#Chapter4
I take two melatonin gummies before climbing into bed. As usual, it takes a few hours for me to fall asleep, but once I am, I'm suddenly awake again.
Stumbling, I grab at a near tree and stabilize myself. My vision is a little blurry, but it's night again, and I can assume what's coming. Not wanting to face the dark thing, I turn and hurry toward what must be salvation. An owl coos above me, and crickets sing below me, and the distant sound of pounding steps grows from behind. Roots pull up from the ground and tangle around my ankles. I yank my feet free and tread on. When I grab onto trees, the bark sticks to my hands. Dirt is like glue caked on my feet. The air weighs down on me. The pounding steps are louder, closer, just behind me. I fall to the ground and cry out in frustration. Everything is holding me down. Everything is on its side.
Its breathing sounds in my ear. Restless, I try to jerk my limbs free and heave forward, but I'm not strong enough. Just when I expect its teeth to dig into my neck, a hand touches my back.
I wake suddenly, feeling the thing's touch lingering on my skin. It was a human hand. Someone touched me.
Grandma takes one look at me in the morning and shakes her head. /"You still look tired, dear./"
/"I think the melatonin helped a little. Maybe I just have to get used to sleeping here./"
She gives me an extra pancake, but I can't eat it. I feel sick.
At school, Vivian asks me to sit with them at lunch again. When the time comes around, I go back and forth in my mind, but ultimately decide to be nice to Vivian. Unlike last time, there's another person there.
I walk up to the table and Vivian turns right away. /"Wrenley! Sit, sit./"
I settle down and give everyone a small smile—not wanting to look too ambitious. The stranger, a girl with black hair, looks to Vivian then Eli then Elara. /"You've got to be kidding me,/" she says, clearly upset.
/"Don't look at us,/" Eli says.
Vivian matches the girl's stare and mouths something I can't make out. /"Wrenley, this is Imogen./"
/"Hi,/" I say.
Imogen rolls her eyes and leaves the table. Feeling the anxiety swallow me whole, I turn to Vivian. /"Don't worry about her,/" she says. /"She's just in a bad mood. Oh, you know what, you should come with us after school. We're going to the private school just up the way to meet some other people—/"
/"No, Viv,/" Eli interrupts. /"You're going too far. I'm sorry, Wrenley, you seem like a nice girl, but Viv is over-stepping a boundary./"
/"It's fine, really,/" I say before Vivian starts an argument. /"I'm actually going somewhere with my mom./"
My walk home feels longer today. My feet drag along the sidewalk as my body reaches a new level of exhaustion. I can't help but try to take a nap when I get back, but my mind won't shut off. At this point it's torture. I can't sleep, and when I do, I'm tormented with nightmares. My body can't take it anymore.
I lied. I have no plans with my Mom, and I can't help but wonder what Vivian's plans were. They know people that go to the private school, the school with the wolf crest. I'm sure they were meeting up and going somewhere together. Eli said she was crossing a boundary by inviting me—I wonder what boundary that is. Everyone here is much different than the people back home. Teens my age only cared about their looks and the opposite gender and social media, while teens here are wrapped up in other things, it seems. I shouldn't care what they're doing without me, but I'm no perfect person.
Night time comes again and I can't bare it. I double my dose of melatonin and take a nice bath before bed. Grandma sprays a lavender mist in my room after telling me that it helps her sleep. My mom gets me a glass of water and even tucks me in. /"Just don't think about it, Wren. Don't think about anything, okay?/" She says softly before shutting my light and leaving the door cracked open.
Don't think about anything? I didn't think my thoughts were the problem. The issue is my body—something is wrong with it.
After hours of restlessness, I spring from my bed and storm out the front door. My bare feet hate the cold ground but continue on toward the trees. The dark thing is in there. Maybe this is what it wants.
Rain sprinkles down as I step over tree roots and around rocks. The frigid air slips up my shirt and rubs its icy hands all over my skin. There's a cozy spot on the ground where moss has grown like a bed just for me. I lay down on it and shut my eyes—finally feeling at peace. As my body winds down and as my eyes are too heavy to open, someone lifts me up and carries me to dreamland. I grip at their warmth and bury myself in their essence.
I wake in my bed as the sun shines through the closed curtains. I stretch out like a cat and roll over. My alarm is set to ring in a few minutes. I slept through the night. Finally, I've slept—and my dream was hardly a nightmare at all.
When my Grandma sees me, she smiles.