Chapter 4

I stretched my mussels. Trying to get out of bed. When I tried to stand, I felt dizzy because of the swirling questions in my head. The main questions were, could it be true that I was adopted?

Also, the question that my heart couldn't bear was.

Why did I let my family go without saying goodbye?

Feeling better after a good cry, I went out of my room. My mom and I crossed pads while we went out. My mom looked happy, but my zombie face made her kind of mad. This was the first time she was happy in the morning, and I ruined it.

Normally, all mornings were the same. If you start talking, you come to death in the battle of screaming.

I call it that way since people started yelling at each other if you just say one word.

'Why are you so grumpy? I must be the one grumpy.' she said.

'You just took off to your room, and you left your family waiting downstairs till you came. You didn't, so they just got back to America. Now don't come and nag at me about not seeing them.'

I couldn't answer in between, and I didn't want to. Most of all, I wanted to yell at her that I had more on my head than she could imagine. I didn't because that would only make things worse. She had pissed me off, and I wanted to shower.

When I turned my back on her, I heard footsteps going down the stairs, and I knew it was my mom. I did look back a few seconds, and before I couldn't see her anymore, I saw a glimpse of her face. She looked so old when she was worried, but I was so angry that I couldn't just apologize.

The hot water from the shower didn't wash away my guilt from yesterday, and my mom had made it worse. She worried too much about me and, for me, it sometimes got overwhelming, so I got angry.

She must have had a difficult time with our family yesterday. This morning, she was just trying to be happy because she wanted to tell me that she was sorry. Because she had so many secrets for me. Also, my mom has many things on her plate right now. She was stressed because she had me as an extra worry.

The building project didn't go as planned, but my parents kept fighting for it.

At night, I also overheard my parents talk about it. They wanted to put a new pack village but, of course, it was not easy to build it. They wanted it to go somewhere around the forest or even in.

The government didn't want that. Probably because there was someone first who had a better project to build.

The worst part was that a part of our territory wasn't really ours in the first place. The law of humans stated that a piece of land was for sale.

I knew my parents' project was probably better than that of the others. It was good for keeping the fauna and flora.

Still, the state didn't want to do it.

Probably because the people wanted to build something more productive.

My dad had angrily and irritated said to my mother. "It's like the government wants our kind and the humankind to die sooner. Can they use their heads for once?"

When I went back into my room to get my bag, I was constantly thinking about how my biological parents would look. They didn't even leave a picture to memorize. Maybe they died, or they didn't want to know me. Still, I wanted to search for them if they still lived. First, searching for some info would make the search much easier.

Totally forgetting about my mind link, which was still on, I just abruptly stopped thinking.

I kept trying and trying to shut the other wolves out, but I had to learn to concentrate more on putting my thoughts in the back of my head.

Being a wolf also has its advantages. Like I wasn't scared in the dark anymore.

But with every advantage also comes a disadvantage.

I had to keep my emotions also in check, or I could shift in front of everyone.

Because there were not only werewolves in the area, I had to be careful. There were some rules we had to keep in good order. We can't show ourselves to humans.

It felt extremely exhausting to keep all this a secret, but I couldn't avoid school. I had to go, and there was no other way.

The way back to school felt so unreal. It was like I had never been to River College. Even the bullying was like a dream that just passed.

I only had many questions going through my mind since I didn't talk with my parents anymore.

This whole weekend, we avoided each other like middle school kids.

I almost raced across the school. I was already a bit later than normal, and we had religion again. So that meant dealing with Misses Dom. Hopefully, I made it to this class on time because she would ask Miss May to take worse steps than detention. Maybe it meant I would have to study at home because Misses Dom made my grades lower. Till the point that I won't pass this year.

Luckily, I came on time. I was all out of breath, but with my new ability to shift, I recovered very fast. Like in 10 seconds.

Some classmates looked at me like crazy. Some said to the person besides them, "How can she recover so fast?"

That must have been human. The wolves just tried to get in my thoughts. Then I knew why they couldn't get in. I had finally mastered the mind link.

I was so happy that it was finally quiet in my head and that I could get some peace.

There were also others ignoring me and that they were all humans.

Looking around the class, there was one empty seat. It was the one from Ellen. It's weird that she wasn't in class yet. She was normally always on time.

By the time Misses Dom arrived in class, she wasn't there yet. Maybe she was just sick.

A while later in the lesson about God. Misses Dom asked, 'Does somebody know where Ellen is?'

Nobody seemed to know.

So, school wasn't informed about it. Not that I was worried.

Later on, there was still no Ellen. What happened?

Marnik and Ivan were in class, but they didn't even know where she could be.

Now I'm worried. I didn't know why. She was my worst nightmare and my bully. But at this point, it was just weird. Like she just disappeared.

When I got home, my mom told me eventually that Ellen was missing.

She also told me to be careful if I went to school by bike.

My mom didn't even consider that she could take me in the car.

But for now, I feel glad we talked again.

"The news about Ellen is already in the newspapers," my dad had said.

It worried me more than needed.

'Oh, you are talking also.' I said to my dad. Since he didn't say a word when I just went into the living room.

I hugged both my parents and said, 'Thank you for always being there for me when I need it.'

'You don't have to thank us. That's what parents are for. Take care of their children.'

I saw a blush on my mom's cheeks.

'Why are you agitated?

'Just let it be.' she said.

Then she took off to the kitchen and stayed there for a while. He was probably shy of things she had never actually said.

My dad and I started laughing at her behavior.

In the meantime, my thoughts were with Ellen.

What could have happened to her?

Did it have something to do with the curse, or did she run away?

There were so many things that could have happened that my mind went crazy. Where could she be? Maybe she was abducted and killed.

I hoped she was fine and tried not to think about the worst.

The whole evening, the news was on, and everything on the news was about Ellen. Also, the programs on the TV were one day about crime.

Also, on social media, everyone was talking about her. It didn't stop till late at night.

Still, there was no one who knew where she was or saw anything strange. It was very scary, and the police kept searching.

Still, nothing came out of it.

Everyone was getting more and more worried.

Not only here in Belgium, but people everywhere in the world were concerned.

Ellen's family had connections everywhere, so it wasn't difficult that it was all over the world.

I didn't even think about my own problems anymore.

The only question was where she could be. Had it something to do with me, or was it linked to the curse?

This was a really strange missing case. It was like she vanished from earth in tin air and that she couldn't find her way back here.