My Little Journey
"Let me ask you this first, son. Will she be worth it?" Papa's facial expression and tone even become too momentous. "I mean... New York City was miles away from here. We don't know what lies ahead of you when you get there. And besides, she was still a stranger to you. And so is you to her." I'm not sure about how far my distance between me and Nathalie was, considering I haven't experienced leaving the island since the day I was born. But I don't care about the distance. It's just numbers. One thing is for certain, never have I ever felt to be that eager and excited to meet someone. And she was the first half-human and half-wolf who tried to communicate with me without judgement. Needless to say, the kind of communication we have. A letter sending in a bottle. "She's worth a try, Paps. I'm losing nothing if I try, right?" I shortly heaved a sigh and smiled at them positively. "And besides, she was the first wolf in my entire life who accepted me." "Brother Josh, you might say that for now because she doesn't know about you yet. What if she will hate you the moment you two see each other, huh?" "All right then. We don't know. You two might be destined for each other, right? And besides, I believed in destiny. There's has so much to tell when it comes to love So, you have my blessing, son." Mama chuckled before she moved out from her seat and slid to the lavatory carrying her empty dishes. "Come on, honey. Joshua was still too young for that!" Papa exclaimed his disagreement. "I'm already twenty years old, Paps. And besides, you already taught me a few things. I'm no longer the no-read-no-write kind of wolf as what the others think of me. I wanted to at least try instead of doing nothing on this island. Don't see my future here, to be precise." I blinked at Mama in exchange for her full support for my decision. at least, Papa's approval is now my problem. With Mama's help, Papa would just shut off. "Fine," he replied. "But, you must follow everything I will say to you when you get there. Are we clear?" As expected, Papa would say such a word if mama and I already have one thing in common. Papa then instructed me about the do's and dont's for my journey to New York City. One to mention that I should control my wolf's rage every time I will be put into undesirable situations. That no matter how extremely furious I will be, I should not unfold and awaken the beast inside me to avoid conflicts, especially when no one from my family will tag along with me. Two days from that day forward. That was Papa's high advice for me to start my journey to New York City since he knew the distance between us was miles away. He offered me to use his newly made small wooden boat, compass, an old map, and some of the essentials I needed for my travel such as ropes, extra pedals, a galloon of water, dried foods, bars of gold, In the meantime, I used the remaining two days to prepare everything I needed to make sure my journey will be successful. So, I made sure the wooden boat would be ready to take its first journey. I checked every corner of the boat if there will be a leakage or abnormalities. Also, I studied the old map and compass to make sure I will not get lost. Even tested the boat traveling a few kilometers from the island, thinking I might see some bottles floating from the ocean. Sadly, even after two days of roaming around the ocean, I haven't seen any bottles from Nathalie. The last letter was about her eighteenth birthday invitation. Good thing she included a few pieces of information for my reference. "Are you ready, son?" Traces of sadness has marked Papa's voice. Full of uncertainty if I may describe the tone. Papa was currently helping me prepare for my departure. He and Mama helped me pack up my stuff and securely set them on the boat. Justine, on the other hand, made me a lucky charm bracelet. He said that it will help me guide me in the right direction even with the possibility I could meet uncertain events like typhoons and huge sea waves. "I am Paps. Don't worry, I'd be fine. I promise." I immediately wrapped my arms around him right after settling all I needed in the boat. Next to him were Mama and Justine. "Don't promise, son. Promises are made to be broken. Instead, do your best. Get back to the island without a scratch." Mum's tears suddenly dropped to her cheeks while clapping my chest. "Just don't forget everything I taught you, all right. Two days. As soon as you and Nathalie will see each other, we'd be expecting you to get back to the island two days after that. " Papa added. "Everything was duly noted, Paps. I believed our wolf ancestors will guide me in my journey." I smiled at them to enhance their awful moods. The three of them could not help but burst out crying as soon as I hopped into the wooden boat. Justine kept waving his hands at me, trying to leave me with a smile on his face. "Good luck, Brother Josh!" Justine yelled. So, I waved my hands at them. A few minutes later, the three of them were already out of sight. In a few hours, I could barely see the island from my distance anymore. And there has no turning back. Three nights and two days. That was about how long I traveled while floating through the wide blue ocean before I finally see a few colorful and beautiful bright lights lit up from the distance. The sun had already set down when I docked Papa's wooden boat on the seashore. From where I was standing, I could tell that I was in the right place when I could see a huge banner with a "Welcome to New York City" banner. I was supposed to feel excited since my journey to New York City was successful. However, my thunderous heartbeats were in a race as I could barely comprehend what to do next. Compared to the island, the air in New York City smells a bit polluted. Even from a distance, I could hear loud horns wooshing and a few chatting. Based on my quick observation, they were not wolves. There was no werewolf blood that runs through their veins. Perhaps that was what Papa referred to as the humans. With regards to the loud horns, I'm not sure what are those things. But I'm pretty sure they were moving at the speed of light. "Welcome to New York City, Josh!" I exclaimed to myself before I started lifting my feet away from the boat. This time, the