Caitlyn opened the tap of the bathtub and ran her hands through the water . She began to remove her clothings and threw the clothes on the floor and rested her head on the tub. She picked up her bar soap and rubbed it on her body. The bathroom was soon filled with the scent of the soap. Caitlyn was done bathing, she stood and wrapped a towel round her body. She walked into her bedroom and put on her pajamas. Caitlyn picked up her phone and sat at her working desk. She opened the document that Carter sent to her and began to read through. She brought out a jotter and picked a pen out of the collections of pen she had.
She was so engrossed in sorting out the information provided in the document that she forgot she had only took breakfast. The door of her room was knocked on, thereby making her stop what she was doing abruptly. She stood to open the door and met Richard with a box of vegan pizza.
"I didn't want to disturb you, that's why I didn't come here to get you out for lunch. I have made dinner for the kids also, the food I left for you was eaten by Henry. So I decided to order something for you. If you don't want pizza, I can get another thing. There's wine or you can tell me what you want to take with the pizza," Richard said and continued to gesture with his left hand while avoiding his wife's eyes. Caitlyn knew that he was trying to apologize, but she wasn't in the mood to talk to him.
"Thank you for the pizza," She said and collected the box. Richard stopped her from closing the door.
"Caitlyn, I am so sorry for what happened earlier," He said and held her hand. Caitlyn dragged her hands away from him and forcefully locked the door. She walked to her working desk and sat. She opened the pizza box and began to eat. Her stomach grumbled and at that point she realized she was starving. It didn't take long before she finished the pizza pieces. She stood and went out of her room to dispose of the pizza box. She took a bottle of water from the fridge and went to her room. Her kids were watching TV and didn't pay attention to her, which was what she wanted.
She knew that if they saw her, they would start talking about the incident that happened in the morning. And at that point, she didn't want to talk about Ashley or her fiancé. Caitlyn locked the door again and resumed studying the document.
"I wonder if Jasmine already had a fight with Doctor Ochoa. Maybe that's the main reason the man doesn't want her on his team, cause this is ridiculous," Caitlyn soliloquized. At that point, her phone rang out. It was Khloe, she knew her friend was trying to apologize for what she did the previous day. Caitlyn didn't pick the call, she switched off her phone and sighed.
Caitlyn was done with checking the case details and was already flipping through her social media pages. That was one of her hobbies, and she spent most of her free time liking pictures. Caitlyn stopped pressing her phone and stood from her working desk. She walked to the sitting room, her kids were no longer there. Caitlyn walked to the window, the window she walked to the previous night when she saw the glowing eyes. She stood at the window and wrapped her hands around her neck tightly while she stared at the street.
"Where the hell are you?" Caitlyn murmured and moved closer to the window. She pressed her face on the window and stared at the street. She waited for a long time and didn't see glowing eyes. She eventually walked away from the window. Caitlyn ran her hands through her hair in frustration. She walked into her room and fell on her bed.
Caitlyn woke up the following day to the noise of her kids. The morning light was filtering into her room through the curtains. She forgot to set up her alarm and knew she had woken up late. Caitlyn walked out of her room and saw that the breakfast was already made. She found her daughter's friends in the kitchen.
"Hey Jordyn, how have you been? Hello Ava, it's been awhile," Caitlyn said and poured jam on her toasted bread. Jordyn was her daughter's best friend, whom she knew very well and saw regularly. Ava on the other hand, was Sheila's other friend and Caitlyn didn't see her often. Sheila, Jordyn and Ava were in a hip hop dance group, that's what brought them together as friends.
"Hello Mrs Heinsburg, I've been good tho. I hope you're good too?" Ava asked and smiled.
"Well, I'm good too. Trying not to break into pieces. Is that a tattoo on your hand?" Caitlyn asked and stared at Jordyn's hand, she licked the corner of her mouth to wipe off the jam on it.
