In the Shadows

Meira

Meira never asked Zane nor Noah about the night of the full moon. She had scolded them, of course, for not returning home at the appropriate time. But neither gave any indication that something had happened, and there was nothing on the news about a savage attack, so she assumed that every worked out fine. No one was injured or impacted by their transformation.

On Monday morning, Meira woke up at her usual time, 6:00 sharp. She dressed for her morning run, racing across their property and the neighboring homes. She loved running in the morning, she believed it was the only true way to wake up for the day. She raced back to her home in time to take a shower, dress for the day, and eat her breakfast.

Meira, having obtained her license when she was sixteen years old, and inheriting her own car from a rich uncle, now had the obligation of driving her siblings to school every single day. It was an obligation she saw as a massive annoyance and a duty if she wanted to keep her car. Luke and Meira always dropped Sage off at the middle school before making their way to the high school, where they would be obligated to spend the next eight hours of their lives learning facts what would, probably inevitably, be irrelevant to their future lives and careers.

Meira had English class first thing in the morning, her favorite class to attend. Her teacher, Mr. Eliot, strove, throughout every class period, to show his devotion and love for literature. His goal, as he told them on the first day of school, was to change one person’s point of view about literature. Meira had him during her Sophomore year, where they only read American texts. Now, she was taking British Literature with him, a class that he had told his students he much preferred to teaching American Literature.

While it was a Monday, Meira stepped into the school with excitement and expectation. She was determined that she was going to have a good day. No one had been injured during the full moon, her run this morning went well, and she was heading to one of her favorite classes with her favorite teacher. She felt energetic and ready for the day ahead. She was in an unusually good mood for a Monday morning.

So, when she saw Tommy that morning, his face unusually pale, walking stiffly, constantly rotating his shoulders as though they were sore, and flinching at loud noises, her good mood was shot with bullet, deflating in an instant, anger taking its place. “I’m going to kill those guys,” she murmured to Luke, who had walked into the school with her.

Luke followed her gaze to Tommy Harrison as well. A sigh escaped his lips. “The full moon does it again,” he muttered. His voice did not convey nearly the same amount of anger she was currently holding.

She began to walk over to Tommy, ready to demand to know what had happened at his party that led to this mess before her, but before she could move an inch, Luke grabbed her arm, gesturing to a cluster of cheerleaders standing by the lockers down the hall. Meira froze, assessing her options.

She knew that there were many theories surrounding werewolves, vampires, witches, and the like. One prevailing theory was that the different species despised one another. This was not completely true. Sure, Meira thought vampires smelled disgusting and should be eradicated from existence, but she did not abhor them entirely. She even had a few friends that were vampires–well, just the one actually.

Upon moving to Silver Hill, the sects of werewolves, vampires, and witches living in the area gathered together. They formed an agreement which basically consisted of “you stay out of our way, we’ll stay out of yours.” The Cuthberts forced all werewolves to agree that they would not go around biting innocent humans, creating more of their species. The vampires, in turn, made the same promise. The witches, like the cheerleaders now looking at Meira suspiciously, watched the agreement, swearing to ensure that both sides upheld their part of the agreement.

Meira changed her course, heading for her own locker, Luke followed her like the good brother he was. “What are you going to say to him?”

“Well, since neither Noah nor Zane told us about this, I’m assuming they haven’t explained it to him, either. Someone has to,” she shrugged.

“When are you going to talk to him?” Luke inquired.

“Maybe lunch,” she replied. “Perhaps later. I want to talk to him before the witches do. I can smell it on him. I can only assume that they can as well.”

“You’re just accustomed to the scent,” Luke told her. “And we have a heightened sense of smell. I’m sure they just think he’s hung over or something. It’s the vampires you have to be aware of.”

“I’ll talk to him,” she promised, “before it comes to that point.” Her eyes drifted back to where Tommy was standing, his hand pressed to his head as though that could contain the pounding headache he was sure to have. He must have felt horrible right now. She was slightly impressed that he was able to even stand, much less have the energy to be at school.

The morning, the happy morning that Meira had been anticipated, fell into a dark gray haze. The clouds outside had drifted over to cover the sun, casting a giant shadow over the town. Meira could smell the rain forming in the clouds, preparing for the downpour that would appear in the afternoon.

Throughout the school day, Meira kept Tommy in her perfieral. He was belligerent, angry towards his friends, snapping at them with two word responses, clearly not have a good day. Twice during their French class, he asked to go to the restroom, pronouncing that he genuinely thought he was going to be sick. When he returned, Meira had asked him how he was doing, only to have him respond that he had not puked like he anticipated.

The morning alone was enough proof that human bodies were not equipped to carry the werewolf gene. It was unnatural, sickening even. And Meira worried greatly for her friend and neighbor.

When lunch finally arrived, Meira found Tommy sitting in the back corner of the library, his eyes staring at a book before him, but his mind clearly on other things. Beside him sat his long forgotten lunch.

Meira sat down beside him, taking out her own meal, hiding part of it in her backpack so that the librarian, Mrs. Hendricks, would not know Meira had brought food into the sacred sanctuary of books and computers.

While she munched, Meira wondered how best to break the news to Tommy. Up until now, she had been able to keep her family’s secret from him. He had always been suspicious of their family, Meira always claiming that once a month, they had family night and were not allowed to do anything else, a lie which her older brothers apparently wanted to prove wrong. Once, Tommy had even remarked that her family nights always seemed to coincide with the full moon, a comment that she just brushed off, refusing to bring attention to the truth of the matter. Well, now, Tommy, apparently, was going to be joining their family nights. How on earth was she supposed explain that to her friend?

