The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 31: Chapter 31

-Oliver-
Help me!
I was almost in bed when I heard the voice at the back of my head. I stopped to a halt, my hands on the hem of my shirt since I was in the middle of changing my clothes.
Help me, Oliver!
I wasn't sure if it was a real voice or just a feeling, but it wasn't even important. I was suddenly filled with adrenaline, and I ran out of the room, pulling my shirt back down. I only stopped to put my shoes on. I was doing everything out of pure instinct. I knew exactly where to go without actually knowing where to go. I just ran straight into the forest.
I couldn't have run far, when I saw him. I couldn't see what was wrong, but I knew he was in great pain, and afraid. My heart was almost breaking from my own fear. When he fell on the ground, I feared the worst, and when I stopped next to him and saw the thin arrow deep in his side, I thought he was a goner.
I almost panicked. He looked up at me. He kept whining in pain. I didn't know what to do! How could I help him! There was no time...!
Take it out!
It was his voice. I was sure of it. It wasn't a voice at all, but it was still his voice. Jaden's.
I grabbed the arrow and pulled it out without giving it a second thought. I trusted that he knew it was the right thing to do. The wolf in front of me yelped loudly, and the voice in my head screamed, when I pulled the arrow out of him.
For a short second, I thought I did wrong. I thought that by removing the arrow I had caused more harm. But he quieted down, and stood up. He didn't let me see the wound, but somehow, I knew he was feeling better already. He wasn't in danger anymore.
He seemed shocked when I called after him. With his real name.
"I know it's you. I heard your voice. You were calling my name," I told him hastily, because I knew he wouldn't stay there any longer. I wasn't sure if he was panicking because he was just shot, or because I knew his real name, but he left in a hurry.
I stayed there, in the silent forest, holding a bloody arrow in my hand. It was then, when I realized what just happened. Well, I realized I had no idea what just happened, to be more precise.
I had no idea how long I sat there, staring at the arrow. I was... numb. If my instincts were telling me to get the hell out of there, I didn't understand it. After all, there was someone shooting arrows nearby. But no. There was room only for one thought in my head.
Wolfie was Jaden. Jaden was a wolf.
Slowly, I stood up. Wolfie – Jaden, was all right now. Panicking, but all right. How I knew that was something I wasn't sure I wanted to know just yet, but he was all right now. I started walking back to the orphanage. I still had the arrow in my hand. I didn't know what to do with it... It was too dangerous to leave in the forest for kids to find, but if I appeared at the orphanage holding it...
I scooped snow from the ground and tried to wash the blood away. Who shot Wolfie? I mean Jaden? Was it really him, or was I crazier than I thought? This was a whole new level even in my craziness...
I stopped right next to the street and saw a big trash can close by. I hurried to it and shoved the arrow in there, trying to cover it with the other trash. There was mainly used napkins and bags of dog poop, so I wished no one was mad enough to dig through it.
After I was done, I checked that there was no one around who could've seen what I just did, and then hurried to the orphanage. I had made a lot of noise when I left home in a hurry, so I assumed I was now in trouble with the caretakers, but when I got inside, there was no one around. I sighed in relief and sneaked upstairs. I went straight into bathroom to wash my hands carefully, before I changed my clothes and tiptoed to my bed.
As I pulled the covers over me, I closed my eyes and focused on Jaden. He was still panicking.
How could I do that? How on earth could I possibly know what was going on with him? How could I know it when he was close by? How could I feel what he was feeling?
I was crazy. I was utterly crazy. It was bad enough that I had an imaginary wolf friend, but now that wolf could turn into a human! I was so screwed up that I had created a guy, who could turn into a wolf, and who was protecting me, and keeping me company.
Wait, no. I ran into him. And Arch and Tilly seemed to believe Jaden was real. Unless they were part of my imagination as well. But in that case, Jack wouldn't be real either. Or his friends. Or the vice principal, Hanson, since he fought with them. Or the principal himself since I saw him chatting with Hanson.
Was it possible that everything around me was just part of my imagination? Was I real at all?
I shook my head. This wasn't the time for an existential crisis. I was real. The world around me was real. There was no way I could've just imagined my entire life, all sixteen years of it. And why would I imagine a life like this anyway?
So... Therefore... I wasn't sure if I had the guts to actually believe in it, but... what if... this world... wasn't what I thought it was? When that thought passed my mind, I curled up into a tiny ball, pulling my covers tightly around myself. I mean, what if I wasn't crazy at all?
What if this world was crazy?
