Eyeliner and Cigarettes

‘Where are we going?’

‘You’ll see’, she giggled, her English was laced with a French accent which she pulled of perfectly in his opinion.

She ran a few meters in front of him, he stopped walking and admired her from afar. She gave of a ‘bad girl’-vibe by wearing dark clothes and dark make-up. On the streets, people would stare at her as she walked by, a cigarette dangling between her lips as her perfectly wing-lined eyes scanned the streets to look where she was going. Here, in the woods, no-one noticed her.

‘Isaac, you coming?’ She yelled, waking Isaac up from his daze.

‘Yeah’, he called back shortly and started walking.

Leaves crackled under her combat boots, making it a lot easier for Isaac to find out in what direction she went. The night was chilly and dark. City lights and traffic sounds were slightly noticeable but clearly seemed far away from where they were. Isaac had no idea where Eleanore was going but he trusted the older girl, following her footsteps deeper into the unknown woods which were located in the country of France. In fact, she had been living here for a few years while Isaac had been living here for just under two months.

Her footsteps stopped, Isaac noticed too late and ran into Eleanore who fell forward onto the dirty ground.

‘Merde, Isaac!’ She laughed while standing back up.

‘Oh, sorry’, he quietly mumbled while looking away, taking in his surroundings.

The environment was breath taking with trees and a lake surrounding them. Isaac was actually really impressed by this place but still wasn’t sure why Eleanore had brought him here but he wasn’t disappointed either. By the time he awoke from his trance, Eleanore had walked over to the lake and sat down on a rock which was conveniently places next to it and was big enough to fit two people on it. Eleanore sighed deeply while she stared at her hands which were folded in her lap.

‘Elle?’ Isaac asked in a small voice, ‘What’s wrong?’

She sighed again. Isaac could’ve sworn he saw a tear rolling down her cheek.

‘I’ve never told you everything’, Isaac was glad for his wolf ears, otherwise he would’ve have caught what Eleanore was mumbling.

‘Elle, what do you mean?’ Isaac asked slightly confused by the older woman sitting next to him.
She sighed and stared blankly in front of her before she found the courage to start talking. Before she started talking, Isaac noticed her shaky hand sliding into the breast pocket of her black and blue checked flannel taking out her Lucky Strike cigarettes. Quickly, she opened the white box with black and blue detailing while pulling out her black Bic lighter and a cigarette.

‘About how I became a werewolf’, Eleanore spoke while she lighted up the cigarette and took a drag.
Her words confused Isaac even more now. Isaac always thought they were so close by sharing their werewolf story to someone they had never met before. A sudden wave of hurt crashed over him as he realised that she was the first person in a long time he had trusted with his story. She knew everything and in return, he got lies. It suddenly made him really mad. It made him question that what they had was a lie, too.

‘What?’ He asked sternly, his eyes glowing a golden colour. Eleanore stayed awfully calm as she took another drag from her cigarette.

‘I wasn’t randomly attacked when I was walking in the woods,’ she said while blowing out the smoke of her cigarette, ‘something happened before.’

Eleanore’s story reminded Isaac of his friend Scott’s: kind of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, at night in the woods and suddenly being attacked by a werewolf. But now, Isaac was doubting the whole story.

‘Then tell me’, Isaac asked, still mad that she lied.

Eleanore sighed while she pushed out her cigarette and once she was sure it was out, she threw it on the ground. Suddenly she wasn’t sure anymore if she was doing the right thing…

‘Elle…,’ Isaac’s voice suddenly was a lot softer. His hand cupped her cheek, wiping away tears with his thumb. Eleanore didn’t even know she was crying.

‘What happened that night? What are you keeping from me?’

‘I am not from around here, I moved here for a boy. My ex-boyfriend actually. At first we were a really good couple and I didn’t miss home’ Eleanore started off, confusing Isaac even more.

‘It didn’t stay that “perfect”,’ Eleanore continued, lighting up another cigarette, ‘he soon grew violent on me. It started off by hitting me once because I forgot to go grocery shopping. He apologised afterwards but soon, it happened more frequently and as time went by, he didn’t apologise anymore. He never told me why he did it, he seemed to enjoy it.’

Isaac was shocked. Her story hit close to home for him.

‘The night I got bitten kind of went the same: I forgot something stupid I can’t even remember what it was and he hit me. I had had enough, I wanted out so I walked out the front door, yelling at him that I was going home. That wasn’t such a good idea I guess. Matthieu followed me outside, into the woods. I am sure that if that wolf wasn’t there, I would be dead by now but at that moment I didn’t fear death.’

Isaac wrapped his arms around Eleanore, who had stopped crying as soon as she brought up Matthieu and what he did to her. Isaac guessed that she was too pissed off to even upset about what he did.

‘Matthieu caught up with me and pushed me to the ground, his hand tightly wrapped around my throat, cutting off my airflow. I desperately grabbed his arms , trying to push him off. I wasn’t afraid of dying, I was afraid of him being the last face I ever saw. A growl was heard in the woods but I thought it was Matthieu but it clearly wasn’t. Matthieu was thrown off me but the person in fact also scratched me, deep. I don’t know what happened to Mathieu.’

Isaac nodded, not really wanting to ruin the moment.

‘This is where I woke up,’ Eleanore spoke, looking over the lake, ‘I know I was nowhere near here and I still don’t know if I walked here myself or if the person brought me here. I actually am grateful for what they did, but accepting that you are a werewolf and facing everything on your own isn’t easy.’

Isaac had told Eleanore about Scott and Derek, she knew he did have help finding his anchor and controlling it. It actually made him upset that she hadn’t had help but she had also told him she learned pretty quick, even though he never bothered asking how she mastered everything so fast.

‘Eleanore,’ he spoke softly while looking at her, ‘did you lie about anything else?’

She quickly shook her head, knowing what he meant.

‘No, I do really like you. I just never told the story because I didn’t know if I could trust you yet but my feelings are telling me I can trust you’, she whispered, making Isaac smile.

‘Come on, we’re going home so I can hold you close and keep you safe’ , Isaac smiled slightly and picked the Eleanore up bridal style, making her giggle.

‘As long as you let me cuddle up to you, I’ll be fine for the rest of my life’, she giggled.

And so the story ends of a young werewolf who was afraid of loving and hid herself behind dark winged eyeliner and chain-smoking Lucky Strike Cigarettes and who finally accepted love again into her life.