The Writer's Exile

It's time.

Kuga Natsuki rode her motorcycle down the dirt road, kicking up a trail of dust behind her as she gunned the engine. She knew that time was running out. The trees grew thicker around her as she neared her destination, a small cabin in the middle of the woods once owned by her family and that now sat empty and alone. She made the long journey out to this secluded cabin once a week, it had become something of a ritual for her.

She pulled up to it and stopped the bike, she dismounted and breathed in the cool mountain air before approaching the front door. She reached for the doorknob and inhaled deeply before opening the door. Inside the cabin looked like it had been ransacked. No piece of furniture was whole, everything looking like it was smashed to bits by an angry man with a sledgehammer. The walls bore scratch and bite marks gouged deep into the wood. The wall that had once separated the living room from the bedroom had been knocked down and the bedroom looked no better than the living room. No windows remained on the house, each opening had been boarded up to keep out the elements. It was just as she had left it seven days ago.

She removed all of her clothing, knelt down in the center of, what was once, the living room and inhaled deeply. It set upon her like a wave and, before she knew it, she had been consumed by the pain. It was the same way every time.

-WWW-

"I know, I read the article."

Fujino Shizuru was in a car driving down a long stretch of highway towards a small town she had never even heard of, her brown hair flowing freely out of her convertible. She was talking on her cellphone to her publisher, who was trying to convince her to return to the city. He wasn't succeeding. "They called it drivel. Drivel!"

She was fleeing the city and her publishers after her latest novel, White Wolf Whispers, was panned by literary critics who had admonished her work as juvenile and pure drivel. She took it as a personal slight which caused her current bout of writer's block. She hadn't written a word since the public humiliation. "No, I'm not coming back. I can't write anymore. It's over."

She mashed the hang up button and regretted that her dramatic gesture would never be known by the person on the other side. Sometimes the old ways are better. It was this thought that had made her buy a house in the small town of Fuuka, far away from the city and her shame. She thought she could start a new life far away, and as she spotted the town on the horizon she realized just how far away she really was. As far as the eye could see was open fields and even a forested area off to the east. The town itself was small, with only around two thousand people in it. It was a mostly farming community, and farmers, she would find, have relatively little to talk about.

She drove through the town and turned nearly every head with her red convertible and large sunglasses. Her new house was situated on the very edge of the town proper, so she had to drive another ten minutes to get there. When she arrived she was surprised to find another car in the driveway and a brown haired woman waving at her from the sidewalk. She got out and leisurely strolled towards her, pushing the sunglasses away from her crimson colored eyes. "Hi, Ms. Fujino, I'm Harada Chie with Fuuka Realty." When Shizuru gave her a look that said 'I don't know you', she sighed. "I'm the one who sold you the house."

Shizuru snapped her fingers and pointed at her. "Right. You, I remember you."

Chie's eyes narrowed and she glared daggers at the woman approaching her. "We talked on the phone, you wouldn't recognize me."

Shizuru stood in front of her and shook her hand, Chie handed her the keys to the house. "Whatever. Let's see this house I bought." Shizuru followed Chie through the front door and into the living room, a quaint room furnished with a sofa, two recliners and the flat screen TV she had had sent before her. She walked behind the woman through the kitchen and two bedrooms, each already full of her belongings including her four poster bed with white satin sheets, she had spared no expense on her bed, and her writing desk. Shizuru ran her hand along the desk and Chie took notice. "Are you a writer?"

Shizuru nodded. "Yes, I am. Well I was, I'm having a bit of trouble right now."

"Writer's block, eh? Well I hope you can get passed it. I have some houses to show this evening so I'll let you settle in."

"Wait." Chie stopped on her way to the door and spun on her heels. "Are there any good restaurants in town?"

"There's Mai's Diner on Main, she serves good food. Tell her you just moved in here and she'll give you a discount."

"Thanks."

