Chapter One: Is This It?

Chapter One

Vaelora's POV 

The woods are bleeding again.

I'm running- breathless and barefoot- beneath a blood-red moon, my lungs burning with each gasp. Shadows loom over the trees, whispering things I can't understand. 

My name. My end.

Branches claw at my skin as if they know me. Like they want me to stay.

Then I see it. Again.

The wolf.

Its golden, hollow eyes stare at me with disdain, fury swirling viciously in them. It's standing in the clearing like it's been waiting for me. Massive. Black as night. Its mouth part slowly and a sound escapes. A growl that splits my chest into two with fear.

I freeze, my breath catching in my throat.

My wolf stirs inside me- sudden, sharp, sickening. The pull is so strong I feel like I'm about to split apart by just standing there. I want to shift. I need to. But my body won't let me.

It never does.

I take a step back.

“Please.” I whisper, falling to my knees. My throat tightens and claws start to form but get stuck mid-change. 

The pain intensifies, seeping through every crack in my body as I beg for something. Anything. “Not again.”

The wolf takes a step forward.

And lunges.

I jolt awake, panting and gasping for air with my hand hugging my body. The room is clogged with heat, my eyes scanning for the closed windows.

A loud bang on the door interrupts my thoughts and I glance towards it, shaking and still trying to catch my breath.

“Open this fucking door, Lora.” Michael's voice booms through the other end of the room, thick with fury and annoyance.

Oh Lord.

My eyes snap shut, tightening with unease and I clutch at my chest as I feel the blood slowly drain out of my face. Another bang jerks my body and a tear rolls down my cheek.

“I'm going to break this door down if you don't open up right now!” 

Fear creeps up my spine, his voice louder than ever.

“C-coming!” I croak out, stumbling on the bottle of pill in front of me.

By the time I make it to the door, my vision is blurry and my head is fuzzy, full of fog.

I twist the doorknob open and step back.

“You bitch!” 

My head wheezes, heat travelling up my entire face. Black dots fill my vision and I blink the tears away, raising a hand up to the cheek he'd just slapped.

I swallow back the bloodied saliva in my mouth and gulp, raising my head up to meet his red, swollen eyes.

“Loser!”

A punch.

My knees buckle and I fall to the ground, keeping my eyes fixated on the marble floor. Red liquid drips from my nose and the strand of my hair dangling in my face sticks to it.

I sniff it in, raising my trembling hands to wipe it off before looking up at him through my tear stained lashes.

He huffs. “ How many times do I have to do this until you get some fucking sense into that shithole of yours that you call a brain? Tell me, how many times?”

The room is hot and quiet. My heart is thudding against my chest loudly, my ears ringing with urgency as I continue to wipe at my nose furiously, letting the tears fall freely from my eyes.

“Answer me you stupid bitch!” 

His screams fill the room but I'm unable to understand any words. Pain shoots through my head again and I lift my hand up, pressing my palm tightly against my ears.

One leg moves forward and a hand grabs my hair, pulling me up to my feet. 

“Looks like you've grown some wings, huh? Let's see-” He cuts his sentence mid-way, throwing me across the room.

The last thing I hear before the darkness overtakes me is the cracking of bones and the screams of a little girl, pleading for help.

“Vaelora? Vae?”

I hear someone call my name from a distance but the room is pitch black. 

“Hey, it's me. Maya.” My best friend's voice calls out in a whisper, as though she's trying not to wake me up but needs me awake anyway.

I slowly open my eyes, blinking away the blur in my vision. Our gaze meets and her sad eyes smiles at me. I try to return it but fail.

“You’re awake.” She says, placing a palm on my arm.

My hand slips from the bed as I try to sit upright. Seeing my struggle, she helps me up, propping a pillow against my head.

“Phew! There you are.”

I take in the room. My room.

We both sit in silence. The windows are open now, sunlight slipping in through the flimsy, white curtains decorating it.

“Did you open those?” I glance at her, pointing to the window.

