Chapter 3

Zelda.

As soon as we approached the hospital, I didn’t wait for him to finish parking. My fingers fumbled with the door handle, and I leaped out of the car before it came to a complete stop. My legs carried me in a frenzied step toward the entrance, my breaths coming in sharp, desperate bursts.

Luckily, he had some spare shirts and trousers in his car, I had no choice but to put them on.

Inside the hospital, the sterile smell hit me, mixing with the metallic tanginess of fear in my mouth. I rushed to the reception desk, my heart pounding so loudly I could barely hear my own voice.

“Please, please! Can I see my mom?” I cried, my voice breaking as I slammed my hands on the desk. Tears blurred my vision, hot streams rolling down my cheeks. Every inch of my body screamed with intense pain from the strange thing that happened to me earlier, but the pain in my heart, the constant thought that I had just lost my only anchor in this life, made it far more excruciating.

“Take it easy Zelda,” Kiki, a nurse that I’ve grown to be quite familiar with said to me as she walked up to me, I turned to her immediately and grabbed her hands, looking up at her with pleading eyes like my mother eventually not dying was up to her.

“Please, tell me it was a mistake,” I pleaded gripping her hands tightly.

“Maybe some sort of miracle happened and she’s not dead yet,” I cried to her, she slowly wriggled her hands free from my grip and held me more comfortingly as she led me upstairs to my Mom.

.

"I'll let you be with her," Kiki whispered as we entered the room. She patted my shoulder gently before stepping out, closing the door with a soft click, leaving me with my cold reality.

I walked slowly towards my mother, my steps heavy and hesitant. Even with everything that has happened, I still had hope, never day I consider that a day like this would come this soon.

She lay still, covered in a sparkling white hospital cloth, My gaze fell upon the number tag on her toe, and the sight shattered my heart all over again.

I reached out, my fingers trembling, and gently lifted the cloth. Her face was peaceful, as if she were merely sleeping. But the stone stillness, the unnatural calmness, screamed the truth louder than any words could. My breath hitched, and a sob escaped my lips, breaking the silence.

I collapsed onto the floor beside her, my body shaking with uncontrollable sobs. Memories of her flooded my mind—her laughter, her touch, the way she used to hum softly while cooking. And it stung me even more that my mother had reduced to just being a memory to me. The room seemed to become smaller around me , my sobbing intensified. I clutched her hand tightly, hoping for a miracle, for a sign that this was just a nightmare I would soon wake from. But painfully it wasn’t.

Minutes passed, or maybe hours—I couldn’t tell. My tears soaked the bedspread, and my chest ached from the intensity of my sorrow, infact there wasn’t a part of me that wasn’t in pain right now.

Suddenly, I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. Startled, I turned around and found myself looking into the eyes of the man who had saved me earlier. His presence was unexpected, but somehow, it didn’t feel intrusive.

Tears spilled from my eyes again as I stared at him. Without a word, he knelt beside me, and threw his hands around my shoulder. After seeing him turn into a massive beast earlier, I was somewhat scared of him, but nevertheless I melted into his embrace, my sobs quieting as he held me close, patting my shoulders lightly.

This was supposed to be weird, as a matter of fact as next door neighbor this is the first time I’m seeing him so up close, but for some reasons it wasn’t and I felt like this was the safest I’d ever be.

***

I sat on a small bench outside the hospital building, my arms folded tightly across my chest and my legs crossed as I stared into the empty space. The air was cool, but I barely felt it. The stranger who had brought me here stayed behind to speak with the doctor. I wondered why he bothered, but I didn't have the strength to argue or question him. I just let him do as he chooses.

Footsteps approached, and a soft voice broke through my thoughts. “Let’s go,” he whispered. I remained still, my body heavy with exhaustion and grief and pain. He stood there patiently, waiting for a response.

My voice shook, barely above a whisper as I finally spoke.

“What happened to me earlier?”

“How did you find me?”

“Who are you?”

“ Who is Brenda?”

“ What am I? What does this make me?” I asked one after the other carefully picking my words.

He sighed deeply and drew closer. “I wish I had the luxury of words, but I don’t. Come with me to Mystic Moon. That’s your home. You’ll find all the answers you’re looking for there.” He paused, his eyes sincere and steady as he stared into mine.

