I.3

ROGER WILLIS

When I opened my eyes, I instantly felt nauseous and I couldn’t see a single shit. Everything was just a blurry image but one thing’s for sure, I could feel the writhing pain from my left shoulder going down to my spine. It felt agonizing almost as if I was a blind deer that was hit by a ten wheeler truck along the road. I blinked one too many times until my sight turned to a clear and that’s when I noticed where I was. I was lying at the front porch of our house and I was freezing cold.

I have absolutely no idea how I got here. The last thing I could remember was running away from that stupid party, stricken with much panic and fear. I was trying to get the flashlight of my phone on when I heard some sort of an animalistic growl before something hit me.

Thankfully, it was still quite dark but the loud crowing of the roosters from the small neighborhood meant morning was approaching imminently. I tried propelling myself up using my elbow, however the pain from my chest and shoulder was intensely agonizing that I had to struggle for quite a while and when I got up, I thought I was going to pass out once more. I eventually found out the reason I was freezing was because I was topless naked and my white shirt was expertly bandaged onto my left shoulder. I was quick to notice the already dried blood from it.

‘What the actual fvck’

I cursed out with such crisp. I don’t remember a single shit.

I brought myself inside the house, delicately tiptoeing at every single step, more than careful not to cause any loud noise that would wake my parents up. It was even harder not to groan from the pain that I had to bite my other wrist just so I could control the     writhing pain and keep myself off from crying. I went slowly and quietly straight towards the bathroom where I took my bloody shirt off of my shoulder.

How did I get this?

I asked myself hoping to try and remember something that could’ve possibly caused this unprecedented attack. My left chest had some sort of a scratch which I immediately discerned to be from a sharp claw. That might have been what I felt earlier, the powerful blow that smashed me onto the asphalt ground.

Was I attacked by a bear?

The scratch was still bleeding and I eventually realized something else was causing this unbearable pain. I carefully inspected my shoulder trying to locate where this throbbing pain was coming from only to see some sort of a deep bite mark.

And now I was bitten?

There’s absolutely no freaking way a grizzly bear could have bitten me like this and still left me alive and breathing. I should’ve been dead by now, my body scattered on the road for the unsuspecting residence to find.

I poked the sides of the mark and I had to control myself from screaming. It’s definitely throbbing. I really couldn’t think of anything from that hour mostly because I was under the influence of alcohol. Then I suddenly I recalled what Carmine Reid had told me when she sneaked up on me.

She warned me not to attend the party and she also said something that sounds like they are hiding in sheep’s clothing. I was creeped out and puzzled by her but it certainly did not stop me from attending that stupid party.

I stared at my topless reflection right in front of the mirror, still covered in a mixture of dried and wet blood coming from the open wounds. I don’t necessarily see the same Roger that I saw the very first time that I came here. The Roger in front of me looked pretty messed up and when I say messed up, I really looked fucked up. My hair was messy, my eyes were bloodshot and my lips were evidently dry it’s as if I haven’t drunk a glass of water for almost a whole week. On top of that, my fair complexion was drained down to a pale hue as if I haven’t inhaled enough oxygen for the last two minute. I look like I’m really going to succumb to death at any moment.

I began cleaning my wound with soap and water, washing off the dried blood and whatever bacteria that’s left lingering from the openness of the wound. The most agonizing part was when I began rubbing the soap around it. It felt like I’m putting salt directly to the wound, it was stinging excruciatingly. My tears had already began to sprout on each corner of my eyes and it’s even more difficult to contain the agony without letting out loud screams. I had to bite a face towel just so I won’t scream uncontrollably.

By the time I was finished cleaning my wound, I proceeded to scavenge for some bandage and gauze pad. Fortunately, the first aid kit hasn’t been touched yet. I snatched the gauze pad first, nonchalantly ripping the package using my bare teeth before slowly covering the wound. Once I got every wound covered, I began wrapping the bandage on my chest going around my shoulder. I repeated the process until everything was fully covered.

I stared at my reflection one last time. I really wanted to cry out loud but I know I wasn’t allowed. I released a deep exhale before eventually washing my face.

When I got to my room, I was instantly back to trying to recall whatever happened a few hours earlier. It happened pretty swift and I swear I heard a hungry growling sound that seemed to have come from a wolf and certainly not a bear. However, it couldn’t be that big. I briefly remembered my first night here, I heard some howling from a far distance, perhaps wolfs do exist in this area.

I laid on my bed for a while, quietly feeling my head until the pain and exhaustion made me fall asleep a little bit faster. By the time I opened my eyes, I was sure that I fell asleep for quite a long time and when I checked the clock, I realized I was dead ass wrong. I only had an hour and thirty minutes of sleep. It was plainly not enough for me to feel a bit better. My eyes were still falling off but I know I had to jump out of bed and start preparing for school.

“How was school?” Sipping coffee with noisy pleasure, my father inquired when I decided to join them for breakfast.

I really wanted to sleep for a longer while and yet I’m aware of the certain fact that my mom and dad were going to force me to wake the eff up regardless if I told them I wasn’t feeling that well.

“Great.” I swallowed hard feeling a lump in my throat. “I had a great day.” In my head, I had to act as if I’m all fit and healthy.

