All my life I have been prayed on by the most popular kids in school. It did not matter how many times I tried to start over my life just kept getting worse and worse. My senior year of high school I tell my mom and dad that I give up, that I am going to live with my grandma at her country style home in Ireland. At first they didn't think that it was a good idea but that is only because they had a falling out with my grandma a few years ago but no one will ever tell me why. They soon agree thought but they say that I have to return home at spring and summer break.
I am soon flying high over the Atlantic Ocean on my way to my grandmas. Once I land I go through security and make my way over to baggage claim to collect my suitcase. All of my other valuables have already been shipped over the previous week to my grandma's little country house. Once I have my luggage I hear this high pitched scream coming form behind me yelling my name. At this time I'm hopping that somebody else has the same name as I do and that the person that the woman is screaming for is not me.
"Leah. Leah. Oh Leah" the voice keeps yelling. So I finally turn around and it is this old lady with a bright yellow, and I mean a screaming yellow, pair of daisy dukes and a hot pink plaid button up shirt that does not button too well with the old woman's rather large bust. And at this moment all I'm thinking is please, please, please, don't let that be my grandma.
But almost as soon as I turn around she is there squeezing me. I felt like I was going to pop.
"Oh, Leah I'm so glad you decided to come live with me this year. We are going to have so much fun with you senior year that you will never want to leave this beautiful country" she exclaimed excitedly.
I don't say anything as we get into the car I just nod and go along with anything she says. On the drive to her house I zone her out and just look out the window of a brand new midnight blue Chevrolet enjoying the scenery. I must admit that if anything bad happens I can say that Ireland was a beautiful place.
"Leah, honey welcome to a good old fashioned Irish country home" grandma beamed enthusiastically. I did not even realize that we had stopped. We went in and I got started unpacking all of the boxes that the movers delivered. Later in the day about right after lunch grandma yelled up the stairs, "Leah, Mr. Triffon will be coming by for dinner. He will be the one to help you in school, like show you where it is and how to find all of your classes."
"Ok, grandma what are we having for dinner," I replied.
"We are having Shepard's pie. It will be ready around seven o'clock."
Around seven there was a knock on the front door. Since grandma was making dinner I went to open the door to the most beautiful man I have ever seen. He had the most striking bright green eyes that kind of reminded me of the fields that I saw on the way to the house. His hair, oh my god, his hair was as black as a raven, and man oh man was he ripped. I was hopping to god that I was not drooling all over myself in front of him.
"Well stop drooling and let Mr. Triffon in Leah," my grandma so boldly stated. Cue my blush and he just chuckles, and boy did is sound heavenly. I moved out of the way and we made our way to the dinning room to eat.
"So Ms. Clearwater what brings you all the way across the sea to Ireland," he asked with a twinkle in his bright green eyes.
"Well it was mainly to get away from all of the bullies that I've had to deal with," I whispered.
"Oh well you don't have to worry about that here because bullying is just not acceptable in any shape, way, or form in the high school. There have been too many problems with that in the past that the faculty just shut it all down," he replied smoothly.
"That sounds good"
After that I started asking him about the different things about the school that I should come to expect this coming year. It turns out that there is a lot to do at this school. You have choir, band, pom, cheerleading, drama, book club, chess club, almost any kind of sport you can think of, and so on and so forth. Soon dinner was over and Mr. Triffon was on his way home much to my dismay.
Summer went by in a flash full of sunny and not so sunny days. I finally got a chance to explore and oh my god the forest was amazing but the one thing that kept bugging me was the howling that I kept hearing over the summer. It was not every night but when it did happen I found out that someone either died or went to the hospital. That news was kind of disturbing. I tried to ask my grandma about the howling but she just turned deathly pail and said that she needed to lie down and rest. Soon I just stopped asking at all. Mr. Triffon, later found out that his actual name was John, kept coming over to dinner at least once or twice a week. We were starting to become great friends. But what would I know I've never had a friend before, now isn't that just sad.
I hated to see summer pass me by so fast. Summer in Ireland was just beautiful and I could see why grandma lived here. It was the first day of school and I was a nervous wreck. I felt like I had no idea what to expect from all of the people here. John showed up at my house around seven thirty to pick me up so we could go to school together. Turned out he did not live to far away from me so it was not a problem. Once we arrived at school it felt like everyone was just staring at me as if I've grown a second head.
"Just this way to the main office where you can get you class schedule," John said drawing me out of my thoughts. As we walked into the office I kept feeling like I was getting stared at but every time I looked I could see that no one was looking at me. After I got my schedule my day went pretty fast. I met some of John's friends at lunch and they were pretty funny if you could believe it.
The following months went by as normal as high school ever gets but around thanksgiving, at least in America, I started to feel a little weird. I mean I was starting to hear things more clearly and I could hear heart beats but the weirdest thing was that I could tell if someone was in anyway, shape, or form sick. A few weeks after I started feeling these things I started to get twitchy and my skin itched so bad it felt like there was something trying to get out of my skin. All the while I am going through this John has been by my side the whole time, he does not know the extense of what I am going though but he does know that I am not feeling as well as I once did. He always has a concerned look on his face when I start to scratch or rub my head with the palms of my hands.
