1. Life Without Trouble.

Staring at the now gray and ripped paper, she tilts her head. It once held a beautiful picture of Luna Queen Morana. The photo was once bright begging to be seen as it asked for attention. Information about her death is written underneath her photo and at the bottom, there is a section of promising rewards. The posters have been hanging for quite some time. They are always taped over with a new one if they aren’t torn off. She lifts the damp dirty piece of paper to complete her face. She is so beautiful it makes her envious. 

“Hey!” a voice shouts. She looks behind her shoulder at a werewolf standing tall. A gun is in his hand as he growls towards her, “Curfew is in ten minutes. Move it!” He says and aims his gun towards her. 

The boarding school she lives in is quite strict, all of the students have to follow all the rules and regulations. Walking away from him, she believes that if she was older or maybe a male she wouldn’t have gotten a warning. She would have gotten beat. But since she is a little girl and cannot reply to them, she prefers to remain silent. Wolves are vicious beasts, but they don’t pick on the weak. They are surely against humans but only those who are strong, the humans who are ready to fight against them. Her grandmother was alive when the war happened. She told her about a group of humans who fought, they were called something strange. A military? Nonetheless, they all perished in the war. 

 Of course, there are only humans. Anna doesn’t have a beast hiding under their skin. Her grandmother told her a lot about life before the war. Life before the sectors that divided the wolves and the humans. Before the manual labor that everyone had to do. Since her father was killed by a werewolf, her mother and Anna were granted to live with her grandmother. And once her body was weakened, she was taken away. Her mother never told her where she went. Once a human hits sixty years of age, or sometimes older they are taken away by the werewolves. Her grandmother had a smile on her face as she rode off in a black car. No one knows where they go, her mother never spoke of it. But then again her mother was never home. Since her husband was killed by a werewolf, she was offered a job cleaning at the Royal Palace. She is working there since Anna was a little girl. 

She spent more time with the royals than any other humans did. And some days she would be gone for days before she returns home. Her mother always speaks highly of Queen Morana, she also told her daughter not to listen to the other humans called them evil. The Alpha King and Queen Luna were good people. And she always believed that. Even when her mother would leave her alone for days with nothing to eat. Her friend Julianna’s mother comes to share some portions with her while her mother was away. She made sure Anna was clean and full. 

In their lives there are four stages, the first stage of the life was to be spent with parents. Typically with the mothers, but sometimes the fathers were there too. Any abuse or neglect of a child is strictly forbidden and will result in harsh punishment. The living portions are free. But the portions are very little, for example, one day they only got three slices of bread each. Meat and fruits are considered luxury items. 

The second stage is schooling. All of the children had free schooling from age six to sixteen. The teachers are for ten years with kids. Ten years to cram as much information as they can into their heads. Most of the studies are about different kinds of work they are obligated to do. And the other half is about those who ‘own’ them. The werewolves, the pack members, and their high officials. Every day there is a werewolf in a class, a werewolf to make sure the teacher can’t say anything that is noninformational. 

To this day she can vividly remember Miss Amy flirting with the wolfman. He walked out of the classroom. And once he was down the hallway she rushed towards the classroom and told them everything. Told the students how the werewolves are demons sent from hell. That the humans had sinned so much that they were to drag them to hell. She then told all the students about her husband who created a poison with something called wolf haze. He made it into a gas by mixing it with rubbing alcohol, bleach, and carbonated diet soda. The wolves can’t smell the gas, and it was left in open soda bottles. A human cleaner used the mixture in a pack house. 

Interrupting her from the unnecessary thoughts is her friend Julianna, she comes closer to her, asking her with a worried expression on her face, “What happened?” Anna sighs deeply, she clutches her fingertips onto her backpack, responding calmly, “I just miss my mother -” she shrugs her shoulders. Walking together in the corridor of the school, both Julianna and Anna are discussing the weekend and how Anna’s mother would be coming home to spend some time with her. 

Anna hasn’t seen her mother since Queen Luna died, apparently, the reason for her death is still hidden. Or perhaps they are not telling the humans about the death, on purpose. When the new Alpha took charge after King Apolo was murdered, he was said to be the most ruthless one. Anna personally does not aware of him, but his name is enough for the wolves even for the humans. After the Queen’s death, everyone went into a panic, and the students were placed under lockdown for two months. Only the workers and the military wolves were allowed to leave their apartments. It was a horrible time for everyone, but Anna now knows what she wants to do. She wants to be a cleaner like her mother. This way she could see her more often. 

The weekend arrives and her mother never comes, apparently, her whole effort to plan a surprise welcome for her mother goes to waste. Instead of her mother there comes a note from her side, describing the reason she couldn't make it. 

It is Julianna and her mother present with Anna in a small apartment, having dinner like ordinary people. In her mind, she is only thinking about reuniting with her mother. It’s been two months and she hasn’t heard from her yet. There are no phone calls available for the workers in the royale palace. She has to survive, just waiting for her mother’s permission to work with her but since her mother didn’t come, she now decides to apply to the palace.