LAYLA MEMOIRS OF A SHEWOLF.....

                            LAYLA Memoirs Of a SHEWOLF
         



                                                     CHAPTER 1...

         My skin was burning. I could feel my heart beating so hard against my chest; it felt as if it was going to explode, my whole body was aching, and my blood felt red hot under my skin, So hot I wanted to tear my flesh away; my clothes felt tight and harsh against my sweating body which was pulsating so much I wanted to scream.

         I did not know where I was it was dark, and the fuzziness in front of my eyes was making me dizzy, my senses where highly sensitive. I noticed something in the distance, moving closer I could see it was a mirrored wall, as I got nearer a hazy reflection appeared, but not mine, an animal of some sort.

         Rubbing my eyes so I could focus properly, a large silver wolf stood before me smiling showing pearly white teeth, I could hear someone calling my name it sounded distant more like an echo.

         “Layla” my name flew past my ears and filled the  space around me. “Layla it is me wake up”, I looked around, but I could not see. “Wake up Layla its mum”.

         I woke up the dream was so real. I sat up and looked around the room, my eyes focussing on the familiar surroundings; mum was sitting next to me on my bed holding out a glass of water. My pyjamas where soaked in sweat and my body ached. “Its ok hun you had another unpleasant dream here drink this” mums’ voice was soothing. My dreams, I’ve had the same dream every night for the past three months nothing in it ever made Any sense and nothing changes and I always woke up to mum sitting there. It is like when I go to bed I’m stuck in time.
         Drinking the water quickly I got up and walked into my small bathroom and looked in the mirror hell I looked a right mess. I noticed a long scratch on the inside of my arm with small beads of dried up blood, this was new id never scratched myself before. I cleaned the blood from my arm then brushed my teeth and had a shower. I brushed my long, thick red hair and went back into my room; mum had gone so I got dressed.

         I looked out of the window the sun was shining, and I could see the flower beds with their beautiful flowers reaching for the sun. I walked downstairs to the kitchen where mum was busy making breakfast. There was a knock on the door I knew who it was; he came every  week to do the garden for mum while dad was away, apart from my friend Sarah he was the only other person to visit.
         Owen he is about six foot tall and hes got the most beautiful eyes deep brown with a flash of yellow, blonde hair that catches the sunlight every time he moved, when he smiled he showed off dazzling white teeth. His t-shirts always looked liked they were too small for him; his muscles looked like they wanted to break free. The butterflies that seemed  constantly to flutter about in my stomach when Owen was around, sprung into action.“Hi Owen” I gave him what I thought was my best smile.
“Hi Layla” He did not seem his normal self he looked tired, he walked past me to the kitchen,
         I heard him say something to mum then he disappeared outside.
         I went and sat at the table where mum had made scrambled eggs my favourite. The radio was on and it
           sounded like some hikers had come across a large bear in the forest not far from here.
This was not the first time, some unlucky kids where camping out and were attacked. Nobody was
hurt this time but they are urging people not to walk to deep into the forest.
Great Sarah was coming round today I only see her a few times a month when her mum
comes over to see mine. I ate my scrambled eggs and thanked mum.
“You heard the news dear do not go too far from the house ok”

“Ok” and I walked up to my room.
         I sat on my bed and rolled up the sleeve of my top to have a look at the scratches I did to myself last night. They had gone not a scratch in sight how strange, maybe I was seeing things. I got up and walked over to my window and saw Owen pulling up weeds, he looked up at me as if he knew I was watching. I felt myself blush, and I hid like a little girl how stupid. I peeped out again and Owen was looking up smiling. I  like Owen he is handsome and strong he did not really talk much, but I didn’t see that as a bad thing. I liked watching him working in the garden. He had taken his shirt off and was turning a lovely bronze colour. I did not genuinely want to go for a walk with Sarah today but, we always walked in the forest when she came over, Owen would probably still be here when we got back. “Hello anyone home” I heard Sarah’s mum calling, I left my post, at the window and went downstairs “Mums in the kitchen” and with that Mrs Hope tottered to the kitchen. “Hi Sarah boy am I glad to see you I’ve had a weird morning, how are you?” Sarah just shrugged her shoulders and went and sat at the kitchen table. She poured herself some juice, I followed and sat opposite her she had her head hung down and her hair looked tatty as if she did not have enough time to brush it this morning. “Are you ok Sarah?” she just sat there was she asleep?

