Page 4 of Timber Hollow

4

I'm Coming home

eight days to full moon

T he television inside the gas station has Ethan's family plastered all over it, the gossip reporter gushing about them. Nightfall is imminent, the last rays of light streaming above the dilapidated building. Neon signs inside boast nachos and beer, and I'd availed myself of the former. It was just bagged tortilla chips and yellow cheese sauce from a machine that looked like it was from the Seventies, but I inhaled them nonetheless.

Wedding of the century. The White family and the Carter family, to be joined at last! The glass door covered with dozens of cigarette brand stickers of the gas station is propped open, letting the voice of the woman on the TV out into the waning day, and the cooler night air in.

Well, that was fast. They only waited a few weeks. I say to my wolf if only to pass the time. Something about pumping gas tonight feels like the slowest activity on the planet.

Did you really expect any less?

No... I wonder if she got pregnant.

My phone already has several missed calls from my mother on it. None from Ethan. Not that he is even able to call me. I'd immediately blocked each and every member of the White family, and as a rule, I do not answer unknown numbers.

Sucks to be her. My wolf remarks.

Yeah…

I've been staying in motels, eating my weight in pizzas and takeout since leaving. I'd stop at a rest area now and again in the middle of the night, letting my wolf out to prowl. Full Moon had been challenging, but I'd ended up running from Yosemite down to Sequoia, trying to stay away from all the other packs. Though, not far from dawn I did finally let loose the mournful howl that had been building in my throat all night. Every single wolf that was out in the park howled back.

Where are you? We welcome you. Come, Come. An invitation to run with their Pack. Something had cracked inside me that night.

A wolf isn't supposed to run alone. After a time, they say it can break something in you. A Wolf doesn't go rabid or anything, but we are told that if you run without a Pack for too long, your wolf will change. When I'd first left Timber Hollow, I bounced from Pack to Pack, moving through the land like a ghost. I hadn't managed to find anywhere where I fit in. Sure, there were friends in those places I'd regretfully had to leave behind, but they weren't my Pack. At this point, it's been two years since I've joined a Pack Run.

My wolf is the same as always though, so I don't know how much I believed the tales anymore. But still, the way the Packs howled back to me in the last hours of the night under the full Moon had tugged at something in me. Cracking through all the walls I'd slowly built up around myself.

I've been roaming, wandering since leaving Ethan because I didn't have an exact destination in mind… Until now. Now I know where I want to go.

Where my wolf wants to go.

She misses home. Misses the trees. Misses our Pack .

I left home right after graduating high school. Disappeared one day, and never looked back. I have no idea who still lived there if my old friends had moved on. Or if I even really wanted to look up my old friends. I'd only kept contact with one person, my Dad's sister, Aggie.

Others had my number, like my mom. I never manage to pick up their phone calls, though.

Aggie had been supportive of my choice, once I'd called her- three thousand miles away from home. Even if it meant more risk of exposure for me, without the safety of the pack, Aggie supported me. She understood my desire to leave and had done it herself when she was much younger. However, her trip didn't take her nearly as far away from home, and she hadn't stayed away for quite as long. Hadn't disappeared without warning. While hunting wolves isn't as common these days… There are still poachers out there who would love nothing more than to have a great big wolf hide on their wall.

Grabbing my phone from my back pocket, I call her while I lean against my stolen ride pumping gas. I am going to miss this car whenever Ethan comes looking for it.

It is only a matter of time before he comes for the car, one of his treasures for him and him alone to touch… And, I am surprised no one has come looking for the heirloom diamond that currently sits inside its box somewhere in the depths of my backpack. I'd been told that the ugly gemstone had been in the family for generations when it was presented to me in that restaurant. And since Ethan's sisters-in-law apparently hadn't wanted the large canary diamond cut into a baguette with chocolate diamonds on the side, ( couldn't imagine why, the thing vaguely looked like a piss dick) Ethan had been allowed to give it to me.

Hopefully, I'd be within shifter territory by then. It wouldn't change much, other than making me feel even minutely more in control. My rambling thoughts are cut off when the ringing ceases.

"Artemis, my love," Aggie answers on the second ring.

"Hey, Aggie." I've called her Aggie ever since I was a kid because I couldn't pronounce Agnes. At this point calling her anything else seemed like calling her by something that wasn't her name. She is Aggie. Simple as that. Not that my mom had ever stopped trying to get me to call her Aunt Agnes .

"Awfully late for a chit-chat, isn't it?" She says, and I have to do the mental math to determine what time it was back home.

Where am I anyway?

Nevada.

Shit, it is 2 AM over there.

"Yea. But I have a good reason." I say, feeling the gas pump kick off, signaling the full tank.

"Oh yeah, what's that love?" She sounds curious.

"I'm coming home," I reply, replacing the gas pump to its holster. I’m glad I’ve already gone inside for road snacks, Aggie can talk in circles like nobody’s business.

"Oh, how nice!" She gushes, and I can practically feel her vibrating with barely restrained glee at the mere prospect of my return.

"I need a place to stay. I'm not going to Mom's." I say before she can begin her tirade. I love her, but god sometimes she'd talk you into the grave.

"How long until you get here?" She asks, and I hear her shuffling papers in the background, probably looking for the classified ads. Aggie lives in a tiny little cabin, just big enough for her.

"Four or five days? Depending on the weather."

"I'll see what I can do. Do you need a job too? I have a friend in Somerville that needs a bartender. Nights." Aggie asks all business.

I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "Yeah, might just as well." I have some money saved, but I don't want to live off of it… anymore that is. I should probably dye my hair too. Get rid of this fucking bleached mess.

"Everything okay?" Aggie asks, the simple question feeling far heavier than it would any other day.

I sigh again. "Yea. Everything's fine." Well, I am returning to the place I'd sworn never to return to with my tail tucked between my legs, but everything's fine.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know, Aggie. I know." I try to keep the exhaustion from my voice.

"Well let me make some calls, you be safe okay? Don't take any risks you shouldn't." A.k.a. don't shift if you don't have to. The Full Moon is a ways away yet. I'd be within the shifter community soon. And then I could shift all I wanted to. Whenever I wanted to.

"Okay. Thank you, Aggie." I say, lowering myself into the front seat after shuffling a bag of sweet chili Doritos, a bottle of Gatorade, and a Redbull out of the seat. I'd just tossed them into the car through the open window before pumping gas.

Aggie ends the call, likely noticing my distraction, after saying her goodbyes, see you soon , and I'll have everything sorted by the time you get here. That was what I liked about Aggie. She never hovers. She knows I can take care of myself. Knew I'd been doing it since Dad died.

Driving away from the gas station, I can't explain why I feel like going home is…

Like surrendering.