MARKED

THREE

❰ Meliora ❱

I woke up to a peculiar feeling of being trapped somewhere. Only, I was trapped in my mess of a room, lying in my bed, wearing freshly laundered pajamas instead of the rugged and bloody clothes from last night. Although the smell of the lemon detergent was refreshing, it didn't fool me from realizing what a terrible state my body was in. My entire body ached and even though the temperature in the room was adequate, my body was warmer than usual, not to mention the throbbing pain in my head that only seemed to grow stronger by the minute. I extended my arms to hold the side of my head only to realize it was wrapped around a bandage. The attack, I had hit my head last night.

My hand instantaneously flew to my neck as I recalled last night's events, the wolf's attack. Perplexed to find nothing, I looked down as much as I could and indeed, there was nothing. No wound, no scratch, no bump, nothing. I quickly rushed to the nearest mirror located on a vintage dresser right across the bed, and almost dug my face into it to see if my eyes had deceived me; they hadn't. There indeed was no sign of an attack left on my neck. How was that even possible? I had felt the wolf's claws on me, the pain and the feeling of being set on fire I had endured was hard to forget. There was no way the wound could've disappeared overnight.

As much as it baffled me, realizing that my necklace was also missing from my neck caused a wave of panic to hit my core, rumbling my insides out of nervousness. That was a family heirloom and my mother had specifically warned me against taking it off, not on one but numerous occasions. Sh**t! I had to find it under all circumstances.

Hearing muffled sounds from just outside my room, I carefully opened the door to reveal two of my best friends arguing about how irresponsible we were. Well, it was mostly Ethan who scolded Casey, however, she did occasionally fight back. They failed to notice my presence until I cleared my throat twice as loud. Each of them froze, their fingers that pointed at each other coming to a trembling halt midair. Then, they slowly looked in my direction, relief washing over both their faces. Casey rushed towards me and engulfed me into one of her post-summer break reunion hugs. Overwhelmed and perplexed by the gesture, I barely hugged her back.

"Okay," I said with a chuckle, unable to understand the sudden burst of emotion. "Easy now, I just saw you last night."

From behind Casey, I watched as Ethan's forehead contorted into a wrinkle, his relieved expression long lost. Casey slowly parted and looked at me with the same look Ethan was - a look of pure disappointment and sadness. Was I missing something?

"Mel, that was two nights ago," Casey explained, her voice low and laden with guilt.

"What!?" The word roared out of my mouth, carrying a clear hint of disbelief. To say that I was surprised would be a colossal understatement of how I actually felt; I felt like the rug I was standing on, had just been pulled from under me. How did I end up being knocked out for two whole days?

"What happened to me?" I asked, taking turns to look at each one of them. After an eerie silence, Ethan shrugged.

"When Casey rushed you home, you were burning up and you kept whimpering in pain, your head was bleeding. Dr. Brenner said you had fever, psycho..."

"Psychogenic fever," Casey corrected him. Ethan moved closer to check my temperature, although I think his hands were warmer than mine.

My forehead creased underneath Ethan's palms. I've never had that before, a fever due to stress, and it was saying something since stress and me, we were buddies. I huffed in annoyance. Great! One more thing that is wrong with me.

Distracted by my thoughts, I failed to notice that Ethan had already lead me back to my bed. So now we were all sitting on my messy queen-sized bed, each with one dangling foot. All of us remained silent, me mostly because I was consumed by my thoughts.

"Two days, huh. That still doesn't explain why there isn't a claw mark," I said, my voice distant.

"Claw mark?" Ethan asked, his eyebrows joining. He narrowed his eyes on Casey in either suspicion or accusation, I couldn't really tell, before looking back at me. "You didn't have any claw marks."

"What? No, there had to be. The wolf had clawed me," I clarified, trying to formulate a theory in my head as to why there wasn't one on my neck right now. Ethan and Casey shared a look of bewilderment that only pointed towards their ceaselessness.

"Casey, you saw the mark, didn't you? The wolf, it scratched me. I may have lost my necklace with that. You saw the wolf attack, didn't you?" How could they miss seeing it? There definitely was a contact made when the wolf struck its paws against my skin. There at least had to be a red patch if not a wound.

