Phoebe
Halting in my tracks to avoid being heard by an incoming passerby, I ducked under a tree, hiding in the darkness and pinning my gaze on him as he walked along the lonely road.
It didn’t take long before he was out of sight, long gone into the darkness before I came out of my hiding spot.
Phew!
That was close.
Night had fallen already and I was heading home after a long day in the woods.
I was heading home without Esmeralda.
After our little tete-a-tete and my successful mission in making her sniff the lovely wolfsbane, I deliberately stayed behind, watching her scream and wriggle in great pain, hoping it would end her life.
But my hopes were smashed against a hard rock of pain and disappointment when her weak voice drew help from different angles and the little bitch was rescued.
I hope the wolfsbane eats her skin up so badly that she wouldn’t survive.
For hours, her name was on everyone’s lips about how she was badly injured. It was almost the talk of the town.
I hated how it sounded against their lips.
I hope her death spreads even more rapidly.
I just couldn’t wait.
After hiding in the woods from Esmeralda’s rescuers for what seemed like hours, I decided it was time to go home.
I needed a break from all these.
I hated that today didn’t go as planned.
But there is always another day. Another day to do it right and end her life.
Until then.
I took long strides along the lonely path, plotting my next move when a thought suddenly struck me.
What will I tell Father?
Where will I tell him that I went?
What excuse would I give him?
“Whatever,” I shrugged the feeling, “Who cared about that father and his bastard daughter,”
“Stop, Pheebs!” Kruella yelled in my head.
That was pretty loud.
“Seriously? Pheebs? You know only father calls me that and you know he calls me that when he wants to ask for a favour,”
“I’m sorry but, you can’t go home like that,”
My brows knitted in confusion at her words, “What do you mean by I can’t go home like that?” I asked.
“Don’t be dumb, Phoebe, you can’t go home without cooking up a story, how do you want him to believe you? Remember, Phoebe, slow and steady. No rushing,”
As much as I hated to admit it, she was right.
“Why do you think a story is very important?”
“Think about it, Phoebe. Both of you left for a walk and everyone literally saw you together. Suddenly, only you return home unharmed while she is battling with her life? And you think that wouldn’t draw suspicion? Think about it, Phoebe. I don’t know you to be dumb. I know this whole thing hurts so much, but don’t take a rash decision,” Kruella explained, convincing me completely.
“You are right, Kruel, you are fucking right,” I nodded absentmindedly, getting lost in my thoughts.
The only thing reasonable that the Moon goddess did was to give me a wolf like Kruella.
She was the only wolf that matched my energy.
Only she understood me. And I was glad I had her.
Walking along the lovely road absentmindedly as my mind raced with many thoughts, I noticed I was the only one on the road.
But I didn’t care.
I almost squealed when an idea popped into my head.
Without wasting a second, I ran into the darkness, where no one would see me, ruffled my hair and gave myself scratches with my elongated claws, smearing the droplets of blood on my body.
What else could I do?
My hands found my top and tore a part of it. I did the same to my skirt before heading home.
I bet that I would look so miserable.
Reaching home, I crawled under the window to avoid being sighted, peeping through the open curtain to reveal my distressed-looking father who was being consoled by a group of people.
Was she dead already?
My eyes danced across the room again, but this time a man dressed in what seemed like a white lab coat was speaking with my father. The Pack doctor.
But where was my mother?
A groan slipped from my throat as mosquitoes began to feast on my open skin.
A groan that almost caused my exposure.
“I thought I heard something,” I heard a man say.
I hid in the darkness, covering my mouth with my palm to avoid being given away.
My heart began to race when I started hearing footsteps coming in my direction, “Calm down, Rob, it’s nothing,” I heard another man say.
I heaved a sigh of relief when the footsteps stopped and everyone went back to their businesses.
Phew!
That was really close.
Stupid Rob.
“Now what?” I communicated with Kruella.
“Go in and put up your best acting skill. In everything you say or do, make him believe you,” She warned before recoiling back into my head.
Great!
Now I have to deal with this myself.
I got up from the floor, stretching my hands to dust the sand off my body. On second thought, I left it.
How else would they believe that I was attacked?
