Stella POV.
“Finn, do you feel anything?” I asked my brother, I could feel, sense like I was being watched, I was sure that I was being watched, I don’t know how or where but someone was looking at me.
“Yes, I feel that you’re very annoying,” my brother answers me, it’s the third time that I woke him up, I didn’t mean to, but I was terrified.
“I feel someone watching us,” I whisper to him.
“Who’s going to be watching you idiot? Get back to sleep so I can sleep,” he groans.
“Can you check Finn? Please,” I beg him.
“Check where? The closet? We’re not five anymore,” he answers me.
“No, the window,” I say, I wasn’t scared of monsters that live in the closet, although I should have been, who knows, if the werewolves really exist, why not monsters inside the closet too?
“Fine, but after that, you’re gonna let me sleep or I’m going back to my room,” he groaned, and went toward the window, he looked out and told me that he saw nothing.
“Look well, what if there’s wolves?” I ask him, they aren’t wild wolves, they are wolves that turn into humans, they are crazy.
“There isn’t any Stella, this is getting ridiculous, get to sleep,” Finn scolds me coming back to bed, we’re sharing my bed, it’s not the first time we’ve slept next to each other, and we don’t mind it, we’re siblings, we did it when young, why not now when we need each other’s comfort.
I tried to stay quiet, not to say anything more, but I couldn’t sleep, I stayed awake, the fear had a strong hold on me, the fear had me staying awake, thinking over and over again about the fact that he could come here and kill me. The night was very long, and it had wolf howls I could hear them, the wolves were out there, Milo, Theo, and god knows who else might be there along with them, how many they were, and what they would do to me now that I knew the truth about them, would they kill me to keep me silent?
I think I dozed off near the morning, I was tired, all the thinking made me exhausted, and the wolves quit down near the morning hours, and then I was finally able to sleep, I woke up as soon as Finn tried to get out of the bed, I didn’t want to be alone, I sat up right away and looked at him where he went.
“Hey, take it easy, I need the bathroom,” he says petting my shoulder.
“Are you coming back?” I ask him worriedly.
“No, I’m awake, get some more sleep,” Finn tries to tell me, and I nod, I was so tired, another push to the bed and I was fast asleep, I woke up later alone, I got up from the bed and got ready quickly, changing my clothes and washing up, I was thinking of where to go? Do I leave the town? I can’t do that, maybe I can talk dad into leaving?
I walked down to meet with my parents lost in my head, I didn’t know what to do, where to go anymore, I should just talk to him.
“Dad, what do you think of leaving this town?” I say right away, I didn’t sleep much, I wasn’t very smart this morning.
“If you’re ready we can go right away,” Mom says.
“You guy for real?” I asked them, I didn’t expect it to be this easy.
“Yes, it’s Sunday,” Mom says with a shrug, I ran back to my room to put my shoes on while Finn laughed at me.
We all got in the car but we didn’t have any of our stuff with us, I hadn’t thought of that, not until now, maybe I should have packed a bag before running out of the town, we got to the edge of the town and I started feeling weird, I looked at Finn and he too looked a bit yellowish.
As we got further the feeling got worse, it went from just a strange feeling in my chest to dizziness, to weakness, and finally pain, I think I was very passing out when Finn screamed in pain.
“What’s going on? Kids?” Mom asks from the front seat as I fainted and Finn kept on screaming, he begged them to stop, but stop doing what?
“Turn back, we need to get to the hospital,” Mom said as he kept on crying, as soon as he turned back, well he kept on yelling, but as soon as he turned back the darkness took over me and I didn’t remember anything that happened next.
I woke up in a hospital room with dad on my side, he looked to be worried, and his eyes were filled with concern.
“Dad,” I say opening my eyes.
“Stella, how are you feeling?” he asks me right away.
“I’m okay, a bit dizzy,” I answer him.
“The doctor said you two are still jetlagged, I guess the idea of a road trip wasn’t that good,” Dad says regretting his choices.
“It’s okay Dad, I’m fine, I just didn’t sleep well,” I answer him.
“I’m going to check on Finn and send Mom your way,” Dad says going toward another room, I close my eyes and wait for Mom to come over, she hugs me tight, and kisses my face all over, making sure I’m fine.
“I’m okay mom,” I assured her, but I didn’t feel okay, the feeling that took over me wasn’t the jetlag, it was different, it was a feeling of being closed on, of being unable to leave, I felt caged in this town.
