Cursed

by Brent Miller

  “I’ve tried controlling it,” Garrick reasoned. “I thought we wanted a cure.”

  “I concur, but that appears to be a dead end, Garrick Elliott.”

  Tyler was starting to become borderline obsessed with lycanthropy. Garrick stood in his friend’s room, staring in awe at the printed pages strewn across the floor. All of them were pages of notes he’d taken from different books, and there appeared to be an organization to them that Garrick was unable to comprehend.

  There were also multiple library books across the floor. A few were closed, displaying the ominous titles and cover art. Multiple books were illustrated with a silhouette of a werewolf. No two depictions, however, looked exactly like another. The open books were littered with sticky notes, marking either Tyler’s place in the book or an important piece of information. Most of the sticky notes also had writing on them, presumably referring him to other pages or saying which part was especially useful. His notes, both on the small pads and the pages scattered around, were highlighted in green, pink, and yellow, which Tyler had explained were to mark true, false, and questionable information.

  Tyler wanted to be of some assistance to his friend, but Garrick was concerned that it was taking a toll on him. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and he was behaving strangely, constantly looking over his shoulder. As he spoke, he would get excited and start to raise his voice, then quickly correct himself to a whisper. The texts Garrick kept receiving at five o’clock in the morning supported his theory that his friend severely needed a good night’s rest.

  It was evident that Tyler felt as though he had failed his friend by allowing him to change the night before – as if he had any bearing on that curse. As little sense as it made, Tyler probably blamed himself for Chase’s death. He had been trying to find a cure, so he thought it was his fault that the two of them were out there.

  Now, though, with his attention turned to methods of prevention rather than disposal of the beast, he seemed to have renewed vigor.

  “Fine,” Garrick conceded. “What do I do?”

  “Meditate. This is dependent on you discovering a way to speak with the wolf. It’s locked up there in your head somewhere, and you just have to find it.

  “Great,” Garrick groaned. At first thought, it sounded completely insane, and the fact that it made any sense to Tyler just made him question his friend’s judgement. Maybe Tyler was starting to get desperate, so he clung to any miniscule possibility. The more he thought about it, though, the more the idea grew on Garrick. He was starting to feel like this was a useful piece of advice. He had seen the wolf before in his dreams; maybe there was a way to find it when he wanted to. But it was always trying to kill him. Even if it was a possible option, was it a likable one?

  He decided that if the wolf killed him, so be it. He wasn’t going to make everything that Chase and Tyler had done for him be a waste. There had to be some better way to cope with his affliction, and he was going to find it – even if that meant facing the wolf head-on.

  Garrick sighed as he found a clear spot on Tyler’s floor and sat down, cross-legged. He didn’t really know what meditating was, but to his understanding, it was nothing more than sitting there in silence and focusing on his breathing. Something that he’d done countless times before.

  Tyler collapsed to the floor and quietly sifted through pages in a book. The background noise wasn’t particularly distracting, but Garrick found himself wondering what might happen if the wolf did attack him in his mind. Would his body be surrendered to the beast permanently? He wondered if he should retreat to his own house before trying anything, but his limbs started to feel heavy.

  “I’ll let you focus,” Tyler whispered, somehow able to sense Garrick’s concern. He snuck out of the room as silently as possible, but Garrick was able to hear as he walked down the hall and retreated to the bathroom. Garrick could hear his friend’s muffled sobs as he finally allowed himself to feel – thinking he was out of earshot.

  Clear your mind, he thought. That was the most difficult task he possibly could have assigned himself. It sounded simple, but it really meant so much more. It meant he had to stop focusing on everything that he had done wrong. He had to stop wondering if he could really make things right – the way they had been – with Hayden; stop regretting everything that had happened with Samantha. He had to let go of that feeling of betrayal he’d felt as she’d literally plunged a knife into his body. And he had to stop hating himself for what happened to Chase.

  One by one, those thoughts drifted out of his mind. All of his concerns and fears drained away as if he’d found a switch in his brain.

  He looked up, watching as the darkness of his mind was illuminated by a bright, shining sun. The trees started to appear around him, seemingly phasing into reality from nothingness. Unsurprisingly, he found himself back in the environment he’d seen in his dreams as frequently as in reality. As he glanced around, examining his surroundings, Garrick tried to figure out what part of the woods he was in – but he wasn’t able to place it.

  Garrick beamed to no one. He couldn’t believe it had actually worked. He allowed himself a few moments of quiet celebration before calming down and focusing on the task in front of him. In the emptiness surrounding him, the painful fact that the easy part was over dawned on him. Now he just had to find a monster that wanted to kill him and reasonably ask it to stop taking over his body when the moon was full.

  He listened to the crickets chirping and the birds singing melodically from the otherwise silent brush. A slight breeze picked up, cooling him as the leaves began to sway. Though he’d had similar dreams to this, the roles were reversed here. Normally, he was pursued – always futilely running from a monstrous piece of his subconscious. Now, though, he was the hunter. Garrick was seeking out the wolf.

