In the Shadows

Zane

If anyone ever asked, Zane would say that the most interesting thing about himself was that his favorite color was maroon. Most people in the world had generic favorite colors like blue or green. Not many people in the world could say without sarcasm or doubt that their favorite color was maroon. This made him special in his mind, it made him stand apart from the rest of the world.

However, like Meira, this was not the most interesting thing about him.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Zane was his undeniable and unending stream of sarcasm. It haunted every aspect of his life and was Miley the attribute inside of him that caused him to spending hours everyday writing werewolf and vampire stories on the Internet. He had even, once, rewritten the Twilight series as though the characters resembled what actual vampires and werewolves were like. (Bella ended up dying in the third chapter of the first book and the rest of the series was just Edward and Jacob becoming friends and having fun adventures.)

He had numerous followers, including an adamant fan called VampireGirl1897. She had apparently read everything he had ever posted online, finding his stories to be outrageously hysterical. She had messaged him a few times, telling him how much of a genius she thought he was. Zane rather liked all the praise.

Zane liked being a werewolf. It was a fun reality that very few people in the world experienced. He looked at the bright side of the argument. He had enhanced endurance, was naturally stronger, lived longer, and turned into a wolf. Could life be any better than that?

During the week of the full moon, Zane likes to force the shift earlier and spend his days wandering around the forest in his wolf form. Only when the full moon rose would he lose the ability to control his actions, but until that point, he was a typical wolf, spending his time in the forest.

On that day, after Zane had finished work, he raced out to the forest, leaping into the form of a wolf. He stayed close to the trees near his home, knowing that he would have to return home before the sun started to set. He loved being a wolf, he just did not want anyone to pay the price because of it.

He probably would have returned home in time had it not been for the second wolf to enter the forest. Of course, Zane recognized him immediately. Its fur was dark coffee brown, edging towards a light black color. The wolf was large, much larger than Zane. And when they met in the forest the other wolf seemed to have a smirk on its face.

Noah shifted back into his human form, the smirk still stamped on his face. Following his brother’s example, Zane shifted back into his human form. “I’m going to Tommy’s party, you want to come?” Noah asked without preamble.

Zane glanced up at the sky. The sun had begun to make its quick descent behind the ever-present and pristine mountains. He shrugged. “Yeah, we got time,” Zane remarked, following his brother to the small fence that symbolized the separation from the Hayes’ land and the Harrison’s.

Like they had numerous times before, they stepped over the fence, entering the Harrison’s land. While it was still early, half of the student body had already arrived for the celebration.

Tommy was sitting on his patio in the backyard, watching the forest. Beside him was a red solo cup from which he sipped periodically. The party had barely begun, but he already looked tired and ready for the party to be ended.

“Hey, Tommy,” called Noah as they strode closer to him. “Some Back-to-School party. When I hosted it, you could hear the music from there to the school. You can barely hear it out here.”

Tommy shrugged as though he did not care much either way. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “I thought you had a family thing tonight.”

“We do?” Zane questioned, a frown flickering across his face.

“Meira said that was why should could not come tonight.” Zane, realization hitting him, glanced up at the sky. Sure, the sun was getting closer to its setting, the moon anxiously waiting for its time to appear, but they still had time.

“She’s exaggerating,” Noah continued, waving his hand dismissively. “That’s not until later. She could have come for a little while if she wanted to.” The last bit of Noah’s words seemed to still in Tommy’s mind, causing him to take a long sip from whatever was inside of his red solo cup.

“Meira worries too much,” Zane commented. Noah strode past Tommy, disappearing inside of the house for a moment. An instant later, the music from inside drifted out to them, filling the atmosphere with its harsh beats, forcing everyone to want to dance. Zane depicted a few friend groups migrate outside, wanting to be able to hear one another, a feat that could certainly not be accomplished inside now.

“Where’s your parents?” Zane asked Tommy, taking the seat beside their neighbor.

“They’re taking my brother to college,” he answered. Tommy’s older brother, Nick, was only a year younger than Zane and contained every bit of ambition that Zane did without. The man had great plans to become a doctor and travel across the world helping people in the third world countries. Zane’s current plan extended as far as waking up at some point the next morning.

A loud cheer erupted from within the house. Zane glanced around, seeing, through the window, Noah standing on a table, yelling at the people dancing around d to the music. He shouted something Zane could not hear and another cheer burst inside the house.

“What is Noah doing these days?” Tommy wondered aloud. “I thought he was in college.”

“He was,” returned Zane. “He works at that accounting firm downtown. He’s the accountant there.”

“Aren’t they all accountants?” Tommy stayed with a frown.

“He’s an accountant to the accountants. He had the most boring job in the world.”

“Maybe that’s why he feels the need to crash a high school party.”

“Oh that’s nothing new. He’s gone to every single one of these shindigs for years, before he was even in high school.”

“I don’t remember seeing him last year,” Tommy remarked, a thoughtful expression glittering across his face as he seriously contemplated the party from the previous year.

“I don’t think you were paying enough attention.”

Tommy and Zane sat there talking for a long while, too long in fact. All too soon, Noah came rushing out of the house, barrelling towards Zane, Meira’s worried expression somehow arriving on Noah’s features.

“We’ve waited too long,” muttered Noah, his voice hurried and terrified.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zane jumped up to his feet, following Noah into the forest, leaving Tommy behind with nothing more than a, “Nice party, Harrison.”

Life is full of slight and missed opportunities. Even the smallest act can have immense repercussions on a person’s life. There was still a chance for everything to go well that night, despite Zane and Noah’s need to stay out too long. It could have gone well, there was a very real potential that everything would turn out well.

That was if Tommy had not found what he thought to be Zane’s iPhone sitting on the chair beside him. And if Tommy did not have such a kind and generous heart and a willingness to return the phone to his friend.