My Father said my admission to the college would be withheld till there was good news about my health.
I know he's trying to protect me from knowing the truth; I'm not going to make it; I've embraced that already. I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and yes, I realized at the dying moment. I'm dying, folks. Cheers. Okay, now we're past that. 5:45 pm I lay in my bed, my journal right in front of me, ticking the little boxes on my daily to-do list. I stayed home for my chemotherapy. Gosh, I hate the smell of hospitals. My chemo, Check. Washed oozy, check. Ozzy is my pet, a cockapoo. I went on to the next box in line, ready to tick, when I heard my father's call from the kitchen, where he was making a smoothie for the both of us. “Ellen love, come downstairs the blender isn't working right!” His loud voice shrieked from the kitchen. “Coming, Dad.” I scurried out of my bed, dashing into the bathroom to moisturize my pale face; looking back at my reflection in the mirror, that uneasy feeling began curling up to the surface. Morris made a joke about my head looking like an egg; my little brother was right; my scalp was not far different from an egg. He had such good humor that made me sometimes forget my illness. Sprinkling a little water on my face grabbed a face towel that hung loosely to the lavatory. My dad is super proud of me. I fix little home appliances the best way I can. with the little knowledge I knew about them, I would repair it and it could last for a while. I made a beeline to the kitchen to help my Dad out. He was by the island, reviewing the faulty blender when I walked up to him. “It's gone bad again, hasn't it?” I asked, leaning on the island table beside my Dad. “You don't need to repair it, darling, I could go get a new one this evening” I shuddered. “No, it's cool, Dad, and besides, by evening, I wouldn't crave my favorite smoothie as I do now. My Dad looked at me through those thick-lensed glasses and smiled. “Alright champ, have a go at it.” I reached out to grab the blender to examine it myself. “Please can I have a screwdriver?” I turned to my dad who had made his way to retrieve an item from the fridge. I could guess it could be the fruits we were using to make smoothies. “You know I kept them in my basement, far away from where Morris could find them; I don't like him going through my stuff.” Yeah, Morris is always touchy with Dad's things. I know my Dad had cool things stocked up in his closet, I just never had time for snooping. Just my Ozzy and chasing my dreams of being the world's greatest vet. “You know what?” my Dad looked over his shoulder while he reached out for some eggs and milk we had in the fridge. “I could just make nice pancakes while we use the smoothie to step it down, how do you see that?” “That's perfect. Could you get me the tools? I'll be needing the screwdriver to open up the insides.” “Sure thing, love” “Here.” He pointed to his back pocket. “Take the key to my basement and get it quickly, it's in a black box on the same rack you know it will always be on.” “I retrieve the key from his tight pants pocket and skiddaddle to the basement.” I could hear my Dad while making my way down the basement. “Careful Rose.” ****** I'm not a fan of dark and cold places; that's why I never really loved trying to snoop in Dad's basement. His ultimate secret lair. My footsteps echoed as I went down the stairs, using my torchlight as my guide on one hand and the key to the basement on the other. It was 8 in the morning, but it felt like midnight here. Sliding the key into the door, it opens with one click. The inside of the confined space looked very homely. It kind of looked like a junk store with a large office table with a swivel chair in the middle and a brown bean bag chair lying by the corner of the room. It is a four-walled room that has tall racks attached to the wall on the two opposite sides. They were tall. From where I stood at the entrance to this room that always had a bit of mystery to me, the opposite wall was empty. Just a big painting of a wolf's head. I took my likeness for animals from my Dad. I strolled to the adjacent wall. That's where his toolbox is usually kept, the second rack from the top. I was certain my short skinny legs couldn't reach up to that height, so I picked up the platform ladder by my side and began climbing. I got to where I knew it could be, and oh my gosh. it wasn't there; nausea had already started to erupt from inside. I made a quick scan of the rack and something caught my attention. An object, rather. In my imagination, it shone brightly among the other irrelevant stuff that was lined up on the shelves. Like it had a spotlight on it, an inviting view. You could guess right, I went straight for it. It looked ancient and had handwritten runes on it, giving hieroglyphics. Very intriguing. I picked this old ceramic vase from where it sat comfortably on the rack and descended from the ladder. The thought of finding the toolbox had been neatly swept to the back of my mind. What the hell could this be? I've learnt a bit of hieroglyphics but these were strange. I drew my phone from my pocket, scrolling up to get my translator app. Got it. I proceeded to read them out loud; it wasn't what I could easily comprehend, so I'll read it for myself and the invisible audience here in this basement. At the end of the amicable speech, the object of star focus fell off my grip, and with a loud thud, it hit the ground. I swear I held it firmly. It remained unbroken. It fell head-first to the ground, I picked it up and got more frightened when a huge amount of ash poured out Oh my goodness. Fear hit me as I watched unblinking