What she Hid
757 Words
I woke up to the smell of antiseptic.
For a few seconds, I didn't know where I was.
Then I remembered the claws.
The wolf.
The screaming.
I sat up too quickly.
Pain shot through my head.
“Easy.”
I froze.
Grandma was sitting beside the bed.
Her hands were folded tightly in her lap, but I could see them trembling.
“Grandma?”
She stood immediately.
“How do you feel?”
I stared at her.
“My hands.”
She looked down.
They were normal.
No claws.
No dark nails.
Just my hands.
I touched them carefully.
“What happened?”
“You fainted.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
She looked away.
“Everyone at school saw me.”
“I know.”
“They saw my eyes.”
She said nothing.
“They saw my hands.”
Silence.
“And I saw…”
My voice caught.
I didn't want to say it.
I sounded crazy even thinking about it.
“A wolf.”
Grandma's face changed.
Just for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
“You saw nothing.”
“I know what I saw.”
“Elara—”
“There was a wolf in the reflection.”
She grabbed my wrist.
Too tightly.
“Don't talk about this here.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
She released me.
Then she looked toward the door.
“Because we need to leave.”
I almost laughed.
“Leave?”
“Tonight.”
“Grandma, I just woke up in the school nurse's office after apparently turning into some kind of animal, and your response is that we should leave?”
Her expression hardened.
“Get your things.”
“No.”
“Elara.”
“No.”
For nineteen years, I had obeyed her.
I had followed every rule.
Don't stay out after dark.
Don't wander into the forest.
Don't ask about my parents.
Don't talk to strangers about our family.
Don't tell anyone about the strange dreams I sometimes had.
I'd accepted all of it because I trusted her.
But something had changed.
I wanted answers.
“Tell me the truth.”
She closed her eyes.
“Please.”
Her shoulders dropped.
When she opened her eyes again, they were wet.
“I was hoping we'd have more time.”
My chest tightened.
“Time for what?”
She walked to the window and pulled the curtains shut.
“The day you were born, I made a promise to your mother.”
I stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
Grandma nodded.
“You knew her?”
“I did.”
“You said she died.”
“I said what I needed to say to keep you alive.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
“Who was my mother?”
Grandma looked at me.
“She was someone who loved you enough to disappear.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn't answer my question.”
“No.”
“Then answer it.”
Before she could speak, something crashed downstairs.
We both froze.
Grandma's face went white.
Another crash.
This one closer.
“What was that?”
She moved toward the bedroom door.
“Stay here.”
“Grandma—”
“Do not come out.”
She opened the door.
I grabbed her arm.
“Who is downstairs?”
She looked at me.
For the first time, I saw something in her eyes I'd never seen before.
Not fear for herself.
Fear for me.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
She pulled away.
“Lock the door.”
Then she disappeared into the hallway.
I heard her footsteps rushing down the stairs.
My heart began pounding.
I should have listened.
I should have locked the door.
Instead, I followed.
I reached the top of the stairs just in time to hear a man's voice from below.
“You can't hide her forever, Mara.”
I stopped.
Grandma stood at the bottom of the stairs.
Between her and the front door stood a stranger.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Dressed in black.
But he wasn't alone.
Another figure stood behind him.
I couldn't see his face.
Only his eyes.
They were red.
The stranger looked past Grandma.
Straight at me.
His expression changed.
Recognition.
He whispered one word.
“Found.”
Grandma turned.
Our eyes met.
And the look on her face told me something I wasn't ready to hear.
She had been waiting for this night.
For nineteen years.
And now it had finally arrived.
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