Chapter 5: Don't tell me he beats you.

Allison had just finished her last class for the day and was supposed to catch a bus in ten minutes. She decided to grab some snacks from the tuck shop when she got a call from Cece, her big sister.

“Hey, big sist.” She said, the phone was placed between her shoulders and her ear as she held her backpack with one hand and the pack of fries she just paid for, with her second hand.

“Cece.” She called again because of the silence from the other end.

When she managed to put the fries in her bag, she held her phone properly.

“Why aren’t you speaking? Is it the service from your end? Cece? Can you hear me?”

At that point, she was already strolling to the bus stop but as soon as she heard Cece say, “Ally, come home. I’m dying,” she had become dishevelled and she began to run.

If it was in her power to make the bus move faster, she would have done everything. Arriving in Cece's apartment, the door was locked and she didn’t have her own key with her.

“Cece!” She screamed. “Cece, are you there? Can you open the door?” She asked. She didn’t get any reply and she was scared to her butt.

“Please, just hang on a little, I’d call Jaden.” She added after sometime.

Jaden wouldn’t pick his phone up until the third ring.

“Jaden.” She said, her voice laced with fear.

“Hi, Ally. It’s me, Jess.” Jess said. “Jaden, come quickly! Allison is on the phone.” Jessica yelled out almost immediately.

“Jaden's in the bathroom. He’d be here in a few.” Jess informed.

“Jessica, tell him he needs to come quickly! Something’s wrong with Cece. She called me, she said she’s dying and now, she wouldn’t open the door! I don’t know if she’s okay, I don’t know if she’s dead. I don’t have my keys and I’m scared!” Allison kept on rambling but Jessica was no longer there. As soon as she heard that something was wrong with Cece, she dropped the phone and threw a coat on her.

“Jaden, out now! Cece might have been drinking again!”

Jess and Jaden had met Allison panting back and forth at the front of Cece’s apartment, she was in tears. He managed to ignore his baby cousin’s emotion and proceed inside the house. He had Cece’s spare key for times like this, when she would lock herself inside and drink till she passed out.

Jess stood behind to calm Allison down.

“Your sister will be fine.” Jess had barely completely her statement when Jade had yelled from inside, “Jessica, call the ambulance now. Cece's not okay.”

~

Anthony was unsure about how but somehow, he knew his life had taken a new turn. He didn’t want to always be a baby and run to Mr. Yugo whenever things went wrong… or right. But this time, he couldn’t help it. After spending the whole day on his bed, feeling weak, he decided to get up and go to the library to see Mr. Yugo.

Thankfully, when he got there, the older man was alone.

“I have a problem.” Anthony said as he helped himself with a seat.

“I know.” The man laughed.

Anthony paused, expecting the man to magically blurt his problem out but the man, on the other hand, waited in silence for Anthony to speak. On realizing that the boy was waiting, the man laughed again. “I am not a wizard.” The man informed him.

“Apparently, I saw your message very late yesterday and I got out at the wrongest time ever. Long story short, sir, I transformed.” Anthony said, the last part in a hushed whisper.

“How do you feel?” The man asked, not minding the looks on the boy's face that already explained to an extent, how he felt.

“Horrible.”

“Why is that?” Mr. Yugo asked as he got up from his seat and walked towards the cupboard, deciding to give the boy the book for the day by himself since the boy was already there.

“Something different happened yesterday.”

“Speak.”

Mr. Yugo sat down again. He was holding the book in his hand. This book was different from the rest. It wasn’t old, the cover was red. The title was written in black, “Now that you brought us one.”

“I guess my wolf had bitten a girl yesterday. This is the first time ever I had bitten someone in my wolf state. I’m so confused, sad and sorry. I hate being a werewolf and I hate to make someone go through what I detest. I do not know what sort of journey it would be for her but I’mso sorry and I regret it.” He confessed truthfully.

This has been the issue that has been bothering him greatly since morning. He didn’t know how to feel.

Mr. Yugo, instead of answering him, handed the book to him and chuckled. “Read this book, young one. Now that you have brought us one, what next?”

Anthony was short of words.

“You said you aren’t a wizard, man. How then do you know what book to prepare?”

“Oh, I know that shortly after acceptance, anger follows. And that is what anger causes. Go home right now and read that book. It has all the answers to your questions.” The man concluded. Anthony thanked him in awe.

~

The two girls sat in the back seat of the cab with Cece while Jade sat in the passenger seat. It was already evening when they were going home. Cece was feeling better. The doctor had recommended that she moved in with someone for the mean time until she was mentally okay so that she would desist from drinking. She had a major hang-over. Jessica was a little annoyed that Jaden raised an unnecessary alarm that made her call the ambulance. She knew how to deal with hangovers. Her ex-boyfriend was a drunk sometimes and she knew how to deal with that but she thought she would rather not bring that up to avoid another fight.

The doctor barely did anything than the major first aids for hangovers and a little pain reliefs. Cece was a little bit mad that they had taken her to the hospital but she didn’t say because she thought Allison raised the alarm. If she knew it was Jaden who made her feel stupid in such a way, she would have lost her cool already. After all, he caused it. He triggered the memories that made her go back to the bottles. She was embarrassed, she couldn’t raise her face at the hospital. Drunk, Drunk Girl. She hated being called or seen as that.

Cece was cold. She was shivering in the cab. The driver already turned the air conditioner off but she was still cold. Jessica, on noticing it, offered her coat.

The speed with which Jaden turned to tell her not to give Cece the goat was surprising to everyone.

“Don’t!” His voice was a bit loud.

Cece hissed. Jessica pulled her coat off and still offered it to her.

Allison was the first to notice the scars. Previously, she was pressing her phone and was paying attention to neither of them until she heard Jaden say don’t.

“Christ, Jess! What happened to you?” She cried out.

That was exactly what Jaden was avoiding.

“Don’t tell me he beats you if not I’d so kill him right now!” Cece cried out, holding Jaden by his collar from the back seat. Allison, searching for answers, fixed her eyes on Jessica who was short of words.

"I..." She began.