Howl

  Chapter 12 – Thoughts to Delve

  We pulled our money together that night and we did manage to check into a motel. It was the cause of mine and Evan’s repeated complaints about our tiredness and wanting to stretch out. Chris was worried that we would not have enough money left to get gas to reach our destination, but I was so tired that I just told him we’d figure it out in the morning—we’d steal it when the concierge wasn’t looking or something. Yeah, I was desperate. We only managed to get one hotel room, so Evan took the floor, and Chris and I took the two beds. I felt kind of bad for him having to sleep on the floor, but the way I looked at it, Chris and I had been traveling much longer, so naturally we deserved it more.

  When we checked into the motel, according to Chris we were somewhere in the middle of Colorado, he said the name of the town, but it was something weird so I forgot what it was before I even remembered it in my mind. This had to be one of the hardest things I’d ever done before, and not knowing when I’d see my parents again made it even worse. I didn’t know where I was going or what I would find when Chris dropped me off there. More importantly, where would it be that he dropped me off? Somewhere in New Mexico, that’s all I knew.

  I was completely and utterly sick of cars, I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. I didn’t want to climb back into one to finish the journey to New Mexico, even though I knew it would only be a day or so more. I really would have rather walked, but I knew Chris would not let me. After all, we were on the run. It really amazed me though; no one pulled us over for stealing the car or anything. No one at any of the hotels, rest stops, or gas stations that we visited stopped to say “Hey, look it’s that missing girl, Halle Fletcher.” This made me think that maybe my parents didn’t look for me at all. Maybe they didn’t even tell the authorities that I was missing. Maybe they really didn’t care less where I went or what I did.

  After getting back on the road again, we finished off the rest of the pizza, and started on the bread and peanut butter and jam. I should say, Evan finished off the pizza and left the peanut butter, jam, and bread for Christopher and me to eat. Having a lack of everything made me realize just how luxurious things were at the start of the trip. Shows how fast plenty of money can go down the drain. Guess Mom and Dad were right when they said “Money doesn’t grow on trees”.

  I didn’t care what anyone said; 70 degree heat in the middle of January was too hot, just plain hot. It was supposed to be mid winter, and it felt like the middle of summer. I had already shed my jacket, and wished that I had cooler clothes to wear, but I didn’t. Seemed like Chris was prepared for anything though, every day he came out wearing a new outfit. Evan wore your basic tee-shirt and jeans, so he didn’t need a better outfit. But, mine was… to say the least, enough to complain about.

  I wanted to go back to Wolf Point, and I would have said something to Chris, I would have complained or something—even though I knew he would not take me back—if it wasn’t for the fear of him saying “I told you so” that was the last thing that I needed. So here we all were, on the road again, in the car… driving… to where I didn’t know. We drove down a road in the middle of nowhere—I was actually thinking that it would be slightly less inconspicuous if we drove down a road that was more often used, but no one wanted to listen to that suggestion. Chris just said that this was where we needed to be. So, I basically shut my mouth for the rest of the trip. Evan was basically the only one who spoke, and Chris only answered when he needed to in order to humor Evan.

  The car slowed down, and turned onto a bumpy dirt road. I couldn’t see anything in the distance so I wondered why on earth; Chris would be taking us that way. If I wasn’t a werewolf I would have been thinking, this is it, I am going to be thrown in the middle of the desert to die. But, now, I trusted him enough that he would not do something like that. I knew that if we were going out in the middle of the desert it was for a good reason.

  I watched the strange looking trees pass by along with the cacti. If this area was in Montana it would not have had any cacti, and trees would not look anything like the ones here did. I didn’t even know what kind they were. If I were to get lost out here, I would get lost, starve, and die, I would not know which plants were safe to eat, and it appeared as though there was no water anywhere… yep, a sure sign we were in fact in the desert.

