets put down and I look out the window. Still no one around.
"Oh, this isn't creepy at all..."
I look to Tigger who's on his cat tree, which is in the far corner of the room, grooming himself like nothing happened.
"Stupid cat, trying to scare the shit outta me..."
Reaching for the cell phone in my pocket to call Kierra, someone starts banging on the door. Startled, I jerk it open in reflex just to have it not move an inch. Remembering that it's locked, I unlock it and swing it open, just to have my sister revealed on the porch, bleeding, Tristan standing at her side looking worried, his eyes wide.
"Oh my God, what happened?"
Kie holds a hand to her shoulder as she walks in, her friend following after.
"She was bitten by a dog."
His hair had looked red in the pale light outside, but in the bright light, it's orangey-red. Light freckles seem to stick out even more with his blue-green eyes opened wide on his pale face. With a height of around five-foot-ten shortened from him being slouched, he helps her into the kitchen.
Slamming the door and re-locking it, I run after her, trying to see her shoulder. Blood is running down her arm to drip onto the hardwood floors, shirt soaked where her hand is pressed. Where's her coat?
After she's seated in one of the kitchen chairs, Tristan asks where the first-aid kit is. Telling him, I grab some paper towels off the counter semi-absently, eyeing her shoulder. He's been here countless times before, he should know where it is.
"What happened?"
Asking my sister while trying to get a better look at the wound, I get batted away as she gets up to retrieve the scissors from a counter drawer. Sitting back down she cuts the sleeves at the seams on down the rest of her shirt, so it becomes two pieces that stick to her from the blood. Reaching back up, she slips the scissors under the sticky material and cuts the bra strap that's edging the holes.
Wincing, she pulls the shirt off, revealing the bite holes in her shoulder. Tristan hurries back in, pausing only slightly after seeing her pull the cut strap out from her body. He puts the stuff he grabbed on the table, eyes riveted to her blood-covered upper arm and back.
My sister isn't thin by any means, but she's not overly fat either. She's bigger boned and all muscle with a bit of chunk. She also has a big bust, so I can just imagine how Tristan is keeping from blushing too bad.
Her shoulder is seeping blood and has some torn cloth stuck to it. Looking at me, she tells me to get her a towel, preferably a big one. Watching her move her long hair away and pulling off bits of bloody cotton, I hop off to get one that won't show blood too badly.
***
Kierra
9:04 pm
After sending Faline out for a towel, I ask Tristan to look at my back to see if there's any cloth stuck to those holes as well.
"You know, you should go to a doctor, this looks like it needs to be sewn up. Plus there's no telling if the dog had rabies."
I look over my shoulder at him; he's looking a little paler than usual with his bright red locks.
"He didn't have rabies. He wasn't feral; you just spooked him is all."
When Faline returns with the towel, I wrap it around my chest, hook it under my beefy arms, and cover my belly. Reaching for the alcohol, it gets opened and poured over my shoulder.
"Holy shit that's cold!"
Gasping in pain, I slam the bottle back onto the table. Liquid flies out and lands all over the tabletop. Faline grabs more paper towels, wiping up some of the bloody alcohol dripping from my body. I jerk from it being real tender.
"We really should get that doctor, those holes are deep."
Tristan speaks from behind me while I help my sister wipe away some dried and clotted ick. It's so nice to have thick blood, clots real quick. Makes for great-looking gore.
"No, no doctors. We don't have the money for them to just tell me what I already know. Besides, this is more fun and a whole lot cheaper."
I smile as he moves to stand in front of me, the scowl on his face and turquoise eyes showing his disapproval. I don't think he's getting my humor, especially considering he knows how well off I am. He also knows just how masochistic I can be, but he seems to have forgotten that to.
"We have to do something, you could get an infection."
Shaking my head, I point to the half-empty bottle of rubbing alcohol. I'm also not worried about that, since I have to actually try to get anything like that to happen.
"There. I got most of it; the wounds have slowed their seeping."
Faline takes up more paper towels to dry the table, then dumps them all into the trash. Still scowling, Tristan goes to my left side and gets a better look now that they're cleaned up.
"Shit, I thought the punctures were bigger with all that blood, but there's no real tearing, just holes. Real clean...considering."
I look at my shoulder, the turn on the muscles pulling at the wound. Of course, once I really began to look at it, that's when it starts to really hurt. Can see what he means though, awfully clean for an animal bite.
It throbs, but I rotate it anyway so the muscles don't lock up, wincing as pain shoots through my whole arm. Faline begins to wrap my shoulder up in gauze and tape. I feel ridiculous.
Least it's not my dominant arm though, I guess. Breathing through the pain, I look at Tristan. He looks worried but determined. Smiling to show him I'm okay, he shakes his head at me and takes a seat.
Poor thing should be used to my antics by now. I watch my sibling as she finishes, my arm looking like a bad movie mummy. Gauze wrapped down under my arm, I look at it, a bit confused, wondering why she didn't just put a patch bandage over it.
"Thanks, Chicky."
She nods happily, proud of her work as she throws away the empty gauze boxes. I just shake my head and smile. Slowly getting up to get a drink from the fridge, the left side of my back twinges a bit, but not too much.
"Want something to drink, Tristan?"
"Sure, what you got?"
"Uh, apple juice, water, some milk, orange juice... Oh, and some flavored Bacardi. Yummeh."
"I'll take a Bacardi."
I pour myself a glass of juice, then hand him his drink while Faline wanders around the kitchen. She's patched me up many times before from other random things, so I don't think she's that worried. Turning to me, she proves me wrong.
"What did this dog look like?"
"Huge, black, mixed breed."
Tristan replies before I can, but I don't mind. I salute him with my glass.
"He didn't have a collar or tags either. He was really calm till Dopey here spooked the poor thing."
I grin at him good-naturedly, letting him know with a genuine smile that I don't blame him for it happening. Shit happens.
"I think I saw the dog you're talking about earlier, he was running towards town."
My head snaps towards her, my shoulder protesting the movement with a shooting burn of liquid fire.
"Towards town is the opposite way I went, which means you saw him after I was bitten. Why were you outside?"
I can see she regrets speaking up and saying anything. Looking uncomfortable, she switches from one foot to the other. Eyes meet mine without flinching...too much.
"I didn't go outside. I just opened the door for the breeze, that's all."
I hold my tongue but scowl and show her with my eyes that I'm not thrilled. Yeah sure, I open the door at night, but I'm here to make sure nothing happens.
I look at Tristan, who's finding his Bacardi bottle very interesting. Smart man.
~
Later that night, after Faline goes to her room for bed, Tris and I are in the living room talking on the couch.
"So you'd wanted me to meet you to talk about Gabriella?"
Gabriella is his fiancé, or was, they just had a really bad break-up.
"Well, yeah. I can't very well talk to my brother-in-law, he's weird, and my sister is being a twat."
I laugh but nod as well. We talk for a couple more hours about this and that, and then he leaves. I offer him a ride home, but he declines, so I tell him not to spook any more of the wildlife.
After he leaves, painkillers become my friend, shoulder and arm feeling like someone's sticking me with hot railroad spikes. I go to my room knowing I probably won't be able to get any sleep, but I might be able to come up with some art projects to do with one arm. This oughta be fun.