Chapter Nineteen: ForbiddenA Chapter by Joshua DonahueForbidden.
Previous Version This is a previous version of Chapter Nineteen: Forbidden. FORBIDDEN
BY: J O S H U A D O N A H U E
Chapter Nineteen Forbidden There was a deep thud
and a piercing crack (quite possibly from his bones) that acted as sound
effects for when my fist met his jaw and he stumbled backwards. My face burnt
with anger as I felt the heat of the sun slowly fade behind me for sundown. I was now fully
clothed. I had gone home and gotten my cell phone to tell Luke and Derek to
meet me in a nearby field as I put on a t-shirt to cover up my chest and shoes
for my feet. Then I had headed towards the field, not telling my mom where I
was going and leaving my phone behind so I wouldn’t be disturbed by her
bothersome calls. It was not too long ago when I had Summer held in my arms. “What the hell did
you do that for?” Derek hollered as blood dripped from the corner of his lip
while kneeling on the ground, propped on one knee. His hand lightly touched it,
examining the damage. “You know why!”
I roared to both he and Luke. Luke was
standing to the side of Derek now, showing that he was on his side---which he
was, after what he had done. “What’s your
damn problem, Evan?” Luke questioned. “After the stunt
you guys pulled, you have no right to ask me that! How the hell could you tell
Summer to lie to me and say she never wanted to see me again so I would be pissed
at her!? Huh?” My chest began to heave deeply as my intense fury increased. I
could sense my muscles were already squeezing into fists ever so tightly as my
eyes focused in on my enemies. I was passed anger now. These guys pretended to be on my side the whole
time, and then they go and do something like that? “We did that for
your own good, Evan!” Luke defended. Derek jumped up
from his kneeling position, and he swung at me. His fist clobbered into my
cheek, and instant pain swelled up on a tooth as I felt it detach from my gum. I
quickly spit the bloody solid onto the ground below me, ready to retaliate. As I stepped
forward, Luke tried to get between Derek and me in order to pry us apart, but I
pushed him back out of it. If I could, I would have hit him too, but I could
only take one at a time. I instantly
followed my natural instincts by morphing into a wolf. For the first time, when
I morphed, my apparel shredded to bits from my body and fell around my wolf
form. I had finally hit that growth spurt that made me a true werewolf instead of a weakling of the pack. No longer was I that
small pup still wearing human clothes. I was an adult-sized werewolf with
chocolate-brown eyes, thick, golden-chestnut fur, sharp teeth, and finely-pointed
claws. I was a subordinate now. I was competition. Showing no
notice to the ripping of my clothes, Derek imitated my actions by morphing
himself. However, Luke stood at the sidelines, trying to show he was neutral
when it came down to me or Derek, even though I already knew whose side he was
on. “You really want
to do this, Evan?” Derek asked. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t
be here, would I?” I retorted. “Very well. Just
so you know, even though we are cousins, I won’t hold back. After all, I have
more experience than you.” “Don’t care.” Then I rushed at
him, extending my claws, ready to strike. When I swiped, however, he dodged it
easily, proving his vast skills. “Told you so,”
he muttered. I snorted
through my muzzle in response. I charged again.
This time, I got my claws dug deep in his side, and I heard him wail. A part of
me knew it was wrong to strike family, but he stopped acting family when he
went behind my back! Instead of
running off wounded like I had expected, he instantly retailed with a vicious
bite to my tail. I let loose a vociferous roar to expose my pain. It was like being
stuck with finely-honed knives in the rear-end, only the pain continued because
Derek did not let go. Then, Luke---who
appeared not to be able to handle the view before him---jumped in as a wolf. He
pried Derek’s mouth from my tail and pushed us apart. I tried striking Luke,
but he was too good for me---he dodged every attack. “Get out of the
way, Luke,” I said angrily. “Go ahead, Luke.