  Seeing a house come into view, I sat up a little bit straighter in my seat. It was a decent looking house, nothing too fancy, but it was much more than any ordinary person would have had anyways. Painted fairly recently, I could tell from the distance the yard was well kempt. When the car started slowing, I knew that was our destination. I was a little bit apprehensive to go into that house; it seemed a little bit creepy. I just told myself that I’d hide behind Evan and Chris and everything would be fine—they could handle it.

  Chris turned off the engine and Evan was the first to get out. Chris followed shortly after, and I did too wishing my cell phone was charged up so that I could call for help if need be. It was too bad my cell phone didn’t hold a charge longer, otherwise I’d be alright. I could have called my parents, and I probably would not even have had to go here right now.

  I walked in front of the vehicle near Chris. He put his arm around my shoulder; I hoped he wasn’t planning on parading me around like some kind of prize like I had seen so many men do to women. I wasn’t a prize, and I was prepared to tell him I would not have it, as well.

  We approached the house slowly, Evan led the way running cheerfully up to the front door and ringing the door bell. By the time Chris and I reached the porch, there was a man standing behind the door welcoming us all in. He appeared as though he spent a lot of time in the sunlight as his skin was darkly colored, and I could tell it wasn’t from his natural coloring. Walking in the house it was quite dark, there wasn’t much light except for the small amount of light that the lamp on the coffee table provided. It annoyed me that the room was so dark.

  Evan seemed right at home, without saying anything to anyone he grabbed the TV remote on the coffee table, threw himself down on the couch, and flipped on the TV.

  “Turn it down,” Chris demanded walking over to him, grabbing the remote, and forcefully turning it down. I stood near the doorway hoping to blend in with the wall. I probably looked as out of place as I felt, but I tried not to let it show. The house wasn’t particularly clean; a lot of random stuff lie around in piles on tables and on the floor predominantly around the couch. Evan and Chris were now wrestling for the remote, Chris having the upper hand in the situation.

  “They’re always rude to guests, don’t take a personally.” I turned my head towards the voice, it was the old man who stood in the door way to the kitchen holding a cup of what appeared to be coffee, but I could have been wrong. “Come have a sit down in the kitchen, Sweetheart.”

  I glanced at Chris him being the only one in the room I half trusted. He didn’t look up at me, he just continued wrestling with Evan. I followed the man into the kitchen slowly.

  “Make your self at home,” he said as he poured more coffee into his cup. I sat down at the kitchen table, it wasn’t too big of a kitchen and there was only one way in and one way out. The lay out of everything annoyed me. The kitchen was equally as messy as the living room; the counter was filled with papers, pots, pans, and other items which I couldn’t begin to name.

  “Do you drink coffee?” the old man asked turning around and staring at me.

  “Yeah,” I said quietly trying not to be rude but really not wanting to accept the coffee from the stranger.

  The old man grabbed another cup out of the cupboard above the coffee pot, and then poured another pot of coffee. He brought both his cup and my cup over towards the table and set them both down. Walking back over to the coffee pot he grabbed the jar of creamer and a couple of spoons and put them on the table. He sat down in the chair opposite me, poured a little bit of creamer in his coffee cup and stirred it slowly while watching me do the same wi
th mine. I was only too aware of him watching me so closely, and of course it made me uncomfortable like I had been since entering the house.

  “So, Halle… Frasier?” He said painfully slowly.

  “Fletcher,” I corrected eager for him to say what he needed to say.

  “Fletcher, that’s right,” he said as if remembering something long ago told to him. “It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance; I am Henry Stanton, founder of the Werewolf Defense Plan or WDP as we call it.”

  My jaw dropped—I couldn’t stop it. A man of power was speaking to me, he was my savior and my soul reason for currently living, and I just realized that. It was to him that I owed my life. “It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance as well,” I said attempting to play it cool.

  Henry let out a dry cough, “So, you are off to New Mexico then?”

  I nodded, “Apparently.”

  He cocked his head to the side, “You don’t sound very… thrilled about that.”

