The Intruder

Chapter 2

Despite struggling to fall asleep due to my efforts to make any sense out of Zach’s visit, the next morning I woke up feeling relatively well-rested. I dressed up as I usually did - a pair of jeans, a shirt that I ironed the night before and sneakers.

I took my backpack and went downstairs to the kitchen.

‘Good morning, birthday girl!’ I got greeted by my dad, who handed me a plate with fluffy pancakes.

‘Happy birthday, Emily!’ My mom followed.

I gasped, put the plate on the table and gave my parents a hug.

‘Good morning, thanks’ I said as I sat down to eat. ‘They look incredible’ I stated honestly and soon discovered they tasted even better.

‘Enjoy’ my dad chuckled. 

‘Big day today’ my mom started awkwardly. ‘Noticed anything unusual?’

I looked at my mom and noticed her exchanging uncomfortable stares with my dad. It was as if my dad was disapproving of her question.

‘No’ I responded uncertainly. ‘Like what?’

My dad cleared his throat and took over:

‘There’s some jam and maple syrup in the fridge. Want me to hand it to you?’

I shook my head.

‘They’re sweet enough, thank you.’

‘Emily.’ My mom brought the attention back to her. ‘Do you have any plans for today?’

I could see my dad getting tense. They were behaving weirdly and I decided to address it.

‘Is everything okay?’ I asked as I put the fork away.

‘Yes, honey.’ my mom smiled. ‘Are you done? Let me take the plate away from you.’

She took my plate and went to the sink to wash it. I appreciated the kind gesture but it left me in shock as I could not recall her ever helping me clean the dishes, especially during the morning rush.

My dad sat down next to me.

‘I think mom is having a stressful time at work’ he said, smiling slightly. ‘Are you gonna come back home right after school? I can get out of work a bit earlier and we could play video games like we used to.’

I was touched when he said it. My parents had less and less time for me. We only saw each other briefly in the mornings and evenings and not even all of them. That’s why I badly wanted to say yes but I was desperate to know who Zach was and why he appeared in my room.

‘I can’t, dad…’ I sighed sadly. ‘I would love to but I made plans with Angela.’

Angela was my old friend from primary school. We were close but during middle school we drifted away from each other and then she left without telling me anything. I still said I was meeting up with her whenever I wanted to visit the old library my parents didn’t want me to go to. They said they did not like the people working there. I was little when they forbade me from going there and I promised I wouldn’t. Now that I already had a perfect cover I felt no need to confront them. Angela used to live nearby so my parents dropped me off there sometimes. I also didn’t want them to see my car nearby. In short - Angela might have left without saying goodbye but our old friendship continued to serve me.

‘Ah, that’s a shame...’ My dad said but he seemed relieved. He looked at his watch. ‘You better get going. Birthday is no excuse for being late!’

I chuckled, said goodbye to my parents and left for school.

Getting through my classes was a real challenge. I tried convincing myself that this whole Zach thing was a dream. It didn’t work so I tried to tell myself he wouldn’t come. Because he couldn’t have known what time my lessons finished or what school I went to? It almost worked but as the end of the day was getting closer, I started feeling something similar to what I felt the day before. I knew he would come and I was excited to see him.

With the last ring I left the building and what I saw made me tremble in fear.

There was a group of girls around what I assumed was my car. I could not see it through the thick crowd but that was where I parked it. 

As my fear calmed down I braced myself to get inside my car. Getting through that group of girls was a struggle but I managed to open the driver’s door and slip inside without any girls getting in. However, someone was in there.

‘Hi’ Zach said quietly, emerging from the backseat, followed by ear-piercing screams from outside the car.

‘What is going on?’ I shouted out of frustration and also I wanted to be audible.

‘Just drive’. Zach ordered, making me look at him in shock.

‘I’m gonna run these girls over.’ I protested. ‘Yesterday I almost did it to someone but if I start the car now it will happen for sure…’

As I finished my sentence, I noticed Zach releasing my car’s hand brake and telling me to go for it.

I didn’t normally have sadistic thoughts like this but these girls really pissed me off with these screams. That’s why I did not see a problem with moving the car.

It happened with no casualties though as the engine’s sound brought some senses back to them and they jumped away.

‘So’ Zach started while moving to the passenger’s seat. ‘Happy birthday!’ He smiled widely, showing his perfect teeth off.

‘Thank you’ I responded happily but then realization hit me. ‘How do you know?’

‘Um, have you not noticed there’s a lot of things I know about you already?’ Zach laughed and put the music on. ‘Turn left now.’ He directed me.

I turned left and sighed. I could not stand knowing I could trust him and not understanding why. I hoped soon I would get all the answers I was looking for.

‘How has your day been so far?’ Zach asked. ‘Go straight on the next one.’

‘It was okay’ I responded. ‘These girls were a big surprise though. What was that about?’

Zach chuckled and looked out of the window proudly.

