Shiver Cove, Part 1: Tamyra

  “I can’t believe Sal bought you flowers!” Sandi giggled.

  “Yep. Three perfect red roses!”

  “He must really like you. I mean he never bought Bianca any flowers. In fact he never even talked to her. Isn’t that right, loser?” Yvonne snarled over her shoulder at Bianca as they passed her.

  Bianca and one of her flunkies had been talking as the other flunky routed through her locker, digging for something.

  The hurt look couldn’t have been more obvious if it had been painted on a billboard. Bianca tried to cover it up by twisting her face into a sneer and giving Yvonne’s back the finger. Tamyra pretended not to notice.

  “Why torment her? She leaves me alone now.”

  “Tamyra, you’re too sweet. Girls like Bianca need to be reminded of their place or else they think it’s OK to treat everyone like crap. And when I say everyone, I mean you.”

  Tamyra had more or less learned about the pointlessness of arguing with Yvonne, especially when she looked out for someone she cared about. She let out an exaggerated sigh and said; “I know.”

  “Besides if she’d’ve been the one to get Sal, do you think she’d tip-toe around you or rub your face in it? This is Bianca we’re talking about here.”

  “Point taken.”

  “Anyhow, I gotta go. I’ll catch up with you guys later.” Yvonne said as she dashed off down the hall to class.

  “Later!” Tamyra and Sandi yelled in stereo.

  “Hey isn’t that eclipse thingy happening this afternoon?” Tamyra wondered aloud.

  “Oh, that’s right! We get to go outside and watch it through those pinhole cameras we had to make. Hey, it’s better than sitting in class. Maybe we can sneak off and find the boys.”

  Tamyra smiled at her friend knowing even if the school caught fire Sandi would have a hard time cutting class. She kept her thoughts to herself.

  Again, Tamyra caught herself rubbing her upper arms with both hands. For some reason her hands kept wandering as if to warm her, yet she wasn’t cold. All day her skin had felt strange, not exactly itchy or irritated, just strange. Maybe I’m coming down with something or mom switched our detergent. Whatever.

  As she let her hands drop to her sides, she let the thoughts drop from her mind.

  She and Sandi had reached their classroom. Inside, teenage chaos ensued. No one sat properly at their desks. Excited chatter filled the room. The teacher, Mr. Fishburn, didn’t seem concerned as he distributed the cardboard box cameras to their creators.

  “This is gonna be way better than sitting through a lecture.”

  “I’m still wondering what an eclipse and law have to do with each other, but so not complaining.”

  Sandi entered the class ahead of Tamyra and led them down the isle-way to the back of the room. A small box rested on Sandi’s regular desk: the pinhole camera the girls had constructed together during the previous class.

  “Guess we’re ready.” Sandi grinned as she picked up the box.

  “OK class, settle down for a moment. We’re all going out the west doors. Those are the doors down beyond the gym. We are to stay together as a class. The eclipse will start in about fifteen minutes, so we should go now. I’ll be locking the room for those of you who would like to leave your bags or books here.”

  “You taking your bag?”

  “For sure. Too much Toronto paranoia about leaving things lying around.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Sandi mocked.

  They chuckled and started to follow the herd. The girls exited last and true to his word, Mr. Fishburn locked up the room behind them. He then hurried along to the head of the pack, leaving the girls meandering along behind everyone else.

  “So, think if we ducked down the blue hall anyone’d notice?”

  “Yeah right Sandi. You’d never do it!”

  Sandi pretended to look wounded but couldn’t hold it. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards. She glanced at Tamyra from the corner of her eye. When she turned Sandi’s buddy smile became replaced by a look of alarm.

  The expression looked almost comical with Sandi’s raised eyebrows and her mouth hanging open. Tamyra wondered if Sandi hallucinated her blood covered or something equally scary.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Your eyes, there’s no white part.”

  Her stomach dropped like a falling glass and when it would have hit the ground and shattered, cold sensation erupted.

  “Oh… God. The… eclipse.” Tamyra said.