“Oh, yeah. I was wondering why you were sleeping with all of your windows tightly shut.” She gives me a questioning look.

I don't respond, tearing my gaze away from her and fixating on the wall in front of me.

“You didn't tell me that you were the clumsy one. How did you manage to fall down the staircase?”

My gaze settles on her face. “Did Micheal tell you that?” 

She nods. “ He said you were sleep walking or something like that. I know he lies but I mean…” She gestures to my body. “...look at all of this. It's really bad.”

And just like always, he does it. The typical staircase fall bullshit story he tells everyone. I never wanted Maya to know about this and I'm glad she believes him.

“I uh, yeah. I wasn't looking, so uhm..” I stutter, my mind trying to come up with a reason.

“It's alright. I'm just glad you didn't lose an arm or something.” She smiles, caressing my arms soothingly.

“How are you feeling now?”

“In pain.” I manage out, inspecting my nose with my fingers.

“You broke your nose too?!” She asks, her eyes widening like saucers. “Seriously, what were you thinking, Vaelora?”

I ignore her, running my fingers through my hair to check for any hair loss. Fortunately, there's none this time but there's a bandage wrapped around it.

Good job, Micheal.

She scoots closer, grabbing my arm. “Show me where else is broken. It looks like your body has been morphed into something else.”

I yank my arm away, shooting her a glare. My body burns with every movement and all I want to do is sink inside a tub of hot, scalding water and drown.

“I'm fine. They’re just minor injuries.”

She watches me keenly, taking in my body with carefulness. 

“Vae, are you sure?” 

I nod, pushing my head further into the pillow. The room is dimly lit with the faint light from the bulb, casting a soft glow across the objects.

A sigh escapes her lips, her palms flattening the sides of her jean trousers as she stands up to her feet and strolls to the vanity table, picking up the bottle of pill on top of it.

“Do you still use these?” She turns to me, raising them up.

I swallow a lump forming in my throat. Damn, it hurts to breathe.

“Yes.”

She looks away, dropping it back gently. I watch as she crouches down to her knees, picking another object from the floor and cocking her head over her shoulder.

“You know you need to stop overdosing, right? You said that you were getting better but, I think these are just making it worse.”

“I can't stop.” My voice is firm and clear.

A sharp pain stings my head and I press my eyes shut, biting down on my bottom lip.

“Do you think that your mom will be happy about this?” She smacks her forehead, clucking her teeth against the roof of her tongue.

“I don't care, Maya.” I respond through gritted teeth.

She faces me, shaking her head with a glint of pity in her eyes. 

“She wouldn't approve of this, Vae. She'd always want the best for you.”

Tears prickle the corners of my eyes as my mind wanders back to my mother's smiling face, helping me do the things I needed. It's been years since her death and yet everyday, I feel like I'm reliving the memory of watching her take her last breath.

“Vae-”

I raise a hand up. “Enough. I don't want to hear about her anymore.” 

My mind is racing with different thoughts of her as I wipe the tears away from my eyes. This whole house is a reminder of my failure as a child who couldn't be anything for her mother.

Maybe it's fair that I get beat up by her husband everyday. Maybe I deserve it. She gave me everything and I wasn't able to give her anything at all, not even after her demise.

As if sensing my rage, she nods, dropping the second pill bottle on the table before walking up to me and sitting beside me on the bed.

She opens her mouth to speak but her phone pings with a text.

A frown forms on her face as she picks up the phone and scroll through the message, standing up.

“I’ve got to go. By the way, Matt just texted me about some pack party at NightMoor and we both have to attend. It's in two days.”

My brows shoot up. “In two days? I can't attend. I'm clearly not….” We both stare down at my bruised body.

“We'll have to find a way around it.” She bends over, placing a quick kiss on my head. “I've got to go now, I'll be back in a few.” 

And with that, she dashes out of the room, leaving me in utter confusion.

Is this the part where I finally find who I've been searching for my entire life?