         “Sarah for heaven’s sake what’s the matter” as she raised her head I could see dark circles under her eyes. She looked awful maybe there was a bug going around Owen looked awful this morning.

         “Shall we go for our walk now? I need some fresh air” Sarah mumbled I could hardly hear her. “Are you sure you  do not look to good Sarah”,

         “Yes let’s go” and with that, she downed her juice, stood up and headed for the back door. So I followed, she walked straight passed Owen who stood up and watched us, he seemed to look worried. Sarah continued out the gate and along the narrow path through the forest where we had walked so many times before. I had trouble keeping up; she moved swiftly yet gracefully until we arrived at the small stream where we would sit, and dip our feet after long walks. She plonked down and shuffled herself, so she was comfortable. I walked over and sat next to her, she looked edgy and Kept looking back, as if to see if someone had been following us. She turned to look at me, her eyes I’m sure had changed colour she did look a mess no make-up on, and her hair all messed up. “Layla do you ever feel as if there’s something inside of you that is trying to get out?” “How do you mean Sarah are you feeling ok?”

“Do you ever feel hot as if your blood is boiling under your skin? I did not know what to say to that I just looked at her confused and she carried on talking. “Well the last few days I have been having what my mum calls flushes, she told me not to talk to anybody about it, but I have to tell someone, I can not bear it any more. I want to cry I can not bear the pain any more. My skin is on fire nearly all the time. My head feels as if it wants to burst and sometimes I think it is going too; It feels like there is something inside of me trying to escape my insides feel ripped apart”.

Was it me or did Sarah just describe nearly everything that was in my dreams. Is she having the same dreams as me? No she could not of done, I turned to look at her, and she was crying, I put my arm around her shoulders and she sighed.

“You think I’m stupid don’t you? You can say you know. I can not tell mum about the other things she would not understand you do believe me don’t you, Layla please say you do I don’t know what to do”.

Did I believe her? If I said I didn’t, I would be lying. I know exactly how she felt maybe she was having    the same dream as me, but she felt it was real. “I believe you” I said hoping to sound reassuring.

I did not know if I should tell her that she has just told me about my dream without her even knowing about it. Id never told her, only mum knows, well some of my dream. “Layla do you think there’s something wrong with me? I mean have you noticed that I look different?”

I looked at her; her eyes had  changed colour from green to dark brown almost black. Her features where more pronounced, id die for cheek bones like hers and she did look taller, I was just about to tell her all this when Sarah went rigid. She was staring into the forest as if she had seen a ghost.
         “What is it Sarah? What are you looking at?”

She did not say anything, just shushed me quietly. I also looked but could not see anything. Sarah started to get up extremely slowly so I did the same and she started walking left down the small path winding deeper through the forest.

Then she picked up the pace a little. I called her, but she carried on she disappeared around a corner. I quickened my step and turned the same corner she had just turned. She was standing there facing this enormous, grizzly bear which rose up onto its hind legs and let out a gut retching roar. Sarah had frozen to the spot.

“Keep still Layla, stay still” she made a small hand movement, which, I guess meant stay there” I moved a little closer.

“Keep still Layla”

My body did not do what my mind was telling it. I walked forward closer to Sarah I moved to the right slightly, the bear was closer than I thought, to close. I whispered to Sarah to move back, but she could not move from fear, all of a sudden the bear lunged towards her roaring and growling “Sarah run” I screamed. She turned to me and started to run, I went to do the same, but as I swung round I felt I light breeze brush past me. I turned round to see the back of a large creature standing on its hind legs; I could hear the  snarling coming from  the now cowering bear. The creature had moved itself between Sarah, me and the bear. I shifted slightly, so I could see what the creature was. It had a long, bushy tail which was twitching in anticipation; its fur, jet black and shimmering in the suns rays that managed to break through the trees.