as that ash transformed into a naked young man with fiery eyes. runes similar to the one on the object he was in were on his body. I had lost control of my body. My heart raced, and black ink covered my vision as I stood pinned to that spot. “A child?” Did he just speak to me? BlackoutAfter four hours of unconsciousness… “Honey, I'm so sorry for letting you go there alone. I hope you didn't get hurt?” Dad and Morris stood by my side, Ozzy was all over me since I regained consciousness “Dad, I'm fine. You didn't need to worry about me, not that much at least.” I looked at my dad's worried face while I lay on my bed. The weakness I felt earlier is gone. But I know the cancer is still eating deep into my blood and that saddens me. “I called Mrs Beatrice to check up on you; you're going to be fine, my love.” My dad stroked my forehead gently. “I'm going to let you rest now; I'll be off to get a brand new blender, so you won't have to worry about fixing anything up, okay?” He said, kissing my forehead and adjusting my head warmer that was already in its perfect spot. I looked at Morris, he had a sad expression on his face but switched it up to a half grin immediately after his eyes left the floor and returned to mine I don't know who needs to be reassured at thi
The stories of the wolf legends weren't just false folklore; they were true.Here, in this book, I had always had. It made mention of three wolves that birthed the wolf bloodlines. All but one were dead, Emmett.If he said he didn't belong here then he still thinks he had his home. In another universe or something else.Wait a minute.I went to my closet and picked up Emmett's urn. I read the hieroglyphics that were on it as I strolled to my bed. It was a weird old English write-up that I interpreted with the help of the translator app on my phone saying; “Where lies the dead, a new dawn…”This was the damn word I read that woke up Emmett.I checked out the one below the first one. “Return O Prince of furs.” There was a distorting noise before a portal made of purple fire that reflected in my dark lighted room was formed. Just then, when I was trying to analyze what my eyes beheld, Mrs Beatrice appeared in my view. The portal was gone, and now I stood looking at her with my mout
“How long have I been out?” I asked Emmett, who sat by my side in a voice I couldn't recognize; my throat felt itchy.He paused before he answered.“A week.”“Fuck!”“Cool your hot cheeks a few hours after you fainted.”“And do not swear in your Wolf lord’s face.”I was too weak to respond to that.“Where am I?” Now taking in the bedroom that looks like something that was owned by a royalty.“Just know you're in a safe space.” he stood up to leave but turned to me, who lay on the bed. “I'll be out for a while, you need to get some rest. I stopped you from passing to the afterlife. It was my only way of paying you the favor of bringing me home, please don't be my burden I've got things I need to put in place and I'll be back when I know you need me”“What? You shouldn't leave me in this strange place all alone. How will you know when I need you?” He inhaled deeply“You're now a new being. We're synced. When you need me, I will know, and likewise you, you can count on me.” and with th
CHAPTER FIVE They were given attention the moment they entered; there was noise and mumbling in the throne room. “It's them.” Was what they said to each other **** “We knew your story, we knew you were innocent. That's why we left the park many centuries ago, figuring out how to release you. If we were here, they wouldn't have let us. From generation to generation, we tried our best but what we didn't know is that it was left to Rose to unbound you. It was fate.” He said, looking at Rose with guilt in his eyes; he never told her about this. She shouldn't know who her bloodlines are; he thought she couldn't take it; no one believed in werewolves anymore. He wanted her to live her short lifetime to the fullest. He was wrong; she probably had her crisis, and Emmett had turned her. He believed the last words of her dying mother, who was human. “At her young adulthood, she would meet her fate and take her new form.” her mother's eyes turned white when she spoke. She gave
Claw City Park 1500sKayla is the most beautiful woman to behold, I could look into her alluring eyes and forget the rest of the world existed. I bless the day I met her on the battlefield.The fear that was displayed in her eyes was evident. She faced her near death in the eyes. I had no business involving myself in the war that stirred up in my Park. If their Alpha could be comfortable seeing his park at war with folded hands, I could too.I'm not their Alpha, even though I am an Original with more powers than they could possess, I laid low. They tremble at the mere mention of my name. I was their living god.They feared me.Raquel, Otto, and I were the first shifters; we roamed the earth and found a settlement in this great City. We had our kind sprout throughout the city; we were worshipped, but then, one after the other, they died, leaving me behind. Roaming.Alone.I stood at the corner of the battlefield, invisible to the eyes of the wolf warriors; they fought in their wolf
