EDWINA: MATCHED TO FOUR

NEW AWAKENING

The springly green eyes of the fortuitous miracle that she'd never imagined would betide her, scanned in deep scrutiny at Edwina's retrospect through the mirror. Looking at her rough ginger hair that was only a part of that which covered her whole being before, She found it hard to believe that she had actually transformed into an entirely different person. So much that she couldn't recognize herself anymore.

"I'm normal...?" she muttered, literally to herself, in disbelief as she stared at the figure she laid sight on in front of her. Unsurprisingly, her mirror self managed to outstare her. Edwina quickly moved away from the pleasant but horrific new truth of herself that she'd just discovered.

Cromsvelth has been a cruel place even for her, but she had gotten used to it all just as she'd done with every other obstacle in her life. However, seeing the beauty in the mirror, she was more convinced that she was bound to have it worse in the academy from now on. She hurriedly strode towards the arc-shaped window, slightly held the sheer luxurious curtains aside, and peeked down at the students that roamed the quad. Her warm green iris that scurried about in search of a group soon stopped when it found them. Suddenly, Edwina trembled and quickly hid herself from sight when Delphine almost caught her peeking at them. Sometimes it didn't seem unlike the Siren didn't have a sixth sense.

With her back against the wall and her heart racing wildly, Edwina's whole being instantly became covered in cold sweat. It was as though she'd broken a rented flying broom. Only that her situation was even worse. Edwina paced the dorm room with a clicking sound of her foot tapping on the floor board in obvious panic, which correlated to her nail-biting habit at the current. She looked towards the deep blue and black striped uniform on the bed- that is of colorful sheets, with hesitation and worry evident in her gaze. She'd never resented doing anything as much. She was still unfamiliar with the strange feeling of fresh cold air brushing on her naked skin.

Since a while ago, the temperature had suddenly become low and it wasn't until this moment that she realized how cold the world actually is. Worse was her heightened senses, as she could hear and smell things at once and at the same time, distinctively. Everything that she knew had become strange to her.

'Is this how it feels to be normal like the others?' She looked down at her pale white feet in conflicting thought.

Edwina had always wished for this, however, she'd learned from her bullies to give up on all hope after the ever-reassuring encouragement of her parents came to naught on the first full moon after her 16th birthday. She definitely had no expectations of wolfing out at 19, not that she believed anymore that she ever would.

Just at dawn, in a hypnopompic state, she felt a soft cold breeze brushing past her face and she couldn't help but shiver to awakening from the strange feeling of cold air of freedom colliding on her skin. Edwina found herself alone in the abandoned wilderness, on a bed of her own hair- naked. Her prior weak senses became instinctively sharp and her body felt light. The sweet yet strange feeling was still fresh in her mind.

Edwina could remember that she had wolfed out the night before and she could vividly recollect how she had howled at the full moon. It was a great feeling that she'd never forget and that she would like to experience once again and another after that. But she was cut-off her sensational reminiscence when she noticed that a strange, more concerning change had been brought upon her. She was confused when she realized that she could see more of her pink and slightly veiny skin than usual. She had observed herself in the wilderness as if her body weren't hers and she immediately ran to the dorm, managing to escape the sight of other students.

Edwina had a premonition as to what had happened to her and looking at herself in the mirror in her dorm now only confirmed it. Just as her parents had always predicted, she was finally out of her misery.

The first transformation of a werewolf was said to cure all disorder or syndrome of a werewolf and that, has happened to her. She'd always anticipated this day and now that it came, she was reluctant and hesitant, shy, nervous, and scared for her safety in the academy. Now that she was normal, would she finally be accepted by everyone in the academy? A part of her was still unsure, considering her past experience.

All her life she's had to stare in the mirror at a hairy beast of ginger hair like some fiery yeti. Edwina suffered from a disorder called Hypertrichosis, popularly known as a werewolf syndrome. She was born, and had been a subject of hatred and despise, in this condition. And despite all of that, she had pushed through up to this point. She'd accepted her fate and had acknowledged whom she was without complaints, though it came at the price of tormenting pain and agony. But now that she'd become normal, she found it hard to accept that this was who she truly is. Edwina simply felt like she was on borrowed plumes.

Nonetheless, Edwina had fencing in a few hours and Sir Pogarth was not one that allows lateness to his class. She visibly trembled from head to toe when the image of a grey haired man with a wrinkled face yelling and insulting in class surged in her mind. His yells were even more cruel than any of the awkward stares and abuses that Edwina might ever get from the other students in Cromsvelth.

'I just have to act normal' Edwina convinced herself and heaved a deep sigh in a calming hand gesture before bending to pick up her uniform from the bed. No one would recognize her anyway. However, the last thing she wanted was to attract attention by getting late to class or being absent.