  I shrugged innocently, “Well, I’m not particularly happy about it—don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful to be alive, it’s just…”

  “It’s just?” Henry encouraged.

  I shook my head thinking the truth was rather cheesy, “It’s just my parents and my family…” I said slowly hoping he would catch on, but his blank expression told me that I needed to continue, “They’re all the way over there in Montana, I have no idea if they’re alright or not, and I need them to be here for me, but they’re not.”

  Henry sighed as if he was annoyed, “Thing is, Mallory—”

  “Halle,” I corrected.

  He just continued right over my words, “Your parents aren’t werewolves. They don’t know about werewolves and if you were to tell them you were a werewolf what would they do?”

  “They’d—”

  “That’s right, they’d laugh in your face, take you to a psychologist, or—in other words—disown you.”

  I sat back in my chair, I didn’t like him. I didn’t like him one bit. “They would believe me. They know strange things have been happening to me.” I wasn’t so sure about this myself; I remembered how Mom didn’t even believe me when I said I could only see in black and white. They weren’t the type of people to believe such nonsense, and what he said was probably right. But, I would have much rather taken my chances, gone through a psychologist and them disowning me rather than escaping to New Mexico alone. At the very least I would have known how they felt; it would have made it easier.

  He looked at me like I was a stupid little girl who believed in fairy tales. “Even if they did believe you, is it fair to your parents to uproot their lives just for you? They would forget about you completely and continue living their lives without another problem. Imagine, they would be uprooted completely, and if the Gregottas find you again, you will have to be uprooted again. It’s no place for your brother to shine and flourish—and don’t start telling me he’d thank you for it. Either route you take, you will be hated by them.”

  I took that last word harshly. Jumping up from my chair there were so many words that came to my mind that I would have loved to use against him, but I kept my lips zippered and ran out of the kitchen. It wasn’t true, I could calmly explain to my parents what happened, and then they would not be hurting not knowing why their daughter was gone. I proceeded running through the living room and outside, I knew both Chris and Evan noticed. They would know why I left, and it would be their choice whether to be around me or not. There could be a good outcome out of all of this. I knew there could. If they would just let me call.

  The tears started falling from my eyes, a great water work from them, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. The only person in the world that might be able to cease the tears was my mom, and the thought that I knew she would not be coming only made the tears flow more. My legs were weak and shaking, but I managed to run out to the car—as always, Chris had locked it. Unable to hold up my body anymore I shrunk down against the side of the car facing the road. I couldn’t see anything clearly, so I just closed my eyes, buried my head in my hands, and cried.

  There wasn’t anything I would not have given up just to be able to be able to speak to my mother again. They couldn’t just separate child from parent. It had to be illegal. I thought about the police. I wiped the tears from my eyes and forced myself up onto my feet. Looking around, I saw nothing but cacti and dirt. No buildings, no highways, nothing. No place to run and nothing to hide behind. It was exactly like a horror movie, and I fell for it. No, Christopher would not kill me, Henry would, and if he didn’t I would. All of these people were absolute lunatics; each and every one of them. It made me wonder if the Gregottas were any better.

  “You know those women and their emotions!” I heard Henry yell from inside. I turned around, Chris was coming out the door, “Don’t be—” he slammed the door and headed off the porch towards me. I attempted to wipe away the tears from eyes and at least make myself look halfway decent. I leaned against the car turning my head away from him, wishing he would not have to see me so torn up and weak looking. Did he think like Henry? Did he think I was nothing more than a typical woman with overactive emotions?

  “Halle?” Chris questioned.

  “What?” I snapped, being harsher than I intended.

  “Are you okay?” Wasn’t it obvious? I had tears rolling off of my face, and I was sure my eyes were red and bloodshot by now. “Look, my dad has a way of being insensitive when he’s trying to show he actually cares.” Chris wrapped his arms around me, but I shoved him away with my hand.

  I turned to face him and pointed my finger at him like a mother scolding a child, “Your father is an asshole. I’m sorry, Christopher, but I refuse to be around that man.”

