1 Chapter 1 - The bite

I laid on my bed, unable to sleep without overthinking about school tomorrow. The summer holidays passed so quickly and I'm back to tests, grades, fake friends, bullies, parents being mad at you for getting bad grades, depression, heartbreak but most importantly stress and anxiety. Thinking about this made me overwhelmed, so I took my therapist advice; go take a walk. One problem, it's night. Today was the full moon though, so there was enough light.

I jumped out of my bed silently, put on my oversized hoodie and shoes, and opened the window. A gush of cold breeze overtook the room finally allowing me to breathe freely and the knot in my chest loosened a bit. My blond hair moved in a synchronised movements with the wind and my blue eyes twinkled in the light of the moon. I felt like there was nothing to stop m—

"OLIVER!" My stepmom screeched. "DON'T TELL ME YOUR OUT OF BED WHEN YOU HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW!"

I sighed. Typical over-protective stepmom.

"I'm not out of bed." I murmured. "I was simply getting a glass of water."

I silently closed the window and hopped back to my bed just before my stepmom came in with a glass of water. She looked at me, with eyebags under her eyes, and her messy bun.

"Sorry, I was just feeling really thirsty..." I whispered.

She sat beside me, handing the glass of water. I looked at her green eyes, the olive green eyes always make me calm.

"It's okay. I probably gave you a fright, shouting at you. Especially your anxi—"

"Mom!" I said loudly. I call her my mom a lot, because she really acts like my mom. She gives me space but at the same time, also inquires about what's wrong. "Please can we not talk about anxiety or anything related to it. I have school tomorrow and I really don't want to go..."

"Oh honey..." She whispered. She nodded like she understood that I did not want to talk about it, so to make up the silence, she started to play with my blond hair.

"Mom!" I whispered, embarrassed. I loved that she played with my hair, but the moment she started, she stopped.

"You need to go to sleep Ollie, I don't want to have the school call me telling me that you skipped your classes because you were late."

She chuckled. I was a bit confused at what she was laughing at, but I noticed her looking at my clothes and I quickly removed my hoodie and shoes.

"Typical Ollie, always wanting to go into the forest, even if it's midnight." She teased me by gently pinching my elbow. "Go to sleep now, and I know you don't want to go to a new school, but who knows, it might be good for you."

She stood up and walked towards the door, but before she opened it, she gave me a wink. I grinned back. She opened the door and closed it. I jumped out of the bed and I wore my shoes but decided to ditch my hoodie. I climbed out of my window frame and used the pipe to hoist myself down. My blond hair resuming its dance with the wind and I started jogging towards the forest.

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I should have brought my hoodie. It was a cool breeze but also freezing. My teeth chattered and my arms and legs were shivering. I guess wearing pyjamas doesn't really make you warm.

I tried to stop thinking about being cold and just focused on the— uhhh. There was no sound, so what should I focus on? Never mind, sometimes therapists advise can be useless. I looked at the entrance of the the forest.

Beacon Hills Forest

"BEWARE! DO NOT ENTER THE FOREST AT NIGHT."

The rest has been scratched off by... Claws?

Probably a prank.

I took the normal route that I usually take. I don't like following rules so I never take the hiking route, I just walk the same route that I always walk in. Only difference is that it's night.

I looked around the forest, it's much quieter at night. Too quiet. I don't like loud noises but I don't like it when it's completely silent.

I took another pathway but the trees were different than the ones at the entrance?

I stopped puzzled, I looked around. Where was I? I've been in this forest multiple times, and yet today I had no clue where I was. I tried retracing my steps, but behind me was two pathways, and I had no idea which one I took.

"I'm lost," I told myself. I probably took a wrong turn—

I turned around suddenly, my shoulders tensed up and my fists ready for a battle. I could have sworn I heard something.

Silence.

My eyes scanned around the dark forest. No movement or any shadows. Perhaps it was just my anxiety playing a trick on me. Maybe I'm going paranoid. I can't trust my body, not since I got diagnosed with anxiety.

I walked a few steps forward and stopped suddenly. A twig snapped, and some leaves crunched.

"Who's there?" I asked loudly, trying to scare whoever or whatever was there.

Heavy breathing.

