Hunted

Stitches

KayaAgain, I wake up in a strange bed, this time all alone. It is a huge bed, in a huge room. Right in front of the bed is a fireplace with a gray rug in front. The entire left wall is made of glass, a beautiful view over the forest. To the right are three doors. I look at the bandage on my chest and see the blood. I decide to look for the bathroom in the hope that there is something to clean it with. The pain is unbearable, but over the years I have learned to hide it, I learned not to be a burden to anyone. I walk to the door on the left, not a bathroom, but a door to a huge hall with even more doors. The second door, still no bathroom but a giant walk-in closet. I'm still here in the hospital gown and decide to look for something to wear. The choice falls on a hoodie so long that I don't even have to wear pants underneath, it looks very comfortable. With the hoodie in my hand, I walk to the third, and right-most door, the bathroom. I have never seen a bathroom like this. The shower is huge, big enough to shower with 4 people at the same time if you want to. The sink is made of gray marble. Under the sink are some drawers. I hate to look through someone else's things, but I need something to stop my bleeding. I carefully pull open the bottom drawer, towels, and washcloths, handy. The drawer above is a huge mess. Deodorants, shampoos, old toothbrushes, and more junk are everywhere. I carefully pull the dressing loose and look at the damage. Great, my stitches have come loose. By the way, if I have been in a coma for a year, should this not have been healed? I am carefully cleaning myself with the washcloth and some soap. There are no fresh bandages anywhere, so I’m putting the bloody one back. The other two wounds look a lot better, not completely healed but at least closed. I dry everything with the towel and put on the hoodie. I see a hairbrush, so take the chance and brush my hair. The remains of blood in the sink I was thoroughly gone and I check the floor to see if there happens to be any blood there.

I walk out of the bathroom and back into the walk-in closet, looking for socks. After I have found some, I decided to investigate. I take the door on the left, into the hall. There are more doors left and right until the doors stop on the left and there is some kind of balcony. I walk towards the balcony and look over the edge. Downstairs, a group of people is eating and drinking on a huge corner sofa. One of the people downstairs, a boy with black hair, notices me, and starts screaming.

"Hey Jace, your slut has escaped." Jace looks up, straight in my eyes, then back to the boy. He walks towards him and knocks him out in one hit. The whole group starts whispering, but Jace just stands there, beside the silent body, staring at his fist. Another boy is pushing him.

"What the f**k man, what was that needed for," the boy says. Jace looks at him, his eyes glowing with gold. Everyone around him is backing off, afraid of getting hit. He looks at me sternly, a silent hint for me to leave perhaps. But I'm not leaving, why would I?

A Barbie doll suddenly comes in. Not a real one of course, but someone who spends more time at the plastic surgeon than at school. She walks straight to Jace, who looks at her irritated.

“Dare it, you b***h!”

"What ?!" This was the first time in a while I had heard of my wolf.

“Really, if she touches him, I rip her throat out. "

“Woah, why so violent. Why does it matter, we just know him? You are not going to tell me that you are already going to be protective of him. "

“Watch me.”

The girl kisses Jace, which I really shouldn’t care about, but I still felt betrayed. I suddenly feel a kind of anger followed by an enormous pain all over my body. I’m no longer standing on 2 legs but 4. Without even thinking about it I jump over the fence of the balcony and land next to Jace. I looked at myself. I was a wolf, gray, big, animal. I start to growl at Barbie, Jace laughed. Why is he laughing? The rest of the group starts mumbling. They are probably talking about me; I am starting to feel insecure. Jace turns to the group, Barbie joins this group and sits down on the couch. Jace walks over to a closet and grabs something. I'm still here, as a wolf, and I have no idea what happens. Jace comes to me with a rope in his hand, which he throws over my neck. The group watches in total silence.

“Your wolf is in pain, that’s why she is so on edge. Here, let me help”

The rope starts to glow, Jace's eyes start to glow, and to see the reaction of the group, mine are probably glowing as well. It feels nice, whatever this may be. I feel my pain fade away and I close my eyes as I feel better and better. Next to me, I hear Jace grunting from pain. He stands on his hands and knees on the floor. He lets go of the rope, the pain slowly returns but not as bad as it was before. I still have no idea what it is but I haven’t felt so good in times.