2 years ago.It's the last day of twelfth grade, we were having a quick chemistry practical today. I love chemistry and everything else that had to do with it, and even as it was a broad one to study, I came out top of my class. Skimming through the hallway, my smile was bright, and my cheeks hurt from the unsure joy I had.Maybe it's because I'll be kissing this high school goodbye in a bit or for the fact that I'll be in college in a short time. Both of which I do not know.I had lost so much weight due to my intense studying; my skin was pale, and my Dad was concerned. I've argued with him on several occasions that I'm fine and he's still not having it.******We had gone far into the test practicals, I managed to finish up my work and leave.My head hurts and my joints beg for ease. I'm eager to get home as I feel dizziness cloud my senses. I removed the safety goggles that I had on, in case it was the cause of my air shortage. It still didn't help.I didn't want to bring atte
I fell deaf to the clattering sounds of the rain. I had scurried out of my auto repair shop the moment I heard of Rose's incident in school. My face flushed white by the words of the paramedics over the phone.“I want to be clear that I'm speaking with the father of Rose Clifford, Arthur Clifford?” “Yes, yes you are. Is there a problem?” The power call of the sirens buzzed at the call's end.“Okay, sir.”There was a pause.My heartbeat crescendoed as I thought of any possible worse situation my only child would be in at the moment.Old memories I tried to wave off swarm through my mind.I haven't heard what's wrong yet, I had reached out for my keys to my meticulously decrepit truck. It was a hard time retrieving it from my jean pockets but I got them out anyway.I got in the truck, ready to ignite the engines.“Tell me what the fuck is wrong with my daughter, right the fuck now.” I couldn't have this guy fall dead on me over the phone when he had already introduced the situation wi
I want to be strong for my daughter but I keep on failing. The words of Dr Myron repeated in my head over and over again.“Her cancer is hitting stage three. Her life is at risk.”I'm at the edge of losing Rose.I sat still on my chair in the doctor's office, actually I was numb. I had gone into an endless reverie that I thought I would never come out from.“Mr Arthur.” I heard the doctor call out, I struggled with myself to bring myself to my draining reality.I looked at him with zero emotions on my face, just a blank glare.My heart felt heavy.My mind was clouded in a thick dark fog.“You seemed lost; I called you several times, Mr. Arthur.”“I'm sorry,” I said weakly.Dr Myron took a deep sigh. “I know this is a tough one for you, but we've had similar cases; it wasn't as bad as Rose's Cass, but I assure you that we will do our best to lengthen her life to the best of our knowledge.”He leaned into the table as he spoke, cupping his chin with the back of his palm.I inhaled de
On the cliff that stood parallel to the only sea in Claw City Park, the same cliff which my blood spilled was where we sat looking out towards the sea. It was infinitely beautiful, the clear blue meeting the blue rippling sea on the horizon.Before now, I’ve never been close to enjoying a sea view. This was all I dreamt of, listening to the mesmerising sounds of the gentle waves of the sea with my dream guy. I had that dream coming true, all that it wasn't exactly as I had planned it to be. You make choices and life filters what it thinks is best for you. I wanted my dream guy, handsome, strong with a wholesome gentility. Emmett was all that except he was not gentle, he wasn't even close to being gentle, he could always act but he never was.I looked from the sea to the side view of his face, he was lost in the view of the sea. His hair on his head had grown longer than it had been a few months ago. I guess he never cared about his looks when he was hell bent on avenging his death, “
“Each time the men from her lineage tried to break the spell, the urn was adamant. but each time the women tried, there was a bit of hope. We usually experience the urn lit up, the words on the urn glowed white but after some seconds, the light dies out. So we left it in the hands of the women from her lineage to give it a try. My great grandmother tried. My grandmom. My mom. And so did my wife. Until Rose did.” I want to go on my knees to plead once more to spare the lives of my people that were also his creations, the same people who had casted I and my family to suffer for the wrongs of my foremother but I was held in the shoulder by our ancient WolfLord, “Stand,” He said to me, then turned to the man in black cloak. He extended his hands out, I heard the bones of the man lying on the ground crunch. “I'll let you live. You and your people." He looked over to the dead bodies, "Peace to your fallen soldiers.” He said in a low tone. He turned to me as he made his way towards the
“Few things about your martyr were erased from history. My forefather, the Alpha of your time was the one who ordered you killed, so the real history was passed down to me. He was known to be the only Alpha who was able to conquer you, but in his doings, he did not completely erase you. He couldn't at all. A prophecy was made that era that in another lifetime, a descendant of your lover’s bloodline shall be the one to free you.” Lucan rose up to his feet slowly, wincing with pains as he did. He pointed to Rose, “Emmett, this is the person you seek for, the one who by fate broke the spell on your ashes."Rose stared between I and the crazy Alpha, “You lie," I blurted, "She's human or was human until I turned her.” Few howlers mumbled.“Who was the first person you saw when you emerged from your ashes?” Lucan asked, There was no way he was going to deceive me into thinking Rose was the one. It was clear she was human, her family, all were humans. “This young lady was human, I turne
