Chapter 3 - The Wolf

Verity

~

It's been two weeks since I've seen a clear sky, summer seemed to end too quickly and the hot days have been sorely missed lately. I live alone and none of my family members live around here so I know absolutely no one.

I have only one friend, I don't go anywhere to make friends and absolutely hate making work friends, I only work three nights a week anyway, I work for my father's company. I'm' actually trying to start my own company and hope to have it established within a few years.

I'm a clothing designer hoping to make it one day.

I have amazing ideas, sketches and have been working with my own materials I make from everyday worn clothing, my sisters have said that I do amazing work and I personally am in love with my talent, I love doing what I do.

I am walking alongside my single cabin in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, the full moon hung high in the sky casting a bright light throughout my white snowy yard.

I see my neighbor from a few acres across the field beside my cabin bouncing up the long curvy driveway I had.

"Verity!" She screams as she runs almost tripping over her feet in the process.

"Veri-" Kelly stumbles but picks herself back up wearing that same terrified expression I've seen so many times.

"Verity, you have to hear this!" Kelly screeches as she comes flying towards me and pauses once she does to take a gasp of air.

"What is it, Kelly?" I ask.

I walk away and back to my cabin already knowing Kelly would be following me, "Well. There was a wolf pack attack." Kelly says as her voice raises an octave.

"Oh really?" I mock gasp and chuckle lightly when I feel Kellys receiving slap on my arm.

"I'm serious Verity! A wolf clan battled right outside Lockincester. It was on the news earlier, if you watched the news you'd already know about it like me." Kelly says as she rushes after me.

"Kelly, you know I don't watch the news. Door!" I say behind my shoulder as I already know Kelly has forgotten to close the door behind her because of her talking to me.

"Right, yes of course." Kelly says and she whirls around to shut and lock the glass sliding door, "So, anyway they're calling in a special team of military soldiers to exterminate them before the fight can reach town." Kelly says as she stands idly in my kitchen.

"Seriously? All that for a 'tribe' war!" I exclaim only half-listening.

Kelly is my overly paranoid almost in a schizophrenic way. I don't know if she has it, but I know she is either a firm believer in conspiracy theories or she really is schizophrenic. I go through this every day whenever I want to go outside, Kelly is always by my house or near me whenever I come outside.

I never really got bothered by it and instead always tried to shake it off, however I could not shake off the eerie feeling this time. I don't know if it was the wolf fight she was talking about, or just her being here in general, but something doesn't feel right.

"Not a tribe war, a pack war. Wolves have clans they fit into; packs. They're not regular wolves Verity. They're werewolves." Kelly claims and her sentence has me spluttering laughter out of my mouth and doubling over.

"Werewolves?" I laugh out but sudden migraine pains thud at my temples and my insides turn in on themselves.

"Yes, werewol-"

"Kelly, go home. I'm tired and don't need your stupid nonsense right now." I groaned out rubbing my head.

"What?" Kelly asks in such a tiny voice, my eyes instantly spring open and I regret immediately what I said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it Kelly. I have a really bad hea-"

"No no. It's fine. I'll take my stupid nonsense to someone who cares." Kelly says as her eyes welled up with tears and before I could say a word she had spun around and left the same way she came in, leaving my door swinging wide open on the way out.

I sighed heavily and went to close my door, but my phone rang and noticed it was my boss, and not my father. My father owns the company, he is not the person who manages it. I stepped out of my cabin and closed my door, answered the phone call and walked swiftly to the only area I can get cell reception.

I walk just about to the tree line separating the powerline and noticed I gained two bars, I stop walking and answer the call shivering from the instant cold.

"Hi George!" I say brightly.

"Hi Verity, I was just calling to inform you I'm letting everyone take the week off" George says.

I pump the air in celebration.

"Are you sure George?" I ask out, even though it's obviously already done.

"Yeah, I'm not letting everyone drive in this weather, no one knows when it's going to stop. It's way too dangerous out there." George says.

"Yeah. It's going to be a bad one. Alright, goodby-" I heard a twig snap behind me which made me go silent and my eyes go wide.

I whirl around so fast I almost give myself whiplash as I try to see what made the noise, but the answer comes in a long whine that ends in a painful short howl and a thud of something hitting the ground.

I walk forwards and finally see a body. A body of a big almost car-sized light grey wolf. It stares at me for a split second before closing its eyes and breathing heavily. I seemed drawn to it somehow. I wanted to run my fingers through its fur, to run my hand over its smooth fur on the top of its head.

Dark brown eyes met my own mere seconds ago and I could have sworn something was familiar within the golden orange flecks in his eyes. Warmth spread across my entire body and something tugged inside my chest, though I didn't know what.

I look around to see what was wrong with it and I didn't have to look long, as blood seeps out from the wolf's body, I didn't see the extent of the damage because it is cloaked in shadow so I did the only thing I knew to do.

I grabbed a hold of the wolf's neck and drag it across my yard, getting it up my steps was a piece of cake, compared to getting the body up and into my doorway. I tried over and over to heave it through my door, and at the last attempt, it shot through my door.

Upon the impact of it on my hardwood floor, it whimpered in its sleep and shuddered but didn't make any other movement. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and dragged it successfully on my rug and got towels and fabric to stitch up the wounds.

The damaged skin hung down around one of its hind legs and some ribs looked caved in, my heart wrenched into a tiny ball inside my chest and I felt my arms start to shake.

'This must be one of the pack wolves that got into the fight.' I think to myself bandaging up the wounded animal.