  After what felt like an hour of steeling himself, waiting for the wolf to make an appearance, he finally decided to take the initiative. He walked a few feet past some of the trees, trying to get a better feel for his location. Still unable to recognize anything specific, he accepted the fact that it was quite likely this wasn’t a part of the woods encompassing the town. In his dream world, it didn’t technically have to be somewhere he’d been. It didn’t even really have to exist. All that mattered was that he found the wolf.

  Instead, he found an old building, clearly out of place. The nearest wall was mere inches from a tree, there appeared to be vines growing from one of the windows. He had a familiar feeling, as if he’d seen it before, but he had no recollection of such a place.

  What is this? He thought. It seemed as though his brain was distorting a memory, or blending a few. He knew he was supposed to recognize it, but his semi-conscious mind was dumbfounded.

  Cautiously, he walked closer, approaching the building. As he took a few steps, though, he saw himself and Chase break through the front door. Though in an unfamiliar location, the events themselves were ingrained in his memory. He watched in slow motion as the arrow meant for him lodged itself into Chase’s half-human chest. His friend collapsed to the ground. Every fiber of Garrick’s being attempted to propel him forward, trying to get closer, fruitlessly hoping that he could change the outcome this time – but his legs didn’t move.

  Garrick panicked. Overcome by the knowledge that there was no way to alter the scene unfolding before his eyes, he became determined to escape it – even if that meant abandoning his chances to find the wolf. He looked around frantically, as if he truly believed there was a secret door out of his mind, desperately searching for a way to break free from the nightmare.

  He watched himself kill Chase again, his friend’s blood staining the ground around them. Garrick wanted to cry out, but he couldn’t interact at all with the painful image in front of him. He was able to turn his head, though, as he heard a rustling in the trees. Fully expecting the wolf, he braced himself, but it was Hayden who came running from the woods.

  “Garrick,” she muttered shakily as she got close enough to se
e the version of him holding Chase. “What have you done?”

  Brooke and Cailean were close behind her. The agony on all three of their faces shifted to pure rage as they glared at him. The dream Garrick tried to justify himself, but neither he nor the real one could find any words to say. The real Garrick just watched in horror as his best friends looked at the dream Garrick with such contempt.

  Then, the dream version of himself looked past all of them. Right at him.

  Garrick’s eyes shot open. His hands shot out in front of him, finally responding to his plea to reach out toward his friends. Claws had grown from his nails, though, and those hands were a strange mixture of himself and the wolf. Terrified, he blinked rapidly. After a minute, when his heart had settled back down, he examined his hands again, only to find that they were completely normal. He was going crazy.

  Garrick took a deep breath before he knocked on Aldric’s door. He had to tell him everything. If anyone would have the answers to all of his questions, it would have to be Aldric. Though he wasn’t looking forward to the conversation, he knew he had to get information. Garrick needed that just as much for Tyler’s sanity as his own.

  Constantly pondering the cure, or preventative measures, was already taking a toll on Garrick, and he could see it wearing his friend down as well. He had burdened Tyler with too much, and he hoped that with some answers, his friend would finally be able to get some sleep. Tyler was trying to find any book or article he could to explain the changes outside the full moon – anything that supported his theory, or even just a single resource that mentioned it.

  Garrick looked at the door as if it would have some kind of note written to him. He was going to have to repeat the entire story to Aldric. He’d have to divulge every painful detail. Ideas about how he would respond to what Garrick had done to Chase terrified him, and Garrick felt that he deserved the worst of the responses he could imagine.

  Cailean opened the door. Garrick couldn’t read the look in his eyes.

  “Hey,” Cailean mumbled, avoiding eye contact. He motioned for Garrick to go inside, so he did.

  “Look,” Garrick blurted out. He wasn’t sure exactly where to start with his sentence, though. Between the vast list of apologies and the debt of gratitude he owed Cailean, he couldn’t find the words. Aldric may not have let him back into the pack if it weren’t for Cailean.

  “Don’t say anything,” Cailean interrupted, “It’s okay. I understand. We’ve all been there.”

  Garrick was confused, and Cailean clearly saw it on his face. He wandered to the couch and dropped down, leaving Garrick behind. Cailean patted the seat next to him, pulling Garrick’s attention back to him, and Garrick caught up. Cailean sighed deeply, searching his mind for the best way to begin his story.

  “When I scratched Brooke,” he laughed, shaking his head. “The two of us thought we would be better off without my father. With him, it was all about being a werewolf. Seriously, like all we ever talked about. It happens once a month, you know? It isn’t that interesting.

  “Anyway, we thought we’d have a chance at really being human if we got away.”

  This was a part of Cailean which Garrick had never seen. He was opening up, and it seemed like he actually felt something. Sure, he wasn’t as terrible of a person as Garrick had always assumed, but he still didn’t particularly like the guy.

  Before he was scratched, Garrick had seen Cailean as a complete bully. After he joined the pack, he saw a different side of the young man – a side that cared deeply about his kind. He cared about werewolves significantly more than humans, but that worked out in Garrick’s favor. Still, he had never seen him as anything other than the alpha’s son. He was entitled, proud, and arrogant.