Let him by. Let’s see what he can do,” Derek taunted. “No,” Luke said
firmly. Derek wanted to
get me as much I wanted to get him, I could tell. We both charged at Luke so
that he would not wish to be squashed by us and move out of the way. Thus, Luke
rolled to the side, and Derek and I met head-on. I ended up putting several
wounds down the side of his face, extending from his left eye. Then, just as he
was about to get his hit in on me, some fast, too-quick-for-the-eye,
dark-colored object jumped on him. I was too caught up with what the object was
that I did not realize that a similar object did the same to me, pinning my
body to the ground. I glanced to the
side, and I saw that it wasn’t Luke who had us down. “What do you two
think you’re doing?” It was Daryl on top of me. “Why are you
fighting?” Trent was on top of Derek. “Go ahead, Evan,
tell ‘em,” Derek said. I remained
silent. “Well?” Daryl
persisted. “Evan’s mad
because Luke and I followed your orders by telling his trashy girlfriend to
stay away from him,” Derek explained to them. I felt Daryl’s
grip loosen a smidge on me. Using my new advantage and allowing my anger to
take full control, I suddenly struggled to get loose in order to snap Derek’s
neck in half like a Twix, but I only managed to escape Daryl’s strong, iron
grip for about a second before he slammed be back to the soil easily. My
attempt ended futilely. “You know it’s
forbidden to see her, Evan!” Daryl exclaimed. “I don’t care.
Now, let me go!” I said back. Daryl seemed to
contemplate with the decision for a moment before he obeyed and released me
slowly, as did Trent for Derek. I wanted to attack
Derek again for describing Summer as “trashy”, but there was no way that I
would get through both Trent and Daryl, who were still stronger than I was,
regardless of my growth spurt. I was not only infuriated with Derek, but also
at Trent and Derek for being the wizards behind the curtain, so to speak. It
was all of their faults now. Damn them! Trying with all
my efforts to just “let it go”, I walked over to where my clothes were, which
was beside Luke, and morphed back into a human. I quickly put my tore clothes
back on---there remained enough of my shredded jeans to cover me up---and I
started to walk away. Daryl must have transformed
back too, because he then said in a human voice, “Evan, you are not allowed to
see her again. Ever! And you will receive punishment for stealing the cure from
Michael.” I turned around
to face them. Derek must not
have known that I stole the cure from his younger brother until now because he
tried to get past Trent to get at me. I waited to see if he would get loose,
but Trent pinned him down again. “I. Don’t. Care.
I will continue to see her all that I want. And there isn’t a damn thing you
can do to stop that. No matter what punishments you give me, I will still see
her. So waste your breath all you want. I still don’t care. But I will see her.” Then I turned
back around and walked away, leaving one angry wolf being restrained to the
ground by another wolf, and a human standing in the middle hollering at me like
a lunatic while nude, and then another wolf standing on the sidelines watching
it all like a show. The scene meant nothing to me now, however---as did the
people in it. I could only count on myself, I realized. It was just me. Alone. * * * “Hey, Evan!” Michelle
said as she entered my bedroom. “Hey. What’s
up?” I replied non-cheerfully while sitting on the pane of my open window,
gazing out at Hale. “Nothing much.
My parents drug me over here once again. My dad needed to talk to your mom
about something or another. Heck, if I know. Dude, you look like crap. Is
everything alright?” “Yeah. Just a
rough day at the office. Well, more like a rough week at the office. But it’s cool.” “I see….Wanna
talk about it?” she asked me as she resided on my bed with comfort. “Nah. It’s a
long story. Plus, you’d probably think I was nuts or something.” “Yeah, you’re
probably right,” she joked. Just to get in
the friendly spirit and to change the subject, I said, “So you up for round two
on Mortal Kombat?” “Of course. But
I’m sure I’m gonna kick your butt again.” “Cocky are we?” She laughed. Right after we
chose our fighting characters on my television screen, Patrick’s voice called
from downstairs, “Michelle! Let’s go!” “Darn. Well,
looks like we’ll just have to reschedule your butt-kicking for another time
then,” Michelle said to me. “Alrighty then.
Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” I said as I switched the game console off. She started for
the door, and when she got in the threshold, she turned her head to face me.
