Raised by Wolves

The night was better than I could have imagined. The boys had some lights in the asylum and some of their band equipment that they had brought in earlier in the day. Even so, it did still spook me while they played. Their music was so dark and the vibrations made the building shake and some of the building itself began to flake from the ceiling.

After they jammed for a little, we had some beers near the car and the rest was history. I had a vague dream about it and that’s when I woke up.

It was sunny out and I was at a lake. I looked all around me to see if I should be worried about whether I was lost and if the guys were still near me. Behind me just a couple of yards away, there was the asylum. Ryan had fallen asleep no more than five feet away from me but it shocked me when I saw that Ronnie was spooning him.

Ron Ficarro had fallen asleep on a wooden table, Jacky was cuddling a tree. The person who scared me the most was Derek, who was lying down right beside the lake. He had left a little mess on his mouth from an excessive amount of alcohol.

Suddenly, he fell in, waking himself up and scaring the shit out of the rest of the sleepy band members. He screamed as he tried to pull himself out of it. When he was finally on land, he stood up, his legs shaking. “I’m good, thanks for asking.”

I stood up and ran over to him. “Derek, are you sure you’re ok?”

“As I said. I’m as ripe as a peach.” The poor guy then walked right through me, giving me a glare and headed towards the building.

Ronnie stretched and yawned. “I’m hungry. Who wants to go to Subway?”

Jacky was at his back along with Ryan. “Let’s go guys.” He smiled and left.

I walked over to Ron who was still lying on the table. I sat on the bench that was connected. “I’m shocked to say the least that I’ve come within distance of you once again.”

“I can’t believe you’re still on this. It was just a wolf and I didn’t even kill him.” He stayed in the same position and kept his eyes looking up at the trees.

There was something in his voice that was telling me that he was lying to me. That he did actually care. He didn’t even look at me to say it. Possibly he just didn’t care. I guess he’s not to be blamed considering hunting is natural to many men and that he didn’t know that he was shooting a human being.

“I can’t shake something, Sam. When I shot him, I didn’t have a good feeling about it. You didn’t even need to come in and make me regret my choices because I already felt it.”

“What do you mean?”

Ron rested his hands over his eyes. “I don’t think I could bear talking about it.” He sat up on the table and looked over at me. “Doesn’t mean anything. He’s as much of a wolf as any wolf I’d ever shot at.”

I didn’t exactly want to put my hand on his, but I did. “What if it’s a sign that you’re not meant to hunt anymore? If you love music, if music is your passion, maybe hunting doesn’t fulfill an emptiness that you feel.”

He stood up. “Maybe it’s that I don’t hunt enough.”

Those last four words gave me shivers up my spine. They were words that stopped my breathing, words that left me speechless. Tears covered the globes of my eyes. I wanted to hit him so badly, but I didn’t dare to.

Ryan walked over to us. “Are you guys coming?” He smiled at me and wiped my tears. “What happened?” His eyes wrapped around Ron but he only walked away.

Suddenly, we were the only ones in the world. I grabbed him into a tight hug. “I don’t want you to be a werewolf!”

“I can’t help you there. I am what I am; a werewolf.”

“I’ll protect you then.”

He grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me away. “What are you talking about? Sammie, I’m fine.”

I didn’t say anything else to him. I just stopped, wiped my tears, and walked back to the car.

Since I had about three hours till school ended, I ended up going to Ryan’s house. We stepped in and he offered me to take a seat on the couch downstairs.

It was a comfy, cute little home. The walls in this room were a dark shade of red. All the furniture was perfectly set to the house.

He handed me a glass of water. “Do you want to tell me about what happened between you and Ron?”

My fists clenched up. There were so many things that I wanted to say that I knew wouldn’t blow over well, but I couldn’t help myself from saying the worst. “Don’t hang out with Ron anymore.”

Ryan folded his arms and just tried to put his happiest face on. “And why do you think that?”

“It’s best for me to know and for you to never find out.”

“Well, I can’t promise you anything unless I know what’s going on. He’s one of my best friends. You can’t expect me to just let him go.”

I stood up and pushed him into the couch. My finger was pointed at him. I was so full of anger and sadness. “Well do you think that it’s ok that he’s a hunter and goes to the forest where you go every full moon?

The smile faded from Ryan’s face when I pushed him back, but mostly when I told him. “Sam, come here.” He motioned me to sit beside him. I did as I was told and he grabbed my legs so they were across his.

I was feeling sick to my stomach and I was sure that I had risen my temperature. My tears lightly slid down my face.

He petted my head. “I’ll talk to him about this. He’s a good guy; doesn’t know that werewolves exist. If he doesn’t listen, I’ll kick his ass.”

“Really?” It barely sounded like me when I said this. Such a light and pathetic sound.

Ryan’s voice became husky. “Really.”

He slowly brought his face close to mine, his hands slide onto my cheeks. My arms rested upon his neck as he began to kiss me.

“What the fuck!” It was a girl’s voice that was at the edge of the stairs. We pulled away from each other and looked at her. She had black hair, a white loose shirt and shorts that were way to small. I had also noticed that it was the girl from four years ago. The girl who had gone to my school and I saw Ryan loving her.

Ryan stood up, “Get out of my house, Jenn.”

She was angry as she looked over at me. “I go to see my parents and I come home to seeing a young girl kissing you?”

“This isn’t about her! You and I broke up, that’s why you went to see your parents.”

Jenn came running at him and slapped him. “We were having a tough time. I told you I’d be at my parents for a few days!” She glared over at me and back at him. “Can I talk to you about this in private?”

“No! Anything you have to say can be said here!”

She looked like she was about to cry. There was an intensity in his voice that Ryan gave to her that he gave to Ronnie in the car. They just stood there, thinking about each other. I had a feeling that they were talking to each other through their eyes, something that couples do.

Ryan’s voice was low now. “The last thing I said to you was to not come back. I meant it, Jenn.”

“Ryan, I don’t understand. You love this baby girl more than me?” Jenn took another good glare at me and stomped over to me, grabbing me by the neck. Tears were building up in her eyes and her voice became like Ryan’s. “You’re a home breaker, baby. He’ll break your heart.”

Before things got uglier, Ronnie and the boys came running down the stairs to save my story ass. “Get off her, you crazy bitch!” Ronnie seemed pissed.

Once Ronnie started screaming at her and her back at him, I got out of the situation and ran outside.

I took a cigarette out of my pocket. It wasn’t often that I smoked, but sometimes it got just so bad and I needed one. This was one of those times. If Jenn saw me ever again, she would kill me. I put it in my mouth but right as I was about to lite it, she came running out cursing out the boys in the band.

They just screamed back at her. Ron waved at her, saying goodbye. “Bye-bye bitch!” She just got in her car and drove away.

I was in the same position as when she first walked out. The only thing that moved to show I was still alive was my eyes. They were now focused on watching her speed down the street like a mad woman.

It scared me when I felt my cigarette being taken out of my mouth and the lighter out of my hand. I looked to see who had done it. It was none other than the one guy in the band that I knew for sure that I could trust.

“I want to go home now.”

Jacky walked over to me and put his arm around my back. “I’ll take you.” He said this in a very calm, very loving way.