Over a hundred acres of land was in flames, burning hot. This wasn't the adventure I envisioned. I was told to be in here, that he would sense when I was in danger and come to me, that mind link thing he spoke of. But the person who promised me safety was nowhere seen. I kicked in on survival instinct. I feared the fire might get caught up with the wood his home was made of, burning everything to the ground. Scouring through the burning forest, I followed the path where the fire was less. There were a lot of things I was understanding about my new form. One of which was that I could pick up the scents. Down to the scent of pollinated flowers, I could perceive all. So I used that to my advantage, I walked through the burning bushes on their free path, my head bent upwards as I tried sniffing in the scent of my roommate…I can't believe I still referred him to that, my brain wasn't willing to let go of his presence in my fucked up life. I filtered the choking smell of smoke, my eyes we
“Emmett, we know your story. We're aware of what transpired between you, your ex lover and the Alpha of your time, but I'll have you know that this Park has grown so big. We've grown greatly in numbers, making it difficult for us to distinguish who from who. The bloodline of Kayla, your ex lover, was never heard of after the whole thing with your mythr happened.”I looked at Lucan from where he sat proudly on his throne, the urge to fling him over so reigned in my mind but I withheld it, “It's a sad thing that this generation of wolves lacks wisdom but I want to believe that they are still werewolves gifted with the ability to track down my murderer. I ask only one simple thing, which is to bring the last bloodline of my murder to justice.”“Emmett, if you can just give us a little time, we…”Swiftly, I pulled him out his throne, suspending him in a good height mid air. This was to show him and the rest of his pathetic throne members that I was damn serious. There were mumbling amongs
“Pick up the damn phone, Arthur.” I had broken the barstool at which my hand held onto to help ease my tension, my wolf itched for outlet. I never guessed a day I would be happy and scared to my bones for my niece.Happy because out of the women from our forefathers, she had been chosen. Chosen to bring change. Chosen to let us free.I was sad because she knows half or nothing about where she came from. She's unaware of the line of family she came from. A young naive woman born of a bloodline of the rogue family. And now, on the course of being chosen to free the ancient one she had gone missing with apparently, the ancient one himself. It's how he was able to move her out of the house I found surprising. With no idea where she would be in Claw City Park or What's doing in a place where she was different from the rest of the inhabitants there–a lesser kind of difference, the whole thing scared me to my bones. The only thought that crawled into my head when my son told me of the littl
I felt a strong hold on my hands and feet, my eyes sprang open. My blurry vision settled after I struggled with squinting my eyes from the rays of sun that creeped through the window. Peering down at my feet, I was tied in a huge chain. Same with my hands. In a strange and empty old model bedroom. The last thing I remembered was feeling my organs shut down and the hazy words of Emmett calling me out of my unconsciousness. I remembered my body going completely numb. Where am I? “Emmett?” I managed to call out, feeling the raspiness of my throat. I tried to free myself from the strong chains, the clattering noise echoed in the room. Each time I pulled on the chains, it got tighter. On the contrary, I stopped struggling. Waiting for my captor or whoever is responsible for keeping me in this position to come kill me. I thought Emmett made a promise to protect me. Now, here I was, in a strange place with my hands on my feet tied up. I heard the sounds of heavy footstep
I felt a strong hold on my hands and feet, my eyes sprang open. My blurry vision settled after I struggled with squinting my eyes from the rays of sun that creeped through the window. Peering down at my feet, I was tied in a huge chain. Same with my hands. In a strange and empty old model bedroom. The last thing I remembered was feeling my organs shut down and the hazy words of Emmett calling me out of my unconsciousness. I remembered my body going completely numb. Where am I? “Emmett?” I managed to call out, feeling the raspiness of my throat. I tried to free myself from the strong chains, the clattering noise echoed in the room. Each time I pulled on the chains, it got tighter. On the contrary, I stopped struggling. Waiting for my captor or whoever is responsible for keeping me in this position to come kill me. I thought Emmett made a promise to protect me. Now, here I was, in a strange place with my hands on my feet tied up. I heard the sounds of heavy footstep
The dawn of morning after a heavy rainstorm from the previous night was always cool and calm. It's like the rain came to stabilise the balance of the atmosphere after not falling for a week. According to the meteorologist on the radio, there's gonna be a clear sky today.I looked over to see Morris sleeping form, mouth leaving trails of spit. “Drooling monkey,” I said under my breath. He cooed in response like he heard me.Five minutes and I was done with the shower, so I dressed quickly. I went over to where Morris slept like a dead log of wood. “Morris, get your tiny ass out of that bed right now!” I called out immediately as I was dressing up. There's no time for acting sweet and loving, I'm late for work already. Courtesy of the rain.At the first call Morris remained sleeping, he did a few turns, mumbling something unintelligent to himself.“Morris!”“Morris Clifford!”He flicked from his lying position, his eyes red from sleep darted around, “I'm up, I'm up.” His breath rasped