Howl - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Something Fishy

They must have been staring at each other for a long time, because his eyes seemed to hypnotize her. Putting her in a trance that glued her feet to the ground. She wasn't quite sure why she wasn't already running for her life, but something was keeping her there, staring at this animal as he stared right back. Though she was one hundred percent sure this was a wild dog, there was something off about him. Something almost human behind his cerulean orbs, and it made her less afraid in his presence.

Setting her bag down on the snow so she didn't seem intimidating, Kayla took two, slow steps backward. The wolf watched her with curious eyes, but stayed as still as a statue.

"That's it," Kayla whispered. "Just stay there, boy. I don't want any trouble." Her heart was pounding a mile a minute, she didn't know if this animal would pounce or not.

She had never really given much thought as to how she would die, but getting eaten certainly never came to mind. She wondered how it would feel. Slow, painful most likely. Having to live through the agonizing feeling of having sharp teeth sink into and tear your flesh apart. Having to wait until your body went numb, and bled out, leaving you to stare into nothing as your vision faded to black. The thought was scary enough, and for a moment, she felt like crying. But there was no time for that.

In an instant, he was dashing in the opposite direction. He left Kayla there, blinking after him. Talk about near death experience. She watched him as his white figure disappeared behind the woodland trees. She had to take a moment before reaching down to pick up her bag. Slinging in over her shoulder, she let out a big sigh before starting down the pathway again. She didn't know what that was about, but she was glad to be alive.

Her eyes darted in every direction all the way home.

***

She came home feeling relieved, and not only did she absolutely revel in the warmth of her safe home, but she embraced it more than she ever did before. She was glad her family didn't notice how flustered she was, or the interrogation would never come to an end.

"Have you decided what you want for your birthday?" Asked Kayla's mother, as the family sat down for dinner. The question threw her off balance a little, since she was so caught up in her thoughts. She had forgotten all about her birthday, even if it was only three days away.

"An intelligent unicorn that'll write all my papers for English." She answered jokingly, trying to ease her nerves. "Or how about a spaceship to Jupiter?" Her mom rolled her eyes.

"Try something we can afford. Better yet, realistic." The brown haired woman picked up her fork to pop a ravioli into her mouth.

"I don't know," Kayla said. "Maybe a self defense weapon." She didn't know how she was going to broach the wolf subject or if she even wanted to, since she was more than sure her mother would freak.

"Why that?" Asked her younger sister, Emily, speaking for the first time.

"Because," She had made up her mind, and decided that telling them the entertaining story wouldn't be the worst possible thing. She went through every detail: His eyes, his fur, how they had just stared at each other for an eternity, and then when he had just disappeared into the trees, like nothing had happened. Though, her tale was cut short when the startling sound of silverware clanking a plate echoed through the room. She looked to see her father peering at her mother over his glasses. He had this certain expression that matched the older woman's, a look that just screamed 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'

"Anne," He said her mother's name with such concern, it sounded almost like a warning.

"No," Said her mother, shaking her head. "No, it couldn't be."

"What other wolves do you know wandering around leaving people alive? Our daughter wouldn't be here if it were anything else."

"They only come if they're here, and they haven't been around for years. Besides, many animals leave humans alive, and wolf sightings are common down that trail."

"How can you be so naive?" The two adults continued to converse in a hushed tone. Some of it becoming too hard for Kayla to comprehend. Emily ceased the moment as a chance to whisper to her.

"What are they talking about?" She asked. Kayla gave her a look.

"I'm just as clueless as you are, Squirt." She used the nick name Emily oh, so hated. It originated from the times Kayla used to tease her for being under her height average. 4'9 was short for a thirteen year old.

"Well, I'm just asking, since I'm assuming it's about you." Kayla pondered on that, then turned back to her parents.

"Even if it isn't them," Her father was saying. "-she has to find out sooner or later."

"Find out what?" She finally spoke up. They both looked at her as if they forgot she was in the same room. It was silent for a long moment before it was broken with the sound of her mother's chair scraping the floor.

"Nothing," She answered simply, giving her husband a look. "Nothing at all." Her plate wasn't even empty, but still, she carried it along with her silverware and half drunken glass of lemonade to the kitchen. Kayla's eyes flicked from her mother, to her father, then back and forth again.

"Dad?" She asked, when no one seemed to answer her confusion. He stood up, ignoring her voice. "Dad." Her curiosity was rising.

"It's nothing, Kayla," He said, repeating mom's actions and collecting his plate. "Finish your dinner and get ready for bed. It's getting late." He turned to Emily. "You too, Em." And without another word, he disappeared into the kitchen with her mother.

"Shoulda known better than to ask for a spaceship," Emily snorted. Kayla ignored her and finished the rest of her food in the uncomfortable silence.

***

It was nearly 10 P.M, and Kayla's parents still hadn't come up for bed. She found her parent's behavior to be strange. Although they had always been rather secretive about some things, nothing this weird had ever happened, and Kayla wondered if something bad was coming their way.

After laying in bed for forty, long, boring minutes of staring at her sky blue painted ceiling, she decided to get up to grab a water bottle from the refrigerator. Making her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, she noticed her parents in the living room, talking in the same hushed tone as they did at dinner. Grabbing her water bottle and slowly closing the fridge, she leaned against the dining room wall and listened in on what they were saying.