“You know, if you ever wanna tell me about your ‘rough week at the office’ you
can. I mean, all this adjustment and all has got to be hard for you.” “Yeah, tell me
about it.” “Oh, and just
for the record, Evan: I already think your nuts---but in a good way.” She
smiled a cousinly smile after she spoke. “Well, bye!” “Bye,” I
replied. Then she was
gone, leaving me alone to stare at my television’s lit up, blue screen. I was
thinking of what she had just said, about me being nuts. Maybe everything I had
done was nuts. Maybe I had overreacted a little when I had attacked Derek the
other day. Maybe… Or maybe I was the right one, and they were all
wrong. I was confused
right now. Had I done something
incredibly right or terribly wrong? * * * I received a note
Friday (two weeks after I had hit Derek in the face) in school from Luke. This
had shocked me for a moment or so because we hadn’t spoken at school for a
while. And when I got the note without a spoken word, I found out it wasn’t
really a note from Luke at all---he was just the messenger. It was a note from
Otis, in which he was explaining to me all five punishments that he was giving
me: 1. Extra training until told otherwise by Otis. I must
stay within eyesight of my fellow werewolves when training, and I must follow
every order given to me. 2.
Probation until
told otherwise. 3.
No transforming
anymore unless in the presence of another pack member. 4.
A heartfelt
apology to Derek. 5. Stay away from Summer. I was
flabbergasted by such requests. They were, after all, requests to me, not orders, and I was going to treat
them as such. Meaning, I would follow through with punishments one and two, but
there was no way they were going to force me to remain human unless I had another
pack member, and I most certainly was not planning on giving out a deep “heartfelt”
apology to Derek either. And also, I was not going to stay away from Summer. It
was a tedious punishment that I had heard so many times that the words appeared
to go out of style. It didn’t matter
though, because I was just not going to follow the rules again anyhow. Simple. Regardless, I
received the note Friday, and today was Sunday; I had just gotten home. It was
completely dark outside because the time was about nine at night. The porch
light was on and so was the kitchen, which meant my mother was still wide awake.
When I walked into the door lazily, my mom looked up from her relentless
cleaning and had a hint of worry attached to her face. Nevertheless, I looked
the opposite way, and she understood that to mean I was not in the mood for her
chit-chat at the moment. I climbed the
stairs to my bedroom two at a time and sudden exhaustion hit me. Otis had me
going to training with Luke ever since Friday, when I got the note. My legs
were worn out, and my back ached severely. I knew what I needed: to see Summer.
I hadn’t seen her since I had given her the cure, so I was pretty much
desperate to do anything to see her. I was ready to lie down, of course, but my
heart ached to see her face even more. When I got to my
room, I climbed out my window and down the sturdy tree branch that extended
from it with such quickness, thanks to my training. I received such a powerful
energy boost at the thought of viewing Summer; it made me so anxious that I
couldn’t think straight---all the way to the point where I scraped my hand
across the bark of the tree accidentally. I ignored it, however, allowing my
skin to re-stitch itself as I landed on the ground with a soft thud. I had never
snuck out before, but there was always a first time for everything. Once I got into
the backyard where I could go into the forest, I was ready to morph. Seeing as
how my clothes were already ruined from training so unremittingly, I went ahead
and finished my clothes off by ripping them in to tatters when I transformed.
