I've been on a roll lately! I'm going to try and update at least one of my other stories before I do another chapter for this one, but in the meantime I'd love to know what you're thinking of this story so far. Please enjoy! x
After the incident in the woods, I tried my hardest to stand on my own two feet and stay in my own house, but I kept finding myself being drawn back to Derek every time the floorboards creaked or the wind made eerie noises. If he was becoming sick of me, he sure wasn't showing it. To be fair, I made a conscious effort to give him his space when I was at his place and to not smother him. Usually I'd just spend my time reading a book or writing a screenplay that would probably never be published.
While Derek tried his best at being supportive, it was obvious that he didn't know how to deal with an emotional train-wreck of a woman. If he heard me sob, his first instinct was to offer me Tylenol and a glass of water. As hopeless as he was, it was sweet of him to try and I wholeheartedly appreciated it.
There were times where Derek would have to leave for work and would let me stay at his place, which was comforting. He often tried to coax me out of the house a few times with the bribe of blueberry muffins and hot chocolate, but when I protested saying that I wasn't ready to go out in public, he'd disappear and come back ten minutes later with the sweet treats that he had previously tried to tempt me with. He never tried to rush me, but he'd always remind me that one day, I'd have to face the world once again.
The first night I fully stayed in my own bed was a week after the incident. Even though comfort was just two doors down, I braved every creak and bang that sounded throughout my house and made it to sunrise. I wasn't sure whether to grin about the fact that I made it, or be sad because this meant that I had no reason to go back to the comfort of Derek's spare room anymore. I know what you're thinking, and it wasn't like that; I just appreciated having somebody around that I could count on if I was about to freak out.
Every now and then, Derek would check in on me if he hadn't heard from me in a while, just to see if things were okay. He never pushed me to talk, which I appreciated. He'd always come over bearing Chinese food and allowed me to pick a movie from my extensive collection for us to watch.
Eventually my bruises faded along with much of the pain and I could finally lift my arms over my head without wincing. All that was left was to stop jumping out of my skin every time I got spooked by the wind.
When Derek saw that I wasn't in a constant state of panic and tearing my hair out, the visits became less frequent. I tried to contact him many times but he never got back to me. Months passed since the last time we spoke and truthfully, I was getting lonely without Liz or Derek.
Slowly I became more comfortable leaving the house on my own. It started with just sitting out in the sun reading a book on my front porch, and then eventually I was able to order a coffee at CeCe's Cafe without wanting to vomit and faint out of anxiety. It was a small feat, but not to say that I didn't have a long way to go.
I sat in the cafe with an empty notebook in front of me, racking my brains for ideas while tapping my pen against the blank pages. Usually I would have plenty ideas floating about in my head, but today I was shooting blanks. In high school, my creative writing teacher always told us that if you were stuck on starting something, to think back to an experience in your life that you could write about, then twist and bend the truth until you have a story.
Oh, Mrs Powell, bless your cotton socks.
I started to hurriedly scrawl down all of the words floating around in my mind, but my hands weren't fast enough.
The waitress came along with my plate of eggs benedict and latte and set it down in front of me.
"You haven't been around in a while, Chloe. Good to see that you're back." Alice grinned.
I smiled back at her as she retreated behind the counter and turned to my plate. Lately I'd been thinking about Liz and how she would eat eggs benedict like they were going out of fashion, so I ordered some on her behalf.
I slowly ate while jotting down more notes in my book when I heard the gruff voice that I hadn't heard in a while and looked up. A smile crept across my face when I saw him standing by the counter, waiting for his coffee. The barista handed him the takeaway cup and he made his way towards the door. Hurriedly, I swallowed my food and called out his name.
"Derek!" I called and waved him over.
His head shot up and looked around for the source of his name, his eyes landing on me. They shot back to the door, then back to me again as he made up his mind about whether or not he wanted to be seen with me in public. Eventually he made his way over to the booth where I was sitting and sat down across from me.
"Didn't expect to see you out and about." He grunted.
I gave a shaky laugh and touched the back of my neck. "Yeah... it's been a bit of a process to finally get around to doing things." I paused, took a sip of my drink and frowned. "You know, I've been trying to track you down. You're never home."
He shrugged. "Been busy I guess."
"It's been months since I've spoken to you." I said, pointedly. "Have you seriously been busy all of this time?" Derek avoided my eyes as he shrugged again and then it dawned on me. "Is this because of what happened to me?" I asked in surprise, worrying that Derek may think I was dirty or messed up.
"Yes... I mean NO." He corrected.
I frowned further. Who the hell was he to avoid me because of what happened?! "It wasn't my fault." I hissed. His lips pressed into a firm line as he contemplated what to say. "You better think very carefully about what you're going to say to me, Derek Souza, because I swear to God if you say what I think you're going to say then you're going to be wearing this latte, got it?" I threatened, my voice dangerously low.
