Rogue Wolf

  

 

After a night of having my hand in a bucket of ice my old man made me see a doctor which to my chagrin, I reluctantly did.

It was humiliating sitting in the waiting room, hand now purple and swollen almost the size of a baseball mitt, two noisy kids asking their mum loudly what was wrong with me!

 

“Mum, why does he have a plum on the end of his arm?” A boy with a runny nose asked.
“Mum is he going to die?” Asked his older sister who had her hand stuck in a kettle up to the wrist; their mum sighed and smiled at me apologetically, I nodded simply, my old man not making any response as he slumped in his chair, bored.

When it was their turn I growled at the children as they walked past. Their response was to cling closer to their mum’s legs trembling slightly. This got me a slap across the head.
“What?” I demanded to my old man, “The brats were being nosy!”
“You know what could happen if you attract too much attention,” he scolded me, leaning back in his chair. He lit a cigarette, he barely smoked.

“Now who’s being the hypocrite?” I asked annoyed. He looked as if he was about to hit me again but a nurse called my name.
“Cole Kenward?” She asked holding a clip board and pen. I lifted my head to her.
“Doctor Lenny will see you now,” she told me, I nodded, turned to my old man and he grunted. I sighed and stood up going past her to the ward.
“Please refrain from smoking in here Mr Kenward,” I heard the nurse tell him, I grinned happily to myself.

*********************

 

The doctor was flabbergasted at how I’d managed to break all my fingers. It was hard to come up with a lie that would make any sense.

In the end I just said my motorbike had fallen on it while I was repairing some of the cables to the battery. He had raised his eyebrows at me, but didn’t accuse me of lying.

And he was not gentle! He set every dislocated bone back in place while he strapped all the broken ones, seeming to ignore my clenched teeth and slight winces as he did this.

 

Once he’d done this he gave me a painkiller, (after I’d endured all that agony) as well as bandaged my hand as to help it heal.

As he filled out the fee he asked midway, “did you know a certain young lady by any chance?” I was stopped short.
“Which young lady are you talking about?” I asked, trying to bend my fingers with no success.

“She’s been my patient before,” he paused tapping on his desk. Then behind his dark frames his eyes lit up for a second.
“Lunetta Welles I think,” he answered determined. I was overcome by silence. My face seemed to grow grim and I looked away, leaning forward slightly in my chair while he continued to fill the paper out.

“Ah yes, it was Lunetta,” he answered with certainty, “I visited her once, my first house call this month.” I had to stare at him. He coincidentally looked up too. I immediately went downcast. 

“Poor girl, she’d had a mental breakdown and had passed out,” he began again, his chair squeaked as he moved somewhere accompanied with a mouse click.

“Her parents said she’d been chattering these initials shortly before,” he added tapping on the keys for a little bit, “C. K, now who does I know has those…”
“I GET IT ALRIGHT?” I snapped standing up, furious. He looked up at me, not looking the least bit intimidated.
“Sit down Cole,” he said firmly.
“Like hell I will!” I snapped breathing heavily. He stood up as well, to my surprise we were both the same height.
“I hunt Mr Kenward; I’ve dealt with wild animals before.”

“Then you haven’t dealt with me,” I answered in a low voice, lifting the top part of my lips to bear my teeth fiercely. He looked curious and I chided myself for it.

He took a deep breath and then said being friendlier than before.
“Cole, from what Luna’s father has told me, you were very close to Luna. Having helped her out of the forest on their camping trip and saving her from wolves and they appreciated it,” his face lost the smile.
“And I understand how you must miss her now she’s gone,” he said downcast for a moment. He suddenly stared me right in the eye; I felt a shiver dance down my spine.
“But Cole, it’s time you should let go. Move on and find better things to do with your life….”
“How did the conversation reel around to this?” I demanded stepping back, feeling violated, “you’re a doctor! Not a freaking psychiatrist!”
“I do have a degree in psychology,” he added.
“Like I care,” I answered sarcastically, slumping back down to my chair, folding my arms in front of me, he slowly sat down too. The air was awkward now…

 

After minutes of the sound of the keyboard tapping away, he pressed a button and a printer beeped before it faded away. Moving in his chair he took a piece of paper from the base of the printer and placed it on his desk. Taking a rather nice pen from a plant pot, with dodgy paintwork (probably done by a kid or some amateur artist) and wrote one last thing towards the edge.
“Here you are,” he said holding the paper to me, which I took, “you’ll need to give that to the nurse at reception.” I scanned the paper; it was nonsense to me.