"I don't see what's wrong with her knowing," Her dad's voice was heard. "It's not like there's a law against it. And she'd be safer, she'd be alert."

"She's sixteen," Her mom said. "She needs to focus on being normal and having a normal life. We don't need to be troubling her with this."

"Normal?" Her dad nearly laughed. "She's not normal, Anne. None of us are, and we need to stop pretending to be people we're not." Kayla bit her lip to send away the tears that were forming.

"You fail to remember that this comes from your side of the family. You brought this on us, and you promised me when Kayla was little that we'd keep this under control. That we'd hide away her... Gift and never speak of it again. Are you trying to expose our daughter, Michael? Is that what you want?" Anne sounded on the verge of crying, just like Kayla was. Michael sighed.

"No," He answered. "I'm just as mindset to keeping her power a secret as you are. It's written in the book, they come under the influence of invasion, and she needs to know. That's my point."

"And she will. But let her finish school at least, let her birthday pass. Give it time. She's got enough on her plate. She's a poor, lonely girl who..." Anne trailed off, beginning to cry. Kayla leaned her head on the wall and closed her eyes in pain. She knew her mother was right, but hearing it out loud made her feel awful. "As if telling her now will make her feel any less abnormal than she already feels dealing with this power. Give her a break."

"Fine," Michael said, just a tad too loud. He lowered his voice a bit. "Fine. But even if we don't tell her, and that encounter she had was who we thought it was, they'll tell her all on their own. You can't keep her from this forever." Kayla crept back up the stairs, not wanting to hear anymore.

There are no words that could describe her confusion, and no one seemed to be giving her any answers any time soon, so she did what she only did in times of desperation.

She went to Emily.

***

Kayla tapped two soft knocks onto her sisters bedroom door. At first, there was no response, so she slowly opened it, an eerie creaking sound could be heard. It was dark in the room, and she saw the outline of a figure on the bed under the covers, though the body's breathing was uneven. To this, Kayla closed the door behind her and flicked on the light.

"You can stop pretending, Squirt," She said. "It's only me."

"Who said I was pretending?" Said the brunette as she slowly sat herself up in bed.

"Please, me and you both know that you don't go to sleep at nine." Kayla crossed her arms and smirked at her. Emily rolled her eyes.

"What do you want?" She asked, clearly annoyed by the intrusion. Kayla sighed as she saw down at the edge of her pink, floral bed.

"Your help." She admitted. Emily's eyes widened.

"Oh God, what did you do?"

"Nothing," Kayla laughed a little. "I hope. Look, have mom and dad been saying anything... Weird about me lately?"

"What do you mean 'weird'?" Em's eyebrow was raised as she gave Kayla a questioning look.

"I don't know. Anything that sounds off. It doesn't necessarily have to be about me, maybe something else they've been acting strange about?" Emily thought for a moment, and when she didn't speak, Kayla continued. "Do you think they'd ever lie to us about something? I mean, they say trust and honesty is the most important thing in a family but... They've been pretty secretive themselves lately." Emily nodded.

"I think I know what you mean," She said. "But it must be something really important if it's worth lying about." Kayla grabbed a nearby stuffed animal, a bunny rabbit with a bow tie, and fiddled around with it's floppy ears.

"They've been having these odd conversations about me. They keep mentioning 'them', but who is 'them'? And they're always disappearing at the most random times."

"You know," Emily piped up. "Now that you mention it, they have been going down to the basement a lot. I saw dad taking a real old looking book with him down there and when I asked him what it was, he said I wasn't allowed to touch it. I figured it was just some valuable scrapbook or something, but the way he said it made it seem way more suspicious."

"An old looking book, huh?" Kayla furrowed her brows together, thinking back to her father's words earlier.

"It's written in the book, they come under the influence of invasion".

"What'd it look like?" Emily closed her eyes.

"Um... It was big. Kinda like a story book. It was brown and had a leather cover. That's all I remember." Kayla nodded briskly.

"Got it. Thanks, Em." She stood up only to be stopped by Emily.

"Kayla? Are you in trouble?" Kayla tilted her head to the side.

"Why would I be in trouble?"

"I don't know," She shrugged, twirling her dark hair between her fingers. "It just feels like something bad is going to happen. Does it have something to do with your powers?"

Kayla stared at her sister, her lips slightly parted. As much as she wanted to agree with that feeling, the last thing she wanted to do was scare Emily. "Nothing bad is going to happen, Squirt." Emily still looked uneasy, but she nodded and let Kayla leave the room.

Kayla couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her usually mature sister act so... Vulnerable. In those last few sentences, she sensed a hint of worry and concern in her voice. It was odd, even for Emily.

She took a deep breath before starting back to her own room. She undressed and laid down in bed, happy to be warm under the covers. There were footsteps coming up the stairs which she immediately knew belonged to her parents. She considered getting up to tell them good night but decided against it, as she was sure she'd only be walking in on more whispering. They acted like gossiping teenager.

Just then, her door creaked open to which she quickly shut her eyes, acting much like Emily and pretending to be asleep.

"Good night, Kayla." Whispered her mother. Kayla wasn't sure if she knew she was faking or not, as Anne only closed the door softly and walked away. Kayla reopened her eyes and let out a sigh.

She had promised herself to never think of this again, but right now, she wanted more than anything to be normal.