Chie left Shizuru alone and she sat down in her writer's chair, picked up a nearby pen and slid a piece of paper in front of her. She focused, pushing all thoughts aside and letting her mind drift into dreams, but her mind wouldn't make the shift. Like a rebellious child it merely refused. She gave up after several minutes and swore, storming out of the house and to her car. She started it up and drove down Main Street until she found Mai's Diner, a small building wedged between a general store and a clothing store with room to seat merely thirty.

The inside was rather tidy and homely draped with blue and white silk curtains with tablecloths and candles on each table and a well tended bar. This is where Shizuru chose to sit and waited for a server. She looked around the room and noticed a few people were waiting patiently, mostly older people who's skin looked stretched and leathery from many years working their fields. From the kitchen she could hear a raucous noise. A red-haired busty woman walked through the door from the kitchen and approached with a plate of food in each hand. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. We're a bit shorthanded right now so it might be a minute."

The woman walked around the bar and handed the food to an elderly couple who nodded and thanked her profusely before diving in. The woman was heading back behind the bar when the doorbell chimed and an attractive woman walked in, blue hair a tangle on her head and a motorcycle helmet under her arm. Her emerald eyes passed over Shizuru and found the woman behind the counter, who crossed her arms and glared daggers at the newcomer. "Where have you been?"

The blue haired woman shrugged as she walked around the counter. "Sorry, I just got back into town."

The red-haired woman sighed, her voice as hard as the counter. "Hurry up, we've got customers still waiting."

The blue-haired woman walked through the door leading to the kitchen and Shizuru watched her walk through a window set in the wall. The redhead pulled a tablet out of her apron and set it down on the counter. She looked at Shizuru with a sarcastic look. "See something you like, Miss?"

She became aware that her eyes hadn't left the blue haired woman since she walked in the door. Shizuru smirked when she turned her attention to the waitress. "And what kind of woman do you take me for, Miss..." She looked for a name tag and found one pinned to her right breast, her eyes lingered a little longer than they should have. "Mai?"

"My apologies, I meant no offense." Mai returned the smirk. "And what can I get for you?"

Shizuru perused the laminated menu that sat on the table. She ordered a cup of green tea and an order of shrimp dumplings. As soon as she ordered the blue haired woman stuck her head through the window and said in a voice as smooth as satin, "Oi, we're out of shrimp. Pick something else."

Shizuru was struck by the sound. Such a lovely voice. Mai spun around and faced the window. "What do you mean we're out of shrimp. We had two cases the other day."

"They're gone. We used them up yesterday."

"Well did you look for more? Maybe there's a box in the back."

"I looked, damn it. Pick something else."

Mai threw a nearby towel through the window at the brunette. "Calm down, woman, she's a customer. Show some respect." Mai turned back to Shizuru with a renewed smile. "I'm real sorry about that, it's hard to find good help these days." She said the last part loud enough to be heard in the kitchen and she heard the brunette grumble from behind the window. "We seem to be out of shrimp at the moment. Is there something else that you fancy?"

An interesting choice of words. "Do you have crab dumplings? Those will be fine. Oh, and Chie of Fuuka Realty told me to mention that I just moved into town. She said it might be worth something to you."

"So you're the one who moved into that old house. The writer, eh?" Mai hit a few buttons on her tablet and the total cost of her order disappeared. "What's your name?"

"Fujino Shizuru."

"Tokiha Mai." They shook hands and Mai leaned over the counter, inadvertently drawing Shizuru's eyes to her chest. "So, what brings you out to our small town?"

"Why, for the women of course."

Mai smiled back at her with a playful look in her eyes. "And what kind of woman do you take me for, Ms. Fujino?"

Shizuru pulled her eyes away and looked elsewhere. "I meant no offense."

"None taken. So are you a small-time writer? Have you written anything I might have read?"

"Seeing as you're not that kind of woman, I doubt it. My books sell well but they're not best sellers. I make a living, though."

A bell rang from the window and the brunette's voice could be heard shouting "Order". Mai hustled over and took the ready plate, setting it before Shizuru with a smile.

"Thanks." Shizuru ate hungrily, she hadn't realized how hungry she was until the food was in front of her. She bit down on a piece and relished the flavor. She may not show up on time, but at least the woman can cook. She was so involved in eating that she didn't notice the brunette walk up, not until she slid a plate in front of her did Shizuru look up.

