The Werewolf Chronicles: Shadow of the Moon

   Jesse stared up at the ceiling, counting the number of dots as he usually did in Mr. Ashbury's math class. Math came easy to him. He had never failed a test or gotten below an A-. He passively twirled his pencil, tuning out everything around him.      He was normally able to count close to 37 dots. For some reason, he had always lost count soon after. His brown eyes narrowed in frustration. He started over for the tenth time after losing count at 41, not sure which dot he had left off on. The eleventh time proved to be less fruitful, counting up to 33 before sighing and giving up.      He turned his attention down to his notebook, where he started to passively draw random doodles on the page. He allowed himself to think freely about what he was drawing. His hair pushed down and blocked his vision slightly. Pushing it away, he continued his drawing. Soon enough, a rather crude drawing of a dog was finished. He stared at his creation. Shaking his head, disappointed. Ripping the paper out of the notebook, he crumpled the paper and shoved it into his pocket.     His teacher clearing his throat finally caught his attention. Looking up from his notebook, he saw a boy somewhere between 17 and 18,  standing next to the teacher. The boy had sandy blond hair with deep, emerald green eyes. His skin tone was light. He was very lean, yet his body was extremely in shape. Jesse wouldn't have been surprised if that boy didn't have a single ounce of fat to speak of.      "Alright Class, this is Trevor Harrison, a transfer student from out of state. Go ahead and introduce yourself Trevor." Mr. Ashbury said. Jesse stared at the boy, finding himself drawn to his eyes. Strangely enough, however, he found that Trevor was staring directly at him. After a few moments, Trevor smiled.     "Hello. Nice to meet you all. As Mr. ...."     "Ashbury." the teacher finished. Trevor nodded.     "As Mr. Ashbury already said, my name is Trevor. I hope to get to know everyone and we can all get along splendidly. I can't wait to get to know all of you." as he said in the last sentence, Jesse noticed that Trevor was staring at him as he said it.      "Very well. Go ahead and take a seat. Are there any takers on who gets to show Mr. Harrison around?" Mr. Ashbury questioned, looking out at the thirty or so students. Almost immediately, every girl in the room raised their hand. Everyone else giggled quietly. Jesse looked at his teacher, pleading with his eyes to not choose him. Mr. Ashbury shook his head. He scanned the room, looking at everyone raising their hands. When he caught sight of Jesse, a devilish grin crept up on his face. Jesse sighed quietly in defeat. "Mr. Octavia, perfect. you're his new guide for the week." the teacher stated     Jesse's ears turned red in embarrassment. He looked down, feeling all the girls eyes on him. They grumbled, as they threw silent glares and quiet insults his way. He heard footsteps heading towards him. As he mustered the courage to look up, he saw Trevor standing in front of him, smiling.     "You don't mind if I sit next to you, do you Mr. Octavia?" he asked formally. His voice was calm but there also seemed to be something wild behind it, a hint of aggression behind the nice person façade. Jesse was once again pulled in by the boy's eyes. They seemed to be looking past him, directly into his very soul.     "It’s Jesse…. Uh, yeah, I don't mind." Jesse said quietly. Nodding, Trevor turned and sat at the desk adjacent to his. He removed his backpack and pulled out a notebook and pencil. Jesse finally managed to look away. His face felt hot. He could still feel the eyes of other people on him.       He decided to count more holes in the ceiling.             Jesse showed the boy around the school grounds. He found out that they shared three classes together. Math, English and History. Jesse was thankful that they did not share P.E. Jesse told him about the curriculum at the school. Trevor did not seem to care about that as much. Instead what most interested him was Jesse himself.       Trevor asked him a lot about his personal life. He asked about his hobbies and his likes and dislikes. Jesse was honest with him. He told him about his love of video games, particularly RPG’s and RTS’s. He told him that his least favorite subject was math and his favorite was Mythology. Trevor seemed to take interest in that subject. Finally, he had someone to talk to about it. His best friend, Cindy, hated the class, calling him a loser every time he brought it up.       He wondered where she was, as he had not seen her all day. He decided to text her after school. Cell phones were not permitted to be used on school grounds. Jesse kept his own phone on vibrate, just in case his parents contacted him with an emergency.      As school let out, Jesse let out a sigh of relief. He walked off the school grounds. Trevor was a handful. By the end of the day, he was exhausted. Pulling the straps on his backpack tighter, he began to make the 6 mile walk to the hospital. He always reserved Tuesdays to go visit his younger sister, Amanda.      