Poison and Wine

Black fur.

Yellow eyes.

Sharp teeth.

Blood.

Running through the woods.

Screams.

Dead body.

Mutilated body.

It was coming after me now. And all I felt was pain. Searing pain.

I woke with a scream.

My curls were matted to my face with sweat. My heart was racing. I still felt it. I felt the pain. My ankle was throbbing and burning and tingling. It felt so real. Like that wolf had actually bit me. And that body. It looked real. I could smell it. The smell of the blood and the dead body. It stuck with me. Like I actually lived through it. Brynn was by my side in man instant.

"Woah, Annie, calm down," she spoke soothingly. She placed both her hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at her. "It's all good. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real."

I was hyperventilating now. "It felt— real— I can— smell— the blood—"

"Antoinette?! Brynna?!" Chris hollered. His pounding footsteps could be heard on the rickety staircase leading up to our room. One of these days, that old thing would give away and I'm more then positive I'd be the one it would give away on. Our door burst open and in he came in his old man pajamas and robe. He was actually wearing a robe. If I wasn't freaking out, I would've laughed. "What's going on? Is something wrong?" He rushed out.

"She just had a nightmare," Brynn replied. Chris sat down on my other side and rubbed my back. It calmed me down a little. "Antoinette, sweetie, what happened?"

See, this was the Chris that I missed. The one who played the big brother roll and not the parent-slash-grandfather roll. He was always my shoulder to cry on when my teddy bear got lost. Or when I fell and skinned my knee. He was older then me and Brynn, but he never gave us shit about anything. He was the best big brother a girl could ask for. That was until he graduated high school and moved from New York to go to college in Pennsylvania. It was four hours away but our parents never bothered to drive it and neither did he. As soon as we turned the legal driving age, we asked our parents if we could drive down there but they refused.

They always talked about him when they thought we were sleeping. They said he abandoned our family. That he didn't care about us anymore. With parents like ours, I could understand it. If they hadn't of died, I would've gotten as far away from them as I could. Chris took the first chance he got and hauled ass out of there. Our parents had our lives planned out for us the second they found out they were expecting.

We were mini lawyers in the making. We were supposed to get a full ride to Harvard and/or Princeton and/or Yale. By the time we were in our late twenties we were to take over their law firm that sat in the heart of New York. We would carry on the legacy that was Tanner Law Firm. That was their plan for Chris, but as soon as he informed him that he was going to some small college in Pennsylvania, they threw those plans on us. He was supposed to take over the law firm by twenty six, get married at thirty, and have two point five kids by the time he was thirty five. Our lives were planned out for us and we had no say in.

But Chris, he didn't care. He did what he wanted to do and didn't back down. He always told us when we were growing up that we needed to do what we wanted to do, but as soon as he left he quit. He just gave up. He didn't tell us anything. He didn't contact either of us. It was like he was fed up with our parents and didn't give two shits about what they did to us. He supposedly cared about us, but in all actuality he didn't. He fucked us over.

I shrugged him off, leaning into Brynn. He let out a sigh. "She's fine, Chris," Brynn snapped. "You can leave now."


"So what's going on with you and Godfrey boy?" Brynn asked.

With a shrug, I flipped the lenses of my sunglasses down. My head was pounding and my eyes hurt. Every time I tried to close them I saw those yellow eyes and that black fur. And I still felt the pain. I swiped some of Chris' high dollar pain meds when he wasn't looking and popped one before we left for school.

"Nothing that I know of," I mumbled. After I woke up from my nightmare this morning, I never did fall back asleep. Chris and Brynn did, but I didn't. I went to bed at midnight and woke up at two am, and I've been awake ever since. I didn't even bother getting dressed up this morning. I put on a pair of sweats I found lying on the floor and a plain tee. Both passed the smell test, so I went ahead and wore them. I didn't even bother with makeup either. Brynn on the other hand put more into her appearance. Props to her.

"Sure looked like something at the dance the other night," she teased. I wasn't in the mood for her teasing. "Brynn, my head hurts and I feel like utter and complete shit. Please don't start," I mumbled, dropping down at a desk.

This was the last class of the day and the easiest, so I didn't want to strain my brain any more then needed.

"Alright class, if you have any assignments that you need done for other classes feel free to get started on them," Mr. Latterly announced. "I've got emails to reply to."

Everyone let out audible sighs of relief and went about their business. I went to lay my head down on the desk but Mr. Latterly's voice stopped me.

"Miss Tanner?"

"Which one?" Brynn and I asked monotonously. He pointed at me. "Yeah?"

"The classroom is no place for sunglasses," he spoke. "Please take them off."

