My Curse

I sat straight up in my bed as I tried to catch my breathing and slow down my heart rate. My feet were entangled within the covers and I was sweating like crazy. My eyes scanned the room for anything out of the ordinary, but all seemed fine. The ceiling fan is spinning on high, daylight came throughout the window, birds are singing outside….

And there are absolutely no werewolves trying to kill me.

As my breathing and heart rate returned to its natural pace, I got out of my bed and headed to the bathroom down the hallway. I turned on the sink and washed my face with cold water. A couple of deep breath I let in and out before I looked at myself in the mirror. My jet black curls were everywhere and I have bags under my eyes.

“Wow, don’t you just look like shit right now.” I said to myself. After turning off the sink, I walked myself towards the kitchen where I see a familiar face.

“Hey Lysa,” Tiana said to me from the counter she was sitting at. “You’re finally awake.” I let out a small laugh at her comment as my dog, Luna got up from the floor and greeted me. I bent down to pet her soft coat and cooed at her.

“Where is everyone?” I asked Tiana.

“They went to go get some food to bring back to the house.” She replied back, “Hey, I heard a scream earlier, was that you?”

“Yeah, that was me.” I answered her and I got up and rested my arms on the counter, across from her. “Just woke up from a really bad nightmare, that’s all.”

“How bad was it?” She asked me, looking at me with a concerned face.

I let out a sigh as I wiped my head. “Pretty bad, cousin.”

She pulled a chair right next to me and sat down. “You wanna talk about it?”

I moved my hair out of my face and sat down in a chair next to her. “It was about that night. That night where… everything happened.”

“Oh.” Tiana understood what I meant. Her hand immediately went up to her left shoulder and started rubbing it.

“How’s your arm? Is it still bothering you?” I asked her as I tried to examine, but she brushed me off.

“It’s doing fine.” She said. “What about you? How’s your side doing?” I didn’t really need to speak to give her an answer. I sat up as I pulled up my shirt half way, revealing four claw marks that forever scarred my body. They stretched from the back of my left kidney all the way until it hit the edge of my stomach.

“Still hasn’t completely healed yet.” I touched the pink marks that contrasted with my caramel skin tone. I looked over at Tiana’s shoulder to reveal hers. Her scars were about the same as mine, but not so life threatening.

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with my softball season, I’ll be fine.” Tiana let out a small smile as she covered her shoulder again.

“Well, be grateful that he only grazed you, Tia.” I pointed my finger right her heart, “Because if he had came any more closer, you my dear sweet cousin, would be pushing up daisies right now.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that you prevented that from happening isn’t it?” She informed me. “I really don’t want to be dead before I go to my new school. That would suck majorly.” I just laughed at her comment. It’s a good thing that she’s able to see the funny things out of something so serious.

“Well, if only a certain someone didn’t get expelled from her old school, she wouldn’t be worried about dying, wouldn’t she?” I directed it at Tia.

“Hey, now that wasn’t entirely my fault.” Tiana defended herself. “That bitch made me. I got tired of her ass bullying people in the school, making her think that she runs the damn school so I decided to set her straight. She got in my face and before I knew it, I was giving her a high five…
In the face…
With my fists…
Over and over again.”

“But the principal’s daughter though?” I laughed at the thought. “I’m surprised that he didn’t have you arrested.”

“I really don’t care. Regardless if she’s his daughter or not, no one has the right to bully people, especially my best friend.” Tia informed me.

“That is true.” I said. “How is your friend handling your departure?”

“Ashton’s pretty bummed about it, but he says that he can try and visit whenever he can, and I’m glad to hear it.” She said. “I need my dose of gay best friend in order to get through this school year.”

“I’m sure you will get to see Ashton again.” I assured her, “I am also sure that you will make some new friends at Beacon Hills, Tiana.”

She gave me an unconvincing look.

“Okay, yes, moving during the middle of the year is a bit challenging,” I admitted, “Especially since you’re going to a different state and all, but I promise that you will make more friends.”

“I will hold you onto that, Alysia.” She informed me as she grabbed her Arizona ice tea from across the table. “I do have something I want to ask you about the school though.”

“And what might that be, Tiana?” I asked her curiously.

I saw a smirk form on the corner of her mouth as she spoke, “Will there be any cute guys there at Beacon Hills High School?”

“Oh my gosh, is that all you can think about?” I laughed at her.

“What! It’s the first thing that popped into my head.” She giggled in her defense. “You can’t deny a teenage girl her pleasures.”

I couldn’t stop laughing, but it felt so good right now. “You are so human.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a human, so stop stalling and spill out the details, my dear cousin.” She begged me.