Then I traveled into the woods to find Summer. When I got to
her place, I started to turn back into a human so I could knock and ask for her
like every parent would expect of their daughter’s boyfriend, but I figured the
girls inside---whom I could smell from a mile away---may be a little repulsed
by a nude guy on their front porch. Instead, I traveled around the side of the
wooden home and found Summer’s window. I peered inside easily with my werewolf
vision, but I found it empty. To my
dismay, she was obviously not home. Disappointed
that I didn’t get to see her, I went back home, ready to crawl into bed after a
warm shower and not ponder over my destroyed life that I so happily created. I climbed back
up the tree to my room with ease, and I traveled through my window, shutting
the glass and blinds behind me as my human feet landed onto my carpeted floor. I got in the humid
shower seconds later, and, almost instantaneously, I felt rejuvenated by its
seemingly mystical properties, making me feel completely refreshed. Still, my
legs began to ache even more after some time of relaxing in the steamy liquid,
so I decided to finally exit the running water. I wrapped a towel around my
body as I snatched a bottle of Tylenol from the bathroom cabinet, placing four
tablets into my mouth and swallowing them easily. I doubted they would have any
effect, however, considering the fact that my body healed on its own. Eventually I
found myself in my bed, as the softness of my wondrous bed consumed me. Summer kept
popping up in my head every time I would doze off into dream world, but her
face was a blur-like. I wanted to see her face. I needed to see her face. And to have her in front of me, but her
face blurred out, was a cruel teaser. So I tried keeping myself awake by listening
to my iPod. While I listened
to it, I heard faint knocks nearby. At first, I thought it was part of the beat
in the music, but pretty soon, I realized it was real. I removed the
earphones from my ears and listened, waiting for the knock again. It occurred once
more. This time, I
realized the source was at my window. So, I got up and crept over quietly, and
I opened the blinds. Before me was
the girl from my dreams. Except this time, her face was not a total blur
anymore. This time, I saw the beauteous Summer that I had longed to see. I stood immobile,
just staring at her, not really believing my eyes until she knocked again to snap
me back from space. She was on the same branch that I had climbed, so I figured
it wasn’t all too comfortable. Consequently, I opened the window and let her
in. When she came
in, we didn’t speak, we just embraced one another with a kiss. I kissed as passionately
as ever, loving the fact that she was before me; I could feel her returning the
same type of kiss. “I’ve missed you
so much,” I said after a minute or so of playing tonsil hockey back and forth. “Me too. I
didn’t know if you got into trouble or what for giving me the cure,” she said. “Actually, I
did. But it wasn’t much. Nothing to worry about,” I said. “Evan, I don’t
want to get you into trouble. I better go,” she said, starting to go for the
window. I pulled her
back into my arms. “It’s a little
late for that. Besides, I was in trouble from the moment I first saw you.” I kissed her
more on the lips, and she returned it just as zealously. We moved to the
bed with her below me, and we both were kissing firmly, and yet, lightly as
possible. Some minutes
passed, until neither she nor I could breathe anymore because we had done exchanged
too much oxygen between one another. Reluctantly, I pulled myself off of her, and
I laid down beside her on my bed. We lay stationary, staring up at the ceiling. Neither one of
us said a thing for a moment until she asked randomly: “Where’s your mom?” “Downstairs, I
think. She’s probably doing some last minute cleaning or something.” “Oh…” I placed my arm
under her head, to act as her pillow for comfort, so I could pull her closer to
my body. I needed her as close as possible to me---to know she was actually
with me, and not just a hallucination. “I have a few things
that I wanna know about,” I said. “Okay. Shoot…” “Back around
when I first started Hale High, how did you start appearing in all my classes?” “A nymph can be
quite persuasive to get in the classes she wants.” “But then why
did you brush me away so easily when I tried to talk to you at lunch?” “Pretenses. I
had to pretend I had no attraction to you whatsoever, otherwise we would have
never had a chance because of my friends, except for Autumn. She understands
and is okay with it.” “I see. What
about when you just mysteriously showed up on my doorstep?” I asked. “I knew I was
already attracted to you. I couldn’t help myself, Evan. And when you were
absent, I figured you were sick because you were transforming into what I knew
you were meant to be. But I had to be sure,” she said. “Thanks. That clears
a lot of things up for me.” “You doubted my
feelings?” “A little,” I said
bluntly. She leaned her
head back to me, kissing me harmoniously. “What about now?” I bit my lip. “Just
a smidge.” She planted
another kiss on my lips. “And now?” “I don’t know…” She laughed. “Okay.
Now you’re milking it, mister.” I grinned devilishly. Then we returned
to our silence for more minutes to pass. “Tell me about your parents, Summer. You never
told me about them,” I said, still gazing at the ceiling, but grasping her
firmly in my arms. “Well, my mom
raised me on her own, because after my dad found out what she was and what I
would become, he took off. The same thing has happened to Rose and the others.
