Ch 1

Intros

Ch 1

“Bless it!” The voices echoed in the dark. Steaming air swirled in a matrix high above the walls. On the ground a woman trembled. The scent of peaty soil stained her crystal nails. Blood dripped from her legs down to her ankles.

Suddenly a beam of light cursed the darkness. Its deep slice ripped from worlds beyond to aluminate the grisly scene. Her dark eyes rolled with pain.

“No, tell me what you’re going to do.” The voice was desperate, pleading. Her cry echoed on the dark walls of existence.

Mom?

“He will be the perfect child. Really, you should be proud. Until the day he finds this. Then he will be just like me. He will end what I started here.”

What is it? I don’t see it.

“Good Morning! You are listening to K95.5. It is 72 degrees and a beautiful day!”

Austin woke with a start. His head rocked with the force of his jolt from the dark room to reality. “Wow, that was some dream.” He mumbled pulling the blankets off his figure. He hated his body. The layers of baby fat had yet to melt away even with his foster parent’s strict diet.

He swept his greasy black hair away from his brow and off his ears as he stood. His sapphire eyes burned at his image in the adjacent mirror. With a growl he turned away from the repulsive boy staring back at him. No wonder his mother hadn’t kept him. Who would want such a disgusting child?

“Austin, time to wake up. Hurry now.”  His foster mother’s voice rang from behind the door. His fingers caught the edge of his pillow but sank into its fluffy folds. The last time he’d raised his voice at Meredith she had taken his tv. That had been unbearable.

“I’m up!” He called instead. In the dark he fumbled for his pants and shirt. Austin dressed quickly so that he could be out the door and on the bus before David, his foster dad, woke. Caleb’s squeaky annoying voice funneled in from the kitchen.

“I don’t want this much! Just a little bit.”

“You’ll take what I give you or you’ll be outside eating in the garbage!” Meredith screamed back. Austin combed his hair with the palm of his hand and took one more peak out the mirror before opening the door. Just as he expected: He was still Austin Writer. Still an orphan and still in this hell whole.

“Thanks Mom.” He mumbled.

He spilled into the living room where Caleb was peeling his cereal off the floor. “What happened?” Austin asked turning to the tall Latino woman behind the kitchen counter. The smoke from her cigarette trailed straight into the exhaust fan on each exhale.

“What’s it matter? He was being a brat so I threw that s**t in the trash.” She growled with nicotine soothed edge. Austin rolled his eyes and grabbed his bag from the pantry before she could say-

“Don’t forget you have counseling today after school.” He bit his lip to cut off a retort and moved on out the door only to run into his foster father. David’s steely gray eyes sneered at the black haired boy.

“Leaving without breakfast again I see. Did you clean your room? Did you feed the dog?” He rattled the large cup of kibble in his dusty brown fingers. Austin let his head fall in a curtain across his face. There was no point to saying anything.

“Answer me!” David’s fingers found his flimsy shoulders in a tight embrace. Austin kept his eyes pointedly down. “You look at me when I’m talking to you!”

“Oh let the boy go. You’re going to bruise him.” Meredith called from the side. Austin rushed forward as soon as the grip went slack. Briefly he collided with his foster father’s burly chest then he was around and out the door.

Things were better outside. The soft haze of sunlight dressed the pavement. The occasional dog barked as he passed. It was too early for the bus but the silence was priceless. His favorite tree stood like a beacon before him. Its thick heavy branches cast an attractive shade over a mix of high rising roots perfect for jumping on. With a rare smile he mounted his favorite root and closed his eyes.

Now he didn’t have to be the greasy boy from a foster home. He could be a fireman or a model. He could save the day and be loved. A cold wind blew the strands of hair away from his face. Two golden eyes peered from the darkness of his thoughts. Thin whiskers sprouted from a large handsome snout. Impressive jaws parted to reveal the end points of the wolf’s fangs. That was what he wanted to be: A wolf.

“Hey!” Austin blinked awake to the sound of the exhausted bus. The last boy was climbing on and the doors were slowly closing. He’d been lucky the bus driver called out. Quickly he dashed from his tree and took the bus steps two at a time.

Most of the seats were empty this morning. He passed the rows of seats upfront carrying the nervous eyes of his peers on his back. With a plop he fell into the only single seat. The boy across from him sneered and scratched his scruffy dyed blonde hair. Austin shot him a glare and turned to the window.

The usual drone of school life harmonized with the beat of the motor. The weak heat from the engine barely warmed Austin’s toes. He snuggled against the window and pulled his knees to his chest. For just a moment he could imagine being outside. He could feel the wind in his fur as he ran down the road. How sweet it would feel to-

“Hey dweeb. Mind if I sit by you? Didn’t think so.”  Before Austin knew it, his hip was crushed against Brian Legal’s hip and his back pack was squashed under the bully’s fat a*s.

Austin bit his lip to stop from attacking the pudgy jock. “So,” Brian barked with his bacon breath. “You know what I brought for you today pretty girl?” Austin could feel the cold bite of metal against his neck before he heard the snip. Instantly he pulled back but not before a large lock of his black hair fell to the floor.

The squeak of a girl in the next seat surprised both boys. Austin’s jolt had sent Brian flying straight into Rachelle Shey’s lap! The small girl growled as she kneed the bully in the nose.

“Get off me you perv!” She shouted.

“Settle down in back.” The bus driver called. Austin pawed the back of his head desperately. This couldn’t have happened. This couldn’t be!

Brian had pulled himself back on the seat with an angry welt on his nose. His eyes shot murder Austin’s way.

“You little A*s,” Brain growled balling his fists. “Don’t forget I know where you live.”

The bus stopped then. Austin looked up at the high building of Clovis High school with a sigh. This was going to be a very long day.

Author's Note

Teen book=Cussing in my stories. Just throwing that out there.