"I'd really rather not," I replied. His eyebrows raised and I felt the eyes of everyone in the room on me. Even Brynn's. "Excuse me?" He challenged.

With a sigh, I said, "I had a really bad night and only got two hours of sleep, if that. And I'd really rather not let you goons see the bags under my eyes. So let's just come to an agreement; I wear my sunglasses and don't bother you and you can finish your emails and not have to stay later by writing me up and sending me to the office."

His mouth snapped shut. And he didn't say anything else. He just went back to tapping at his keyboard with a clenched jaw.

"Way to push his buttons, Ann," Brynn whispered. A half assed smirk was shot her way before I folded my arms on the desktop and buried my head in them. "S'what I do best," I mumbled.


"I need something to eat and drink," I groaned. Brynn was driving my car home from school and we were getting ready to pass down Main Street. That meant passing the Country Store.

"We can stop at the store and get some burritos?" She offered. I nodded. She quickly whipped the car into a parking spot and shut it off. We shuffled in, in silence. We both ordered the same thing; breakfast burrito with large Sprites. As we waited for our food, the bell above the door dinged.

"Well, look who it is."

Oh god. Why is he here? And why now? I look like a slob.

"Hey Brynn, Hey Annie."

"Hi Peter, Hi Roman," we spoke in unison. They sat down beside us at the small table. Peter adjusted his leather jacket while Roman kept his peacoat-slash-trench coat -or whatever kind of coat it was- buttoned. I was used to the cold from living in New York my whole life, so all I bothered with was my jean jacket.

"What're you doing here?" Brynn questioned.

Peter shrugged. "Roman—" Before he could finish, our attention was brought to the lady entering the store. She was a colored lady who had a badge of some sort and looked like she was on a mission. My eyes followed her to the counter where she ordered some food to-go. When she got her sandwich and drink, she turned and stopped. Her icy stare was on the four of us sitting at the small table.

"Who is that?" I mumbled to Roman. He tensed as she started walking toward us. Instead of coming to us, she walked right on past and out the door. "That's Dr. Chasseur," he answered. "She's a fucking nosy bitch."

"Why'dya say that?"

"Because—" Peter cut Roman off. "We have to go get Shelley, remember? We can't leave her there," he rushed out. He quickly stood up and practically dragged Roman out of the store.

Brynn and I looked at each with raised eyebrows. "That was weird."

"Stop doing that."

Us talking at the same time and saying the same thing happened more often then not. It was that cliche creepy twin talk.

"I'll hit you."

I smirked. "No you won't. You'd never hit your baby sister. Especially if she had a bad night."

She let out a sigh of defeat, her face falling. "True."

"Two loaded burritos for Annie and Brynn!"


The Godfrey house was easily the biggest house in this town. It only made sense seeing as the Godfrey's basically kept this town up and running. They owned it in a sense.

And I had no idea why I was here. Well, yes I did. I had to bring Shelley back her phone. She left it on the table during last hour today and I didn't think of giving it to Roman when we saw him at the store. I'd heard stories of the Godfrey's. How the mom was crazy. The dad shot himself in the head because the wife pushed him too it. The mom didn't give a rats ass about Shelley. The mom favored Roman. There was a rumor I'd heard from my brother that Mrs. Godfrey and Roman's uncle, Norman Godfrey were having an affair. I'd also heard from kids at school that Letha and Roman were oddly close. I hadn't ever seen cousins that close, not even brother and sister. Maybe twin sisters or twin brothers, but never cousins.

"May I help you?" A woman answered the door. She was tall and had long, dark hair that was curled. She wore all white. She looked like a bitch. "Yeah, uh, I came to see Shelley," I spoke. "I have something of hers."

"And may I ask who you are?" Her English accent made her seem even more bitchier then she was. "Annie Tanner. I go to school with her and Roman. They're my friends." I was a little snappy with her.

"Mom, who's at—" Roman bounded down the stairs. "Annie? What're you doing here?"

I stepped around his mother and inside the house. "Hey," I greeted. "I brought Shell her phone back. She left it in last hour today."

He grinned. "She was worried about it, so thanks."

"Roman, it's time for dinner." Bitch Godfrey has spoken. "Tell your friend to leave." He rolled his eyes at his mom and pushed his way around her, grabbing my hand and pulling me outside. He slammed the door behind us.

"Sorry about her. She can be a bitch most of the time." I chuckled. I knew about that 110 percent.

"I know how that goes." I grinned up at him. "But listen, I better get going. My brother will start getting worried. Tell Shelley I said hi, yeah?"

"Yeah." He leaned down and placed a shirt kiss on the corner of my mouth. "Bye Annie." And he walked off with a smirk.

The fucker kissed me and smirked. What the hell?