“Okay, Okay.” I calmed down, “The high school has probably changed over the six years that I’ve been gone, but the percentage of cute-hot people of the male gender hopefully should be the same.”

“Lysa, I’m only 16. Please stop using words that confuse me and speak pure English!”

“Yes, Tiana, there will be cute hot guys at the school if I have to search every corner of the building to fine them!” I enunciated so that she would understand.

“Good!!” she yelled at me in excitement. I just shook my head as my hand went to Luna and automatically started petting her.

“I know we went off topic, but there’s another thing I wanted to ask you about.”

“Ask away.” I told her, my mind being somewhere else.

She hesitated a bit. “Is it true that you can’t… you know…‘turn’ anymore?”

Her question caught me by surprise as I stopped petting Luna. I had to think about it for a moment, but I couldn’t come up with a simple answer. In that moment, I heard footsteps come from the outside of the front door and could hear voices that I recognized.

“We’ll talk about that later.” I said to Tiana as I got up from my seat and went to open the door for my grandma and the rest of the family. They don’t need to hear about the conversation that we just had.

____________________________________

For the rest of the day, I just spent the time with my family. My aunts and uncles helped my grandmother cook dinner; my cousins conversed with each other and Tiana’s friend Ashton came by see her one more time before she left.

It’s nice, seeing a portion of my family like this, especially for the ones that I haven’t seen in a while. With the time that I have lived in Beacon Hills, California, I don’t really see my mom’s side of the family that much. They are the only family that I really have, since I have absolutely no idea who on earth my real father is.
My mom would tell me little stuff about him, but she didn’t tell me everything about him. She kept saying to me, ‘I will tell you when the time is right.’ That’s all she would tell me and nothing more, no many how many times I argued with her about it. She never did tell me anymore about my father, because she died before she could.

“More like murdered is the correct term.” I whispered to myself as I stood on the back porch, reminiscing old memories. I look up at the now night sky as an almost full moon shined its way through the clouds. Just looking at that thing made me remember the nightmare I had before hand and I cringed at the thought of it. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the door open behind me, and I saw one of my uncles (Tiana’s father) come from behind it.

“Hey Lysa, I didn’t know you were out here.” He said as he shut the door and came outside. “What are you doing out here by yourself at this time of night?”

“Just collecting my thoughts, that’s all.” I answered him, “Plus, I’m not by myself. Luna’s out here to keep me company.”

“Mm-hmm. Just collecting your thoughts, huh?” My uncle commented as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. “Would your thoughts just happen to be about going home?”

“Pretty much,” I sighed, “I haven’t spent that much time in Beacon Hills since… you-know-what happened.”

“Ah, I remember.” He told as he took a hit of his smoke. “Jennifer’s death is still taking a toll on all of us, after all these years. I know it hit you the most, being that you are her only child.”

I didn’t say anything. I just lowered my head as I sat myself down on a chair, trying to keep my emotions together. As my hands were about to shake, Luna came and rested her head on my lap. I let out a smile as I rubbed her soft coat, thanking her mentally.

“I just hope that the police caught the mountain lion or whatever animal it was and ended its life just like it did my baby sister’s.” My uncle said through his smoke. I could tell that he was angered about it.

“I’m pretty sure they did.” I said, avoiding his eyes.

He doesn’t know the whole thing. He doesn’t know that my mom’s death wasn’t just an accident. She was killed by a werewolf; an Alpha werewolf.

The same one that I killed…

“I just don’t get it.” He said as he took another hit. “First Jennifer gets killed by a mountain lion, and then the same type of animal comes and attacks a bunch of teenagers, including you and Tiana. What is with these wild animals nowadays?”

“I have no clue, Uncle Saul.” I told him lying through my teeth. “Maybe something is scaring them out of their habitat.”

“Whatever the case may be, hopefully they’ll stay in their habitat and away from you girls.” He said as he finished his cigarette and dropped it.

“You know cigarettes are bad for your health, Uncle Saul?” I told him as I stepped on the remainder of it with my bare foot.

“Alysia, don’t use your bare foot! You could burn yourself.” He tried to stop me.

“It’s alright, Uncle Saul. Look.” I lifted up my foot to show the bottom of my foot, just covered with a little ash. “See, no burn marks. Besides, I don’t feel pain as much as I should, you know that.”

“Well whatever, cover your feet before your grandmother see you. You know that if she sees you without anything covering your feet, she will have your tail.” He warned me as he opened the door. I just laughed and agreed with as I entered the house. Just as I walked in, everyone is already in the kitchen eating and conversating. I noticed Tiana in the living room, playing with one of my younger cousins.

“Monkey, stop eating my face. You are not a zombie in Miami on bath salts.” Tiana said to the baby girl who couldn’t understand anything. She went back to putting her mouth on my cousin’s face. I laughed as I approached them.

