The Protective Wolf

My mind was still overwhelmed by the concept of actual, living breathing werewolves even two weeks late. Two weeks of living along side them, eating with them, hanging out with them. I attended classes, stuck to Molly like glue, like she was my only hint of normality despite there being no actual change to my life other than I knew a new secret.

That raced through my mind too. It was a secret, and not my secret. I couldn’t go and drop this bomb on Molly, even though the thought bothered me during the night while I sat in my bed with the sound of her chainsaw snoring ringing in my ears. I hadn’t really slept much lately, maybe an hour or two each night. Whenever I fell asleep there was this scratching sound of the door of our dorm room, like an animal was out there begging to come inside. And it made my heart race. And it made me want to call Lukas. But I didn’t, I let my heart race off into the night.

“So I’ve started this new book recently,” Mom’s voice rang out through my phone, “and I think you might like it too. I’m only on chapter two, but it’s great.” I glanced over to Molly, where she sat on the couch beneath her lofted bed reading her textbook. She didn’t seem bothered by my Mom’s voice attacking us through the air. I had her speaker phone, but the woman still tended to shout whenever she was on the phone.

“What’s it about?” I asked, focusing back to my blank sheet of paper, my blank essay.

“Werewolves,” Mom chuckled, something ruffled like paper in the background, “but not like something gory like your brother would read, something romantic. The back said it stuck true to the myths and legends, well it actually said the truth, but come on, that’s all bullshit. Myths. Legends.” She sighed, probably realizing she wasn’t exactly hyping the book up as good for me. Molly chuckled, lifting her head to look at the phone as if she could see my Mom sitting here with us. I met her gaze. She rolled her eyes. “It’s a good book, I know I just killed it there, but really you and Molly may like it.”

“Molly doesn’t read, Mom,” I laughed.

Molly slammed her book shut, tossing it to the side, “Once you read Dr. Seuss, nothing really ever can compare.” She sighed, leaning back against the couch. My mom took this as her time to try and convert Molly into a reader, by explaining thoroughly the plot of the book with an in-depth analysis of each character according to her and the results she’d found on Google. A search she’d done while giving us the plot run through of course.

“Well, Mrs. Johnson,” Molly’s voice cut my Mom’s off, “I’m going to go for a run.” Hearing the word run immediately got my attention: Molly never runs. I narrowed my eyes at her and I knew it must have looked like I wasn’t buying this half assed lie so she came over to me and grabbed my face. “Yes, Reagan, I am beginning to run. To better myself.” She released my face, gave me a smirk, and then grabbed her bag off the floor to loop through her arms so it fell against her back.

“Yeah Mom, I’m going to go to the library. Maybe I’ll find the book you were talking about.” I smiled. She couldn’t see me, but I smiled either way. My mom laughed lightly, it sounded light and floaty. I tapped the red circle on my iPhone screen to hang up the call before turning to watch my best friend shove stuff into her bag. A bottle of water with our school’s logo in blue, an extra shirt, a stick of deodorant, half a pack of gum, and a notebook. “So you’re just going for a run?”

“Yeah,” Molly smiled, not looking back at me, but focusing down on shoving that notebook into her small string back, “and maybe to meet up with Shelby and Markus later. Markus wanted to have a movie night tonight, watch one movie with like Amanda Seyfried and Little Red Riding Hood I think.” Her hair was tied back, her body clad in a blue shirt and some black yoga pants. “First, I’m going to start running. Hudson said he’d help me out.”

“I thought you weren’t a fan of them,” I asked.

“I wasn’t,” Molly shrugged, “but Markus is really friendly and I kind of do want to get in shape. I don’t exactly lead a healthy lifestyle with soda and chips and fast food.” She didn’t smile, just stuck her tongue out at me before heading toward our dorm room door. “Are you really going to the library?”

I ran a hand through my hair, “Probably not, but I kind of wanted off the phone.” Molly pursed her lips, nodding. Her hand rested on the doorknob, turning it absentmindedly before she looked up at me. “I’ll probably catch up on some sleep or meet up with this guy from my class. He’s apparently really good at the subject and I am really good at being horrible at it.”

“Have fun with that,” Molly laughed, finally leaving our room and closing the door behind her.

I waited a couple minutes before searching my desk to gather up my cell phone and removing it completely from where it was half hidden under some papers. My first thought was to call Lukas and tell him something, ask him something. Probably more things about what he is, probably warn him to stay away from Molly, keep her out of this. But instead I found my fingers tapping until I reach my school’s library site, tap the search bar, and look them up. Werewolves.

Articles pop up, that single word bolded and shouting at me “Are you really naive enough to believe this is real?” Titles of books on the topic came up as well. Some reviewing other books, some explaining myths and legends, and then of course those with television shows and movies about werewolves. And that’s how I spent my night, bundled up in a cocoon of blankets scrolling through endless names of articles and books and reviews. The more I read, the more confused I was.

The articles said they were vicious. Dangerous. Ate humans. Nothing like what Hudson and Lukas had told me. But shouldn’t I believe the ones who claim to be them, or should I believe the articles written by professionals and funded by large universities I’d barely heard of? Even with the passing time, I gained no ideas on how we could possibly test anything.

Soon enough I find myself falling asleep with the words of the articles flashing through my dreams like unwelcome guests.