  Tamyra and Sandi stood in the middle of the hallway staring at each other. One thought echoed in Tamyra’s head; “What am I going to do?”

  With her arms crossed over her chest and her hands back on her upper arms Tamyra felt a slight shifting as fine hairs emerged from her skin. She froze.

  “I get it. Now what can I do?” Sandi’s voice snapped her out of it.

  “I need to leave. I have to get away.”

  “No time, Tamyra. We’ll have to think of a place to hide you.”

  “You don’t know what’s happening. I’ll hurt people.”

  “I’ve figured it out. Janitor’s closet, come on.”

  Sandi grabbed Tamyra with her left hand and dragged her towards the janitor’s closet. Tamyra didn’t have time to argue before Sandi had taken her bag, opened the door and pushed her inside.

  “Stand guard.” Was all she managed to utter before the door slammed shut and she plunged into darkness.

  Tamyra reached out for the spot on the wall where she thought the light switch should be. She fumbled around in the darkness until her fingers brushed the plastic and her mind directed how to flip the switch on. Her breathing now came in ragged huffs and prayed the change wouldn’t overtake her. Spying a bolt lock on the door, she turned it for privacy. Although she fretted about getting out and hurting people, guiltily she worried more about someone opening the door and seeing her in this state.

  The beginning stage of transformation gripped her. Her skin tingled and burned as hair emerged. Her sense of smell had heightened and some kind of lemon scented cleaning product caused her nose to throb.

  Sandi’s involvement kept playing around in her mind. There would be so many questions, but they slipped away as the symptoms of impending metamorphosis continued to show up. Her kneecaps gave uncomfortable vibes almost as if melting away, and she could tell her legs would soon hinge backward.

  The urge to rip her constricting clothing to shreds resonated, but her mind stayed very clear as she fought against it. Her mom had told her she would learn to control her changes, so she pleaded with herself to take control.

  At the tips of her fingers and toes she could feel her nails becoming hard, sharp claws. As she kicked off her shoes, she noticed they had already ripped her socks.

  The harsh florescent light bothered her eyes. She didn’t want to be alone in the dark, even though she knew she would see perfectly now, so she left the light on and shadowed her eyes with her hand.

  She tried to focus on her breathing, following it in and out and counting backwards from ten. The third time she counted down her shallow breathing slowed a little. By the sixth time she felt as if she gained some control.

  Numbers rolled through her mind. She blocked out all other thoughts and counted. “Ten-nine-eight…” she barely noticed when her claws retracted and became nails once more. “Seven-six-five…” or when her breathing returned to normal. “Four-three…” she became fully aware as her light fur coat retreated back under her skin. Even then, she kept counting.

  Finally, certain she stopped the change, Tamyra allowed herself to stop counting. She brushed her fingers against her cheek. They were met by nothing more than smooth skin. She let out a sigh of relief and stuffed her feet back into her shoes.

  It took a minute to adjust her torn socks to make them comfortable. She felt ready to leave. She cranked the lock open and went to open the door. Thinking about Sandi’s earlier terrified face halted her. What would she say?

 
Sandi must have heard the lock, for three soft knocks came from the other side of the door. Tamyra imitated the pattern and opened the door a couple of inches. Sandi peeked in and the fear in her face dispersed in a visible second.

  “So, you ready to tell me yet?” was all Sandi said as she handed Tamyra back her bag.

  Chapter 24

  Tamyra still didn’t know what happened. It had been weeks since Bianca had given her any more attention than a dirty look and now she stood screaming in Tamyra’s face. What happened? Picturing Bianca getting out of school alone, ahead of Tamyra and then hanging in the bushes waiting for her to pass just didn’t make sense.

  “Lower than low. Come to town pretending to be friends and start taking people’s boyfriends. Who do you think you are?!” Bianca yelled.

  Tamyra said nothing. She took a step back to avoid more of Bianca’s flying spittle as she yelled, but had nothing to say. At least Bianca was alone this time. Tamyra shifted her gaze from the ground to the forest surrounding them. She didn’t want to look at Bianca, but she didn’t trust the girl enough to take her eyes away completely.