“Now take care of that hand, for it’ll need to be bandaged for at least a month and the morphine will probably wear off in about two hours. Goodbye Cole.”
“Later,” I mumbled closing the door as I left.

 

***************

 

By Friday (two days later) the swelling on my hand had reduced but it didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt! Painkillers were regularly consumed for it was that intense.

 

It was on Friday morning before I went to school that my old man have bought some extreme ones.
“They last twenty four hours,” he added chucking the blue and white packet to me, “but the pain will probably be bearable by tomorrow.” I nodded my thanks.

“And,” he also added before I disappeared upstairs, “don’t take more than one a day! The last thing I need is you overdosing because you were being stupid!” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Don’t worry you old fart,” I answered starting to move upstairs so he wouldn’t be able to catch me, “I won’t.”

To make matters worse, our chemistry reports were due by the end of next week and I’d just received my draft at the end of the lesson, (half of one anyway.)
“Shame it’s not finished,” I’d been told, “for your grammar and structure is fine; but there’s not enough background information to support your thesis and discussion. Spend some time doing more research at the library. It’ll boost your mark from a C to an A minus at least.”

“Where is the library?” I assumed she didn’t mean the school one, for I knew too well where that one was.

He’d scribbled a map down for me, in his marking pen.
“It’s on the corner of Erving Street,” he’d said pointing it with the other end of his pen, “you can’t miss it.” I muttered my thanks and left for my next class, P.E… Ugh!

 

Stephen was a pain as always, today it was because I was late.
“You know, you always were rumored to be late for class because you took advantage of girls beforehand,” I stopped writing, looked over at him, who was glaring at me.
“It’s disgusting.”

“Get lost Everest,” I grumbled turning back to my paper. This was the latest bunch of lies he’d come up with.
“Afraid that they’ll find out what you did to Luna,” this caught my attention. I leaned right in my seat to look at him.
“You know what I’m talking about!” He answered frowning. I decided to turn the tables.
“No I don’t know, but you’re more than welcome to stand up in front of the class and tell them of these wrongdoings, provided you have proof,” I added at the end. His frown grew in menace.
“You think you can throw me off that easily?” He demanded getting out of his chair, “I’m no fool Cole, though Luna was unfortunately.”
“Would you care to say that louder?” I asked standing up too.

“Cole and Stephen sit down now!” Mrs Primrose bellowed, alarming us all. She is a very petite, with Italian background and for her to yell like that scared us all.

We both reluctantly took our seats.

 

******************

 

On the way home from school, I had to walk to the bus stop, for I was unable to drive my bike for another two weeks; which sucks.

 

Around the corner of the building I glimpsed a gang of boys, all in hoods doing something. Curious I peered closer until I realized that they were spraying the wall with bright green spray paint.

 

For someone with a bad reputation even I knew that this was wrong.
“Hey!” I called at them and they quickly turned around “that’s not cool!” One of them swore and they began to clear off, a familiar voice yelled at them.
“Where you going you f****** cowards, come back here damn it!”

“You,” I exclaimed running over to the figure in the bright yellow hood.

“S***,” was his response as he started to run. Already aware of this I picked up my pace.
“Stop! Jay you can’t get away with destroying the school!” Even if it is the school I added in my mind still running.

 

He sped around a corner onto a deserted road with a few parked cars either side. Already feeling puffed I continued after him, amazed how he didn’t seem to falter in speed.
“Stop, Jay!” I yelled again, my pace slowing. Determined to catch him I let my anger increase and as it did, my claws retracted. Adrenalin flowing through my blood, my gait grew and I began to gain on him. I had to open my mouth slightly so my teeth wouldn’t pierce through the bottom half of my lip.

Right I thought in my mind as my strides brought me only a few feet behind him. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly I reached out with my left hand, claws now four inches out from my finger tips I lunged at his loose jersey. My claws pierced the thick fleece like fabric and stayed there.
“Ha!” I called out letting the claws on my left hand shrink so I could clasp the hem of the clothing.

 

It fell loose….

 

“What the….?” I exclaimed as the jersey headed for the ground though suspended by my claws as a large black bird suddenly came out of nowhere and took to the sky, cawing as it ascended. I watched as it flew away, eyes wide. I suddenly stared at the jersey; it was the only thing left. Where was he?

 

Then I knew, lifting my gaze back to the sky I swallowed hard, starting to take it in.
“It can’t be,” I breathed holding the jersey in my arms, “h-he’s one of them.”