“But one thing is sure, you’re not a beast. There’s no need to be scared.”

I slowly uncrossed my arms and legs and stood up, wincing at the sharp pain that shot through my body.

“I appreciate what you’ve done for me today,” I began, turning to face him. I looked into his eyes,

“But I need you to stay away from me, I don’t want to ever see you again, I’ll try to move out as soon as possible,” I muttered, stepping back. Without waiting for his reaction, I step away from him and walked out of the hospital premises.

Morning Next day 7:00 am ….

I lay curled up in my bed, staring at the ceiling all through the night. Sleeping was impossible. I couldn’t even bring myself to close my eye talk more of sleeping. Every time I closed my eyes, horrifying images flashed through my mind, memories I couldn’t escape. The realization that my mom was gone, that I would never see her or share this house with her again, was unbearable.

No matter how hard I tried to wave it aside, the pain in my body was a constant reminder of what I had become. I had transformed into a creature I thought existed only in myths, a werewolf, how?! Does this mean my mom was a werewolf too? Are there things she didn’t tell me before her death? The memory of my transformation was still vivid: the way my bones had snapped and reshaped, the way my skin had stretched, the excruciating pain of the change. It was all too real to be a dream.

Brenda’s betrayal stung my heart deeply. I have a truckload of questions, did she approach me as a wolf also?, did she approach me knowing I had tendency to become a wolf? I should have been suspicious when everyone ran away from me but she didn’t.

My thoughts raced, spiraling out of control. I needed answers and the fact that I wasn’t getting any single answer made me feel like I was going crazy.

I needed a distraction, something to keep me from drowning in my grief and confusion.

Pushing myself up, I decided to go through my mom’s things. Maybe it would help me feel close to her one last time. Her room was filled with so much memories of her. The faint scent of her perfume lingered in the air, bringing a bittersweet comfort. Tears spilled out of my eyes again as I broke into tiny sobs, why did she have to go, didn’t she know she still have a child in this wicked world.

I opened her closet and started sifting through her belongings—old sweaters, pausing occasionally to really bask in her scent and wrap her clothes around myself, it felt like her hands was wrapped around me but it still didn’t feel quite comforting. Photo albums, and a keepsakes locker from our life together. I gently took out the and opened it, it had our pictures on both sides, my sobs gradually turned to wails as I stared in it. Each item was a part of our shared history. I felt a pang in my chest with every discovery, a reminder of what I had lost. I raised the locket over my head and put it on, I never was going to take it off.

Carefully tucked away in a corner, I saw an old, worn envelope sticking out. Curiousity took the better part of me, I gently reached for it, pulling out a stack of papers, I dipped my hands into the envelope and brought out the papers in it. My breath caught in my throat as I read the words at the top: Adoption Papers. I wiped the tears in my eyes immediately just to make sure I wasn’t seeing wrong.

My eyes quickly moved around the paper in search of one it, my mind was reeling. It better be that I had a hidden sister somewhere. My entire world shifted right about the moment that I saw my name written in bold. Zelda Charlotte Miller of Mystic Moon now legally Zelda Charlotte Rosman, Daughter to Anita Freda Rosman. My head resounded, I staggered backwards, my knees suddenly weak, the papers slipped from my hands forming a mini mess around me. Everything I thought I knew about my life, about my mom, was suddenly thrown into question.

I sunk to my knees and picked up the papers again trying to find the littlest information about my birth mom but there was none. The only thing I found was that she was from Mystic Moon.

The guy from yesterday word’s resounded in my head,

-“Come with me to Mystic Moon, that’s your home”-

I slowly dropped to a sitting position on the floor, was this a revelation or a trap. Without thinking, I rose to my feet, my mind still spinning. The papers lay scattered around me, but they no longer held my attention. I needed answers, and I knew where to start. My legs moved on their own, leading me out of my mother’s room and down the hallway.

I walked out of the front door and made my way to the house next door. My heart pounded in my chest, each step echoing the loud thoughts racing through my mind. As I reached the door, I raised my hand to knock. Before my knuckles could strike the wood a second time, the door swung open.

He stood there, a look of surprise crossing his face as he saw me.

“I’ll go with you,” I blurted out, my voice trembling with fear of what the future would probably hold.

“I’ll go with you to Mystic Moon.”