Casey looked at me, her face dripping with guilt. "I... I ran, remember? I rushed back when I heard your scream, but when I got there, the wolf was already gone. I'm sorry Mel."

I frowned, starting to question my sanity. At this point, I was beginning to question if the wolf had even landed on me, or was it just my hallucination. If the wolf had really struck me, there was no way I could've survived without a scar, even if that meant from the sudden tug on my necklace.

I paused, my eyes slightly widening, then I proceeded to trace a finger across my neck where the necklace had been a few nights ago. At the very back, there was a sore spot I could feel heating up with a simple touch, my finger acting as a matchstick to the wound. As I grazed my hand further, I winced when I hit the center, the place where the hook would've originally been. The skin under my fingers had bumped up and felt rough to the touch, hot even. I looked at both my friends with wide eyes and they returned me the same gaze. Pulling my hair to the front, I turned around so they could take a look at it.

Casey raised a finger and touched the sore spot, causing me to wince again.

"Yup, definitely a bruise," she declared, sitting on her side back again. I only rolled my eyes.

"See, I told you. I am not insane."

"Who said you were insane?" Ethan frowned. A tedious sigh escaped my mouth; they didn't have to. Ever since I was a child, I was used to seeing others run away from me and refusing to play with me, saying that their parents had strictly warned them against it. As a child who barely knew the world, it hurt to know that their parents were the ones who were scared from me; they thought I was crazy since I would wake up screaming at night. Ethan, strangely, was the first one to approach me and the only one who stuck around, and at first, I would believe that it was only because our mothers were friends.

"Hey," Ethan said softly, his hands gently cupping my face. "You're not crazy."

"Well, not in the literal sense at least," Casey added, instantly lightening the mood. Ethan rolled his eyes at her while I chuckled, knowing in full the intention behind the comment.

"Way to ruin the moment, Casey!"

Casey gave him her patented fake-hurt look, one hand on her heart. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you two lovebirds were having one." She then threw a fake smile at him, irking Ethan even further. Before he had a chance to say anything an bring in his sass to the table, I spoke.

"Stop it, both of you," I said with a smile. Ah! Two of my best friends who always kept bickering. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were in love and didn't know it just yet. But I knew, they just loved annoying each other to the other's wits.

"So, I was comatose for two days. What did I miss?" I asked them as a way to distract them from starting again.

"Well, the Giants won, again," Ethan said.

"And 5 Seconds of Summer came up with their new song," Casey added.

The first news made me smile but the second news, well that deserved a jaw drop.

"Two days, they couldn't wait for two days!?" I screeched, making Ethan cringe.

"I see that you ladies want to have a girl talk, so I'll get you some snacks," he said before leaving the room to us. Casey and I immediately dived into a conversation about how amazing this song was as she searched for it on her playlist.

The rest of the afternoon went by pretty quick and it was already time for Ethan's shift at the bar. Casey had left at five saying she had to help her mom with something. While we were by ourselves, Ethan and I cooked dinner together and then played Overwatch as usual.

It felt good to just take the day off, no college, skip work, until Ethan left. Now that Ethan had left and I was all alone, I couldn't help but think of everything that was wrong with my life to this date. I had constant nightmares about killing people, one of those nightmares had become a reality, if I didn't have any evidence proving me guilty, I didn't have any evidence proving me innocent either. And now, the question of where the wound had disappeared.

Suddenly, that was all I had in my head, not the fear of me being a possible killer, not the fact that I had lost my family's heirloom, but the question of what had actually happened when the wolf had swiped its hand over my neck.

To distract myself, I pulled up mom's contact on my phone and hovered over the call sign. I had no clue how I was going to present the news of the loss of the heirloom, but I had to. She deserved to know.

I took a deep breath before touching the call icon.

"Meliora!" Her voice boomed over the speaker. She sounded happy and surprised. "It's been so long since you called."

"I know," I said, "I wanted to hear your voice." It wasn't a lie. I did want to talk to them, hear their chirpy voice, listen to how their day had been. It always helped me calm down.

"Oh, honey. You should call more often then."

"I will, mom. I promise. How are you and dad?" I asked as I played with the hem of my shirt - something I did out of nervousness.

