Wulven [A Different Wolf Novel]

Chapter 7 | Wakeup Call

"Liez..."

She jerks out of sleep at the sound of the cold voice calling out to her. Rubbing her eyes, she looks around the dark attic. She sees nothing but the outlines of the same old boxes and furniture cramped in the corners of the room. She turns to look towards the sole attic window, the full moon hovers behind a wisp of cloud.

Liez shakes her head. 

"My mind's playing tricks on me that's why I'm hearing things...", she mutters.

She slumps back to her makeshift bed of cardboard clumps on the wooden floor and ignores it.

She's already fast asleep when that same voice awakens her again.

"Liez come..."

She leans on her elbows and looks around. Her brows scrunches, annoyed at whoever is trying to pull a prank on her this late at night. Must be Leah or Joanne. No, definitely that brat Leah.

"I'm not going ballistic again and get another round of talk with Miss Ruth, nope..."

She pulls the blanket over her head and tries to go back to sleep. The cold biting to her bones, she pulls the blanket tighter.

"Liez.", the voice calls again.

She quickly sits up, trying to catch whoever it is calling her right there and then. But there's no one else in the room.

"Give it up, Leah! You don't scare me, not anymore!", screams Liez.

The window suddenly swings open, scaring the wits out of her. With the wisp of cloud out of its way, the full moon softly Illuminates the room, revealing the clutter all around her. Thinking that it's only the wind, she rises from her makeshift bed to close the window. For whatever reason, she feels the hairs rise on the back of her neck as she cautiously approaches it.

Reaching out for the window handle, she notices something along the treeline across the street below. She squints her eyes and realizes that it is the same woman that she saw earlier. But this time, her eyes are glowing in the dark of the night. 

She shakes her head and rubs her eyes. She looks out towards the tree line again but the woman is no longer there.

Sighing in relief, she quickly closes the window. A cold gust of wind suddenly circles around her. Shiver runs down her spine. Something is telling her that she's not alone in the attic anymore. She turns around and her heart jumps right off her chest. 

It's the woman from the treeline and now she's right in front of her.

Her eyes are glowing with a yellowish tinge in the dark attic backdrop and her hair appears to be flowing in the air. Horrified, she trips and falls on her back.

"Liez...", the woman calls on.

"...take my hand".

She panics as she sees a silhouette of a monstrous claw reaching out to her. Scrambling to get back on her feet, she suddenly feels something like thorny worms writhing in her hands, forcing their way out.

She gasps as she sees her own hands turn into claws. In an instant, a carpet of thick fur covers her, starting from her hands up to her neck.

"No! This can't be happening!"

The light of the moon casting from the window catches the face of the woman as she moves forward, revealing her visage to be a mirror image of her. She gets all the more terrified.

"Liez!", the woman screams.

Her voice echoes, reverberating in Liez's head. She tries to stand up and run but she can't move her legs.

Her sight blurs as the woman comes nearer. She feels her heart almost exploding as dread overtakes her.

"Liez, wake up!"

She instantly springs up seated on her bed and gasps for air. Sweat breaks all over her.

"Liez! Are you alright!?", asks Valerie holding her shoulders.

Catching her breath, she barely responds. Liez looks around and eventually realizes that she's in an entirely different setting inside the Girls Quarters. No full moon. No monster-clawed doppelganger. Just her and Valerie. It was all just a bad dream.

"Gasp, I-I am okay, Valerie..."

"You got me really worried there, Liez", says Ruth as she gives her a glass of water.

"I was on my way to Miss Ruth's office to bring tea and cookies for her and her guest when I heard some strange noise here in our quarters. So I checked and found you here sweating profusely, talking in your sleep."

"Yeah, it was just a silly dream. I guess all that drama yesterday got into my subconscious.", says Liez, trying to downplay it as much as she can.

"Okay...hey, you got good art there.", comments Valerie pointing at Liez's worn artbook beside her.

"You mean this? Oh, it's nothing. J-just some amateur sketches I made during my free time.", stammers Liez as she quickly slides it into her small bag.

"Alright then, I better be going now. I need to bring these to Miss Ruth...", says Valerie as she picks up the tray of teas and cookies.

"Oh let me help you with that Val, just give me a sec to fix up."

"You sure?"

"I don't want to go back to sleep and pick up where I left off", Liez chuckles.

"Okay, but please do hurry up"

Liez hurriedly grabs her coat by the window. She squints as the morning sun gently shines through the partially parted window curtain. She slightly opens the window to let the morning breeze into the room, just like she always does before heading out for her daily chores.

They are about to leave the quarters when she notices a black car parked just outside the orphanage gate. She had never seen such a car before. In fact, she hasn't seen visitors coming over for a very long time.

The car does look expensive. Is somebody finally getting sorted out for adoption today? For some strange reason, she suddenly feels her hair stand on end.

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