Chapter 59

Celeste

Sneaking out was becoming a treacherous endeavor, but the meeting with Matt was paramount.

Jack had always had this uncanny knack for knowing when I had tried to bend the rules or escape from the house’s suffocating grip. This time, I needed a full-proof plan, and my meeting with Matt was encroaching. I had to figure something out, and quickly.

After ransacking my thoughts for a plausible diversion, a risky idea crept into my mind.

I had noticed Jack taking sleeping pills every now and then, and I was sure there were some in the medicine cabinet. As much as the idea alarmed me, I rationalized it with the thought that it was just this once and for a short while.

Carefully, I tiptoed to the cabinet, praying the creaking wooden floor wouldn’t betray me. My hands trembled as I found the bottle. Two pills, I thought, should do the trick.

After I'd prepared a cold drink for Jack, I dropped the pills in, watching them dissolve into the bubbling liquid. “Hey, I made you something,” I said as nonchalantly as I could manage, handing him the drink.

Jack raised an eyebrow but took the drink nonetheless. “What's the occasion?”

“Just felt like it,” I replied with a shrug, trying to keep my voice steady. “A peace offering.”

With a strange look in his eyes, Jack tentatively took the drink. “Uh, thanks, I guess,” he muttered.

I forced a tense smile, knowing that the drink I had prepared was Jack’s favorite; just with an extra ingredient.

I watched, heart pounding, as he took sip after sip. I could almost sense the chemicals coursing through his system, taking effect. Soon, his eyelids grew heavy, his words slurred.

Suddenly, a strange expression flitted across his face. “You know,” he mumbled, “about werewolves?”

My brows furrowed. “Werewolves? What are you talking about, Jack?”

Jack's face contorted in a mix of confusion and drowsiness. “Your mother... my stepmother... she was one.”

I couldn't help but stifle a laugh. My mother was, indeed, Jack’s stepmother; I didn’t know much about how my parents met, but I knew that they met at work.

The pills were really doing their number on Jack, though, because she sure as hell wasn’t any sort of supernatural being. “Sure, Jack,” I teased. “And Dad was Bigfoot, right?”

But Jack continued, seemingly lost in his own world. “I tried to protect you... from the truth. From them.”

A chill ran down my spine. This wasn’t the normal loopy talk; there was an earnestness in his tone. But then again, he was on sleeping pills.

“I’m sorry, Celeste,” he murmured before his head lulled, and he was lost to the world.

I stood still for a few moments, letting the oddness of the conversation wash over me. Shaking my head, I convinced myself that he was merely hallucinating.

While I had steeled myself for the meeting, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to what Jack had said. Slipping into my favorite pair of jeans and pulling on a jacket, I tried to dismiss his strange words as the ramblings of someone intoxicated by medication.

Yet, I felt an uneasiness, a little itch at the back of my mind that wouldn’t let the topic rest.

I had almost made it to the door when I heard Jack’s voice, soft and drowsy, drifting from the living room. Creeping closer, I saw him toss and turn on the couch, his face contorted in what appeared to be distress.

“Your mother... Leia… the moon’s pull… werewolf…” he mumbled, his words laced with pain.

My heart caught in my chest. That was my mom’s name: Leia.

But a… werewolf mother? The absurdity of the idea made me want to laugh, but the conviction in Jack’s voice, even in his dazed state, gave me pause. It was as if he genuinely believed in what he was saying.

“You can’t hide forever, Celeste,” he murmured, almost pleadingly.

I sucked in a breath. How could Jack weave such a fantastical narrative while under the influence of sleeping pills? Was it something he genuinely believed deep down, or was it just the pills making him spout nonsense?

Either way, I decided I had wasted enough time and turned to leave. As the door softly clicked shut behind me, the crisp night air embraced me, and I welcomed the feeling of freedom it brought.

After retrieving my mask and contacts from the bushes, I stole off into the night.

Making my way through the forest, I felt the weight of the world lift from my shoulders. But every rustling leaf, every nocturnal chirp seemed louder, more sinister than before. Jack’s mention of werewolves, as silly as it was, had planted a seed of paranoia in me.

The haunting moonlight filtering through the trees seemed to mock my fears, casting eerie shadows that danced and twirled in the gentle breeze.

Suddenly, every childhood story, every horror tale I'd ever heard about creatures in the woods resurfaced. The thought of werewolves—creatures of the night, bound to the pull of the moon, both mesmerizing and terrifying—played tricks with my imagination.

I paused, listening to the natural symphony around me. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted, its call echoing eerily. My heart raced, matching the rapid tempo of my thoughts.

But then, a voice within me rebelled against the fear. I’m not a little girl anymore, I reminded myself. I’ve faced real monsters in the form of people who betrayed and hurt me. I’ve survived hardships, emotional and physical. An imaginary creature from Jack’s drug-induced dreams shouldn’t be enough to deter me.

I took a deep breath, forcing my heart rate to slow, and willed my nerves to calm down. I repeated my words in my mind like a mantra, focusing on my destination and the importance of my meeting with Matt.

Pushing aside the fears, I trekked through the woods, determined to face whatever awaited me with courage and resilience.

Finally, I made it to our secret meeting location. It was a clearing in the forest, up on a small hill. Off in the distance, I could see the dim lights of the town in one direction, and the campus in the other.

Not far off, I knew that the cabins, the old abandoned campground buildings where students often partied on the weekends, lay nestled amongst the trees. However, the cabins were dark and silent tonight. There were no parties, no people; I was completely alone, with only the dark blue tendrils of the moon reaching across the clearing and enveloping me.

“Matt?” I called out, the knot in my stomach growing tighter. The sound of my voice seemed almost too loud in the eerie stillness of the night.

There was no answer. Figuring that he just hadn’t made it yet, I leaned against a tree, my eyes scanning the darkness in the hopes that I would soon hear Matt approaching.

But then, from the shadows, a low, menacing growl echoed. I froze. That was no dog, no regular animal. Thoughts of Jack's strange words surged back, but I pushed them away. Ridiculous, I thought.

Then, from a different direction, came Matt’s voice, tinged with urgency.

“Rose, it’s me.”

I perked up, pushing myself away from the tree and whirling around. “Matt?” I called out.

Another growl.

Then, from the other direction again, Matt’s voice rang out clear as day. “Rose, you have to run,” he said. “Just listen to me. Run, and I’ll find you soon.”