Page 3 of When Storms Awaken

This is why we always butted heads—she was the realist, and I was immersed in fantasy. Growing up, I had been fascinated with stories of witches and warlocks, even vampires and werewolves. All supernatural. All made up. I would make up my own stories and share them with friends. I lived in pretend. It was no wonder I had earned myself this reputation with her, even if I was much older now and had put all that nonsense behind me.

I finished my pancakes in silence and ran up the narrow staircase to my room. I closed the door behind me and quickly assessed the damage. I hadn’t quite realized how messy my room had gotten this weekend while I was busy exploring the mountains, taking pictures, and hanging out around the new coffee shop in town where my best friend had recently gotten a job. I took the piles of clothing from under the window seat and at the base of my bed and consolidated them into a laundry basket. I quickly threw the covers over my bed and fixed the pillows.

I hadn’t always been one for neatness, I hoped that this version of “cleaning my room” would satisfy my mom enough that she wouldn’t snap at me. Her patience was always running thin on days when I would take off without telling her. Soon I would be off to college and wouldn’t have to report my every movement to her.

I grabbed my laptop from the bottom of my bed and threw it open. As soon as it was booted up, I opened a search engine and typed in reports of wolf sightings in Silver Oaks. There were so many houses in this area, and with the new shops coming in downtown, our little borough was the busiest it had ever been. I thought it odd that a wolf would wander this far into town, even if they were seeking scraps of food in the dead of winter.

The internet search proved futile; I couldn’t find any reports of wolves in Silver Oaks, specifically. I would have to try the newspaper archives to see if I could find anything there.

Frustrated with the lack of information, I threw the computer back to the foot of my bed. I lay down in a huff, my auburn hair curling in torrents over the edge of the pillow. I had no other plans for today, and I would put off doing my homework for the upcoming week as much as possible on a Sunday morning.

I glanced at the clock. 9:35. How could it still be so early? The sun had risen high enough in the sky to throw a beam of light across the floor, and my chubby orange tabby Waffles had found that exact spot and curled up in the heat of the sun’s rays. I wished I could take a nap too, but I hadn’t been sleeping much lately. I was having a hard time falling asleep in the first place, and by the time I finally did, my dreams were all over the place. More times than not, I woke in fits and starts, restless and edgy, feeling more anxious than rested.

The school semester was well underway, and I could almost taste winter vacation. School was tedious to me, as I’m sure it was to every other eighteen-year-old on the verge of going off to college. The only thing that made itslightlymore enjoyable was Tess, and the occasional art or photography class that I got to take between my main classes.

“Waffles, have you seen any wolves around here lately?” I mumbled absently, throwing a cursory glance at the cat, who paid me no attention from his spot on the floor.

Waffles didn’t as much as twitch an ear in response. Completely useless.

My cell rang, and I leaned over the edge of the bed, fishing it off the charger on my nightstand.

“Hello?”

“Oh, so you are alive! You didn’t return any of my texts.”

“Hey, Tess. I was going to call but thought you had a shift at The Daily Drip today? I was going to stop by…” I trailed off, sprawling back into my spot across the bed.

“No, my shift was canceled today. The shop is closed. Something happened to Mrs. Madden,” Tess sounded distracted, and I could hear the clicking of a keyboard through the receiver. Tess was never one to give undivided attention to any one person or thing, even her best friend. Mrs. Madden owned the new coffee shop downtown and was there every single day to watch over it, no exceptions.

“Well, aren’t you lucky. Is she sick or something?” I asked.

“No, she’s in the hospital. Something about being attacked by a wolf?” Tess sounded unconcerned, but I felt a tightening in my stomach.

“I saw one this morning up at the mountain landing,” I told her, swallowing hard. “It was a big wolf, I meanbig. Like an elk. It wasn’t…normal. You probably won’t believe this, and you’ll think I’m completely nuts, but…its eyes looked almost…human. Full of emotion. I know that sounds crazy…“ I trailed off. I didn’t keep anything from Tess, even if she was going to think I was out of my mind. She was the first person to welcome me when I moved to Silver Oaks, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. She might be the popular girl and I was the recluse, but against all odds, she had taken me under her wing.

I couldn’t believe that someone had been attacked by a wolf mere hours before I had seen one close to town. This wolf had to be one and the same; there was no way this was a coincidence.

“Oh my God! Are you serious? Are you ok? Diana?” Tess’ responses came spilling forwards, now I had her attention.

“I’m fine. It ran away. But I was surprised to see one here at all. This thing washuge,Tess. It was the biggest wolf I’ve ever seen. It didn’t appear to be natural. There was something…off about it.”

“Are you sure?” She paused, sighing deeply. “But hey, if you want, do you think we could go check it out? The mountain landing, I mean.”

“Definitely, I don’t want you to think I’m the only crazy one out of the two of us.” I laughed. “But what should I tell my mom? I told her this morning that I had seen the wolf.”

“Why would you tell her that? Are youtryingto be grounded?“ Tess asked with a huff. “Tell her we’re going to the coffee shop?”

“Won’t she know that Mrs. Madden gave everyone the day off?” I asked. “She’s bound to find that out soon enough.” Word traveled fast in a town this small.

“That’s a good point,” Tess mused, “tell her we’re going to study at the library?”

“…And you think that sounds remotely more believable?” I laughed.

“Do you have any better ideas? I don’t hear you suggesting anything,” she replied testily.

“Should I tell her we are going to check out that new bakery that recently opened up in town? I’ve been wanting to check it out.”

“That’s a good idea,” Tess replied, “and surely more believable than my suggestions.”

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