Chapter 2 The New Girl

"We had just moved into Scarville when we had you two, our joy knew no bounds. We vowed to do anything within our powers to ensure that we gave you guys the best possible life. But then on your second birthday, we went to the green fields close to the woods for a family picnic alongside aunt Rebecca. We were there all morning and afternoon under the shades until night fall, it was a thrilling experience watching you two play around all day until the unexpected happened.

Your father had dismantled the tent and had gone to put it in the trunk. it was windy and i was trying to get rid of a perk in your eye when I heard Rebecca scream. I turned to see a huge grey looking wolf with eyes so red with evil, It stood over aunt Rebecca who was frozen to death with Tamara in her arms. At once I dropped you and ran to see if I could scare it off, before I could get to it, it picked Tamara with it's jaws and ran into the woods. Your father pursued after it but instead of rescuing her he came back the next morning with multiple scars and injuries, he was lucky to escape with his life.

Your father lost so much blood and was hospitalised but he miraculously recovered in less than a day. I guess this was what made him devot his life to priesthood. Although we lost your sister, we took solace in the miraculous survival of your father."

After hearing these words from my mother I became even more curious to visit the woods, I needed answers, wolves are said to be extinct in the whole southern county including Scarville, what then killed my sister? My parents were so certain it was a wolf? Could they be mistaken out of terror? Even if they were, the doctors report read that the teeth markings on my father's neck were the fangs of a wolf. After my sister's death authorities were said to have combed the woods for a week without finding a single wolf. Could the mythology of the werewolf be true? I made up my mind to ask Julian in class the next day, I have seen him drawing something similar before.

Julian was my childhood friend and we grew up together. We were both grade twelve students of Scarville High school. Unlike me Julian wasn't born in Scarville but in Pentatown. His mother migrated to Scarville with him after her separation from his dad, eversince we've been really close. Julian has a unique taste for art, he is the fastest sketcher I have seen. He could sketch things out of an imagination or even a dream.

It was a Monday morning, I had asked Julian about his sketch book, he was initially surprised because most often I tend to jokingly down play his artistic prowess before him. I opened the book and the first sketch I saw was that of a Centaur, the next page showed bit by bit sketches of how the horse and the human evolved and merged to become one. The next diagram was a mermaid, he also tried explaining the evolution of a fish and a human into a mermaid. I was wondering where Julian gets his ideas from when I flipped onto the next page to see a werewolf. Julian was so detailed in his drawing that I tried asking him how he came about the idea when Mr. Copeland our mathematics teacher walked in with a student. ''Ladies and gentlemen, it pleases me to introduce to you the newest member of your class, Cassidy Williams. Ensure you do your best to make her feel welcomed....''

Wow! Cassidy?, I use to believe that the idea of love at first sight was a fairlytale until I saw Cassidy. I just couldn't explain what I felt in that very moment. Her eyes were so bright, her skin flawless, the way she smiled as she waved at the class made it even harder to concerntrate, she was simply a beauty to behold. She made her way into the class and took the vacant seat beside me. I was so nervous, it felt like I was going to have a panic attack, what's wrong with me? I was still trying to get myself together when I heard a still soft voice whisper ''Nice drawings'' it was Cassidy, there is no way I'm telling her I didn't sketch those, so I played it smooth. "Thanks, I'm Travis by the way" "nice to meet you Travis" she said with another reassuring smile which made my heart pound even faster.

Mr.Copeland has commenced with his class and the whole new girl euphoria was quite over but yet I still don't feel like myself. My head was banging, each bang made my eyes dizzy and my vision blurry, at once I knew something's not right, I feel sick. I placed my head on my desk and closed my eyes all I could see was the werewolf in Julian's drawing, I quickly raised my head only to see Mr Copeland and half of the class gone. Julian was gone as well as Cassidy. Caleb and Cynthia were the ones closest to me so I called their attention to know what happened and why everyone left the class. "Dude!, crazy things was goin' on y'all and you were just so calm and relaxed, you are a case study for real" Caleb said as he laughed and walked off. I definitely wasn't asleep? I needed answers so I went on to ask Cynthia, Cynthia doesn't joke in the least, always serious and straight to the point. If you really want to know the truth about yourself, Cynthia is that person, the only problem is sometimes she can be overly pessimistic.

She saw me approaching and probably knew I was coming to ask her the same question I asked Caleb. Without even letting me speak she looked me straight in the eye and responded, "the new girl is dead."