“Did you made some friends?” My mom followed up as she poured a hot macaroni soup right into my bowl.

“I met our neighbor Norman, he’s a nice guy.”

Bringing up Norman made me feel terrible about myself and the way I chose things to go. I know he’s the first guy that I met and he, for the most part just told me about what I needed to know in this town and yet I chose to hang out with the cool kids.

“Oh great.” My mom squealed seemingly thrilled. “I also met the Clarke’s yesterday and they were a pretty lovely couple. Stephanie was just a sweet lady and Roman was just a caring husband.”

“Hey dad,” I called out thinking if I could ask my dad for a simple favor just for today. “Is it okay if you drop me to school for today?”

“Er, sure son, but we need to leave early because I have to drive far before I get to work.” He replied. “Oh and by the way, I just tracked your bicycle and it’s going to be delivered tomorrow.” Dad added basically letting me know that I’m not going to be walking.

I really feel like shit and I don’t even want to skip school today when it’s only my second day. For a moment, I stared at the steamy bowl of macaroni soup while I was deeply spacing out and internally debating whether I should tell my parents about my wounds or not. My mom would surely burst into panic mode and my dad doesn’t know how to handle something like this very well. I don’t want them to have their very first fight in this house just because of me and this stupid wound. I ended up keeping my mouth tightly shut.

Just when I was about to take a scoop of the soup, the smell steaming from it made me feel sick like I wanted to barf on the spot. I rushed towards the comfort room leaving my parents confused.

I gazed at the mirror in my own attempts to calm and control myself from actually puking. I was beginning to hear a deep guttural noise, it was weird to hear that and it was almost the same noise that I heard last night. At first, I thought I was hearing things that aren’t even real but then I realized it was just my own voice. I was the one making that deep guttural sound almost like I was growling without my own knowledge. And then suddenly, my vision started to become fuzzy. I tried blinking countless times and instead of my vision clearing out, I saw my face turning into something hairy and monstrous and my eyes seemed to be glowing in yellow.

“Roger, darling? Are you okay? What’s going on?” I heard my mom knocking at the door.

“Oh shit!!!” I groaned as I felt the throbbing pain from my chest and shoulder. “N-Nothing mom, I just ate something bad yesterday.”

“Okay, just tell me if you need some meds for your stomach.”

“I’m good.”

I was quick to drench my face with cold water. The feeling was soothing as I repeated the same process until my visions returned to its clear state.

‘Fvck’ I cursed under my breath.

I stayed at the floor for quite a while until I felt the pain was slowly vanishing. Once I felt I was okay, I stepped outside and returned to the breakfast table.

My dad dropped me to school and I was at least thankful that the throbbing pain from my wounds finally came to a halt. I don’t feel exactly good still but it’s such a huge relief to be able to not feel the throbbing.

Nothing much happened throughout the first half of my day except that I was feeling extremely unwell. The throbbing did not totally go away, it kept on coming back every hour and it seemed pretty normal.

When I sat with the popular kids during lunch, the tension between me and Ysabella was real and it felt as if I did something so horrible that I don’t deserve to be having lunch with them. Especially with Benjie being prominently there. Aside from feeling like passing out, I was also nervous at scared at the very same time.

Thankfully, Ysabella seemed to be aware of her actions and she chose to keep her mouth shut just as I kept myself innocent. They asked how did I got home yesterday and I just lied about my parents picking me up.

Yesterday was a lot and I don’t intend on keeping it that way today.

After lunch, I found myself flushing my food at the toilet. I was feeling pretty famished but there’s this intense feeling that I don’t want to eat my packed lunch. It smelled pretty bad and I don’t even know why.

When I got to Biology, I was already feeling like I’m about to spontaneously combust at any moment. I tried to act normal but I was sweating and yet I was feeling cold at the very same time.

Mr. Lykaios showed up in his formal suit and just like yesterday, he was very serious and commanding. Everyone were so quiet and focused as he began the lesson. I found it hard to focus or even to pretend like I’m listening thoroughly. Although I’m seated at the very back row of the room, Mr. Lykaios could clearly see me from the front which made everything a little extra difficult. I wish I could just go home right at this very moment.

As Mr. Lykaios was discussing something about microbiology and its relation to the human and animal anatomy, I accidentally shared an eye-contact with him. He was looking directly at my eyes and as much as I wanted to cut away from the stare, something’s drawing me much closer to him. It was already too late when I realized that I just made the same guttural noise that I did earlier. All eyes are looking at me as if I did something pretty much offensive.

“Mr. Willis?” I heard Mr. Lykaois call for my attention. As much as I wanted to act normal, my visions began to go in and out. “Is there something wrong? Are you feeling alright?” He added.

“I’m alright.” I lied.

Not only that my visions are getting blurry but I could feel my chest and shoulder throbbing in agony.

“I think he’s not okay,” Someone spoke from the front.

“He’s dripping in sweat.” Someone added.

“Mr. Willis,” Mr. Lykaios made his way towards where I was sitting. I could feel his presence; it was intense, it’s as if he’s emanating some sort of weird energy. “You’re burning up. Let me take you to the clinic.” That was the last thing I heard before passing out.