I heard one day when I was coming down the stairs to wait for John to come and get me "She is almost there Hellen she just has a few more months as it is. You need to tell her and if you don't I will whether you like it or not she needs to know before she changes and starts to freak out that she has just changed into a freaky dog type thing." I heard John's voice carry up the stairs. Who is going to change into a dog?
I slowly made my way down stairs as quite as I could to see if he was going to elaborate. And boy did he elaborate.
"Leah is going to turn; I can see the changes in her already. Yesterday she told George that he was coming down with the flu but he was showing no signs of the flu. A few days later he did not come to school due to the flu. What is Leah going to think when she turns and she knew all along that you knew and did not tell her about it. I freaked out when I turned and my dad did not tell me," John said with emotion.
"I know but she should not be turning at all she is a female and only the males in the chosen families change. She should not be going through this at all," my grandma demanded.
John said, "There was this old legend that has been passed down through my family. It is said that when the time for change is when a female becomes the leader of the pack of the Baskervilles. It is now time for change. We are all tired of watching our loved ones die every day and night. The pack can feel it even when we are not turned we know that she is going to change. I have been talking to my pack and we have decided that it is time for her to know."
"Fine but when she freaks out it is not on me. This will be your fault," my grandma replied venomously.
After that it was quiet and no one talked so I decided to make my way down the stairs. As I walked into the living room they were just sitting on the couch and staring into space.
"Are you ready to go John," I asked.
"Sure, I guess" he replied cautiously. We made our way to school and everything was as normal as could be but then we got to lunch and all of the guys were waiting for us. For some unknown reason we all went outside and into the woods to eat or so I thought.
"So Leah how much did you hear this morning when I was talking to your grandmother," John asked. I was a little taken aback because I know that I did not make any noise to be heard.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Oh yes you do I could smell you on the stairs so don't lie to me you can't." Ok that was weird. What does he mean he can smell me?
"Fine not much only that I'm supposedly going to turn into this freaky dog thingy. I mean are you freaking nuts? Why in the world would I turn into this dog that howls?" I yelled at him.
"Because it's in your blood," said Timothy one of our friends who apparently knows everything.
"And how Mr. 'I know everything' do you know this?"
"Because it's in my blood as well as everyone's hear," he replied sadly. After that I kind of deflated and they told me everything. And when I say everything I mean everything from how they became the wolves, to why they howl, to how I was supposed to become the pack leader. This discussion took up the rest of the day. I was too stunned to go back to school or into town so I just stood up from where I was sitting, turned around and just started walking into the woods away from everything. I could hear the pack calling for me but they never followed. How was I supposed to lead them if I'm not even turned yet? How am I even supposed to lead I have never been a leader I've been the girl in the corner of the room that no one knew and always picked on. How can I do this?
I somehow end up at a little river that runs a ways from my grandma's house that I'm now calling my own. I look into the river and all I see is plain little old me. Nothing special at all with my reflection. What do they expect me to do? I can't help anyone with anything. It just won't work. Then I start to get angry at everyone. My grandma knew and did not tell me, and now I have to somehow end up helping my friends and the guy that I'm secretly in love with get to the point to where they can stop changing and being the battle cry for the dead. How in the hell am I supposed to pull this off? Am I supposed to make a secret potion or something so that people will not die or what?
I start to shake and it gets worse as time goes on and I keep thinking about how I'm supposed to fix everything. Then all of a sudden I hear this ripping sound and I feel as if my bones are going to war with my body. This goes on and on and on. It felt like forever until it suddenly stops. I am down on my hands and knees looking at paws in front of my eyes. I try to move away from them but they seem to be attached to my hands. I walk up the river and I see this beautiful snow white wolf looking dog. I start freaking out I mean I knew that this was going to happen but it is a different story when you actually see that you are this dog.
Then abruptly I know everything that I am supposed to do and I start running to John's house which is close by. As I make my way through the forest I don't notice that there are hunters out. For some odd reason I start howling and I don't know why. I round a tree and come face to face with the barrel of a huge shotgun aiming at me. When all of a sudden this black dog that looked a lot like me came barreling out of the trees straight at me knocking me out of the way just as the shotgun went off. I stood there on my paws shocked at what just happened. Then the black dog started shaking and then John was lying there with blood dripping down his naked chest. The hunter was so scared at what he just saw that he ran away screaming like a little girl.
I walked up to John still in dog form. I try to get him to respond to me but all that he does is look at me and says, "I will always love you my new alpha," and then I can see all the light leave his eyes. I start howling up into the sky and soon joined by the rest of the pack. After we are done howling I am so emotional that I can't keep the form and change back. The guys take this as for them to change back to.
"We need to get him to his house," I said while feeling the tears rolling down my face into his beautiful raven black hair.
"We will deal with him why don't you go home and rest for a while I will be by later with the funeral arrangements," stated Aiden another member of my pack.
I only nod not knowing what to say. I made my way home. As I opened the door my grandma was standing there with a shocked look on her face but I just ignored it and walked up to my room and lay down on my bed. I fell asleep dreaming about how the man that I loved.