"Hey, ummm..." She seemed nervous, as if she weren't used to talking to people. "We actually had some shrimp so I made these for you. On the house, of course."

Her voice was much softer and more sultry than when she had been talking to Mai. Shizuru liked it. She smiled up at the woman while looking into her emerald green eyes. "Thanks a lot. I hope you didn't get in too much trouble over me."

She averted her eyes. "No, not more than usual anyway." Her face was passive and calm, almost somber, her voice seemed melancholy but hid an energy behind it that Shizuru wanted to find. She wanted to discover more about this woman. "Once again, I'm sorry."

She turned to leave, Shizuru tried to stop her but she reached the door at an almost inhuman speed and was through it before she could get a word out. "Wait, what is..." she muttered the rest, "your name?"

She ate the shrimp dumplings and drank down her green tea in silence. She couldn't explain why but she had a good feeling about this town. Her trepidations about moving had faded and all she was left with was a sense of adventure, of not knowing what lay on the horizon. She took her phone from her pocket and switched it to her notes app. She sat there and stared at the blank page until words started to form in her head, at first slowly then more quickly.

She sprinted through the dark forest, her breath spreading a fine white mist on the cold night's air. Her legs start to burn and she can hardly breathe but she can't stop or it will get her. She hears a rustling in the trees above her and knows it him, he's close and if he catches her it's over. She jumps over an exposed root and nearly falls over, her blue hair flowing behind her like a river, her pale skin gleaming with sweat in the pale moonlight.

The wolf jumps from a branch at least ten feet over her head and lands on her back, pushing her to the ground. Her vision swims until she feels the bite. She screams and struggles against the wolf, managing to push it off of her, then scrambles to her feet. She runs and it does not follow, the damage is done and her blood running red on her gown is the proof...

She looks up from her phone to see Mai looking at her strangely. She catches her breath and realized that she had been breathing heavily. "Are you okay? Maybe you should go home."

"Yeah." Shizuru shook her head to clear the rest of her daze and stood from the bar. "Thanks." She waved to Mai as she left, who waved back, then walked to her car. The drive back to her house seemed to clear her head. Once inside she set herself to organizing all of her possessions that still sat in boxes along her entryway. She opened the first box and found a dozen old books, first editions and works that had been out of print for years. The one on top was one of her favorites, a collection of works by Poe, her idol and the author who had inspired her to write. She held the old book and felt the cracking leather in her fingers, the yellowing pages nearly fell apart as she opened it and thumbed through the pages. As she slid her finger along a page it cut her, not deeply but enough that she nearly dropped the book. She held her right index finger up and noticed the thin line of blood that ran along it. Ungrateful book. She took the box into her room and set it on her bed, she went into her bathroom, took a paper towel and held it to her finger until the bleeding stopped.

She unpacked the box of books and another that was just beneath it when she felt fatigue and decided that it was a good time to stop for the night. She plopped down into her couch and searching for the remote for her TV, finding it buried in the cushions of the couch and turned it on. She didn't watch very much before she drifted off and sleep found her and while she slept she dreamed.

The forest is dark and quiet, only the sounds of distant insects pierces the veil of night around me. The mist crawls quietly around me, chilling me and filling me with a feeling I haven't felt in a long time. I walk forward on bare feet, never knowing where I'm going except ahead. The dew on the grass beneath my feet is cold and slippery.

The forest rumbles, a deep tremor that shakes the trees spilling leaves onto the soft down of the forest floor. I know it is close. I whirl around and it's near me, a wolf as large as a man. It stands on it's hind legs, white skin glistening in the soft light of the moon that hangs in the sky. Her eyes are emeralds, her gaze pierces me in a way that I have longed for.

She growls and I can smell blood on her breath. I reach out for her, to feel her as if to make sure she is real. She is. My hand feels her soft fur as it runs through it and, for only a moment, those emeralds soften. I can swear she whispers my name, then the bite and the scream.