Page 7

“The hell I did,” he said, his eyes narrowing at her, “I have better things to do than sit around with you on a Saturday.”

“You will be at detention. If you decide not to come, you will face expulsion. What a great way to start your first day. We all have our responsibilities, and there are no excuses.Yourresponsibility is to come to class on time, and you will face the consequences if you fail to do so. You are not above the rules,” she said sternly, her eyes narrowing into a hard glare. I had never seen Ms. Finch act this harsh with a student before. She was normally sweet, and a bit of a space cadet if I were being honest. She was the type of person to search for her glasses when they were already sitting on the top of her head. What had gotten into her?

Ms. Finch’s admonishment hadn’t affected Nik, and without sparing her a second glance he sauntered into the room and apathetically plopped himself into a chair closest to the door.

“Everyone, meet your newest classmate, Nikolai Dragovya. He is a transfer student from Seattle,” Ms. Finch said with a wave of her hand. “Get to work.” She sighed as she started rifling through the mound of paperwork scattered atop her desk.

Tess turned to me, leaning in so that no one else could hear. “What’s his issue?” she giggled, throwing a glance towards the new kid who had put his head down on the desk, resting it across his outstretched arm.

He had dark circles under his eyes, and his mouth hung open as he fell asleep right there on top of the table. His blond hair was slightly shaggy on top, framing his forehead. He had a sharp jaw and a strong nose. He wore a black long sleeve T-shirt and jeans, apparently unaffected by the frigid temperatures outside.

“He’s kind of got that whole sexy asshole thing going on.” Tess smirked as she got up to gather her supplies. I couldn’t help but stare. This had to be the only guy who had the audacity to openly mouth off to a teacher in front of the entire class. And on his first day of school, no less. Tess was right, hedefinitelyhad an issue, he was downright rude. Why on earth would anyone transfer halfway through the school year, anyway? Graduation was only a few months away…or did he not care? He had to have been a senior to have been assigned into this class. He slept for the entire duration of class, and Ms. Finch let him. He hadn’t moved at all, not even twitching an eyelid. Not that I had been looking.

The bell rang and as I prepared to return my materials to the cupboard, I glanced down at my paper to find an intricate drawing of a black wolf with piercing blue eyes staring back at me. I hadn’t even realized that was what I had been sketching. It appeared as if it was jumping off the page at me.

I glanced over at Tess, and she had drawn a summery fashion dress with matching heels. She glanced at my drawing and her mouth fell open. I quickly folded the drawing away and stuffed it into the smallest pocket of my backpack. This drawing was definitelynotgoing in my senior portfolio. Everyone filed out of the classroom one by one to go to their last class of the day except for Nik, who was still asleep sprawled across the art table.

Final period passed quickly, and I shuffled out of biology to meet Tess by my car. She had taken the bus this morning—I wasn’t exactly a reliable morning ride when I couldn’t seem to wake up when my alarm went off. That is, if I remembered to actually set it. I always made it a point to try to drive Tess home or to her shift at The Daily Drip so we could spend more time together.

I made my way out to the parking lot where all the ice had melted in the afternoon sun. It wasn’t as cold as it was yesterday, but I still needed my velvet jacket to keep warm. Tess was leaning against my car as I approached, a cell phone in one hand and lip gloss in the other.

“Hurry up, I’d like to get homebeforenightfall,” she joked, waiting for me to unlock the doors. We both hopped in, tossing our bags into the backseat. Tess immediately took over the radio as I pulled out of the parking lot. She put on one of her favorite pop hits stations, singing along to every song as we made our way to her house. I couldn’t wait until spring when we could drive with the windows down, our hair swirling around us as the car filled with warm fresh air.

I pulled up to her house and kept the Subaru on the street as she fished her backpack out of the backseat.

“Call me tonight if there’s any news?” she asked, brushing her hair aside to replace it with the strap of her bag.

“Will do, and call me if you hear anything about Mrs. Madden,” I told her. “See you tomorrow.”

Tess’ house was close to mine, we both lived on the residential side of town nestled at the base of the mountain. My house was more modest than hers, but we were lucky to be able to afford this side of town at all with my mom being the sole income with her job at the weather station. It only took about four minutes to make the drive back to my house. Luckily the afternoon sun had melted enough of the snow on the driveway, that I still hadn’t shoveled, so that I could park the Subaru there.