None of their fathers stayed after they found out, so now we all stick
together.” “Oh, I’m sorry…Well,
your father has no idea what a wonderful girl he’s missing. Was that your mom
that was shouting at me when I came to your place?” “Yes. She told
me about that. I’m sorry. She was just a little frantic and all. Plus, she’s
sketchy about werewolves.” “Why would she
be sketchy? It’s not like I bite or anything.” Then I playfully nibbled on her
ear, making her giggle. Afterwards, I
planted a kiss on her cheek. When I started to retract, she locked lips with
me, and once again, we kissed fervently. “Evan, what if
you get into more trouble for seeing me?” she asked, with worry exposed freely
on her face. “I don’t care,
Summer. Do you hear me? I don’t care,”
I said firmly and reassuringly. She seemed a
little at ease by that. “Besides, what
more can they do to me, except give me another list of punishments that I won’t
follow?” I said more lightly. She grinned up
at me. All of a sudden,
a knock came at my door, and Summer rolled off the bed and onto the other side
to hide. Then my mother opened the door, and my breathing quickened. “Evan, who were
you talking to?” she asked while in her pajamas and her hair pulled up into a
bun, showing she was obviously in bed or going to bed. “No one. My
iPod. It was too loud, that’s all. I’ll turn it down,” I lied effortlessly,
holding up my iPod beside me for proof. “Oh, okay. Well,
get some sleep, honey. I’m off to bed. Goodnight,” she said. “Night,” I
replied. Then I my
breathing resumed to normal after she shut the door. I made it without getting
caught. My mom would probably go bonkers if she knew I had a girl in my room,
on my bed, with me, and in the middle of the night. But nothing serious was going to happen between Summer
and I while on my bed, that much I knew. We were just happy to be together to
care for anything else. “Is she gone?”
Summer’s voice whispered from below. I laughed and
said, “She’s gone.” “Good. I was
getting the shivers thinking what your mom would do if she found us. Does she
know about the whole werewolf-thing?” “Yeah. But she
tries to stay out of it so she won’t worry as much.” “She loves you,
ya know.” “I know.” Summer climbed
back into the bed beside me, and I wrapped my arms around her, as she lay in
front of me on her side, facing my bedroom. “Ah…what are we
going to do about us? We can’t keep hiding, you know,” I said while gazing at
the girl residing centimeters away from me. “I know. But
it’s our only option. At least, for right now. Especially if we wanna be together,”
she responded. “True. But it’s
breaking all the rules,” I pointed out. I began to twirl my fingers in her
silky hair, catching whiffs of her enticing scent of honeydew. I slowly kissed
her neck softly and eagerly. Then she turned
around to face me. “Rules, schmules,” she said. I then laughed
at how happy she could be, even though our situation was serious. “It’s still
forbidden. I could get into serious trouble,” I said. I never actually thought
about it, but there could possibly be some other hard stuff Otis and his gang
could put me through. “I could be in for a rough road.” Then she kissed
me on the lips so tenderly. “So could I,”
she said back. “But---” She kissed me
once again on the lips so sweetly. “No ‘buts’.
Let’s just enjoy it,” she said to me, with a smile spreading across her face.
That smile seemed to light up my world; a light that I could never live without---like
trying to take away the sun from the human race. “Fine,” I said. “The whole
‘forbidden love’ cliché can be tomorrow’s---” I interrupted
her with a kiss of my own that pleased both me and her. “---Problem,”
she finished. Then she giggled
that gave my heart a jump over the moon. Seeing her so happy, made me so happy.
So maybe we could be happy together. Then, this time,
we both leaned in for a kiss towards one another. Our lips met as the full moon
hovered out my window, spreading its werewolf powers through me and its
luminous light to bright up my room. © 2010 Joshua DonahueAuthor's Note
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StatsAuthorJoshua DonahueJefferson, SCAboutUPDATE! 06.27.13 Hello, WritersCafe! I realize that I have abandoned my account since the summer of 2013. Since then I have started college, and I have experienced... a lot. However, this does no.. more..Writing
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