“Having fun, Tia?” I asked her.

“No, Madisyn keeps giving me kisses and I keep telling her to stop, but she just goes on and eats my face. Isn’t that right, Monkey?” Tiana looked at the baby, who just stared back at her.

“Well, maybe she just likes the way your face tastes. She is a baby after all.” I told her as I reached out my arms to Madisyn. The cute 9-month-old baby gladly went to me as she left Tiana. As soon as she was in my arms, she started playing with my necklace and almost choking me.

“Better that she attacks you than me.” Tiana said to me as we went back to the kitchen. I gave Madisyn back to her mother so that I could start eating.

During the whole dinner conversation, I had to talk to everyone about me and Tia’s new living situations. They wanted to make sure that both of us are safe and are sure about our decisions. I told everyone that I would look after Tiana carefully while we are there. They are still hesitant about it, but they trust me with her. By the time that dinner was over, it was time to put our things in the car. My stuff is already good and packed; I just have to wait for Tiana with hers.
After that was done, it was time to say our goodbyes. This is always one of the hardest things that I have to do, especially now. I gave my hugs and said goodbye to everyone that showed up at the house. The last person I went to is my grandmother, and I hugged her just enough so that I wouldn’t crush her.

“Alysia, are you sure you’re awake enough to make this trip?” My grandmother asked me.

“Grandma, it’s only a 5 hour drive. I think I’ll be fine.” I assured her.

“I just want to be sure. You never know what could happen while driving in the middle of the night. A bunch of idiot drivers came out at this time of night. I want you girls to be safe on the road.” She went on.

“Grandma,” I put my hands on her shoulders, “If it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll take the safest route possible and will call you as soon as we arrive at the house.”

“Alright, sweetie. Grandma just worries about you, that’s all.”

“I know. I love you Grandma.”

“Love you too, Jennifer.” She said to me. It caught me off guard, but I let it slide. I don’t blame her though. She did lose her youngest child in a freak ‘accident’, and I do look a lot like my mother. Of course she misses her, all of us do.

I waved everyone goodbye and went ahead into the driver’s seat of the car. As I shut the door, I saw out of the passenger window that Tiana and Ashton were still embraced together. I could see a tear run down off Ashton’s cheek and my chest heaved. I managed to catch a tear that started to escape through my eyes as well before Tiana got in the car.

“Hey, Lysa!” I rolled down the passenger side window to see Ashton right outside it. “You make sure that you look after Tia, alright? This girl may be a sarcastic mean bitch sometimes, but regardless of that she is my best friend in the whole wide world. I love this girl to death, and you better protect her from anything that tries to harm her or gets in her face, you get me?”

“Ashton, I will make it my sworn duty to protect my younger cousin even if it costs me my life, okay? She will be in good hands, I promise you I will look after her.” I reached over and placed my hand over his, trying to calm him down.

“Okay,” he wiped the tears away from his face. “That makes me feel better.”

“Ashton, it’s not like I’m being shipped off to another galaxy or something like that. I’ll be just 5 hours away. That’s enough time for you to drive your pretty little self across state lines and visit me.” Tiana assured her best friend.

“Are you sure about me coming to visit?” His face brightened up like a kid in a candy store as he asked me.

“Ashton, you’re welcome to visit as much as you want. You can even stay as long as you want.” I told him, feeling better as his smile grew so much, his face almost ripped in half.

"Thank you so much, Lysa! I'm finally able to see my best girl friend now!" He giggled as he gave Tiana one last hug. After that, Tiana and I waved our last goodbyes to everyone as we started the car and drove off onto the road. I turned on the heater just a tad so that Tia wouldn't get cold with her pj's on in this Arizona nighttine coldness, but then I'd figure that she's used to this kind of weather already.

"Alysia, what time are we going to reach Beacon Hills?" Tia asked me as she played with Luna, who was content in the backseat.

"Well, we were supposed to leave earlier, but you know how Grandma is." I told her, "So now, we will probably arrive there around 1 or 2 in the morning."

"Okay. I usually stay up for that long, so that seems like no biggie." She said as she leaned back into her seat. I looked at her closely as she gazed out through the window to the moving scenery outside. I heard a sigh leave her mouth as she still star-gazed and it got me thinking just a bit.
I let a few 20 minutes pass by before I spoke again.

"Tiana, are you sure that we made the right decision?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You moving in with me, to go to school where I went to, across state lines away from where our family is at and your friends?"

"Yeahh, those are all true." She said, "What's wrong with that?"

"Is it right for me to take you away, away from your friends, away from your family," I told her, "Away from your parents?"