His eyebrow raised at my sudden change of attitude. "That's not it, Chloe." Once he saw my face soften, he continued. "I've been kind of... investigating, I suppose." He explained.
"I-I-Investigating? What do you mean?"
Derek shrugged. "Just looking around the forest to see if I could find anything I guess. Couldn't find your keys though, you mentioned you dropped them, right?"
My eyes widened. "Oh... oh god, I need to change my locks." I panicked as I threw down some money to cover my lunch plus a tip and fled out of the cafe with Derek hot on my heels.
He followed me all the way home as I mumbled about how much of an idiot I am and wondering whether or not anything had been taken. He didn't say anything until I barged into my home, checking all my drawers and every other place where I hid my valuables. As I was rifling through a shelf to make sure my mother's pendant was still there, Derek gripped my arms softly and spun me to face him.
"Chloe, calm down." He demanded. "We'll get your locks sorted and-" He stopped himself. His head snapped up and his nose flared. "Someone's been in here." His voice was so low that I don't think he intended for me to hear it.
"W-w-what? How d-do you know?" I asked, my speech impediment starting to rear its ugly head.
"I'm not so sure if changing your locks is going to help you."
My eyes widened. "Why? Derek, stop being so cryptic. How do you know?!" I demanded him to tell me.
Derek fidgeted as he glanced around my bedroom, looking like he would rather be any place but where he was right in that minute. He sighed, "You should probably sit down for this," he said, gently as he guided me towards the edge of the bed where we both sat. "Don't think that you're in any danger, okay? I don't want you to be scared." He looked straight at me, waiting for an answer. When I nodded, he continued, "I... I think it might have been a uh... werewolf that was in here."
"A w-w-werewolf? Wha-" I stammered to get the words out there as I put my head into my hands. "You think one of them hurt me?" I looked back up at Derek and he nodded. "How do you know?"
"I could just kind of... sense it when you collapsed at my front door." He mumbled.
"Ugh!" I sneered in disgust. "I feel so gross." I looked back at him to see a pang of hurt in his eyes and jumped back. "Oh... OH, you're one of-"
"Yeah," He said meekly as he stood up. "I think I'm done here."
"Derek, wait-" I started but before I knew it, he had already left my room. "Shit," I cursed to myself, "just had to put my foot in it."
The rest of my day consisted of organizing somebody to change my locks as soon as possible. I also did a once-over on my house to make sure nothing of importance was missing. Everything was there, but that just made me worry that whoever was in my house wasn't there for my possessions - they were there for me. I shuddered at the thought as I checked for the fourteenth time that everything was locked and secure. Even with the protection of new locks, I was still wary over what Derek said about the locks not being enough to deter this person. If they really were a werewolf then it would be way easier for them to break in than it would be for any other kind of supernatural being.
After going about my daily routine and settling down for the night, I couldn't shake that awful, eerie feeling that my house suddenly held. It was fine before the incident in the woods; after that it was a bit unsettling, but now that I knew somebody I didn't know had been inside, I was spooked.
As I sat on my couch and allowed my thoughts to stir in my head, my mind went straight to Derek and the expression of hurt on his face after I sounded my distaste for werewolves. It wasn't that I hated them, it's just that they didn't have the best reputation in Blackbridge. They were known to be strong and powerful with heightened senses so they knew you were coming from a mile away. Due to this bad reputation, nobody decent would freely admit that they were a werewolf. Necromancers, sorcerers and half-demons would often openly speak of their powers without consequence, as it wasn't something that would scare others away. Their kinds were common in our town. However, werewolves weren't. In most cases, werewolves only ever spoke of their powers to instill fear among anybody listening. It was a power trip for them to intimidate the meek necromancers and sorcerers. The reason Derek didn't tell me that he was a werewolf was probably so that I wasn't afraid of him, and I made him think that I was in my reaction.
I peeled myself off the couch and grabbed my purse and keys from the kitchen counter. My first destination was the Chinese takeaway place where I ordered three mains and a large container of fried rice. After I paid and collected for the food, I stopped to grab a couple of coffees from CeCe's Cafe. I struggled to balance everything on my walk back, but miraculously I managed.
Stepping up onto Derek's front porch, I peered inside the window to see that the TV was on. Thank God he was home.
I rang the doorbell and heard the shuffling of feet come towards the door. He must have seen me through the peephole because he didn't bother to open it. Derek must have been really mad at me.
I rang the doorbell again. "I know you're home, Derek." I called out to him, pressing the doorbell a few more times in the hopes that it'd drive him crazy enough to open the door. It didn't seem to be working. Pressing it a few more times, I called out again. "I'm not leaving. You know I'll keep pressing it."
The door flew open, revealing Derek's cold, hard face. "What?" He snapped.