  Christopher looked at me seriously, he didn’t seem angry by my remark, and not in the least bit surprised either. I could just imagine the many other times he had to defend his farther before.

  “Halle,” he said placing both hands on both of my shoulders. He looked deep into my eyes, and I remembered why I first fell for him. I knew I would not know how I really felt about Chris until I got away from him for awhile to clear my mind. “As a person, a friend, and a mentor he isn’t particularly patent or kind hearted, he’s quick to anger and hard to please. But, he is one hell of a business man, and he’s definitely a person to have on your side.”

  “I would rather throw myself into the middle of that desert,” I pointed out to the lonely desert beyond, “And watch the buzzards peck off every inch of my flesh, than go back and even lay an eye on him.” I turned back towards Chris showing off my fury with my eyes, “Not only is he a cruel person, but he’s sexist as well!”

  He crossed his arms looking even more grave than before, which I didn’t know was possible. Even now I could say I admired how he showed his anger with a serious face. “I’ve known that man all my life and he has never done one thing to be sexist.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, he was taking the defense thing too far, he would have to agree with me eventually, “Oh, so I was mistaken? He didn’t yell out the door, ‘you know those women and their emotions,’” I said doing a pretty good imitation of Henry earlier, “I didn’t hear that, it was something else that came out of his mouth, right?” I took a step closer to Chris in attempt to make my point very clear, “He thinks women should be in their place washing his dishes and cleaning up after his dirty laundry AND they only exist to serve him!”

  Chris placed a hand on the top of the car leaning against it coolly, “He’s just an old fashioned guy, he doesn’t like to make many changes about things and he certainly won’t change his mind for how his parents raised him.”

  I scowled, everything I would say he would have a defense for. There would be no winning for me in this battle, I turned my nose up in the air like I had seen Scarlet do so many times to Rafael, “So, he can make a huge change in the world and rescue werewolves, but he can’t accept that women could possibly be his equals?” I pa
used letting him stew on my words for a moment, then continued before he could say anything else, “I just hope you’re not thinking the same way your dad taught you to.”

  “No way, Halle,” he said almost instinctually. He grabbed my hands taking them in his, “I would not have asked you to come along with me to fight the Gregottas if I thought you should be doing your womanly duties.”

  I paused, he had me there that definitely made sense, “You just asked b-because I was a werewolf and when placed strategically I’m like a bomb waiting to go off…” I pulled my hands from him and stepped unnaturally close to him, “What if I was human, would you have asked me then?” I really knew he would not have, after all it was a werewolf’s war and he would not have asked any human, male or female.

  “Why do you insist on resisting so much? No one is trying to hurt or harm you,” Chris said.

  “Why do I resist? Why? Oh, jeeze, I don’t know, maybe it could be that I was taken from home, without my permission, kidnapped, and dropped somewhere in the middle of nowhere with an idiot and some kind of old-man-lunatic!” I yelled referring to Evan and Henry.

  Chris bit his lip; I could tell he was frustrated, “But things aren’t as bad as you make them out to be. You’re just caught up in bad circumstances, but you aren’t the only one. None of them are bad people… I’m not a bad person…” He sighed, “Things will get better, they’re just a little bit hard right now… Trust me.”

  Christopher pulled me close in a tight embrace and I clutched him unable to hold back more tears, “I’m going crazy!” I sobbed feeling just so. Maybe things weren’t as bad as I thought. Was I paranoid? Have I been paranoid this entire time?

  “You are certainly not crazy!” Chris consoled. The problem was I didn’t have a reliable source to tell me if I was crazy or not. Strangers would lie so they would not have to deal with the problem. But friends and family would tell you straight out if you were insane or if your shoe was untied or something. Chris was an acquaintance, not a trustworthy friend, or a stranger, but an acquaintance. Maybe it wasn’t the right word, but it was the one I used for now.

