I was awoken only a few hours later by the shrill ring of my phone going off, again. Remembering last night, I jumped to my feet and dashed to grab it off the charger, hoping Kevin had been found. It was "Unknown" again, and my hands shook as I tapped the screen to answer.

"Hello," I breathed my voice still strained with sleep.

"I'm sorry to call and wake you so early Ms. Miller, but this is Officer Nickels."

"Have you heard from him," I couldn't help but cut him off.

"Um, unfortunately no, and I'm afraid I have some worse news." My heart started pounding in my ears and it was a good thing my senses were unusually strong again today or I wouldn't have heard what Officer Nickels said next. "At 7am this morning, Kevin was officially declared a missing person since his boss said that was when his shift was supposed to start yesterday. Well, we had no choice but to force entry into his home at that point to initiate our missing person search. While conducting our investigation, I'm sorry to say that we discovered signs of a struggle and a small trail of blood leading out the back door of his house and ending at the edge of the forest. We will be bringing in search dogs to track further. In the meantime, Kevin's house and yard have been corded off as a police scene. We are not sure why this supposed attack happened as there appears to be nothing missing from the house. We also don't have any leads yet on possible suspects. I will keep you updated on any further developments. I'm sorry to have to tell you all this," he concluded somewhat awkwardly.

I was at a loss for words for several moments until I recovered enough to respond, "Th-Thanks for l-letting me know," my voice broke at the end as I hung up my phone, collapsing again into sobs. I knew that the chances of finding somebody went down by half within the first 24 hours, and Kevin had been missing for at least that. As I began to regain control of my breathing, I jumped at an unexpected tapping on my door. I ran to open it, but frowned slightly when I saw who was on the other side. Then it dawned on me, "Crap, I'm late for work! I'm so sorry Monica, I forgot to set my alarm last night, it was kind of a long one." I couldn't stop the small sniffle that followed.

"I don't care that you're late for work! Damn it Crystal, you gave me a huge scare! You didn't show up, you didn't even call! After last night, I was worried sick. I left Carla in charge of the shop as soon as she got there and came straight here. Why didn't you answer your phone," she frowned at the end of her tirade.

"I was on the phone with a police officer. Monica, Kevin's missing..."

"What," she blinked, clearly dazed.

"Yeah, a Fairbanks police officer called last night saying Kevin's boss called in because he never showed up for work, and, uh, didn't call," I added in bashfully, knowing I had done the same thing to her this morning.

Monica narrowed her eyes slightly at me, but then motioned for me to continue as she knew I wasn't done yet.

"Well, he called again this morning to let me know he was now officially a missing person and that they had to force entry into his home to start a search. They found a trail of blood leading to the forest, and now they're bringing in dogs to continue tracking," my voice finally cracked at the end and I began sobbing again.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry," Monica breathed before pulling me into a giant hug. We sat like that on my couch for a few minutes while I cried on her shoulder. "Well, you are certainly not going into work anytime soon. Have you eaten anything yet today," she asked softly.

I shook my head and she walked towards the kitchen. "What are you doing," I asked as I followed her.

"Making you breakfast," she shrugged like it should have been obvious. I began to argue, but my grumbling stomach cut me off and I just frowned at the counter.

"You don't have to do that," I mumbled.

"And you are in no shape to be dealing with hot cooking objects," she shot back and I decided to drop it, knowing I wasn't going to win.

Monica stayed silent while she cooked and piled up the two plates of food. I dug in appreciatively and had finished my plate in no time. It seemed like nothing was going to lower my increased appetite. I thanked Monica and started to clear the dishes until she shot me a nasty look that said she would be doing it instead.

"Seriously, thanks for everything Mon," I whispered as she scrubbed the pans.

"You know I don't mind at all. You're like family, my dear, and you'll just have to live with that."

I couldn't help but smile at her words. It was nice to know I had somebody to lean on with all the things that had gone wrong. Monica stayed through the afternoon and forced me to let her make lunch. I called Officer Nickels after to see if they had any news, but he didn't answer. Frustrated, I told Monica I wanted to go to his house to try and get answers there.

"I don't know Crys," she frowned. "If it's corded off, they probably don't want people poking around. Besides, do you really want to put yourself through that?"

"Well, I can't sit here any longer wondering about it. I need to do something."

"Alright, if you're sure. But I'm driving," she added in before I could argue. I narrowed my eyes slightly but agreed, knowing if we got bad news there I wouldn't be in any shape to drive. My heart was pounding in my head as we pulled up. I climbed out of Monica's car and was instantly overwhelmed by the sight in front of me.

This is not happening to me again, I thought as the panic threatened to overwhelm me. The police scene in front of me told a different story, however. I was about to lose my only companion, again, and suddenly, a hauntingly familiar scent met my nose, making me quiver in that weird way again...

Forcing myself from that train of thought, I spotted a couple of Kevin's friends and hoped that maybe they had heard something. I decided to ask Kevin's friend Sid since I knew him better than Cody, who was standing next to him.