I flinched at his words. "Peace offering?" I replied meekly as I held out the dinner towards him. He didn't budge. "Oh come on, I walked all this way carrying everything and I didn't spill a single thing. I had to use my coordination!" I exclaimed. "Please? Just let me in, Derek." I said, this time a little softer.
He pressed his lips together into a firm line and took the coffees out of my hands. "You'd better come in. It's getting dark."
I followed Derek into the kitchen where he was getting out plates and cutlery for us. In all the time it took him to get everything out, serve up our plates and sit down and eat, he didn't say a single word to me. Not a thing.
He finished his last bite as I was still eating. "So... you let me in." I said as I stabbed a piece of sweet and sour pork with my fork. "You can't be too mad at me." Derek grunted in response. We lapsed back into silence and I put my plate on the table in front of me. "You have to talk to me at some point."
"Not really." He grunted.
"Should I have got us Indian for dinner?" I asked in jest, trying to lighten the mood. All I received in response was an eye roll as he changed the channel on the TV.
I sighed. "Look, I know what I said was shitty, and I am so, so sorry, Derek. I understand if you're mad, but I honestly didn't mean to offend you."
Derek got up off the couch and took his plate to the sink in the kitchen. I stayed where I was as he did his own thing. I saw out of the corner of my eye that he just stood there for a while, as if he were contemplating something. Eventually I couldn't take the awkward silence anymore. I stood up and stepped into his view.
"I should go." I told him. "If you decide that you accept my apology then you know where I am." I grabbed my keys and my purse from the kitchen counter and spun on my heel to leave. Right as I was about to open the front door, Derek's hand held it shut. I spun around to see him leaning over me.
"I'm not mad, Chloe." He rumbled.
"Then why did you react that way?"
He shrugged. "The way you looked at me, I guess. It was kind of expected though. People don't take very kindly to... my kind."
We sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before I broke it. "Derek, I'm really sorry."
He looked at me. "I know. It's okay."
More uncomfortable silence. There were questions that I wanted to ask him about being a werewolf but I wasn't sure how to bring it up. After opening my mouth to speak and then promptly closing it many times, Derek piped up.
"You're allowed to ask me things."
I exhaled in relief. "I-I've heard that werewolves have better senses. Like smell and hearing. Is that true?"
"Yup, and our eyesight is a lot better. It's like having night vision." His lips twitched up in a quick smile that fell off his face immediately. "It's not that great though." He mumbled.
"I'd say it's pretty cool." I grinned. "What about super strength? Have you ever bench pressed a truck?"
Derek rolled his eyes. "Can't say I have."
"There aren't any vampires are there? Because I've seen Twilight and-" Derek held his hand up to stop me as he shook his head. "Well, I guess that's all my questions answered."
"You're not... scared of me, are you?" Derek asked tentatively, as if he was worried what my answer would be.
I snorted in response. "Terrified." I replied in the most sarcastic tone I could muster. He visibly relaxed at my response. "Sorry to say it, but you're more of a gentle giant than a big scary werewolf."
The corners of his mouth twitched into what looked like a crooked smile. This time, it actually stayed on his face for longer than a couple of seconds. It was kind of nice to see him smile. Usually his face was cold and stern, making me think that he never let anybody in.
We continued to make light conversation before I suggested that it was time to go back to my place.
"I'll walk you." He offered. "It's getting dark."
I rolled my eyes and didn't bother to mention that I only lived a couple of houses down. After gathering my things, he walked me to back to my place. We got up to my front porch when he stopped, his nose flaring. He looked on high alert.
"Derek? You okay?" I prodded.
His eyes narrowed. "He's been here."
"W-wha-" I stiffened. "I changed the locks!"
Derek pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's a werewolf, Chloe. A change of locks won't stop creeps like him." He paused and looked around, his lips pressing into a firm line. "I'd feel better if you stayed in my guest room tonight. I'll come in with you while you pack a bag." As I opened my mouth to protest, he added, "No arguments."
I rolled my eyes as I unlocked the door and stepped inside. To me, everything seemed fine, but I knew that Derek could sense something was off, which gave me that uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I rushed up the stairs to grab my bag and threw everything that I would need in it. It was just an overnight thing, so I didn't need a lot. It made me wonder though, would I be staying at Derek's more often as long as this guy is out there, hanging around my home? Would I be forced out of my house in fear of this person? When would it stop?
I shook my head as I grabbed the last of my things and met Derek downstairs.
"Ready to go?" He asked me. I nodded as I closed the door behind me and we headed off towards his place.
As we made it to the sidewalk, a throat cleared behind us and Derek spun around on his heel. Before I could spin around myself and see what was going on, Derek grabbed me by the wrist and shoved me behind him. I rubbed my wrist as it throbbed and tried to peer around him, but he was too big.
"Come on, don't be like that." Somebody said.
My blood turned to ice. It was that southern drawl that invaded my dreams and made my skin crawl.