  Bending slightly, Chris planted a sweet kiss on my head. For now, his words would have to suffice. Pulling away from the embrace, I tried to wipe away the sobbing mess yet again. I looked over towards the house noticing the dark screen door and all of the windows wondering who—if anyone was watching us—or more importantly me. Did Henry stand there watching just to be able to say “I told you so” to Chris. I didn’t want to show him that I was that weak emotion-filled girl that he thought I was. With increased haste I attempted to suck it up.

  Looking back at Chris he flashed a cheery smile at me. He was probably the best one here at cheering people up, but that wasn’t to say he was the best one at cheering people up in the world. I would have easily taken Scarlet’s consoling to Christopher’s, and that was saying a lot since her consoling was very, very minimal. Chris placed his hand under my chin and lifted my head up towards his.

  “Halle,” he said, “I know it’s hard, but you have to go back in there, he is funding our entire trip to New Mexico. Without it, we will end up walking the entire way there. Just put on a happy face long enough to get the money from him, and then we will go. I promise.”

  “I would rather sit on the highway and beg it from a stranger,” I said looking away. It was hard to turn him down, but this was something I felt strongly about.

  “It takes a great amount of courage that few people have to be able to go back in there and face someone that you hate, and to bite your tongue, but by going back in there you will be showing a great amount of courage. You’ll be showing him that you are different—he’ll be seeing what I see in you,” Chris said shoving a stray strand of hair off of my face and tucking it behind my ear.

  How could I deny him that? After what he just said I couldn’t not go back in there. I just had to tell myself that it was for Chris that I was entering the house. Taking in a deep breath, I walked around the front of the car and started slowly for the house. He didn’t follow immediately; I guess he thought I would need more convincing. Popping back to reality, he followed after me.

  “You don’t have to talk to him, just stand in the corner and act polite,” Chris said obviously happy that I was coming along with him. But something inside of me still made me feel like a prisoner. After all, I didn’t have a choice; I hadn’t since leaving Wolf Point.

  Chris led me back into the house, holding my hand. I still felt like his little doll to parade around. Maybe it was just because I felt so suffocated by the current human contact that I received. Either way, my emotions for him felt somewhat cold, and I couldn’t figure out why—I didn’t want to figure out why. I didn’t want to figure out anything, I just wanted to go back home, and that was all I knew.

  I tried my best not to let my embarrassment show as I entered the room. Though I knew very well my acts were completely rational under the circumstances that were currently surrounding my life. How could I let things get so messed up? Mom and Dad would have kept things under control if they were here, I knew they would have.

  Evan continued watching TV; apparently he won the war over the remote control. Henry stood in the door way to the kitchen watching both me and Christopher closely. I did my best to hide behind Chris, but I knew I couldn’t really hide behind him completely, though he had a muscular frame, it wasn’t large enough to hide a complete human behind.

  Chris still held onto my hand tightly, and I was glad for it. Now I knew what he meant by how much bravery it would take to walk back into the house and face everyone again. Having a hand there to hold onto made the entire situation a little bit better than it would have been entering the house again alone.

  Though I loved holding that hand more than anything at that moment, I let go and walked over towards Evan, leaning on the back of the couch. This way Chris and Henry could talk alone and we could leave that much sooner. Chris glanced at me and leaned towards Henry whispering something in his ear, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The entire image annoyed me; it wasn’t that they were whispering, and it wasn’t the way he glanced at me, but it was the combination of both of the two together.

  I shrugged off my annoyance mentally knowing my interrupting things anymore would only cause more of a slow down in things than they were already; which was the last thing that I wanted.

  “What are you watching?” I asked Evan seeing some stupid sitcom on the television.

  Evan shrugged, “Whatever is on. Don’t know what it’s called.”

  “And yet, you’re watching it?”

  Evan looked up at me and away from the television, “Uh, yeah,” he said slowly.

  I saw Christopher and Henry slither into the kitchen as silently as two snakes would. I walked around the side of the couch and threw myself down on the seat of the couch farthest from Evan.