She let out a sigh. "I've already talked to them about this. Ever since that incident that happened at school, no other school in my area will take me. I didn't want to be homeschooled and I didn't want my parents to go through the trouble of putting me in some expensive private school. So, when you finally said that you were going to get a job as a teacher back at your old high school, that gave me an idea.
If I can't go get into a school in my district, why not just go to yours? So that's what I did."

"Tiana, that was still big to ask of them though."

"I don't care." She admitted, "The real reason that they're letting me go is so that I can be with you."

"That's their reason? Just so that you can be with me?" I was a little confused.

"Something like that. They really want me to keep an eye on you." She said.

"Keep an eye on me?" I repeated, "Is that suppose to be the other way around? It's my job to look after you."

"I know that much, it's just well..."

"Well ...? Just tell me what it is."

She was hesitant a bit. "Alysia, ever since Aunt Jen died, we hardly ever saw you. You literally went missing for years. We had no idea what happened to you or where you were. It was like after your mom died, you just..... vanished off the face off the earth."

I didn't say a word. I just listened to her talk.

"Everyone thought that something worse had happened to you too. So last year when you came back, it was a miracle to all of us."

"But you know where I was." I said.

"Yeah, NOW I know, but no one did back then." She replied. "You didn't tell me what really happened to you until after we were attacked."

"And there was a really good reason for that." I explained. "Most humans don't know that werewolves actually exist in this world. If word gets out that there are, it won't be pretty."

"But we're blood. We're family, you can trust us." She pointed out.

"I trust you." I acknowledged. "If anyone else in the family found out the truth, they would see me as a monster; not a human being."

"I don't see you as a monster."

"Well, of course you don't. You've loved wolves for as long as I can remember." I let out a small laugh.

"Wolves are one of my favorite animals, along with dogs." She laughed as she petted Luna from behind.

"That's the thing, Tia. You're not spooked out by supernatural stuff like this. That's why I'm able to trust you with this." I stated.

"The only time I'm ever scared of supernatural things is when they're trying to kill me." She claimed.

"Well, I'm going to make sure that will never happen again." I turned towards her, "Not when you're with me."

"Yeah, because you did such a good job last time." She joked playfully.

"Look missy, do you have all of your limbs? All of your vital organs and are functioning properly?" I told her laughing at the same time. "You're alive right now, so I'm pretty sure I did a damn good job protecting you."

"You know I'm just jocking you, Lysa." She admitted still laughing.

"I know you are. You always make serious moments hilarious, and that's sometimes a good thing."

"It just means I love you, cousin."

"And I you." I told her, my eyes on the clear road. A few minutes passed by as we calmed down, and my train of thought was put on hold when I saw the clouds part in the sky, revealing a now bright full moon. Tia must've seen my eyes, as she followed my gaze to what I was seeing.

"To answer your question from before..." I spoke to her, "The moon doesn't affect me as it did before. Including this one, six full moons have passed since the Alpha incident and I have yet to turn."

"So what does it mean?" Tia asked me.

"I have no clue, but hopefully it means good news." I said.

"Because you killed that Alpha, and you haven't turned yet since then, do you think that maybe..." She dragged on.

"That could be a possibilty." I understood her. "Whatever the situation might be, it's enough to keep you out of harms way." Tianna nodded her head and laid back in her seat. We waited until we passed state lines to speak again.

" Welcome to California ." I read the sign out loud. "You know now it's too late to turn back now, right?"

"I understand that." She said.

"Are you anxious about starting a new life?"

"Sort of, I've already accepted that fact now."

"I just hope you know what you're getting into." I told her.

"I made the decision to come here. There's no way I'm turning back now." She assured me.

"Okay." I kept driving, "I will tell you this though: My world is entirely different from the one you know.. I want you to know that."

"Will there be other werewolves in Beacon Hills?" She asked.

"There might be." I indicated. "Some might be good, Some might be bad. But yes, there is a chance of other werewolves here."

"Okay.."

"Tiana," She looked at me, "I will make it my life's sworn duty to make sure that nothing, and i mean absolutely nothing will harm you, do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand." She replied to me.

"Good, let's go home and get some sleep." I yawned. "I could sure use it."

"Lysa." I listened to Tiana, "Just as you're looking after me, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you either. I'm not letting you go away that easily ever again. I owe you for saving my life."

"Tiana, you don't owe me anything."

"No, I do. That's why I'll make sure to keep you safe too. Deal?" She extended her pinky at me.

I looked at my younger cousin as she had a serious smile imprinted on her face, indicating that she's telling the truth. I smiled back at her.

"You got yourself a deal." I wrapped my pinky around hers and we swore to each other as we came across the entrance to the Beacon Hills.

Home, Sweet, Home...