Matt's Story [COMPLETED]

Chapter 8 - Breakfast with Kristen Gone Terribly Wrong

Matt stretched and yawned, flexing his arms and rolling his shoulders by the joints. They clicked and adjusted into place with little pain. He stretched up to touch the ceiling and wiggled his fingers. It was good to feel fingers when he’d turned back from his animal state. He flicked his nails with his thumbs on the same hand, some bitten down due to stress of waiting for the change to happen as he moved out of his room and down the stairs, glancing at Aimee’s lonely room as he did so.

          He seriously needed to dust the place down. It was becoming dusty and unclean and he wasn’t going to be able to touch a surface soon without getting dirt on his fingers. The upstairs needed hovering too. He just didn’t seem to be able to have the time whilst human, and an animal couldn’t clean the house very productively without making more mess. Anyway, he had other things on his mind other than cleaning when he was changed.

Maybe he should hire a cleaner…

No way, Matt thought, dismissing the idea quickly. He or she would just end up snooping through his stuff and messing up Aimee’s room. He wouldn’t allow that. He didn't want anyone going through her things except him. No doubt if he told someone not to go in there they'd go in there regardless as most humans were nosy and never paid attention to each other. The curiousity would get too much and then her room would be ruined. He would have put a lock on the door but that would mean tampering with the door and he didn't want to tamper with anything to do with that room, even the entrance.

 Also, he wouldn’t like anyone touching his stuff, even if they did obey his rules about keeping his sister's room the same. They would end up becoming suspicious if they found blood everywhere or came back late to pick something up or tell him something. They would have access to his house at any time they liked. Privacy was the key and he definitely couldn’t risk it, not with being what he was. He didn't want anyone to find out his secret so putting it on the line was a really stupid idea even to consider.

         Going completely off the subject, Matt was already hungry. Slowly he dressed for school and then locked the door shut, ripping a sausage roll up and shovelling it down for the sausage inside. It only made him more hungry but he controlled his stomach and ploughed on down the street towards the café. He didn't want to think about food much right now. He had other things to consider, despite his terrible mood.

He wanted time alone to think about last night.

          Would Kristen be in today? He wasn’t sure, after last night, and her smell appearing and disappearing so quickly in one place. If she wasn’t present then he was going to have to look for her and skip school. Not that he cared if he missed anything; his life was already doomed before it had even begun, and it wasn’t as if he cared about her either, obviously. It was just because he was the protector and he needed to know that the locals were safe. If it was anyone else in that position then he would feel the same way.

          Except maybe Laura. Yes, Laura he would happily go without in his life. He supposed, though, that he would have to look for her too for the sake of her ‘friends’ and her family. He knew what it was like to lose a part of the family. Oh yes, he knew all too well…

          Matt was half way down the street when the café came into view and so he hitched up his hood, plugged in his iPod, turning it to low volume again, and strode towards it, switching on his radar which now blurred with yellow forms who also walked the streets this morning. There were yellow forms already lighting up near the café inside it but he didn’t really care about them. He just wanted to go down the alley and sit there on his chair with his table and sip a steaming cup of coffee.

          Fat chance.

Since he’d started school all he’d had was bad luck. Now it really was getting ridiculous. As Matt reached the café, one yellow form moved closer to the door he had to enter to get his coffee and straight away he knew who it was. The form didn’t brighten as he approached and there seemed to be a familiar smell in the air.