  “So, what are you going to do with yourself when we leave and you stay?” I asked trying to get the details of Evan’s life. Thought he was annoying I found him to be a curious creature and I wanted to know more about him. There was something about him that made me curious. I didn’t know a lot about him… actually I didn’t know anything about him, other than his name and his obsession with werewolves and other magical creatures that didn’t actually exist in the first place.

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged again, “Guess I’ll just hang around for awhile.”

  I scooted back a little further in my seat to make my self a little bit more comfortable than I was before.

  “Why come here in the first place if you don’t know what you’re going to do when you get here?” I asked not seeing the sense in it. What was he here for? I was determined to get the answer out of him.

  He turned away from his television program and towards me,” No place better to go but go home when you have nothing else to do.”

  It took a moment for his words to register in my mind, “You live here?”

  Evan g
ave me a look suggesting I was weird for thinking otherwise, “Uh, yeah, Henry is my father.”

  My eyes bulged slightly, “You and Chris are brothers?”

  Evan raised his eyebrows, “I was adopted a couple of years ago… so, yeah.”

  I narrowed my eyes, “You were adopted by…”

  “By Henry…” Evan said as if it was obvious, “You don’t catch on to easy, do you?”

  I folded my arms, “Well, you’re not exactly clear about things. I understand full sentences, not half sentence gerbil-talk,” I teased.

  “Sorry, Miss Particular,” he said turning back to his television program. He reminded me of Logan, the way we used to fight all of the time about nothing in particular. I missed that. I missed him teasing me all of the time, and his foul comments, his perfection, and having to come up with a quick sly answer. Now everything was told to me, and I had to think of nothing. Occasionally I would win with Logan, I would come out on top and get my way, but now, it didn’t matter how much I fought or fussed, I would never get what I wanted… I wanted to go home.

  Chris came out of the kitchen much more suddenly than he and Henry slipped in there. Henry followed him slowly. Leaning towards him, Chris gave a manly hug and a pat on the back. I walked over towards them, keeping my distance from the old man, feeling as though Chris was getting ready to leave.

  Henry looked up at me, I half hid behind Chris, “It was nice meeting you,” he said to me. I didn’t know what to say, I wasn’t sure if he was sincere or not.

  “You too,” I said quietly.

  Henry approached stretching both arms open wide, I thought he was going to give Christopher another hug, but he bypassed him and went straight for me. He wrapped both arms around me in a crushing embrace. I felt his lips brush across my neck, and then he kissed it for a brief moment. I was officially creped out. If I had disinfectant spray I would have used it on him. I was only too glad when he finally let go of me and took a few footsteps back towards the living room. I took a few steps back myself wanting so much to leave.

  “I usually don’t get to meet the rescued, so it was good finally getting to meet one of you,” he said as if I were in contact with the many others he “rescued”.

  “Yeah,” I said not knowing what else to say. What was scary was he would know exactly where I would be—he was sending me there. I didn’t like him, I didn’t trust him, and I never again wanted to be in contact with him.

  Chris started heading for the door, but I dashed in front of him, being slightly more obvious than I intended, I opened up the door and started walking out to the car at a pace that was quicker than the one that I used most often.

  “Bye, Dad!” I heard Chris yell, and then I heard the front door close. I let out my breath realizing I had been holding it for the first time. I reached the car remembering that it was locked. I turned back towards the house making it a point to look at Chris and not the house. I wasn’t going to dwell on the past, I was going to look at my future—Chris.

  “Yo, keys!” I yelled at Chris. I wasn’t going to wait any longer. Without even hesitating he took the keys out of his pocket and threw them over towards me. I caught them expertly as this was my key out of here, and I would not be missing it even if he threw it hundreds of yards away from where I stood. Taking the keys and unlocking the passenger door, I threw myself and in and locked my door again, being sure to open up Chris’ door with extra haste.