"That's right. It's to commiserate my induction into adulthood. Being 18 is a big deal and I had to do something big too," Jordyn said and laughed. Her face gleamed with pride and Caitlyn knew that the young teenager was proud of the tattoo. She drew nearer to her to study the tattoo and the picture she saw fascinated her.
"A wolf?" Caitlyn asked just to be sure of what she saw.
"Yes, it's a wolf. I've always being a fan of werewolf stories so I thought getting a wolf tattoo is cool. Did you see the colour the tattoo artist used for the eyes? That's scary glowing eyes, my next tat will be something not so freighting like a flower? What do you think Mrs Heinsburg?" Jordyn asked.
"Why do people think flowers aren't scary? I think what you just said shows how narrow minded you are. We have rafflesia, spider orchids, octopus stinkhorn, snapdragons, Darth Vader flower," Ava said but Jordyn interrupted.
"Nobody cares about those flowers you just mentioned, give me a break Ava. Generally, flowers aren't scary. Would you run away from a flower with a funny look or a wolf with glowing eyes?" Jordyn asked and rolled her eyes.
"Ava has a point though. Some flowers are scary and ugly. Also, not all that glitters is gold, not all good looking flowers are good ," Sheila said.
"Damn! Y'all are too serious, just drop it already. What do you think about me getting a flower tattoo, Mrs Heinsburg?" Jordyn asked and looked at Caitlyn who was already too shocked to talk.
"Mum, mum,mum!" Sheila screamed. Caitlyn snapped out of her thoughts and blinked.
"Did you just say werewolf? Is your tattoo a werewolf? All werewolves have glowing eyes?" Caitlyn asked hurriedly.
"Well, that's not what I meant. Not all werewolves are with glowing eyes," Jordyn said and frowned. The girls stared at Caitlyn's huge eyes and knew something was wrong.
"If you see a werewolf, can you recognize it?" Caitlyn asked and hurriedly walked to the wine rack. She poured out some vodka into a mug and gulped it.
"I have watched enough movies and read enough books to know the characteristics of a werewolf. But all these are just fictions, I mean werewolves are not real. Same as vampires and witches," Jordyn explained while Caitlyn drank more from the mug.
"They are not real?" Caitlyn asked.
"C'mon mum, this is embarrassing. Do you actually believe that werewolves are real? They are pure fictions," Sheila said and the other girls giggled. Sheila knew that her friends were going to bring that up later to tease her. Caitlyn was too occupied with her thoughts to respond, she left the kitchen with the mug of vodka and a plate of toasted bread.
"Your mother's really obsessed with my tat, got her mind rolling," Jordyn said and giggled.
"Is she okay tho?" Ava asked and frowned.
"She looked really upset and should I say scared? I can't really say what emotion was running through her, but something's up," Ava insisted.
"Ava's always been too serious. She was just asking about the tattoo, that's all," Jordyn responded.
"Which college have you decided to pick?" Sheila asked Ava. She wanted to change the subject of conversation and it worked. The girls were soon talking about school, boyfriends and other things teenage girls were interested in. Sheila's friend soon left the house and Sheila hurried to her mother's room. She opened the door and saw her mother working on her laptop.
"Are you okay?" Sheila asked while still standing at the door. Caitlyn stopped what she was doing to look at her daughter.
"Of course, I am," Caitlyn said. She knew her child was talking about how she reacted to the wolf talk.
"Hmmm, Okay. Dad said I should inform you he's going to get back home on Thursday. He left this morning before you woke up," Sheila said and left the room.
"Maybe she's just curious about the tattoo," Sheila said to herself as she walked towards her room.
Caitlyn got to work the following day which was Monday and tried to put her marital affairs behind her mind. Richard had gone on another work trip and was coming home on Thursday. He didn't bother to tell her and hadn't called her. Though he told his daughter, Caitlyn was pissed off.
"The meeting starts at 11am. Are you ready?" Carter asked Caitlyn. Caitlyn was sorting out the medical cases she had that day when Carter entered her office.
"Yes I am. Good morning Carter," She said and continued to look at her computer screen.