Bane of my existence

Chapter 19- Sky

For the first time in what seemed like forever, I felt at home. It felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Looking around, I saw all these people, these artists and the art lovers, intently exploring the beautiful display. All around me were these people, humans, who shared the same love and admiration for art in any form, like I did. Art was my therapy. I had been painting for as long as I could remember. It was our shared interest in art that brought Liza and me closer. She was as enthusiastic about it as I was and she created the most wonderful art pieces too. So it was only natural that I agreed to be a curator in her gallery. I loved art and I loved the opportunity to work with my best friend.

“hey, you sure you want to do this right? I mean, what about your store?” Liza asked me with genuine concern.

“well, you know how I love being surrounded by all these art pieces  and I get to interact with new artists and talk about art and what it means to them, their interpretation and perspective. This is like my dream job, honestly. “ I smiled and added, “ I’ll have luna handle the store for me, and if she can’t I’ll hire someone else. I mean I can still make my essential oils and soaps and tea blends  for the store. I work fast and I’ve got plenty of help. I’m sure I can handle it.”

“Great!! I get to work with my best friend.” She replied hugging me.

“On a more serious note, you’re hired. Mrs Sky Waters. I am delighted to have the pleasure of working with you.” She said in the most professional tone possible as she extended her hand. I shook her hand firmly and replied with the same seriousness, “the pleasure is all mine miss Brown, I’m looking forward to working together.” We could barely keep a straight face and burst out laughing.

Liza Brown was probably the only human I considered my friend besides Joe. She was the only one I trusted, and she was the only one other than Joe, who knew about who I really was. She had freaked out the first time she’d found out. I decided one day that I needed to be honest with her about who I really was. So I took a risk, trusted her to understand and told her. She refused to believe me at first. She laughed it off. But when I actually took my wolf form in front of her eyes, her laughter quickly turned into screams. She actually screamed out. She was freaked out at first and ran away. I went after her, but the fear in her eyes, made me stay my ground. I didn’t see her for about 2 or 3 weeks after my great “revelation”. I had regretted showing my true self to her as it had cost me my only and dearest friend. I was mad at myself and I spiralled into this abyss of self-loathing and anger.

But one day, I was at my store, it was a quiet day, with barely any customers, when she walked in. I couldn’t believe my eyes. She must’ve noticed how relieved I was by her arrival, she smiled and said,

“I am sorry for the way I acted. I totally freaked out. It was a lot to take in actually. All that T.V series and movies and books about werewolves I thought were only fiction, you have to understand how confused and scared I was then,” she rambled.

“I know. I’m sorry to have sprung it on you like that. I just didn’t want to keep things from you. I wanted to show you my true self and let you decide if you still wanted to be friends with me, “ I said

“Well, at first I was very confused and um.. scared to be completely honest. But then I thought, it’s you.... no matter in what form you are.. you’ll still be you. And then it became easier to accept it. You’re still you... just in the body of a wolf...” she trailed off

“yeah.. yes.. yes.. it’s still me...in wolf form or not. I still recognise people and I think the same way like I do now, just that I can see better, smell better, I’m stronger, way stronger than I am in my human form .” I tried to explain.

“wow,  so werewolves really do exist huh? “

“yep...as you saw for yourself. We’re real.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“so... are there more like you? Like you’re supposed to have like a pack right?” she asked excitedly.

I hesitated before answering, “everybody I knew, every member of my pack is dead.”

“oh.. uh...uh.. I’m..I’m sorry... I had no idea....” Liza said. I looked at her and she was looking at me with eyes full of concern, I gave her a sad smile and hugged her, “It’s alright. It was a long time ago.”

I was relieved she didn’t probe further. This was one of the reasons why I loved her, she knew when to stop and I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. We both fell silent for a while, which lasted only a few seconds because Liza was back to relieving her curiosity.

“Oh.. and does Joe know about this too?” she asked.

“Yes, he does. He’s always known about it. “

This sent my thoughts to Joe and the first time I’d met him. I was heavily pregnant and running for my life and to protect my child. I remember vaguely the fatigue in my legs after running for days on end. I couldn’t phase into my wolf form because of the child I was carrying in my womb, and it was harder to run in my human form but I had little choice. I had to do everything I could to protect my child, Ed’s last gift to me. I wanted to stay on and fight alongside him or die trying but he made me promise I would leave and do everything I could to survive and keep the child alive. And so I did. I ran because my life depended on it and my child’s life depended on me. I had to survive and Joe helped me do just that. It had been days since I had eaten a proper meal or had a chance to sleep. I had been running with no particular direction in mind, just the thought of going as far from the battlefield as I could. I didn’t turn back for the fear that I would change my mind and go back to Ed. After running for like what seemed like ages, I stopped to catch my breath, I checked to make sure I wasn’t being followed. I came upon a small stream and after careful surveillance , I decided to rest for a while. I washed myself and drank from the stream, after which I sat down under the shade of this big oak tree which reminded me of the one that was in the forest where my parents used to live. I had run back to them but they were all dead by the time I reached. The bloodhounds had reached there first. Few of those who were alive had gone into hiding and they were impossible to find. As I lay down, all the adrenaline I earlier had ran out and sleep took over me. When I woke up I was laying on a soft bed and there was soft jazz playing in a distance and the aroma of fresh coffee and toast filled the air. I thought it was a dream , but as soon as a stranger walked in I knew it was real.

I woke up hurriedly and looked around. I didn’t know where I was. I looked at the stranger in front of me. He had dark brown hair and he was fairly tall and a strong build. He had grey blue eyes that reminded me of Ed, although his were more grey than blue. There was something about him that made me trust him, or at least I wasn’t afraid of him. He looked harmless. He was human.

“Hello beautiful, I’m Joe Waters. “ the stranger said with a kind soft voice.

I stared at him for a while.  Realising my situation I panicked and wondered if he was with the bloodhounds, maybe they had humans hunting me too.

“Who are you? Where am I? What happened?”  I asked panicking, I looked at myself underneath the sheets and found that I was wearing a clean white gown. The cuts and bruises on my legs and body were almost healed. My hair smelled of berries. This stranger had given me a bath.

“what have you done to me?”

He smiled, “ please I mean no harm to you. I was on a hike when I found you sleeping under a tree. You looked haggard and you were with child, my conscience wouldn’t allow me to leave you there. So I brought you home with me. You were crying in your sleep miss?”

“Sky... my name is Sky” I didn’t trust him to reveal my full name at least not yet.

“Mrs. Sky? I’m Joe Waters. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Here please eat this.” He handed me a bowl filled with some kind of soup. I didn’t refuse and hurriedly ate it. It was delicious probably because it was the only proper meal I’d had in days. He smiled looking at me gobble it down. I looked at him and found myself smiling too.

"Miss, Sky. My husband is dead" I said softly.

"I'm sorry miss Sky. I'll let you rest now, we can talk about it later if you wish to. And please rest assured no harm will come to you, I will make sure of it. " he said kindly.

 For the first time in days I felt at ease. But the bloodhounds were not going to stop hunting me down for I carried the key to their destruction, the heir to the Silver Moon pack.