The Curse of the Human Wolf

Eyes

Viola POV:

I woke up drenched in sweat again. I think I might be getting sick. My room is bare except for the twinkle lights I put up above my mattress, the old brown dog blanket I sleep with is tattered and on the floor next to my mattress. I stretch and get up, quietly walking to my window. The moon is almost full, two more days and it's my birthday. I quietly walk back to my mattress and move it to reveal a cracked wooden plank, it's loose and when I pick it up, I take out a little pink shoe box from the hollow space. My money box. I open it and recount the $500 before putting everything back as it was before. It brings me comfort doing this and it fills me with hope. I saved the money from waitressing at a diner 10 kms from here in a nearby town, my mom used to take all the money and I would bring home food from the diner and everyone would stuff their face and leave nothing for me.

"You wouldn't want to ruin that pretty figure now, would you?" asks my mom, her cheeseburger dripping tomatoe sauce between her long red finger nails. Before I could answer, Damon would reach for the last burger, "there, there," my mother would coo, "your brother's a growing boy" and then she would smile at him and stroke his hair as he stuffed his face. My stomach would growl and she would laugh at me, "you'll thank me when you're older."

After that, I started requesting my pay be split into two different envelopes, the kind old lady would always smile at me sadly, pack the money and put extra in my envelope before giving me a plate of food to eat before leaving. When I think back to it, it feels like she knew. She seemed to know everything.

Feeling wide awake after catching my second wind, I decide to go down for a swim in the lake. I grab my old faded blue towel and a set of Damon's old clothes. I quietly open my door and tread lightly towards the stairs, I can hear snoring from my mother's room but silence from Damon's. I'm too terrified to check on him because sometimes he would go out and other times he would be sitting wide awake and I could get a few punches from him for "snooping".

I take a deep breath to settle my nerves and silently get back to sneaking outside. Dad is snoring on the couch, he's laying on the two seater with empty beer cans on the floor next to him. I tip toe over and cover him with the old blue comforter. I don't know what made Dad turn out like this but he used to be different. He used to smile and work and things were different at home. He bought every single bit of furniture in this house and he used to talk about redoing it but somewhere in the last 10 years it changed. It changed long before my mother stopped loving me. I continue out the back door and towards the lake but I decide to go through the trees so that if anyone looks out the window, they won't see me.

The air is hot and sticky and the leaves underneath my sneakers make little crunching noises. It's satisfying and calming to hear and feel. I walk towards the bank and hang my stuff on a low hanging branch and sit down. The lake is black and beautiful as it reflects the moon light on it's still waters. When I was little, I thought there was a monster in the lake but Dad said that the only monsters I would find in this world are people. I start undoing my laces and take off my socks before pulling off my tshirt and standing up to remove my pants. Standing there in just my underwear and bra, I felt a bit of a chill and my skin erupted with goosebumps. I slowly stepped into the water, my bare feet squelching in the embankment mud. It was calming to feel the dirt between my toes as I walked slowly deeper into the still water.

When I was in completely, with just my head above the water. I turned and looked at the house. The windows were dark and I stared hard, trying to see if anyone was watching but the darkness was silent and still. I took a deep breath and dived beneath the water, swimming through the reeds and dark water. It was peaceful, for once, there was nothing holding me back. When I submerged, I felt like someone was watching me. I looked around me, peering hard inbetween the trees and darkness, but I couldn't see anyone. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling and decided to swim back and change. It was better to go inside before anyone noticed my empty mattress.

I peeled off the wet underwear and pulled on my dry clothes while keeping an eye out for any movement. Then I bolted inside. The eyes were still watching.