‘I was just messing with you.’ He confessed, making no sense again.

‘Please elaborate?’ I demanded.

‘Turn right now. We’re almost there’ Zach looked at me caringly. ‘I’ll tell you everything once we stop, I don’t know if you’ll remain stable after hearing this.' He stayed quiet for a while and looked around, 'We’re here!’

I kept driving as we were on a path in the forest and I could not see any potential destination around.

‘Seriously, you can stop now.’ Zach said. 'I just wanted to drive somewhere far with no one nearby.'

‘Okay, tell me what’s going on’ I stopped the car and faced him.

Zach cleared his throat, took my keys away from me and made sure my seatbelt was secured.

‘Don’t freak out.’ He pleaded and took a deep breath. ‘I might not be the greatest person to deliver anyone any big life-changing news but you gotta deal with it‘ he chuckled and put his sight down.

I nodded my head, encouraging him to start. 

He turnt serious and looked at me.

‘I am a werewolf,’ he said and breathed in again. ‘I knew about you for quite a bit of time. We weren’t sure if you were human or a werewolf but when I met you yesterday I got my answer.’

‘Wait’ I stopped him, feeling confused. I could sense he was not lying but I felt overwhelmed. Meeting a werewolf was incredible. They were not coming out to light as people feared them and killed those they found out about. It amazed me that a werewolf knew so much about me. ‘Who is ‘we’? How did you know about me?’

‘Your father is a werewolf’ He said, making me gasp. ‘Your mother is human so I assume they thought you would turn human and kept your father’s identity secret from you. Your father used to belong to the pack I am part of but he met your mother and left as we did not allow intimate interactions with humans.’

‘That is actually sweet.’ I confessed getting invested in what he was saying as more of a story than my life’s secrets.

‘Sure, whatever you say, but things got bad.’ Zach swallowed some saliva accumulated in his mouth and carried on: ‘You cannot just leave the pack. And mating with humans is breaking the rules. Normally rebellious werewolves have it tough outside, they get their identity discovered by humans and are killed by them or decide to go back to the pack. Your father, however, seemed to fit in just fine and carried on with his life among humans.’

‘From what you are saying, it must have been tough. I knew he was amazing but this is unbelievable!’ I squeaked. 

‘Woah, hold up.’ Zach calmed my excitement down. ‘His path to this is nothing to be proud of.’ He put his hair back with his hand and exhaled loudly. ‘He is an engineer, right?’

I nodded.

‘Well he created a security system that is tracking down werewolves. It is not that bad, partially because it is still in development but also because he doesn’t want to start a war just yet.’

I was watching Zach with my eyes wide open. 

‘That is insane. I cannot believe I knew nothing about it.’ I sighed.

‘He is gathering allies though. Some of them know he is a werewolf. They want to exterminate us.’ Zach’s voice broke down slightly.

‘No, my dad is not like this. Why would he do that?’ I could not believe that this story really was about my father.

‘I have no clue what is causing him to do it.’ Zach said. ‘ Maybe he is scared of having his identity discovered and wants to prove himself human.’

‘Seems a bit extreme to me.’ I sighed and looked out of the window. ‘Why did you come to me though?’ I asked, turning back to Zach.

He smiled and looked down.

‘We need help.’ He confessed. ‘My pack wants to start a war with your dad and his allies. It is careless and we have no idea how to do it without revealing ourselves. My brother and I found out about you and decided to ask if you could be our spy.’

I slightly chuckled after hearing about that idea.

‘I barely talk to my parents, I didn’t even know about any of this!’ I exclaimed. ‘I would not be helpful at all.’

There was a moment of silence between us.

‘You cannot go back to your parents now.’ Zach spoke up. ‘It’s too dangerous, I don’t know what they were planning on doing with you after today.’

‘Zach…’ I interrupted him. ‘Everything seems to be a mess to me right now but they are my parents. I would like to at least ask them why they were hiding these things from me. We used to be close, I know they love me.’

‘Emily, you are a werewolf.’ Zach argued to which I furrowed my eyebrows.

‘How are you so sure?’ i asked.

He looked up and clenched his jaw.

‘You will find out soon enough. And you will see that you’re a wolf by yourself tonight.’ Zach held my hand and looked me deep in the eyes. ‘You are gonna be incredibly difficult to hide as an inexperienced wolf at your house. Trust me in this. You will be safe in my pack.’

I hated myself for trusting him so much. I didn’t want to leave my parents without saying anything. I released my hands from Zach’s grasp and took my phone. I dialed my mom’s number.

‘Mom?’ I asked once I heard her voice on the phone. ‘I will be staying at Angela’s tonight. My battery is low, so I gotta go. See you!’

I could hear her protesting but I hung up quickly and turned my phone off.

I turned to Zach and gave him a sad smile. He punched me gently in the arm and undid his seatbelt.

‘Want me to drive?’ He asked kindly, I nodded and we quietly swapped seats.