  “I asked you a question, Tammy!”

  Tamyra shook and the more Bianca yelled the more her tremors became not of fear but anger. Aside from Bianca, Shiver Cove had been almost perfect and here she reminded Tamyra of that fact.

  “You know that’s not my name.” Tamyra locked eyes defiantly with Bianca.

  “Would you rather I call you skank? That’s what you are, a boyfriend stealing skank.”

  “I’d rather you not call me anything.” she said calmly.

  “And I’d rather Sal not call you anything. But that’s not happening either, is it?”

  The blood in Tamyra’s body sizzled hot through her.

  “It’s not as if he’d call you.” the words hung in the air as she realized she spoke them.

  A look passed over Bianca’s face that brought to mind the image of a demented rhino. Unbridled hatred. Tamyra felt good getting her jab in.

  “How could you do this to your friend?!”

  “You’re psycho! We were never friends! Never!”

  The angle of the daylight illuminated tears in Bianca’s eyes. Tamyra couldn’t believe what she saw. The girl nearly frothed at the mouth in anger and cried at the same time.

  “We were supposed to be friends! You were supposed to introduce us! My senior year was supposed to be the best!” she hissed.

  The outburst baffled Tamyra. She had prepared for a fight, not a pity party. Tamyra folded her arms across her chest and inched another step back. She dropped her guard a bit in her confusion. Part of her heart understood Bianca’s pain and wanted to tell her it would be alright, mostly though, she wanted to get away from her.

  The bully seized the moment and lunged at her. Bianca landed a hard slap to the right side of Tamyra’s face. On instinct, Tamyra kicked out and connected with Bianca’s kneecap. There was an audible snapping noise and Bianca dropped to the ground wailing.

  “My leg!”

  The sting in her cheek made it hard for her to be concerned for the other girl. Let her sit there and cry. She started this! Besides, she could be faking.

  The bawling seemed to be out of genuine pain, but Bianca’s greasy hair hid her face and Tamyra couldn’t be sure. She could be putting on a show.

  “I can’t move! You broke my leg!”

  Tamyra tapped her foot nervously as she stared at the blob of Bianca on the ground. She had no intention of investigating the injury herself, but she couldn’t leave her like this, could she? The loud cracking noise. Maybe she broke something.

  “Get up Bianca. I know you’re faking. What is this? Is this all a ploy for attention or something?”

  Bianca’s sobbing stopped immediately following Tamyra’s questions. She turned her head and her hair tumbled away from her face. The puffiness around her wet eyes couldn’t be faked, although the reason behind it could.

  “Attention? You think I want attention? What I wanted was a perfect year, with good friends and a good boyfriend and instead it’s the same old. We should’ve been friends, you, me, Sandi, even Yvonne. I should’ve been part of the crowd. Nothing ever goes my way! Not with you, not with him, not with my parents, nothing! Everything in my life is crap!” her voice choked off by a sob.

  As a line of snot ran down to her lip, Tamyra couldn’t bare to watch anymore.

  “We all have problems.” She mumbled to herself and started to walk away.

  Expecting Bianca to jump up and chase after her, she kept glancing back over her shoulder. Oddly enough, Bianca stayed on the ground crying and didn’t say anything more.

  The further Tamyra got away from Bianca the less energy she gave the whole situation. Somewhere in her mind she decided to file the whole mess under ‘pathetic’. She felt pretty sure today would be the end of her harassment.

  She came up with the idea if Bianca bothered her again she would threaten to publicize an imaginary video of Bianca on the ground bawling. Bianca couldn’t possibly be sure she hadn’t made a small movie on her cell and that alone would be enough to keep her away.

  She couldn’t hear Bianca anymore. She gave one last look back before she started to cut across her aunt’s property to home. Bianca’s crumpled form had begun to rise from the dirt and Tamyra was surprised by the relief at knowing she hadn’t truly hurt Bianca. Well, she had on the level that counted. The last mind she paid to Bianca; Looks good on her.