“Is she calmer now?” He asks, a little out of breath.

“Once he is gone I’m going to rip Barbie’s throat out. That stupid rope can’t stop me!”

I shake my head to Jace so he knows that my wolf is not backing off that easily. The group is still staring at us two in silence. I turn around, look at Jace again, and walk back to the bedroom. I do feel like I am in control now. It feels weird, moving on 4 legs and I’m certainly not good at it, but I’m going forward that’s what counts.

“Uhm P’li, how do I go back to human?”

“Do you want to?

“Yes”

“Just focus on your feet and how they looked before you shifted.”

4 legs become 2, and before I know it, I'm standing in front of the bed again as a person. I'm putting on a new hoodie since the previous one was torn when shifting. I walk back to the bathroom and decide to take a shower, the first in a long time. I don’t know if I’m even allowed to take a shower but I don’t care. It feels good, the warm water over my body, my wounds. The smell of men's shampoo reminds me of Caleb, who I miss a lot. Even though I’m replaced so quickly, I still loved that boy for years. I miss him. He would always comfort me in situations like this, but right now I have no idea what to do. The soap burns lightly in the open wound.

After more than half an hour I decide to turn off the water. I open the glass door and pull the bottom drawer under the sink open to grab a towel. I dry myself, brush my hair, and put on the hoodie. My long hair makes a wet spot on the gray fabric. I decide to go looking for my things, maybe something came from the hospital. I open all the drawers, but there are clothes, everywhere. To my surprise, the bedside tables are empty except for a few chargers.

"Hey blonde, what are you doing in my room?" I am shocked when suddenly I hear an unknown male voice from behind. 

"I asked you a question, or are you deaf or something?"

"I ... I ... I didn't know this room belonged to anyone," I stammered.

“Wait. Is that my hoodie. Who said you could wear it ".

I started getting pissed off. From the moment I am here, and I don't even know where ‘here’ is, no one has said a word to me since I came here.

"I came here with Jace, but then I woke up here and I have no idea where I am and what I am doing here. " It came out a bit harsher than intended, but my point was clear now.

"Wait, you're here with Jace? That’s a first.”

"What is the first time?"

"That Jace is taking a girl home. He's been single for so long that you almost think he's doing it on purpose. "

"Barbie probably didn't get that message"

“Barbie? Oh, you mean Julia. Nobody knows what those two are." He chuckles. I only now get to have a good look at him. He is tall and looks like he is in his late twenties. He has black hair which he has combed back. I sit down on the bed. The way he looks at me, I can't place it but it has something familiar.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"San Francisco, why?" He looks surprised.

"Who does this house belong to?"

"Oh, so. This the packhouse. Some people live here permanently and occasionally we have guests like you. "

"This giant house for just a couple of people?"

"It's been in the family for centuries, every room used to be full. Now almost everything is empty." He sits down on the bed next to me.

"You’re bleeding"

“What?”

"Take your shirt off, I'll get the first aid kit." As soon as he has left the room, I take off the hoodie and lie down under the blankets so that at least the lower half of my body is covered. It is again the wound on my left shoulder that’s bleeding, again. Not even a minute later the boy is back with a bag. He first takes some wipes and cleans the wound with it. Then he takes the needle and thread and wants to close it.

"I prefer to do this myself". He looks at me in surprise when I take the needle and thread from his hands and make two stitches.

"What's your name?" He asks in the meantime.

"Kaya" I hiss towards him while I press my teeth strongly together in pain.

"Vincent," he says as he holds out his hand. I quickly bite off the end of the wire and shake his hand. He chuckles. I look at him in confusion.

“What is it?'

"Nothing, I just think it's badass that you can stitch yourself up, just like that without any sedation." He stands up and walks away again. A moment later he comes back with a shirt and a few pills. "For the pain and inflammation." He says as he walks to the bathroom to grab a glass of water. I swallow the pills. Vincent closes the curtains and turns off the light.

“Sleep tight”. As soon as he closes the door, I immediately fall asleep.