Amanda was about 13 when the accident happened. She was climbing on the jungle gym at her school when she slipped and fell, landing on her head and fracturing her skull. She had been in a coma for two years now, with no signs of waking up. While she no longer needed life support, her body was still comatose. Jesse was about 4 miles away when he heard the familiar voice of Andrew, one of the people that bullied him constantly.     "Hey look guys! It's Jesse the faggot." Andrew called out behind him. Jesse ignored him, increasing his pace. He heard footsteps rushing towards him. He reacted too late as he was shoved from behind. He slammed into the ground, his hands catching his fall for the most part. They were scraped up and bloody. As he attempted to stand up, a foot connected with his ribcage. He coughed as he rolled back over on the ground.     "Trying to run from us, huh fag? f*****g little bitch." another voice that Jesse did not recognize said. Another foot connected with his stomach as he was pulled up and his backpack ripped off of his back. He was kicked and scratched and punched as he attempted to defend himself, curling into a ball. Someone ripped the glasses off of his face. He heard the sickening crunch of them being stepped on.      "Hey, why don't you go bother someone else?!" Jesse heard over the kids taunting and assaulting him. He opened his eyes, but he could only see things in a blur.      "Why do you care, new kid. You a fag too?" one of the bullies called out.      "Doesn't matter if I am or not. What matters is what I'm about to do to you if you don't scram." Jesse recognized the voice. It was Trevor's. Had he been following him? The boys stopped hitting him and began to rush Trevor.     "Run." Jesse tried to say, but the words caught in his throat as he was assaulted by another fit of coughs. He opened one of his eyes enough to watch in shock as Trevor caught Andrew by surprise, grabbing him and shoving him into one of the other boys. He raised his fist and slammed it into one of the bullies jaws. He went out like a light. Trevor ducked underneath a wild swing from Andrew and slammed his knee into the boy's gut.      Andrew doubled over, coughing violently. From what Jesse could make out through his blurred vision, there were about five people trying to attack Trevor. But Trevor never took a single hit. He dodged and ducked, only retaliating after the boy's struck. Each hit sounded extremely painful. Eventually, the bullies grabbed their unconscious friend and hightailed it out of there. Trevor rubbed his hands together and looked at his knuckles.      Jesse eventually found what was left of his glasses, shattered on the pavement. Weakly, he made his way to his backpack, which was discarded unceremoniously a few feet away. He crawled over to it, each movement causing his ribs to cry out in pain. He opened the smallest zipper and grabbed his spare glasses, putting them on. He blinked a few times as his eyes readjusted. He looked up to see Trevor standing over him, hand outstretched. After a moment's hesitation, Jesse grabbed his hand and slowly got to his feat. His hand was surprisingly soft, which caught Jesse by surprise.      "Easy there, man. You took quite the beating." Trevor said. Jesse tried to laugh, but his ribs flared up in pain as a response. His laughing turned to coughing. Trevor opened his backpack and pulled out a small bottle. Opening it, he grabbed a small green pill. He took his water bottle off his backpack and handed both the pill and water to Jesse. "Take this, it should help with the pain." he told him.      Jesse was hesitant at first. But the pain was beginning to get to him. He took the pill and put it into his mouth. Opening the water bottle, he took a small drink. Relief suddenly poured into his limbs. Feeling much better, he handed the water bottle back to Trevor.     "Thanks for that. And for helping me, I suppose." Jesse said quietly. Trevor raised an eyebrow.      "You suppose, huh. I guess the next time you're about to be pummeled to death, I suppose I'll just stay out of it." Trevor replied, smiling. Jesse narrowed his eyes.      "So what do you want? What do I owe you for helping me?" Jesse questioned. Trevor looked taken aback.      "Nothing? I just don't like seeing people get bullied. Too much of that where I come from. When I moved here, I vowed that I would make a difference. Simple as that." Trevor explained. This only made Jesse more suspicious.      "You do know that I like guys right? You protecting me here is going to make everyone think you like guys as well." Jesse told him. Trevor shook his head disappointingly. He smiled again.     "That doesn't matter to me. As long as I am taking care of people, I could care less what they think. It shouldn't matter if someone likes guys, girls, or both. Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. That includes you." Trevor's demeanor had shifted to a more serious tone. His eyes seemed fixated on Jesse.      "Well, when you put it that way...." Jesse said, trailing off. Trevor picked up Jesse's backpack off of the ground, handing it to him.     "Where are you headed? I'll walk with you." Trevor offered. Jesse shook his head.      "It's personal. I am sorry. I'm grateful that you saved me, but I would rather head there on my own." Jesse looked up into those dark green eyes. He once again felt lost inside of them. Trevor nodded.      "Well at least let me have your number. That way, if those bullies bother you, I will come and take care of them." Trevor offered. Reluctantly, Jesse pulled his phone out of his pocket. Whether it was a stroke of luck or some other form of chance, his phone was unharmed in the beating. He switched it on, having kept it off during school hours.      They exchanged phone numbers and Trevor waved him goodbye. Jesse continued his journey to the hospital, moving at a near run. The whole ordeal had cost him an entire hour of visiting time. As he entered the hospital doors, the receptionist smiled at him.     "Hello Jesse, how are you today?" she said. He smiled back.      "I'm doing well Ms.-" he was cut off,     "How many times must I tell you? It's just Lena. Jesse looked away sheepishly.     "Sorry Lena. Has there been any changes?" he asked, already knowing the answer.     "There hasn't been, no. Her brain waves are still sitting at a solid six. We moved her to the RCU. It’s down the hallway on your left. Room 134. " she responded, her tone rather bleak. Jesse nodded and headed down the hallway, following Lena’s directions. As he entered the RCU, the Residential Care Unit, he noticed that the place was made to try and make people feel like this was a house. It was modeled with a makeshift living room, kitchen and bathroom. This is where the hospital housed patients that were in a comatose state or in an otherwise unmovable situation. Jesse smiled sadly, appreciating the effort put into making people feel like they were not stuck in a hospital. Jesse entered room 134, where his sister lay peacefully on the bed.      He pulled up the chair in the corner and sat down, holding his sister's hand. She was a small girl, no taller than 5'3. Her skin tone matched Jesse's almost identically. Her hair was a beautiful shade of red, like their mother's. It clashed with his own black hair, which he inherited from his father. She slept seemingly peacefully on the hospital bed, the covers pulled up to her neck, just how she used to like to sleep.      "Hey Amanda. It's Jesse, your older brother." Jesse started. The words caught in his throat, as he struggled to hold back his tears. "Not much new this time around. Mom and Dad are still arguing about stuff, like usual. They said they would come and check up on you on Saturday. I hope they will. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear their voices." he closed his eyes as tears rolled down his cheek involuntarily.      "Oh, there is something new that happened. I think I made a new friend. I use the term loosely though. I just met him. He's pretty cool though. A bit too cool for me, I would say." Jesse chuckled softly. Gently, he brushed strands of hair off of Amanda's face. He smiled sadly through tears.      Jesse talked for the next hour to his sister, telling her jokes and reading her a story that she enjoyed very much as a child. By now, tear streaks had embedded themselves in his face. Eventually, he stood up, kissing her forehead before heading out of the hospital. It was 6 P.M and he had an 8 mile walk to get home. Grabbing his headphones from his backpack, he jammed to rock music on the way home, enjoying the cool breeze.           Jesse unlocked his home and stepped through the front door. He could hear the T.V in the living room. His parents were watching some sort of home improvement show by the sound of it. At least they weren't arguing.     "Mom, Dad! I'm home!" Jesse called out as he headed into the kitchen.      "You're home later than usual, everything okay honey?" his mom responded.      "Yes ma'am, just took the long way home is all." Jesse lied. He hated lying to his parents, but he didn't want to worry them any more than they already were. He warmed up leftover lasagna, one of his favorite dishes and headed into the living room. A T.V tray was already set up for him. He sat down in between his parents and made small talk about his day.      After he finished dinner, he headed back to the kitchen and did the dishes. Afterwards, he took out the trash and headed upstairs. He sat down at his desk, which was bare except for his laptop, which he primarily used to write short stories when he was bored.     He worked on his homework, which luckily, wasn't much tonight. Once he finished all of it, he got up and went to the bathroom to shower. He checked over the locations of the purple bruises and welts on his body, ensuring they were easily concealable.      Showering was painful. Every time the water hit him, his body ached from his injuries. Once he finally finished, he headed to his room to lay down. As he did, he saw that his phone had a notification. Curious, he went over to it. It was a message from Trevor. Confused slightly, he opened the message. 'Good Night J.' Was all it said. Jesse stared at the message for a moment. Since when did Trevor believe they were on a nickname basis. He decided not to respond, putting his phone on silent and closing the message. He set the alarm on his alarm clock to 6:30 A.M and went to sleep. In his dreams, he found Trevor in them, and a smile played on his lips as he slept.