Overcoming Her (Another Werewolf Story)

Scottie Jay

3 Years Later

It was Scottie Jay’s 17th birthday today. She groaned when hearing her mother call her from down the stairs.

“Oh Scooooooottie!” her mother sang. She was having a good day again today.

That was the only thing that motivated Scottie to wake from her bed, rushing to get dressed and rush down the stairs. Her mother was waiting with a huge smile across her face.

“You know what is the absolute best thing about your birthday being today?” She asked.

“What’s that, mom?” I smiled, knowing exactly what she was going to say.

“You started living this day, 17 years ago.” She opened her arms, waiting for me to reach down and hug her. And obviously, I did.

“I’m glad I’m here with you too, mom.” I breathed.

Today was July 30th, so I had no worries about school. All that I had to worry about was my mom, and keeping her safe. Since that day 3 years ago, I’ve struggled to sleep, often staying up late to keep watch and make sure that an attack wouldn’t happen at night.

“I have a present for you, Scottie Jay.” My mom reached to the floor on her left, revealing a shimmery red present hidden by her wheelchair. “Open it quickly!”

I did as I was told, ripping the paper off and revealing a brown box. When I opened the box, there was a book in there. “It's a journal. It also has the number of a therapist for you.” My mom smiled sullenly. “I know you don’t want to talk about that day, but-”

“Mom, thank you so much. But I’m okay, really.” I breathed. My mom has been trying to talk me into getting therapy for the past three years now, but what kind of werewolf would I be if I had to go to therapy? Sh*t happened, and I was just unlucky.

“Scottie…”

“Mom. It happened. I’m not having nightmares anymore.” I lied. “My body is healed. I’m okay.”

The truth was, my body wasn’t healed. My body hadn’t been prepared for that transition when I was 14, and there was a reason why werewolves didn’t transition until they were 18. The doctors had been shocked that day when I was brought in, still in my wolf form. Me, the human half, had slipped into a coma and my body had been in such shock that I was in a coma for two weeks. The doctors were flabbergasted, unable to get me to transition back into my human form, and trying to figure out how to heal me through my wolf form. When they finally tried injecting me with a muscle relaxer, my body was able to transition back… But not without cost. Doctors had observed the heavy release of adrenaline, and between that and a brain injury, they believe that I had the perfect levels of adrenaline from the average werewolf’s first transition and the area of my brain that activated the transition once I turned 18 was also activated. How I got that head injury… I’m unsure. But I was thankful, despite the numerous issues I’ve had since then. Doctors question if I will be able to transition once I turn 18 or not.

My body was covered in silvery scars, resembling stretch marks. At the beach, wolves look at me as if I am a vampire. When they find out who I am and what happened though, they avoid making eye contact and pretend I don’t exist, just like the kids at school. Don’t get me wrong, they were beyond respectful, but they knew my mother had issues. Between the tragedy that had happened and my mother’s mental state, they knew I was a mess and too much to deal with. They treat me well, but they treat me well from a distance. I was equally grateful and lonely.

My memory from that night is absolutely shattered. I can’t remember anything that happened before I transitioned and the events that happened beforehand. The doctors told my mother not to tell me, that when I’m mentally ready to I will. I can’t even remember what the first wolf looked like, and nobody has told me what happened after I passed out. I know the two white wolves were dead, and there was no way that the first wolf survived my attack.

I don’t know what happened to my dad, either. He'd been missing since that day, and despite every effort to find him, the trail ran cold that day. His scent disappeared at a lake, but reports say that there were two other scents with his. Nobody knew who organized this attack, and why. The only reason they could think of was that my father had been the best Beta to ever exist. He was almost qualified to be an alpha, but he was wired to be dedicated and loyal. Due to that significant trait of his, he’d been promoted from a Gamma to a Beta, and served alongside him dutifully from the time he was 18 to when he disappeared at 34. They’d investigated the previous Beta, thinking there had been a possibility that he had been involved, but quickly discovered that Robert Kingsley had nothing to do with it. When asked if he was jealous that my father had been chosen as Beta while he had been demoted to Gamma, Robert had responded by saying “It wasn’t a feeling of jealousy as much as shame. Alpha Gregoire and I maintained our friendship as we always had, and if anything, I was actually given more time at home. My wife and I had 5 pups, and our marriage is as solid as ever. I received comments from my family, and because of that I felt shameful. But anyone who has met Beta Thomas knows… He was much more advanced for that position. I was able to do the job, but I was never able to put my heart and soul into it the way he did.”