"I have my phone, so I will call the cops if you do something!" I shouted, much more confident.

Nothing.

That's when I thought, I don't have a phone. My stomach lurched and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Was I having an anxiety attack? I couldn't think straight. I started running like hell. I didn't know where I was going, but every second I was running, my chest started hurting so much that tears started to blur my vision.

This was the wrong time and place to have an anxiety attack. I'm not too athletic but I did some relay races when I was in middle school, but this time I couldn't run so fast.

Me being distracted for seconds was enough for the attacker to come at me.

I felt a sharp pain in my back, causing me to stumble down a hill. Where the hell did a hill come from? I kept rolling down the hill, unable to stop or slow myself down. The other thing followed me down the hill, with such high speed, I wasn't sure it was human.

Finally, my body stopped rolling. I tried getting myself up, but the pain in my back was like someone putting 100 hot wires. I lifted up my T-Shirt to examine the wound and I've never seen anything like this...

Black blood oozed from my wound and someone clawed my back, ripping my T-Shirt. Is there a mountain lion here? Before I moved here, I did research on this place, there were no wild animals in this forest...

The pain was unbearable and the thing was nowhere to be seen.

I heard rusting sounds behind me, and I knew it was over. The thing found me, and I'm dead.

I let out a final sob, my life is over because I decided to go to the forest at the wrong time. The thing showed its long claws, and walked slowly. He trudged the crunchy leaves, smirking at my panicked face. My eyes widened. My heart was thumping right out of my chest. My life is officially over—

Then, out of nowhere, something came out, with red, glowy eyes and used its claws to fight the other thing. Was it my eyes playing a trick on me?

The other thing slumped to the ground and the red glowy eye person came towards me. I moved myself backwards, unsure whether to trust this thing or not. When I thought I was finally getting away, my back reached a stump of a tree.

I started getting drowsy and I couldn't feel my arms or legs. Is this how it feels like to die. I refuse to die, what would my stepmom do? She was the only person who gave light to my life after my parents abandoned me as a baby.

I knew that I couldn't run. I can't fight. I can't hide. I put my arms on my face to shield myself from whatever was coming, but nothing happened...

Instead, the thing came towards me, kneeled down and whispered something in my ear.

"You're going to die if I don't do something." It said smoothly. The thing was like a creature. A supernatural creature.

"This is going to hurt like hell." I whispered, letting out an exhausted sigh. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew that it was going to hurt.

"Sure like hell this is."

The eyes glowed again and he opened his mouth to show his fangs...

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"So hold up, you're a Werewolf." I said, my eyes widened in shock.

"And so are you, since I bit you, but most people don't survive the werewolf bite."

"I'm sorry, what?"

We were sitting in a loft in the forest. My arm was paining from the bite that Samuel gave me. It was still bleeding before I bandaged it up and Samuel gave me his hoodie to cover it up. Samuel, or Sam for short, was making some herbal tea to soothe me down from the attack that I got. He was handsome, I guess? He had light brown eyes that always had a twinkle and his black curly hair came down to his forehead. He had this almond eye shape and his white teeth glistened and sparkled.

"So what came at me?" I inquired, trying to change the subject of the probability of me dying...

He shook his head and went back to his Herbal Tea.

"I don't know what came at you." He murmured.

He switched off the gas, poured the tea in the glass. He then turned around with a puzzled expression and held the two glasses. Sam gave me one of the glasses and motioned me to drink it and he placed his glass on the Kitchen counter. I was sitting on a small couch near the fireplace, which was lit up, sparks coming everywhere. I looked at it, fascinated as I had never seen a fireplace lit up before. We had a fireplace at home but we never lit it because we had heaters and mom thought it was useless.

Sam then chuckled, and I turned around with a baffled face.

"You've never seen a fireplace lit up before, have you?"

"No," I admitted. I turned around back to the fireplace, looking at the fireplace and sipping my tea. I admit that the tea was really good and it warmed me up even more.

Sam came to me with a serious expression on his face. He clutched his glass with one hand and a knife in the other.

My eyes widened in fear. I looked at him with my pleading ocean eyes, but he just grinned.

"Hey, I'm not going to do anything to you... I'll explain what's going to happen."