“I feel so weird,” Tommy admitted, breaking the silence between them. Meira had been thinking so loudly that she had forgotten the silence between them altogether.

“What’s wrong?”

“My head is pounding. I feel like I’m going to be nauseous. And I swear I can hear someone talking outside of the library doors.”

“Maybe you should go home,” Meira suggested. He shook his head.

“I don’t want to be at home right now,” he confessed. “I just want to sleep.” Meira reached up and put her hand against his forehead. He was burning up, but not from a fever, from his body trying to understand the changes he was going through. He sighed in relief when she touched him, as though it offered some sort of comfort to him.

She dropped her hand slowly.

“What are you doing after school?” she asked. She tugged on her coffee brown hair a little, resituating it on her head.

“Probably taking a nap,” he answered.

“I was thinking about heading over to Express Espresso if you want to join me.” She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I have a lot of work to do for the carnival. Y-you could help me.” He was looking at her with wide eyes, surprise spreading across his face. Meira ran her hand through her hair once more, trying to force the strains to lay flat. From the shadows of Tommy’s face came a smile.

“Sure, I can meet you there after school.”

“Perfect,” she said, standing up. The school bell resounded around her, signifying that it was time for the students to make their way to class. Meira took out another chip from her bag, munching on it as she and Tommy left the library. “I’ll see you there.”

As she left, Meira could not help but notice that the pain and paleness that surrounded Tommy seemed to lighten a little bit. He seemed almost happy. Meira shook this thought from her head, she and Tommy went to the coffeehouse all the time. She was just reading into things that were not there.

-----

Meira had been sitting with Luke and Sage for a grand total of ten minutes when Tommy finally arrived. Needless to say he was surprised to find that she was not alone, that she had invited Luke and Sage to the coffeehouse with them. He had thought she was inviting him out as just the two of them, hopefully as a date. He had really thought that she was asking him out, she couldn’t meet his eyes and she was fiddling with her hair, which she was always did when she was nervous. How could he not assume she was asking him out? Perhaps, it was all just wishful thinking.

He strode over to where Meira, Luke, and Sage were sitting, equally serious expressions on their faces. They had chosen the table in the far corner of the room, as though they were trying to hide from the rest of the crowds in the place. He sat down with them, his hot tea spilling slighting when he took his seat.

“Hey, guys,” greeted Tommy. His eyes flicked to Meira. While Meira had lured him here under the guise of needing help with the upcoming fundraiser, she had not attempted to appear as though that was what she there for. She left all of the work in her school bag, which was currently secured under the table. She fiddled with her hair, not sure how to explain this life-altering condition Tommy had stumbled on.

“Hi, Tommy!” replied Sage cheerfully, not letting the seriousness of the conversation drag her down. Luke just nodded his greeting, not being able to conjuring nearly as much peppiness that bursted Sage at any given moment. “I really like your shirt, by the way. I know everyone says that Star Wars is super nerdy, but I don’t think it is at all!”

Like most people, Tommy was not sure how to respond to Sage’s comment. Meira had told the girl a thousand times to think about what she was going to say before she said it. Not once Sage listen to her.

“So,” Tommy said, changing the subject, “you said that you needed help with the carnival?”

“Um,” she mumbled, “I do, but we were, um, wondering how you’re feeling, Tommy?”

“I’m alright. I don’t feel as sick as I did this morning. And I’ve told you a hundred times to call me ‘Brian’.”

“I don’t think anyone on the planet could call you ‘Brian’,” remarked Luke.

“It’s my actual name,” Tommy felt the need to refute. Meira smirked to herself. She had to agree with Luke, he would never be a Brian, he would always be Tommy Harrison from 44 Talbot Street.

“Your name isn’t what we wanted to talk to you about,” Meira interjected, taking control, once again, of the conversation. “We wanted to ask you how the party went on Friday.”

“Oh, it-it was fine.”

“We could hear the music from our house,” Sage informed him factually. “I thought Dad was going to go over and yell at you.” Meira shot Sage a dark look. Their father, during the full moon, so annoyed and outraged from noise, tried to break free from his chains in order to cease the noise permanently. It was known fact that werewolves had better hearing, smell, and sight than the average person, with the music as loud as it was, it was no wonder that their father had been irritated by it all.

“Tell us about it,” Meira urged, disregarding her sister’s comment. He hesitated noticeably, trying to recall the intimate details of the night.

“Oh, your brothers were there,” he remembered. “Noah was the one who made the music so loud.”

“Did they talk to you about anything?” Meira inquired, beating around the bush for as long as she could.

“Zane talked about...Noah’s job and how he goes to the parties every year. I don’t remember seeing him last year, do you Meira?”

“What happened after that?” Meira continued, ignoring his question. Tommy frowned, wondering why Meira was being so rude.

“They left for your house, they said they were late.” Meira could see Tommy recalling that night. The memory swirled around him, forcing him to remember. “And-and then Zane forgot his phone, so I-I…” He trailed off while his breath quickened. It was almost comical the way that he looked at them with a mixture of fear, repulsion, and interest.

“I’m going to explain what happened to you,” Meira told him calmly, trying to slow down his breathing and heart rate. “It’s still us, we’re the same, it’s just that...well...we’re werewolves.” She whispered the last word, keeping it away from prying ears.

It was also that whispered word that caused Tommy to promptly pass out.