Never Mine

Moonless Night

Reed bought a huge subway sandwich for lunch. Nothing impressive but it’s free and as long as it will make my stomach full, I wouldn’t say no.

All I wanted was to continue reading this journal. It was more than entertaining. Something inside me was telling me to continue reading, that somehow, this journal found its way for me to read in between its pages.

Lycaon could not remember the number of days and nights that he spent his time running around the woods as a wolf. He just woke up one night, under a maple tree, naked and covered in blood.

He began coughing. Something was blocking his airways and was making it difficult to breathe. Even with dirt and mud on his hand, he tried to reach inside his mouth. While gagging he managed to pull out masses of fur. Lycaon looked at it closely. It was rabbits fur, or was it a fox? He heaved and more fur came from his insides.

Disgusted, he knew it was one of the consequences of being the new being that he was. With his power came the thirst for blood, the need to kill. He only hoped that he didn’t hurt any human being during those days where his mind was not his. He already had his vengeance. The murderers who took the life of his parents were long gone.

He decided to go home to wash and change. But remembering where he left the dead bodies of those murderers, he knew that he had to go back and hide the bodies.

When he arrived at the scene, the bodies were still there. Ants and other small animals were starting to feed on the decaying flesh of these lawless men. He needed a shovel to bury them. He covered them with leaves for the meantime and decided to go home. Lycaon will come back tomorrow to bury the bodies.

As he tried to retrace the way back to his home, he happened to come across a river. He decided to wash. Some of the blood in his body was days old and were hard to remove since they were completely dried up.

After minutes of washing, he heard something lurking in the dark.

“Who is it?” Lycaon focused. He heard someone’s heart beating close to where he was. He looked around. He could smell her. Yes, it was a woman. She smelled like lavender.

The woman tried to run away from where she was hiding. But Lycaon was fast. Did she saw the bodies? What is a woman doing inside a forest this time of the night?

Thinking that she managed to run away from Lycaon, the woman shrieked when Lycaon appeared from her behind, embracing her body and covering her mouth with one swift move.

“What are you doing here?” Lycaon asked.

It was not a woman. It was a young girl. She was shaking and trying to catch her breath under Lycaon’s grasp.

She pointed at the bag of clothes lying on the ground.

Lycaon looked at the sky, dawn was about to break. All the while he thought that it was still the dead of night.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” This time, his voice was calmer.

The young girl tap on his hand, the one covering her mouth.

“I will let go but promise not to shout,” His voice was threatening.

The girl nodded.

Lycaon let go of her mouth but was embracing her by the waist securely. Running was not an option for her.

“I was about to wash clothes. I didn’t know you were bathing.” She tried to deliver the statement calmly but was shaking.

“Are you telling the truth?” Lycaon asked.

“I swear on the graves of my parents,” the young girl said. Her voice was not shaking anymore.

He let go of the girl, but he was prepared for any sudden movements that she might do. To his surprise, she started picking up the clothes that fell on the ground. Her back was still facing him.

Without looking at him, she handed Lycaon a towel.

“Here, take it, you can’t walk around like that, the sun will be up in a few more minutes.”

Lycaon took the towel and covered the bottom part of his body.

“Thank you. I am Lycaon, what is your name?”

“I am Amaris.”

“Hey!” I felt my heart jump when Reed tapped me on my shoulder.

“Sorry, but we’re here,” He pointed outside Charlie. We were indeed at the back parking area of Sucos.

“No, I spaced out.” I had to apologize. I was too into reading that I didn’t notice that we already arrived at work. I tucked the journal inside my bag and grabbed my uniform before getting out of Charlie. Reed had already pulled the keys from the ignition and was getting out too.

“Here’s your key. Thanks for letting me drive your awesome truck.” Reed was smiling. There was something different with the way he was smiling at me now. Or maybe it was my imagination.

We went on separate ways after we stuffed our things inside our lockers.

It was a relatively busy day, almost as busy during the weekends.

But despite the crowd, I could not help but imagine what happened after Lycaon met Amaris. Did she saw the dead bodies inside the forest? I could not help but wonder if the story in the journal was true. But werewolves? I was doubtful. But reading the journal was far more than entertaining. It felt like I was inside the story. Close to where Lycaon and Amaris stood, invisible to them.

A group of men arrived. They were a rowdy bunch, well, most of them. There was this one man that caught my eye that was proper compared to the others.

When I took their order, the man hushed down the rest of his crew as he gave me his order. He ordered for the rest of his companions too, as if they had no choice but to eat what he decides to get or he was too familiar with what they wanted. Either way, it was something that I should not worry myself about. As long as they are behaving inside the restaurant and are paying customers, they can order anything they like.

After that crew arrived, there were no other customers that arrived inside Sucos. Maybe they were scared with the bunch of big bikes parked outside the restaurant.

I sat close to the counter, where I usually do when there are no new customers to serve. It felt weird. Someone was definitely watching me. I felt uneasy.

Looking around the restaurant, I finally met the eye of the person that was making me nervous.