"Both of us are excellent! Derek is bringing his girlfriend home tonight and you know your dad. He's in the kitchen cooking his signature lasagna." She laughed. Her laugh was so contagious that it made me laugh. I missed that lasagna.

"You tell me, sweety, how are you?" As she asked that, I couldn't help but notice the concern in her voice. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach as I contemplated about telling the truth. She was so happy, I couldn't tell her what had happened. It would break her.

"I'm good. New York's great as usual and Ethan's a goofball."

She laughed a hearty laugh that eased my nerves. I did feel guilty for lying, but it was easier to lie to her to keep her happy than to hurt her. I still remember how upset she was when she noticed I wasn't wearing it and thought I had lost it.

"Do you still get those..." She trailed off. I knew she was asking about the nightmares. It stung me to lie but I had to.

"No," I said almost immediately, then regretted it. I hoped I didn't sound suspicious.

"That's relieving. I hope you still wear the necklace."

I froze at the mention. I couldn't tell her the truth, not now.

"Totally," I said in a high pitched voice, "mom, I gotta go. I have an assignment to complete. I'll talk later."

"Okay honey, I love you," she said unfazed. I returned the words and disconnected the call, heaving a sigh of relief.

The relief soon washed off when I realized what I had done. I had to get that necklace back, even if that meant I had to go back. I sat back and thought about it. There was no way Casey or Ethan would allow me to go back, let alone accompany me. So I was all by myself. I looked towards the wall clock. It was eight thirty. If I left now, I'd reach in an hour, take to the most an hour to locate and retrieve the necklace and be back home by midnight.

The plan was pretty good on paper, except I didn't have a way to find the spot of attack again. My vision had been so hazy that I didn't even remember where we came out from. Besides, all the entry points looked the same as I drove by them. Damn it! Now, my only option was to take the same route we had taken two days ago.

I began my walk along the river making sure there was nothing in my proximity. The last thing I wanted was to die here. The fear of encountering the wolf was enough to keep me moving faster than usual. It was better to just find the necklace and leave.

Soon enough, I was at the spot where the boy was killed. I took a turn towards the woods and sighed. 'If I haven't been attacked yet, please keep it that way.' I prayed.

I pointed my flashlight downwards to keep an eye on the necklace. It was an old rusty necklace which had metal vines and leaves circling a white stone. But this was no ordinary stone, it would reflect a blue glow once light hit it. Knowing that would make it easier to find the necklace or so I thought. However, it was proving to be a task now since nothing had lit up and I was already far away from the river.

I looked around to see if I'd find any evidence of the attack, perhaps my blood. I had hit my head when I fell to the ground. If I found that spot, I'd have a better luck at finding that stupid necklace.

"Searching for something?"

I jumped up when I heard the voice, my heart pumping twice as fast. It was a deep throaty voice that came from behind me. I slowly turned around, making sure the pocket knife I had was accessible. There stood a man almost five feet away from me. He had a darker complexion with unusual green eyes; he had a slight smile on his face. He was wearing normal clothes so I assumed he wasn't a forest official.

"Ah, yes. I um...dropped something two nights ago," I said hesitantly.

I looked around pretending to not be interested in talking. Right now, all I wished was for the necklace to show up so I'd leave. The man didn't feel right. People usually didn't just show up to

"Two nights ago?" He laughed. "You think you'll still find it?"

His voice sounded closer this time so I turned back. He was definitely closer this time. Staying here with him was as risky as being attacked by the wolf.

I slid my hand into my pocket to keep the knife handy. It was better to just go now and come back in daylight.

"I don't think so. I think I'm gonna go," I told him and took a few steps backward, not leaving my eyes off him. He stepped forward with a smirk on his face.

"I could help you search." The wicked smile on his face didn't make me feel any better. s**t! What if he was the serial killer? My eyes widened.

"Thanks, but I'll go," I said quickly and turned around to run.

But of course, my clumsy self fell onto the ground face down. The hand that was in my pocket flew out and so did the knife along with it. I heard the rustling sound his shoes made as he approached me and it sent chills down my spine. Great! Now I had nothing to defend myself with except the stupid flashlight in my hand. I was going to die tonight.