"Have you heard anything since this morning," I asked, but Sid just shook his head, obviously not trusting his voice.

I sighed before deciding to ask one of 2 officers who had just stepped over the crime scene tape.

"Have you guys found anything new," I asked.

The officer who had first stepped over the tape eyed me disdainfully before asking, "And you are?"

"Crystal Miller, Kevin's girlfriend," I growled out.

"Well, Ms. Miller, I'm sorry but I can't divulge any information on this case at the moment as we are looking into foul play since blood was discovered at the scene. In fact, you are the last known person to have seen him alive. If I were you I'd stick around town."

"What is that supposed to mean," I shuddered indignantly, my muscles spasming slightly as anger filled me.

"Just that the circumstances make you look a little suspicious to me," he replied somewhat snidely. "Have a nice day," he tacked on in the end before turning on his heels and heading to one of the patrol cars parked along the street.

I stood there gaping after him until a voice next to me made me jump.

"Don't listen to what Officer Cranden said. He's just hoping to be the one to solve the case so it can go on his record. It would be the only one he's cracked in 5 years." I recognized the voice as Officer Nickels.

"Am I really under investigation," I asked him shakily.

"Well, we're not ready to rule out any possibility at the moment, but you are definitely not a top suspect like Cranden implied, and I don't think you will be any time soon." I raised my eyebrows questioningly at this. "I knew your dad," he explained. "I also know all about what happened after the accident and it shows that you and Kevin were very close. We will try our best to find out who did this, you can be sure of that."

Without another word, Officer Nickels strode back to the scene where a couple of dogs with search and rescue vests had just arrived. The situation became very real as Officer Nickels held out pieces of Kevin's clothes for the dogs to get the scent. I searched out Monica, I couldn't be here any longer, the anxiety was creeping in again. I saw her standing near Sid, staring directly at me. I had a feeling she had been watching me during my conversations with the officers since she had a questioning look on her face.

As I reached her I whispered, "Can we go back to my house please?"

Monica cocked an eyebrow at me and led the way back to her car. "So you gonna tell me what that was all about," she cut to the chase as soon as we started back towards my place.

I sighed deeply then recounted my conversations with Officers Cranden and Nickels to her.

"I can't believe that shithead honestly thinks that you could have done something to Kevin," she huffed at the end.

"At least Officer Nickels thinks I'm okay," I whispered, just wanting to forget about the whole thing.

"Don't worry sweetheart, anybody they talk to will back you up. We all know how much you care for Kevin."

I muttered, "Thanks," then went back to staring out my window. As Monica pulled up to my house, I turned to her. "I appreciate everything you did today, but I just really want to be alone for a little while. I need some time to sort out my thoughts by myself."

"Okay," she sounded somewhat unsure, but wasn't about to argue. "Just promise to call me if you need anything."

"I promise," I said as I pulled her into a tight hug before exiting the car and walking slowly back into my house.

As I slid the deadbolt in place, I started to rethink being alone as my thoughts centered back on my conversation with Officer Jackass, as I had aptly nicknamed the jerk. I couldn't believe he thought I might have something to do with this in the first place. The fact that he had basically accused me of causing harm to Kevin just made it worse.

An anger more intense than I had ever known began coursing through my veins. I felt a surge of hatred for whoever was responsible for Kevin disappearing, wishing I could rip them apart myself. My heart started pounding faster as a gentle tingling sensation rippled through my body, the muscle spasms getting more severe. I took in a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm myself, but to no avail. The anger continued to build, until I felt like I might explode from the pressure. What was a gentle tingling now became a sharp stinging that kept rolling over my body in waves.

When I couldn't take it anymore, I rushed out my back door and into the fresh air. That backfired as the sickly sweet smell slammed into me and strong convulsions began wracking through my body, causing me to fall forward onto my hands and knees and squeeze my eyes shut against the intensity. The anger hadn't ebbed any, in fact it had continued to grow and grow until I yelled out from the frustration, pain and confusion. An intense burning took over the stinging sensation and my entire body felt like it was melting. The strongest convulsion yet shook my very core and an intense rush of heat hit my body as I felt a strange popping along my spine and in all my joints. I barely registered a strange ripping sound as, with one last mighty convulsion, all the sensations stopped almost as abruptly as they had begun.

I took in a few more deep breaths, hoping my "episode" had passed. It was a few minutes until I trusted myself to try and stand. As I did, however, I realized there was something seriously wrong with my legs. My calves felt like they were facing the wrong direction and as soon as I heaved myself off the ground, I felt my legs shake until I fell back onto my hands as I forced my still closed eyes open. A loud yelp forced its way out as I finally realized something was seriously wrong. Where my hands should have been there were two massive paws covered in snow white fur. I swung my head around to check the rest of my body, and sure enough, the same fur had erupted along all of my body, ending in a fluffy white tail. Panicked, I automatically broke out in a run, all four paws pounding against the ground. I didn't stop until I reached the lake closest to my house and shakily looked into the water. Staring back at me was the reflection of a massive stark white wolf.

The only thought I could manage at this point was, 'What the hell am I?'