Limping on one leg, I made my way through the door, opening it like I was being chased.
“Father!” I faked an agonizing groan, dropping on the floor like a pack of cards and wailing my eyes out, making everyone stop what they were doing to attend to me.
“Fuck! What the fuck happened to you?” My father gasped, throwing his phone on the floor as he raced toward me, “Oh my goodness, she is bleeding,” He swallowed, struggling to hold back his tears.
“Nice acting,” Kruella sneered in my head.
“Shut up, Kruel,”
“Father,” I managed to speak, coughing as I struggled to breathe.
“Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick, combing the pack for you,”
“We were taking a walk, me and… Esmeralda. Esmeralda told me… how she loved flowers so I took her to the garden… to have a view of the flowers, but… then, a loud noise interrupted us and before I knew it, they took… Esmeralda away. They took… my sister away,” I screamed my lungs out and forced the remaining tears in my eyes.
“Calm down, I’m confused, how did it happen? Nothing like this has ever happened in the pack…” My dad stared at me, confusion written all over him.
“We were attacked, Father,” I wailed harder, wiping my nose with the back of my palm, “Esmeralda was dragged away while I was beaten till I lost consciousness. I woke up not quite long in the woods,”
“It’s okay, you are safe now,” A hunter said, squatting before me.
I hope he wasn’t about to ask me a series of stupid questions.
“You are safe now. Can you tell me where it happened?”
Fucking bastard!
“The… the outskirts of the…” I coughed harder, hoping he would stop his annoying questions.
“It’s alright. Take it easy, take a deep breath. Do you recognize these guys? Can you tell me what they look like?”
Oh no!
“I don’t know, we were blindfolded too quickly, so I don’t have an idea,”
A sigh escaped from his lips as he examined my battered body, “These people that did this to you, do you know who they are? What do they smell like? If they are from this pack?”
Tears dropped from my eyes as I shook my head negatively.
Just stop these questions already!
“They might be rogue hunters, thinking they were rogues,” Someone said, diverting the hunter’s attention.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
“It’s okay, sir, we will get to the bottom of it,” The hunter assured my dad before leaving with a couple of his friends, making the house empty, save for me, my dad and the pack doctor.
“Are you okay, baby?” My dad said, walking close to me.
“I don’t care… if I’m okay… I just want to see my sister,” I broke down into another round of tears, “Where is my sister?”
A frown crossed my father’s face before it vanished.
Didn’t he buy my story?
Did I act well?
“She is in her room, receiving treatment. She begged me not to take her to the hospital. I think she hates hospitals,”
“Oh, my goodness. I’m sorry I made her go through all this. It’s all my fault. I should have protected her. Hope she will forgive me,”
“You will have to tell her that yourself,” My dad said, moving away from me.
What was happening?
“What does that mean?” I asked, feigning confusion.
Why did his expression harden?
“Before Esmeralda became unconscious, she said the last thing she remembered was you giving her flowers to sniff and then you gave her a strange flower that brought her a great deal of pain. And when the pack doctor examined her, he said came in contact with wolfsbane… But the story you told us is quite different from what she told us,” His cold eyes pinned me as if scanning my words.
Fuck!
I’ve messed things up.
What do I do now?
“Cry!” Kruella’s voice echoed in my head.
Yes. That was the only way he would believe me.
“That was before we were attacked. I didn’t know she was allergic to Lilies,” I broke into tears amid the explanation.
“It’s okay if you say so. Since you are injured, I will have you transferred to Esmeralda’s room too so that the doctor will treat the both of you together, if that is fine by you,” He paused, giving me a concerned look.
But beneath the concerned looks, was doubt.
Was he still doubting me?
“It’s totally fine with me, dad. I just want to be close to my sister, to apologize for neglecting her when she needed me most,” I sniffed, wiping my hand with the back of my palm.
How I couldn’t wait to strangle Esmeralda to death in her sleep.
But then he gave me that look again.
The doubt was so glaring, my heart skipped.
I have to make him believe me.
“Dad,” I called weakly, holding his hand, “Don’t you believe me? Do you think I’ll ever hurt Esmeralda?” I sobbed hard, pinning my teary gaze on him.