I Don't Believe in Fairytales

Jessie wandered into a run down diner in Huntington Beach, California. She had ran from Washington and needed to eat before she set off again. Her brown eyes flicked around nervously, taking in small details and noting where the exits where. She had smelt another pack in the area but was in desperate need for food and a shower and decided to take her chances and be quick, hopefully before they noticed her. She sat down close to the door so she could get a quick get-away if she had to.

Her fingers drummed on the table subconsciously as an overweight waitress strolled up to her.

“What can I get ya' darlin'?” The waitress asked her, smacking her gum.

“Um, a large coffee, two bacon sandwiches and pancakes to go, please.” She told the waitress, smiling nervously. The waitress walked off and Jessie was left alone with her skittish thoughts. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and began to fiddle with the small necklace around her neck.

Each minute she waited for her food felt like ten and by the time the overweight waitress dawdled back over, Jessie felt like her stomach was about to start eating itself.

“Here's ya' food darlin.'” The waitress placed the coffee and the two bacon sandwiches down.

“The pancakes are behind the counter, no point takin' cold food home now is there.” She told her, laughing and patting her shoulder. Jessie cringed at the woman invading her personal space and awkwardly thanked her, just wishing she could eat her food and disappear.

Jessie devoured both of the bacon sandwiches within three minutes and swigged her coffee. She instantly felt better and stood up and stretched. She felt her bones pop and sighed, the content feeling didn't last though as she remembered her circumstances and headed towards the counter for her pancakes.

“Uh, I ordered pancakes to go before.” Jessie told the man at the counter, putting her hand in her pocket when he put the styrofoam container in front of her. She picked it up.

“That'll be $11.59 please, doll.” The man said to her, but Jessie was already half way out the door.

“Hey!”

Jessie ran up the street and through an alleyway heading back towards the forest she first came from. She slowed down when she was in the cover of the tree's and began to strip down to shift, Jessie wrapped her clothes around the container with the food inside. She felt much better when she felt her paws hit the ground and picked up her small bundle of clothes.

Jessie headed north until she arrived in a small clearing. She placed the bundle on the floor and trotted over to a tree on the left side of the clearing and began to scratch at the tree. A small whine came from inside and Jessie barked in response, knocking some leaves out the way to reveal a small hole beneath the tree.

Two large blue eyes stared into her brown ones and a small brown head peeked out followed by the small body of a pup. Jessie headed out into the middle of the clearing and nosed her bundle of clothes to reveal the food. The pup bounded over and began to sniff at the pancakes tentatively. Jessie nudged the pup's leg and it began to scarf down the food, not even stopping for a breath.

When the pup had finished eating, Jessie lead it back over to the tree and nuzzled it's face, in response, the pup licked the chin of her muzzle and settled itself back under the tree, waiting for Jessie to cover it back up. With one last look, Jessie nosed the leaves back over the hole and began to head back to Huntington Beach.

Jessie shifted back when she got near the beach and changed into her clothes. She discreetly sniffed the air, but there was no sign of the pack who's territory she was in. The tourist map she had picked up along the way told her she was only a short distance away from the mall, so she decided to head there to see if she could find any thrift shops.

As she entered the mall, the smell of other werewolves sent her mind into overdrive. She knew she couldn't leave without getting clothes so she ran into the nearest thrift shop as an attempt to mask her scent with the smell of dust and old perfume.

She rifled through the sets of clothes quickly and picked up a pair of skinny jeans and a grey t-shirt. She then proceeded to look for clothes for her daughter. She found a small pink t-shirt and jeans for her daughter and found a small pair of worn-in Converse.

Looking around, she spotted a middle-aged balding man watching her from behind the counter. Jessie carried on looking through the clothes to see if he would lose interest so she could run. It took two minutes before the man turned to look at his laptop and Jessie ran, again. She felt awful for stealing off people, but she had didn't have time to grab money when she escaped from her former pack's effort on murdering her and her pup.

She ran through the mall and into the daylight, still smelling the other pack around. It was only a matter of time before they could smell her, if they already hadn't. Jessie shoved the stolen clothes into her bag and ran towards the beach. The beach was the only way she knew how to get back to the forest.

Jessie ran until she could smell the salt in the air and she began to slow down. Jessie walked towards the sand and decided to walk along the beach. If the other pack found her it was just a straight run from here, through the pier and into the trees.

The sun was setting and Jessie sighed, watching the colors the sun cast over the water. She wished things were better for here and her pup. Her fingers subconsciously began to fiddle with her necklace and she began to walk again. She cut through the pier and just as she was about to enter the tree line, she was stopped by a chilling voice from behind her.

“What the fuck are you doing in our territory?”