I could hear a deep growling sound coming from deep within its chest. It moved its head slightly to look at me; I knew instantly what the animal was. It was the biggest wolf, id ever seen but I’d never seen a wolf stand like that before. I felt Sarah behind me my mind was telling me to grab her and run but now I had frozen, my toes curling trying to grip the forest floor. I wanted to run, but this wolf had me transfixed, it was now crouching in front of the bear which was towering over the wolf, both beasts where growling. “Layla come on” I heard Sarah behind me whispering in my ear. I could not pull myself away, All of a sudden the bear attacked the wolf; the wolf rose on its Hind legs, and clamped its jaws around its throat. The bear roared and moaned in pain, but managed to free itself from the wolfs grip and threw it to the ground. The wolf let out a piercing whine, then got back up, the fur on its back was sticking up, blood dripping from its mouth. It launched itself again, twisting in mid-air this time landing on the bears back, biting and tearing with its razor Sharpe teeth. The bear fell to the ground, the wolf moved round to its throat to get a better grip. “NO” I found myself screaming out, “NO”.

The wolf looked up right at me. The bear was clearly defeated the wolf let go of its enemy, which had managed to stagger to its feet and let out an almighty cry and ran off into the forest. The wolf was staring at me, its enormous sides where heaving. A large gash was seeping thick red blood on its muzzle.

I felt drawn to the wolf its immense deep brown eyes seemed never ending. It was not ugly and I wasn’t afraid of it, his sides where still heaving he was so close, I could feel its warm breath on my face.
         My body was reacting in a way I knew was wrong, I wanted to go up to the wolf and sooth it, thank it for saving our lives’. I took a step forward never taking my eyes off the beast before me. As I looked into its hollow eyes my mind drifted, it felt as if I was floating. I could see a man and a young woman tearing off each others clothes, snarling and growling at each other. I noticed a wedding ring on the woman’s finger, but had a feeling this was not her husband, they made love vigorously. The scene changed to the young woman giving birth and crying, cradling a blood soaked baby, was the baby dead? I looked closer and soon realized they where tears of happiness as the baby started crying. The man was standing peering in through the window he turned howling and ran so fast disappearing in a cloud of dust.

Sarah grabbed my arm; I could feel her sharp nails digging into my skin. I pulled my eyes away, the scene in my head floating away; the wolf took a step back away from me. There was this smell a sweet musky smell. Id never smelt anything like it my blood was racing around my body, and I could feel my heart beating against my chest.

My head was spinning, I turned to look at Sarah, she was just standing there with a confused look on her face, and I tried to pull myself together. I looked at the wolf it was still staring at me. I heard myself say thank you, it tilted its head slightly as if it understood what I had just said“I think she is in shock I’m not surprised after what just happened, both of you could of been killed. I do not want you going into the woods any more Layla. Id already decided that I would be going back, the wolf did not want to hurt us, well at least I believe it didn’t it had protected us. Did Sarah tell mum about the wolf? And what it had done, Mum hadn’t said anything. I walked back to the cottage with mum, I couldn’t stop thinking about the wolf my stomach was doing somersaults’ just thinking about it. Surely I shouldn’t be feeling like this over a wolf. Owen was the only one who made me feel like this I didn’t notice him  in the garden but then again I wasn’t actually looking.

We got back to the house Sarah and her mum where getting ready to leave, Sarah looked worse than before and still shaken up. I went over to hug her but she stiffened in my arms, it was not my fault a hungry bear wanted her for lunch. We said our goodbyes and they were gone. That night I decided not to go back to the forest I would go tomorrow while mum went out. I needed a decent sleep after the day id had I said goodnight to mum and went upstairs to phone Sarah to make sure she was alright, But her mum answered and said she was already in bed asleep. I picked a book off the shelf, and settled down on my bed to read, id only read about four pages and I drifted off to sleep.

I felt the chilly wind blowing through my hair; it was a lovely clear night. The moon lit up the woods. I could hear an owl hooting in the distance.

Everything was going so fast past me the trees where a blur. I looked down at my feet, only to see two red paws in front of me, how strange I thought, but I kept running. I did not want to stop the feeling of being free with the wind in my hair was overpowering. I heard a voice call my name a ruff growling voice.