It was the man who was most likely the leader of the crew. I was certain that he was intently looking at me. I tried to look away and focus on something else.

The uneasiness did not fade. After a few more minutes, one of the guys hooted and asked for their bill.

Nervously, I headed to their table and handed the bill to the man. He was still looking at me.

He tucked several hundred dollars inside the bill holder. As I reached out to take it, he pulled his arms away.

He looked at me without saying anything. It felt like he was looking for something, or examining me. I was not sure. He was trying to catch my eye. Of course, I tried to look away.

After what seemed like several minutes of silence, he gave me the bill. “Keep the change as your tip.” He said before standing and leaving the room. His men followed, some of them glancing at me.

I felt better when I heard the roar of their big bikes driving away from Sucos parking lot.

As the restaurant began to close, I completely forgot about them. Cleaning the tables and mopping the floor took most of my time. I wanted to hurry. I’ll definitely continue reading the journal once I get home.

Outside, the rain started to pouring. Great. Just great. Now, I would feel bad if I wouldn’t bring Reed back to the university with this rain. It would be so selfish of me if I made him walk all the way from my place to school.

Oh, well. At least I won’t have to worry about going home alone this late. This was still a new place for me. It somehow felt safe having Reed around.

I knew wanted to offer to drive for me again but was too shy to ask. I saved him the trouble and offered the keys to him.

“Really?” He asked.

“Yeah, I wanted to continue reading the journal.” I smiled a bit. It was too obvious that I was enjoying it.

“Liking the story so far?” He asked as he started Charlie.

“Intriguing, that’s the world. No wonder you mentioned you read it several times. It’s quite heavy, just as you said.”

“It’s nice that you are liking it.” Reed smiled at me as he started to drive away from Sucos’ back parking lot.

While on the highway, I was holding the journal right where I stopped reading earlier. Yet, It felt that I somehow lost focus. I was nervous all over again.

Looking at the rearview mirror, I saw several lights behind us.

I felt something hard in my throat as I realized what they were.

They were the same big bikes that were at Sucos earlier. Are they following us?

“Hey, are you alright?” Reed didn’t fail to notice my anxiety.

“Those bikes, they seemed to be following us.”

He looked at the rearview mirror too. “Do you know them?”

“No, they were customers earlier at Sucos.”

The rain started to stop and my place was just two blocks away.

Reed stopped close to where my apartment was. The big bikes were still at our backs, they were a few more meters away.

I could not help it, I knew I was starting to shake. I held on to Reed’s hand which was still on the steering wheel.

“Can you come inside? Have coffee or something?” I blurted out.

There was a look of confusion on Reed’s face. But when the big bikes started to slow down and moved past where we were parked, he suddenly understood why. He nodded.

Somehow, I felt relieved but still anxious about the situation. I tried to avoid looking at the big bikes as they passed by my side but at my side mirror, I could see the man, their leader looking at me. I knew a pressed Reed’s arms a bit harder, my nails digging a bit on his skin as the man passed by my side.

I was unsure if I held my breath but the next thing I knew, Reed had already parked Charlie and he was at my side, waiting for me to come down.

Still a bit shaky, I let him hold my hand as I went down Charlie. He took my bag and held my hand as we climb the stairs to my unit.

I was slowly starting to calm down by the time we reached my apartment. “Here,” I pointed the door to him. I took the car keys from him and was about to open my door with the other key attached to the chain. I was still shaking a bit that I kept missing.

“Here, let me do it.” Reed offered.

I gave the keys to him and allowed him to open the door for me.

He also took the privilege to open the lights for me.

I felt safer when we were inside my room.

The rain started to pour again as we entered my apartment. It was pouring thrice as much as it did earlier.

He locked the door behind us as I went straight to my small kitchen. I filled my pot with water and placed it on top of the stove. “Here, come and take a seat.” I offered him the extra chair that I had at my kitchen table. I had no sofa so it was the only seat available inside.

There was a deafening silence between the two of us. I jumped a bit when my pot suddenly spewed water from its lid.

I was about to get up but Reed was quick to hold my hand.

“Sit, let me.” He offered.

Maybe I needed to calm down so I allowed him to help himself.

He poured the hot water into the cups that were neatly placed at the center of the table. My coffee and creamer were sitting there too.

“Black please.” Finally, I managed to talk.

“Feeling better now?” He asked, he tried to smile a bit. He too chose to have his coffee black.

I nodded.

“What happened back there?” Reed finally asked.

“The man, the last guy in the motorbike. He was looking weirdly at me at Sucos. The whole time. I felt uneasy. I don’t know. Maybe he scared me a bit.” I explained.

“No, you were shaking, it was definitely not a bit.” He said.

“I don’t know. I just got spooked out.”

He took a sip from his cup. Did he just clench his jaw?

I was playing with the spoon still inside my cup. I was measuring the consequences of my actions if I blurted out what I had in mind. But I still did it anyway.

“Reed?”

“Yes, “ he looked at me straight in the eye.

“Can you stay for the night?”