I let out a sigh. This was getting a bit overwhelming for me, but Sam seemed to understand.

"Hey, I know this is a lot for you, but you're going to have a lot of enemies since you're a werewolf."

He gripped my wrist tightly.

"One of the abilities of being a WereWolf is having fast healing." He explained, his eyes locking on my eyes. "It's gonna hurt but if you're not dead, you have to be a Werewolf."

I nodded. I shut my eyes tightly and I prepared myself from the pain. I felt a burning sensation on my palm of my hand, but the moment it started, it stopped.

I looked at my palm, nothing was there. Not even a mark or a scar. I looked at Sam, puzzled, but when I saw the grinning face, a huge pressure on my chest lifted. I grinned back. I was a werewolf! What could stop me?

That's when I realised. I stopped grinning and I looked back at Sam with a gloomy expression. He noticed this change of emotion and became a bit concerned.

"What's wrong?" He asked, with a bit of a worried hint in his voice.

I avoided his eye contact. I stared at the floor and started fiddling with his hoodie.

"Nothing" I managed to say, still avoiding contact.

He nodded.

"You can tell me when you want to tell me. I suppose you have school today?"

I nodded.

It was a really awkward silence, but so many questions were forming in my head. How old is he? Does he go to school? How long was he a werewolf for? What other wolf abilities were there? Will I have glowy eyes? Will I transform into an actual wolf? Where are his parents?

"I suppose you don't want to walk all the way back to your house?" Sam asked, interrupting my thoughts and questions.

"I guess so..." I mumbled. "I'll tell you where my house is."

"I can drive you there in my Pickup Car."

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The pop music blasted in my ears, causing me to put my hands on my ears.

"Maybe you could turn it down!" I yelled, trying to shout on top of the music.

"Do you want to ruin the mood?" Sam shouted back.

This causes me to make my face go scarlet. Sam noticed this and lowered the volume.

"Thanks.."

Sam switched off the radio, making this ride even more awkward. I don't really socialise a lot, which is why I don't make a lot of friends. I like to be left alone instead of having everyone surrounding me. I don't even understand how the popular boys manage to adapt to everyone surrounding them and they get all the attention. I was desperate to say something, but I didn't want to make this more awkward than it already was.

A few minutes passed and I couldn't help it anymore.

"What other wolf abilities are there?" I blurted out.

Sam looked at me and smirked, causing my face to go red again.

"Figured it was time for you to ask that." He chuckled. "I already told you about super healing. There's super strength, super speed, super hearing, super endurance, super senses, super agility and night vision."

My jaw opened by how many abilities there were. I was never a fan of fantasy or science fiction books, so I never read about any of the mythical creatures. I would often read action and adventures books, because I've always been the adventure type of guy.

Sam smirked at my shock.

"There's a lot to learn and control, especially under a full moon influence." He admitted. "You will learn all of that today after school. Any more questions?"

"Yeah." I answered truthfully. "How old are you?"

"I'm 15 years old"

"Which school do you go to? If you do go to a school..."

"I go to Beacon Hills High School"

Again my jaw opened. There were just so many things I was discovering tonight.

"I— I go to Beacon Hills High School too..."

"Really?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

I nodded.

He gave a gentle punch on my arm, and grinned at me again.

"I guess we'll meet in the halls later."

I pointed towards my house on the street. Sam nodded and turned the car on the driveway. I opened the car door but before I closed it, Sam held my arm.

"I just want to test something, I want you to leap up to your room."

I looked up to my room, then looked back at him with a puzzled expression. He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a stern look. I sighed and looked back up to my room.

I squatted my knees, in position, ready to jump. I took big deep breaths, gazed at my window, and nodded to myself. That's when I did it. I jumped up, and I had never been so astonished. I found myself clinging on to the window frame. I looked back at Sam, who was in the car, and grinned at him. I couldn't see his expression but he gave me a nod and I climbed back in my room.

I checked my phone to see the time. 2:43

That's when I realised that I forgot to give Sam back his hoodie, but I shrugged it off and told myself I'll give it to him in school.

School.

I was so exhausted by the turn of events today, that the moment my head touched the pillow, I drifted into dreamless sleep.