I didn't sleep that night. I couldn't even close my eyes. It had only a little to do with the fact that Jaden couldn't calm down at all. I kept thinking the entire night. I racked my brain, so I could understand even a little about what was going on, and when the morning finally arrived, I felt stupid.
Werewolves.
Not aliens, not vampires or elves or fairies, werewolves.
It sounded crazy as hell and I spent a good moment laughing at myself when I thought of it, but still, it made a lot of sense. That would explain why Jaden could turn into a wolf. There was no doubt in my mind that Wolfie was Jaden. Although, I thought werewolves were scary monsters like in the movies, but I wasn't a supernaturologist or whatever.
But Jaden wasn't like that. His wolf form was beautiful, and even as a man he... well... He looked good. I had no idea why someone like him would pay any attention to a scrawny little pointy-nose like me. Why did he start hanging out with me so suddenly?
I spent the next few minutes trying to think of an answer to that question, while I was brushing my teeth. The only thing that I could think of was that incident on my sixteenth birthday. That moment when our eyes met... I could still feel the nice shivers going through me me when I thought about that moment. Jaden seemed so shocked back then. Maybe he knew what it was? Maybe it was some kind of werewolf thing?
Whatever it was, ever since that moment he had been dropping in my life, giving me company or watching over me. I found it a bit rude that he never told me why. Just a little bit, because I was grateful for his kindness. I really enjoyed seeing him every night... But that would stop now, right? For some reason, he seemed to think it was a really bad thing that I knew his identity, so he probably wouldn't come see me anymore...
I tried not to think about that. I had to talk to the guy first. I had to make sure I wasn't crazy and there really were supernatural beings in our world first. For all I knew, I could have a brain tumor that made me see and hear and imagine things, and what really happened last night was just me running around the forest waving a stick in my hand, thinking it was an arrow.
That was a more likely scenario, since, well, werewolves, but I was really starting to get excited about the idea. If they were real, then I wasn't crazy after all! I was definitely desperate enough to believe werewolves were real as long as it meant I wasn't crazy at all.
And my God, to live in a fantastic world like that... If I was just imagining everything, I was more than happy to stay in this fake-world.
Later that morning, when Ms. Washington dropped me off at school, I started to feel really, really nervous.
Jaden was there. And he was feeling pretty much the same as I did. I wondered if he could feel what I was feeling as well. When I walked to the entrance, I could tell he was already inside, somewhere in the second floor. Left from where I was walking. That was new. How did these weird feelings get so strong all of a sudden? Last night was the first time I could tell exactly where Jaden was, and now it was happening again. Something changed between us last night. That was for sure.
I was dying to know. I wanted to walk up to him and just blurt out all the questions I had, but I didn't want to freak him out – I already did that last night.
Instead of going to him, I started heading towards my first class. I focused on him for most of the time though. At some point, I understood why I hadn't realized that Jaden and Wolfie were the same person before. Their auras were not entirely similar. When he was Wolfie, his aura was calm and secure, but when he was Jaden... it was a mess. Especially now, but it was like that before as well. How I knew that was beyond me.
As the day went by, it became really obvious to me that Jaden was avoiding me like plague. Whenever I sensed him close by, he changed his direction and hurried away. That continued throughout the day, right until the last break of the day.
I was making my way to my last class and I was surprised to realize Jaden's presence was growing stronger. I had to stop and wait to see if he was finally feeling confident enough to confront me.
It turned out that he wasn't. But he also had no choice.
His friends were dragging him around the corner right in front of me. When Tilly saw me, she gave me a smile.
"There you are!" she spoke and pushed Jaden towards me. "Go talk to him!" she hissed at him, pointing at me in a threatening manner.
Jaden glared at her, keeping his back turned on me. Then, slowly, he let out a deep sigh, and finally faced me.
"Hi," I said carefully, when his angry eyes met mine. He didn't say a word to me, so I gathered all my courage to speak. "I'd... I'd like to talk with you," I spoke with a stupidly tiny voice.
"Yeah – about that," Jaden said.
And he bolted. He ran so fast that he was gone before I could even blink. Tilly let out a frustrated sigh, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. Then, she turned her eyes at me and the warm smile returned to her lips.
"Excuse us for a moment," she said, before her expression turned mad, and she ran after Jaden, leaving me alone with Arch.
I could only stare after the two. What just happened?
"Yeah – I'll just..." Arch muttered awkwardly and pointed after his friends.
"Sure," I sighed, and he nodded, before he followed Tilly in a slower pace.
After a short moment, I started laughing.
I had the feeling Jaden wouldn't be talking to me anytime soon.