In the end, there weren’t any leads. My mother had been frozen for almost a full year after my dad’s disappearance… And nobody could blame her. I had to stay with Gamma Robert during that time. My aunt Theresa, or auntie Teeree as I’d called her, was murdered that day. She’d only come by to check on my mom. Auntie Teeree was my father’s sister, and very involved in our lives and always there to support my mother through her mental health struggles. Despite knowing that she was broken, nobody knew what she had. She refused to get help. Now, she expects me to get help… Knowing exactly why I couldn’t.

“Aunt Teeree, your father…” My mother trailed off quietly. When her voice returned, she was loud. “They would’ve wanted you to get help!”

I looked at her, knowing she was about to go off. “If they were here, mom… I wouldn’t NEED the help. I never would have had to protect you, you never would’ve ended up in that STUPID chair, I never would’ve had to mourn auntie… I never would have had to fight that battle. Do not tell me what I need to do, when I was the one who had to survive for us that day.” I was a bitter, broken woman just like my mother. I’d come to accept that as a strength.

I saw the shift in her eyes. She began to laugh, and I started regretting my actions. Today wasn’t going to be such a good day. Even though I knew she would never hit me, I knew that she felt her emotions so deeply, that she was incapable of having a normal reaction to anything. I'd made her angry and sad… and now here came rage, in return.

“Your father…” she seethed, teeth clenched, “Never returned home after he ‘just went to go get coffee and donuts.’” She mimicked his last words to her childishly. “He abandoned us, he was never here for us in our time of need!” She picked up a photo of him, throwing it. It smashed against the wall, sending glass everywhere. “He is the reason this all happened. He lied to me. He LIED!” she roared, throwing her head into her hands, instantly sobbing.

I walked to her, kneeling on the broken glass. “Mom… You know that he would’ve come home if he could.” I rubbed her back, hoping that I could undo some of this disaster that I caused. “He was a loyal man. He was especially loyal to the Alpha, but he was loyal to you, too.”

“NO! He loved the Alpha more. He was greedy, he wanted that power. He wanted to be admired more than he wanted to be here, with his family, where he belonged. Look, look what he did to us!” She was in hysterics, sobbing so hard I could hear she was close to throwing up.

“Mom, what was that song you and dad used to dance to?” I whispered. “The one he’d dance with you to every time he came home from a long mission?”

My mom had never done well with the distance between them. So, every time my dad came home, he wouldn’t say hi. He wouldn’t say anything. He’d walk in the door, a little cassette player in his hands, and plug it into the radio.

“The First Time I Ever Saw your Face.” She smiled, tears were still streaming down her face but she started laughing. “I stepped on his toes so many times, I was such a clutz. He never minded though.”

My mom started breathing, humming the tunes and coming back to earth. “I’m sorry.” She breathed when she returned. “I’m so sorry that I lose control like that. I’m sorry. I… I don’t want you to be like me. I want you to be happy, Scottie.”

“I am happy, mom. I’m also sorry for unloading on you like that. I’m just… I’m going to be okay. I’ll go to therapy if I ever need to. I’m okay for now. I’ve got you. Your happiness is the most important to me, and I know that every day we’re getting closer to achieving that.”

“Scottie… We need to get closer to our own individual happiness.” She scolded. “You cannot put my well being before yours. I also cannot force you to go to therapy.” She took a deep breath. “I can trust you to go when you are ready. I know I haven’t given you the easiest life-”

“But you’ve done the best you could.” I smiled, cutting her off. “I love you, mom. Let’s move on from this already, okay?”

My mom nodded with an unsure smile. We were never going to be able to fully move on, as it’s affected so many aspects of our lives… But it was nice to pretend that we could.