  Her house came into view and her thoughts turned back to the eclipse. Amazing luck to have a friend like Sandi today. She felt lucky in one sense and terrified in another. It freaked her out she had no idea an eclipse could bring about a change. So much she didn’t know.

  Maybe it’s time to try and talk to Aunt Kiki. Her family would be angry her friend found her secret out. She needed to talk to someone. She couldn’t learn anything real on the internet. She knew because she tried.

  Lost in thought about what had happened at school, she walked up the front steps, into her home, kicked off her shoes and found herself drinking a pop when she reconnected with the world. Aunt Kiki looked up from the paper she read at the kitchen table.

  “How was your day?”

  “Not so good. I almost turned at school during the eclipse.”

  “Oh no. I guess it’s been so long since I’ve had control I didn’t even think about that. But you said almost?”

  “Yep. Talked myself out of it.”

  “That’s amazing progress!”

  “Not so amazing. Promise you can keep a secret?”

  “You can tell me anything.”

  “You have to promise.”

  “Alright. I promise. What’s the big secret?”

  “Well I didn’t get control until after one of my friends figured me out.”

  Tamyra held her breath in anticipation of being chastised.

  “Is the friend trustworthy?”

  “Yeah. She’s known something was up since she saw one of my cuts heal about a month ago and hasn’t said a word to anyone.”

  “So what’s the big secret then?”

  “Well… mom will freak.”

  “Then we don’t tell her. A couple of my close friends know and it’s been a good thing for me. I don’t agree with your mother that it’s a family secret. However, I’ve never told a soul outside the family that werewolf runs in the family.”

  Tamyra mulled over what her aunt had said. She hadn’t told Sandi how she became a werewolf and thinking about it now, she wouldn’t. Her aunt’s logic had merit. To let people in on her secret could be good, yet outing the rest of your family’s secrets clearly seemed wrong.

  “There’s so much I don’t know. I don’t even know what questions I should be asking. I checked out the internet a million times and scoured any book I could find, they were no help.”

  “You mean the books that talk about how you can become a werewolf from a bite? Or how only silver kills us? Or how we can only turn on a full moon
? Oh, Tamyra. You already know it’s passed through genetics and we die like everyone else. You know the full moon affects us, but we can change anytime we want once we learn to control the change. You know we heal rapidly. What else do you want to know? How to control yourself? That comes with time and practice. There’s no handbook.”

  “So people keep telling me. It’d be nice if there was a book or even someone closer to my age who actually remembers how they got through the newness of it all.”

  Aunt Kiki looked off into the air above Tamyra’s head and got a funny look on her face as if trying to remember something.

  “Hey, wait a minute. There just might be a book.”

  “What book?”

  “Well when I was trying to figure myself out I kept a diary. Lots of tidbits and tricks I learned were jotted down in those pages. I’m pretty sure I know where it is.”

  The words were auditory candy. Tamyra couldn’t think of a time she’d ever heard anything sweeter.

  “Oh my God, Aunt Kiki, that’d be so amazing!”

  “I’ll look for it later. In the meantime is there anything else you want to talk about before the sun sets tonight?”

  “No. I’m good. Thanks. Remember you promised not to tell mom, right?”

  “Promise.” She said with a wink.

  Chapter 25

  The first time her cell went off Tamyra stepped under the shower spray. Curious who would be calling so early on a Saturday, but her curiosity soon wisped away in a swirl of bubbles down the drain.

  The second time her phone went off she kept trying to floss her teeth in the steamed mirror. She barely gave the caller any thought as she concentrated on picking out her image in the haze.

  The third time her phone rang she carefully popped a zit, doing her best not to leave little nail marks on her skin. This time she paused for a second to wonder who called and then went back to finishing the job.

  The fourth time the phone rang she had her hair and make-up done. She finished dressing and walked back into her room.

  She grabbed for the phone but the person hung up. As she checked the screen to see who called the phone light went out as the battery died. If it’s that important, they’ll call the house.

  She almost laughed as the landline started ringing. Guess it must be important. Picking up the phone she said; “Hello?”