We stayed inside the hospital for the rest of the day before we were allowed to leave, Finn was feeling terrible, he had a big frown on his face and felt very sick, while I didn’t feel that bad, it’s not the sickness that had me feeling bad, it’s the feeling of being locked in.
We went home, mom made soup for the both of us, Finn tried to eat some of his soup while I moved the food around the plate unable to eat anything.
“Mom, can Calesti pass by? She wants to check on both of us,” Finn says.
“She called you?” I ask him.
“No, we texted,” Finn says and I rolled my eyes at him, I haven’t checked my phone, but wished she would have messaged to check on me too.
“Sure,” Mom says to Finn.
He messaged Calesti and she said she was coming over, twenty minutes later she was in our house, hugging both of me and Finn, she kissed the top of our heads and asked a million times if we were okay and if we were feeling any pain.
“No, I feel better,” Finn answers her, while I feel worse.
“That’s good sweetie, what about you?” she asks me.
“I’m okay,” I say, but it was a lie, I didn’t feel any better, I felt terrible, I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to pass, for the feeling to leave my body but it didn’t.
“You don’t look too good,” Calesti says.
“I feel like I’m placed in a cage, a very small one,” I inform Calesti.
“Do you want to get out?” she asks me, and it’s not out that I needed, I needed out of this country.
“What about wolves,” I ask her with worry, I was terrified of them.
“Wolves aren’t that scary,” she assures me, but does she know?
“You never know,” I answer her.
“Yeah,” she agrees with me, Finn’s head was placed over Calesti’s shoulder, he wasn’t letting her go, finally able to sleep.
“Are you staying the night Calesti?” Mom asks my friend, or maybe she’s just Finn’s friend.
“If that’s okay with you, I’ll stay,” she agrees.
“Of course, you’re always welcome in Stella’s room,” Dad says noticing how Finn was so close to her.
“Thank you,” she says while Finn whines, he wants to sleep next to her.
We got ready for bed, giving Calesti one of my pyjamas for her to sleep in, Finn asked if he could sleep in my room again, he even promised to keep an eye out for the wolves for me.
“She couldn’t sleep last night, she wanted me to keep an eye out for the wolves,” Finn says snitching on me to Calesti.
“Stella, I don’t know why you hate the wolves so much, they aren’t that bad,” Calesti tries to say.
“I don’t hate them, but they scare me,” I answer her.
“So I’m sleeping in with you guys?” Finn asks giving us puppy eyes.
“Yeah, can he?” Calesti begs me.
“We won’t fit on my bed,” I answer them.
“Then we can all sleep on the floor,” Finn suggests and having them both sleep next to me would be a lot safer than sleeping alone.
“Fine,” I agreed with them.
We got the floor ready, putting pillows, blankets, and more pillows on the floor for us to sleep on, we all got bundled up next to each other, I wanted to keep the light on, but I couldn’t do that with them sleeping with me, I held tight to them both, I was terrified, but at least there wasn’t any wolf howling this evening, and I could finally sleep.
I woke up to my friend and brother whispering to each other, I pretended to be asleep while listening to them talk.
“Is she okay?” Calesti whispers.
“I don’t know what happened, but since she went out on that date, she’s been scared,” Finn says, of course, I’ve been scared, Milo has turned into a wolf right in front of me.
“I wish I could make her fear disappear,” Calesti says sounding sad for me.
“Yeah, same here, I don’t what happened to her, but she’s not feeling the best,” Finn says, I didn’t like hearing them talking like that about me, I didn’t mean to make them worried, but I was terrified.
“She keeps saying she feels caged, I feel so safe in here, I feel like I belong,” Finn says, but I didn’t feel any of that, all I could feel was being caged.
“Give it time, she’ll feel like this is her home too,” Calesti says, right cause the magic takes time to take its effect.
“Maybe we should just drug her and keep her,” Finn says with a yawn going back to sleep.
“That’s not nice Finn,” Calesti scolds him with a chuckle but she too goes back to sleep.
The feeling of being caged didn’t leave my chest even while sleeping, I felt trapped, I woke up with the same feeling, I woke up feeling watched so I hid under the cover, the feeling didn’t leave me. I still woke up and got ready for the day, the weekend had passed so quickly, it went between the date and spending time in the hospital, I wished to skip school, but I didn’t want to stay home either, so I got ready, waking both Cici and Finn to join me in getting ready for school.
“Feeling any better?” Calesti asked me and I lied to her, I didn’t want her to keep on worrying about me, I was fine, even if I wasn’t okay.
“Are you sure?” she asks me.
“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about me,” I assure her.