  But he also had a past – and that was something Garrick hadn’t taken the time to acknowledge before. Garrick suddenly found himself interested in what had happened that caused Cailean to become the person he was.

  “How’d it go?” Garrick asked. He already knew the answer, but he thought that maybe if he asked questions he could pry a bit more information from his pack member.

  “How’d it go for you?” Cailean laughed sadly. He had already changed his smile to his typical smirk and brought out his sarcastic tone.

  “Absolutely miserable,” Garrick admitted.

  “Well, there you go, buddy,” Cailean responded, patting Garrick on the shoulder as he stood and walked away. “We all come back.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I assume you wanted to see my father,” Cailean responded. He didn’t look over his shoulder or even wait for a response as he walked off. Garrick stood and followed Cailean to his father’s office.

  Garrick sat in front of Aldric, awaiting judgement. Aldric looked down at him, his gaze angry and his lips locked in an unsettling frown. His imposing figure had always been intimidating, but it had never bothered Garrick more. The man sat at least six inches taller than Garrick, and his broad shoulders made him seem even larger. His brown eyes seemed to be full of darkness. Aldric sat across the desk from Garrick, wearing a dark grey suit which served to make Garrick feel underdressed, adding to his insecurities.

  Garrick had just recited the entire story of what had happened to Chase. He didn’t talk to Aldric about his relationship issues at all, not yet. Aldric was sort of a father figure, sure, but he was the father figure who would send him to his mother for those things. He wasn’t the type of person to discuss emotions.

  “I’m so sorry,” Garrick finished his story. Garrick wasn’t quite sure who he was speaking to, but he knew it extended beyond Aldric. As if he were present to hear, Garrick felt himself apologizing to Chase as well.

  “You put him in danger when you told him. Somehow, you managed to convince him this idea was feasible. He risked his life to follow you.”

  “I didn’t want him to!”

  “I know. You tried to stop him. He believed in you. That was not your crime.”

  “He shouldn’t have trusted me.”

  “He was right to. You had a good idea, Elliott. You couldn’t have known what was waiting for you there. I always told you about the hunters, but I never said what to look for. This isn’t your fault, it’s mine.”

  “I’m the one that killed him.”

  “Don’t say that,” Aldric growled, setting his fists slightly too violently against the table. He took a breath to compose himself before continuing. “No. You did not kill him. They did. What you did was a mercy, and you know that. You saved him.”

  It shouldn’t have mattered to Garrick, he had still done it. It wasn’t something he should just be able to be okay with. Somehow, though, Aldric backing him on it gave him a boost of confidence that maybe he had done the best he could.

  “I buried him this morning,” Aldric added melancholically.

  “What?” Garrick inquired, the shock apparent in his voice. He hadn’t really thought about what was going to happen to Chase’s body, and he hadn’t wanted to. He’d assumed there would be some kind of funeral, at least, when someone found him.

  “We can’t have anyone asking questions,” Aldric explained. “To the rest of the world, Chase ran away last night.”

  “That isn’t right,” Garrick argued.

  “None of this is right. We do what is necessary. We have to do anything we can to cover up our existence. We can’t have people asking questions.”

  “But how will this raise any questions?” Garrick snapped, raising his voice. He was still trying to convince himself that he’d been doing the right thing, but this was just too far. Garrick was torn apart inside, no matter how many times people assured him he made the right choice. Deep down, he felt like there had to have been a better option. When Aldric started talking about covering it up, though? That was just too far.

  “An eighteen-year-old high school senior stabbed in the woods? That would flood the papers. The hunt for his murderer would occupy the entire police force. Any vaguely intelligent person would question the woun
ds.”

  “He deserves a funeral,” Garrick muttered under his breath, refusing to give Aldric the satisfaction of audibly admitting he was right.

  “The rest of the world can’t know. The pack can get together here tonight in his memory, but that’s the best we can do.”

  “We can’t even tell his parents?”

  “Elliott, you’re well aware of why that’s a horrible plan. You witnessed first hand what the hunters are capable of. The fewer people who know about us, the better – for their sake.”

  Garrick was so frustrated that he didn’t even think about asking his other questions. He just stood and started to leave the room.

  “Training begins tomorrow,” Aldric called out, causing Garrick to stop and turn back around. “We can have one day to mourn.”

  “Training for what?”

  “Survival. I intend to teach each of you everything you need to know about the hunters. Chase didn’t know what to expect – I failed him as an alpha. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  Garrick looked at Aldric with more respect than he ever had before. Aldric had a fire burning in his eyes at the loss of one of his pack. Garrick honestly didn’t think he’d cared about them that much – he had assumed they were nothing more than a burden to him. Witnessing Aldric in that moment, though, he knew they were a family.

  He turned toward the door again, but hesitated. He wanted to be angry, but he could tell how much Aldric was hurting from everything that had happened. Somehow, he still had the strength to accept Garrick, and to protect him. He couldn’t blame Aldric for having the responsibility of making the tough decisions. Softening his eyes, he looked back to his alpha.