The growl wasn't in her head, it was not her imagination, it was not a dream. It was real, low, faint, almost like a whisper but it was real. Something was watching.
Nara stood still, her breath caught in her throat, she tightened her grip around the notebook. She turned slowly, her eyes darting toward the window as she stood ready whatever it was that was out there. Frost had formed across the glass, but there, just for a second she saw it.
That night, the howling was louder than ever, echoing through her dreams, making her unable to sleep, she had never been more alert and awake before. Nara felt like she was being pulled, she felt an irresistible urge to follow a sound as though someone was calling out to her in a different language she couldn't understand. She wanted to follow this sound but what if she kills someone? What if she gets killed? What if grandpa finds out that she's not normal or the whole town?. With numerous questions on her mind Nara decided to risk it. Tiptoeing out of bed, her heart raced, the sound alone could have woken grandpa if he was like her, she thought to herself, a mix of fear and excitement. She had the courage of a girl searching for her identity and the fear of a teenage girl disobeying her grandfather.
As she ventured into the woods, the moonlight lit her path like a silver lantern, white and bright making the night beautiful. Amidst the silence the creaks of branches, insects chirping, high pitched trills of toads from the pond, the rustling of leaves as the wind moves through, snapping of twigs by the weight of her feet, she all heard clearly. The howling grew closer, as she got closer to the direction the howling was coming from her heartbeat increased fear and anxiety dug deep in her mind. A reflection of light catches her attention and she moves faster to check it out "could this be the others?" She thought to herself. An old cabin came into sight, its door slightly ajar. After hesitating for a second she pushed the door open and walked inside.
As she walked into the cabin which looked like an abandoned cave she was stopped in her tracks by a loud "Who are you?" almost like a growl, echoing from the shadows. Nara's heart was racing, her feet ran cold, she wanted to run as fast as she could but how will she find out who she truly was if she did. Summoning all the courage in her bones and tendons she turned around and looked straight into the shadows. There he was a boy taller than her, he was not too older than her either, he had wild hair and piercing golden eyes.
"I… I'm Nara," she stammered.
"I know who you are," he said, stepping into the and making himself visible for her to see him. "I'm Rhoan and I am just like you...
Suddenly there was a clanging sound in her head as if she was just hit with a pan or someone was screaming inside her head causing her to grit her teeth, pain surged through her body, and she instantly dropped to the ground. As the pain intensified, Nara's vision became blurry. She was feeling dizzy that she assumed the room was spinning with her in it. The pain traveled through her veins like gas would in the open, numbing her senses. She gasped for air, and her heart pounded in her chest, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't scream. Gradually, the pain became a distant hum. Nara's thoughts were scattered all over, she couldn't think, she couldn't scream, her eyelids were heavy and her eyes were closing fast, the world around her faded to black, and she felt herself slipping away, lost in a sea of darkness.
The next morning, Nara didn't recall anything from last night. She felt like she was forgetting something but she quickly shook it off.
"What happened last night?" She asked herself, she couldn't remember a thing, her head was blank. It was as though she just slept and woke up this morning with no memories, no dreams, nothing.
"I guess I was overthinking it" She said to herself but there was an unsettling feeling that she couldn't shake off.
She looked in the mirror. Her skin was pale, her eyes tired like she didn't sleep the whole night, but there was something else. For a moment her pupils looked thinner, sharper like that of a cat, she blinked hard, and looked again but her eyes were normal, and there it was that feeling of confusion, too many questions and no one to answer them, nothing felt real or certain for her anymore.
Loneliness, anxiety, and fear was the only feeling Nara knew at this moment, she didn't even know who to talk to or trust. Grandpa was busy in his laboratory all day while Erin bugged her trying to find out what she was thinking and pacing about the previous night.
At school, she stayed quiet, head down, hoodie pulled over her face, she wanted to be alone, she didn't want to hurt anyone and the incident with Lily the day before made it easier, no one sat next to her or talked to her except Lily who occasionally gave a small wave from across the room, but Nara kept looking away. She couldn't trust herself.
In science class, her pen snapped in her hand.
Black ink oozed out from the broken ink cartridge staining her hands and splurging on her book. She rushed to the sink in the back of the class, scrubbing her hands as hard as she could, flashbacks from when she woke up with muddy and bloody hands kept reoccurring in her mind, she was breathing really fast and scrubbing her hands really hard that she didn't realize she was bleeding due to how hard she was scrubbing her hands. "You are alright" Lily said touching her shoulder only then did she realize she was crying and scrubbing her skin off. Lily took her to the art room, gave her water and tried to help her stay calm.
Nara felt warmth and her eyes were wet because of how Lily treated her. "Why are you being nice to me?" Nara asked, Lily smiled and replied "we both don't have friends so we might as well be friends" This made Nara feel safe and smiled right back.
While Lily tended to her wound, Nara's thought drifted back to how she snapped the pen earlier "She didn't squeeze it that hard… did she?" At that moment, her sight was blurry, and then clear, it was as though she was there and not there at the same time.
Nara found herself in a dark alleyway, walking alone, and a figure emerged from the shadows, wielding a knife against her. Nara's heart raced, she tried to react, but her body felt heavy, unresponsive, more like she was frozen in place and Just as the blade was about to hit her, Lily appeared out of nowhere, intercepting the knife with her own body.
A sting of the iodine Lily was using for her treatment jolted her back to reality, where Lily was still tending to her wound, humming a song, not knowing the terror Nara had just witnessed. Nara's eyes widened in shock, she could not explain what had just happened. She felt like she had been punched in the stomach, she was trying to be calm so she wouldn't alert Lily. It was like a flashback, a dream?, a vision?, a warning? "What was it!?".