Chapter 3 Stranger Things

"One of

"One of the pack."

Then they showed themselves again, circling her like they often did in her dream. "No, this can't be real." She tried to close her eyes and wake up from her nightmare once more.

"You are mine and will forever be mine."

"What the fuck are you talking about!

"You are a healer; you are the queen of our pack, you've always been, and you must take your role."

"I am no animal!"

Then the dark, silvery werewolf, who had a calm demeanor to him, smiled while he kept on circling her, making sure his sight stayed on her. "Well, feel..."

"What?"

"Sense it."

Then, quite oddly, she began to smell and take in the surroundings. Her sense of smell was heightened, and she could feel everything around her. It was way more powerful than being human.

"Why do I?" she looked at her paws and the fur around her legs. She was red-silver.

"Alpha, we have a serious problem." Then they brought in the injured. "Alaric has been injured. She is badly hurt."

Then, the alpha turned to her.

"What?"

"Sense it!" he called, and she went towards the injured, licked the wounds, and in a matter of seconds, the wound began to close up, the bullet popped out, and that was it.

"Do you believe now!"

Then she woke up. She took in deep, long breaths. "What is wrong with me?" she wondered. Luckily, this time, she didn't scream aloud at the hearing of her mom. She didn't want her mom making baseless conclusions, telling her she'd been possessed and how much she needed to see a priest of some type.

She stretched herself and found out her body ached a bit, but the minute she dropped her legs on the floor, she found out they were smeared with dirt.

She shook her head, not willing to believe it. Then she bent down to take a little dirt in between her toes. She found grass strands and soil. "Oh my, it is real..." she began to shiver.

Who was she going to talk to? She felt stuck at the moment.

"Ruby." Her mom appeared once more.

"Mom!" she jumped. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard your footsteps," she said and walked up to her. "For a moment, I thought it was burglar, wanted to call the cops." She giggled. Ruby, on the one hand, tried as much to giggle, but she wasn't having it.

Her mom wanted to sit beside her when she noticed the muck and mire in between her toenails. "Ruby?"

Ruby tried to hide it from her mom, but her mom was keen, and she could clearly see what was in between the toenails. "Don't tell me you've been playing in the fields?" she asked, then turned to check the time. "But it is too early for that."

"Uhm...the draught took my favorite bedsheet out, so I had to bring it in."

"You mean the TRI sheets?"

She nodded.

"But I had given that to your cousin Mabel; she dropped in and told me that you wanted to give her that for her camping in the woods."

Then she quickly remembered that she indeed wanted to give her cousin the sheets. How was she going to pull out of this one without her mom knowing? She thought hard about it.

Ruby's mind raced as she tried to come up with explanations for the dirt on her feet. She had been caught in a lie, and her heart thudded in her chest with each passing moment. Her mom's concerned gaze intensified the pressure she felt to keep her secret hidden.

Her mom continued to stare at her, trying to make her talk with the stare. "I hope..."

"Mom, I'm fine," Ruby quickly said, forcing a smile to mask her unease. "I just need a moment alone, if that's okay?"

Her mom hesitated, visibly puzzled by Ruby's behavior. "Sure, dear. I didn't mean to intrude. I'll leave you be." She could see her mom was hesitant to let her be as she wished, she could see her mom was worried, and suspected something was wrong with her.

Her mom stayed at the door for a moment, looking at Ruby, and trying to say what was in her mind. But she hesitated, she wanted Ruby to come out anytime and tell her something was indeed wrong as she suspected.

"But you need to stop sneaking out, and even if you wish to sneak out, you need to have some slips on."

Ruby was shocked, and raised her head to look at her mom. Her mom nodded.

"Yes." Then she looked at her feet. "Do learn to wear your slips on, if you wish to sneak out to seek a friend."

Ruby turned to her feet once more, and grinned shyly. "Okay, Mom."

"You know you can never hide anything from me, Ruby." She continued. "So, you need to be more open with me."

Ruby nodded. All she wanted was to be left alone. But she didn't want to tell her mom to her face, so she wouldn't hurt her.

Her mom smiled one more time, and closed the door behind her as she finally left. Ruby took in a deep breath, sighing in utter relief the minute her mom left her room.

As her mom exited, Ruby leaned against the door, listening intently until her mom's footsteps faded into the distance. She sighed with relief, grateful to have avoided a deeper conversation. But the sudden revelation that her mom had noticed the dirt on her feet left her stunned. She couldn't shake off the feeling that her secret might be at risk of exposure.

"This isn't good, my mom has began to suspect something odd with me," she thought hard on it, and turned to her feet one more time, they were soiled with black dirt.

Pictures of wolves, the Alpha, and the healing kept flashing in her mind, as if they were trying to send her a message. But everything felt so real that she couldn't tell if it was a dream or not. The smells, the sights, they lingered vividly, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.

Taking a deep breath, she decided on her next move. A warm bath might help clear her mind, washing away the confusion that clung to her.

Once alone, she hurried to the bathroom, the sound of running water muffling her racing thoughts. The shower offered a brief respite, the warm water a soothing distraction. But her mind was consumed with questions. What had happened? Was it a nightmare or something else entirely? And who could she confide in about this strange occurrence?

Jadey? No way. If she told Jadey the details, she'd catch on that something was off. Jadey loved all things extraordinary, and admitting to something supernatural would only make her suspicious, which Ruby didn't consider much of a help.

Susan? Not a chance. Sharing the specifics of her dream with Susan would likely lead to her being labeled as crazy. Susan was definitely not someone Ruby could confide in.

As she pondered, her phone's incessant buzzing shattered her contemplation. With a startled gasp, she emerged from the shower, still dripping wet. The persistent vibration came from her phone lying on the bedside table, flashing the name 'Mabel' across the screen.

"Mabel calling at this hour?" Ruby mused aloud, staring at the phone. She hesitated, debating whether to answer the call. Mabel, her cousin, was someone she trusted, but revealing her predicament seemed daunting. After a prolonged moment of indecision, she finally gathered the courage to pick up the call.