Mom’s car wasn’t home, she was probably working a later shift at the station tonight. My brother always had chess practice after school, so it was just me tonight. I grabbed my bag and headed up the stairs to my bedroom. I tossed my backpack down on the black loveseat in the corner of my room along with my winter jacket.

Waffles picked his head up from my pillow to give me a cursory glance, then went right back to napping. I wantedbadlyto go to the mountain and take pictures of the melting icicles, but I knew that it was a terrible idea to return there after the events of yesterday.

I padded back down the stairs into the living room and lit a fire in the large stone framed fireplace. I plopped myself down on one of the reclining chairs with my heavy biology book. The last thing I wanted to do was read about meiosis and mitosis, but I thought I better finish my homework before Mom got home. I had neglected it all weekend. I was a procrastinator if nothing else. Biology was my toughest subject, and it always took me more effort than the rest of my classes. I opened the book and dove in, knowing the sooner I started, the sooner it would be over with.

I hadn’t realized that I had dozed off, but I woke as I heard the garage door open. The biology book fell out of my lap with a loud clap. My mom came in, shaking off the snow on the bottom of her boots and stowing her jacket in the coat closet by the front door. I had wanted to start dinner before she came home, but time had gotten away from me.

Luckily, I had read most of the grueling biology chapter. I finished the last few paragraphs before whipping up some tacos for us. On nights when she worked late, I tried to cook dinner for us, my way of helping out. I made my brother a plate and put the leftovers in the refrigerator.

I trudged back to my room and changed into my pajamas, throwing myself down on the bed. I grabbed my book and allowed myself to slip away into its tattered pages.

Iwasrunningdowna steep hill filled with pink and purple flowers until I came upon ruins that were set beneath a snow-covered mountain. Old and broken buildings covered the dimly lit horizon, the only remains left were piles of rubble and a few walls that still stood. It appeared to have once been a city, left over from a past life.

I approached a wooden door that still remained standing. I rested my hand on its surface as it gave a loud groan, giving way beneath my touch. The door fell inward revealing a long dark corridor. I stepped inside and complete darkness enveloped me, there was no sign of the light from where I had just come. The door slammed shut on its own volition, and the remaining ruins began to collapse around me, stone shards flying, trapping me within.

What had remained of the lost city was reduced to wreckage as I knelt, shielding my head from the falling debris. Once the rubble had settled I stood, surveying the remains. The corridor had been reduced to ash, but the heavy wooden door remained.

As I turned to pass through it again, I saw a wolf out of the corner of my eye, but it wasn’t like the wolf I had seen on the mountain landing a few days ago. This wolf was even larger, its eyes were fathomless black pits, there was no pupil. No iris. Its coat was white as snow, a red marking of dripping blood covering its face and eyes. It almost looked like…a sigil. The wolf growled, curling its lips back, but I couldn’t see any teeth. Its mouth appeared hollow. It opened its jaw to snap at me, a big red tongue came darting towards me followed closely by big black daggers. Itdidhave teeth, I hadn’t been able to see them in the darkness of the rubble filled corridor. The teeth were black, masked in shadow.

I tried to run, but I couldn’t, I was frozen in place. My brain was telling my body to move, but my legs weren’t listening. No matter how hard I tried to move my feet I was stuck there. The wolf appeared to enjoy watching me struggle, a glint in its eye as it prowled forwards. A scream ripped from my throat as those big black teeth sank into my shoulder, tearing at the soft flesh there.

I woke with a start, covered in sweat, my oversized T-shirt sticking to my back. I sat upright and pushed my hair out of my face, trying to catch my breath. What an insanely vivid nightmare. I felt pain in my shoulder, but as I ran my hand over the skin, there was no mark. No indication that anything had happened at all.

I glanced at the clock to see that it was only five in the morning, and it was still dark out. With a few hours left before school I wiped away the sweaty hair that had stuck to my forehead and threw the covers off the bed, heading to the bathroom to take a long hot shower. I let the water slowly relax my muscles and lathered myself in a soothing lavender body wash.

I dressed in a pair of jeans, pairing my purple thermal with a dark blue scarf. I rolled on a pair of fluffy socks and quietly made my way downstairs, careful not to wake anyone. These nightmares had started to become an almost daily occurrence, but they had never felt so real before. I was desperate for a restful night’s sleep.