only thing I brought with me was her photo, a bottle, and a letter inside it. Those will be the only proof for Nathalie to believe me. "You?" A human's furious voice suddenly reverberated in my ears from behind me. "Stop there or I'll shoot you!" He added. When I turned around and got the vision to see the human, I was completely surprised after seeing his clothes. His entire body, except his arms and face, was covered with linens."Do you believe in what the news is saying? That's completely ridiculous, right?" The cab driver broke the bridge of silence between us in the car. "I mean... There were a lot of problems Chicago was facing these days - heavy traffic, death rates, and poverty. It's not that I am against their plan of eliminating those monsters, but, I've heard no such thing as werewolves." I dont know if I should be pleased or not with what the cab driver told me. He sounded like monsters such as werewolves are not the main problem to society but the government itself. However, the government was right. We are monsters. "... Now, we have on the other line of the phone, the man behind the list. And he wants the public to address him as the Benefactor of this werewolf hunting trip. However, his safety is our main concern. So, we secure his basic information such as name, address, and contact number." added the reporter on the news. "People of the United States. Recently, we, the people o
"Josh, wait up!" Nathaniel whispered as he removed his clothes and shifted into a big bad wolf before he jumped over the fence and followed me. As soon as we heard the sounds of the gunshots, I bumped my body into the door by force, especially when it was locked. When we got the chance to see the image of the house, a flood of fresh drops of blood greeted us. The worst part is that I could barely sense anyone's presence in the house anymore aside from the body lying on the floor with an axe dug in straight to the woman's heart. "We're late," I muttered to myself with much regret that pinched the deepest part of my conscience. I could barely sense the woman's breathing anymore. Neither was her heartbeat. "She's dead." Nathaniel roamed around shortly, checking every corner of the house. We sensed the murderer's scent ten seconds ago but it disappeared like thin air all of a sudden before we could get in. But the house was already deserted. So, he went back to the
{Joshua's POV} "Baby, always remember what I told you, okay?" I muttered to Justine as soon as we stepped foot in front of his classroom. Undeniably, an entire part of me was feeling skeptical of the idea that he will go to class despite the situation he was in. Justine doesn't know yet that someone has put a price on his head amounting to four million dollars. I mean, my little brother was just a grade-schooler. He hurts no one and barely knows about Chicago werewolves. He doesn't deserve to be part of this nonsense and unreasonable dilemma. I don't want him to worry about his life either. All I want for him is to continue his study to have a better future similar to most humans. "That I should reach out to you or Lady Nathalie in case of emergency? Are we in danger, brother Josh? I heard you guys back in Lady Nathalie's place talking about werewolves who are in danger. Are we included in the list?" Justine asked back. And he's started to worry. "No, we're not
And I know he somehow noticed our surprised expressions, especially his brother, Justine. He cared for his brother very much. His little decision, whatever it is, also matters to Joshua. "My entire week is available. But once the clinic gets back its operation, I'm gonna focus my undivided attention so Justine and I could save enough to get back to the island." Joshua said back, trying to ease off Justine's awful expression. "But I thought we are going to stay with Lady Nathalie, brother Josh. Does that mean you're lying to me?" Justine said back in an unhappy tone. My brain was frozen for a few seconds. They only have each other's back if Joshua will insist on ignoring my help. Breaking them apart would be the last thing I would do. So, I tried digging into my brain about how to convince Joshua to stay in Chicago instead of going back to the island knowing they are no longer welcome to live there as her mama told us. That's why she willingly entrusted her two sons
Every one of us, including Justine, exchanged glances, trying to read each other's minds to know which side of the choice we are on. But no matter which side Joshua chooses, I will forever be supporting him. "Then, we'll help them. But, for the record, this is not an assurance that we could protect all of them," had to point that out. I don't Joshua would blame not just me when things go south. My family may be that wealthy enough to have billions of dollars in my bank accounts but I'm not desperate enough to kill the wolves, including our pack members. What good could I get about that? Let alone paying millions of dollars to eliminate thousands of them. "Besides, we still don't know who's madman is behind all these. Putting millions of dollars in our heads requires a massive amount of money in their bank accounts." "So, does this mean my head was priced at a hundred million dollars? 'Cause that was the figure written parallel to my name." Joshua's confrontation ma
Despite Joshua's weakened wolf, he still has the strength to punch Nathaniel in the face. His rage exploded like a volcanic eruption. Aside from that his explosion was extremely hot, no one would dare block his way unless you were ready to get a punch from him too. "Wait... You told him?" Could not help but lush out my frustration to Nathaniel instead of taking his side. I pushed him by force when I could not believe he preceded me even if he knows there was no slight chance between us. And I thought of our sex as a huge mistake driven by the call of alcohol in our systems. "No. I didn't. But I thought you already told him since you heard it yourself, he was referring to our..." Nathaniel cut off his words before making things worse. "No. I haven't told him yet, you idiot. That was already part of my plan, but not now when all our lives are in great danger including the kid. I'm afraid my name was already included on the list." "What list are you talking about?" Jo