Walking with Jaguars: Chapter One

***edited lines in bold

Chapter One

Circe woke with a start; hand instinctually clutching to her collarbone.

There was no pain, and definitely no blood, just the thud thud thud of her racing heart.  What a weird dream.  Still, it left a deep pit in her empty stomach, and her nerves were all shaken.

Circe groaned and rubbed her forehead, then tangled her fingers through her curly blonde hair.  She looked at the clock.  Dang it!  Thirty minutes until Carlisle had to be on the bus.

She rushed out of bed, throwing on clothes as quick as possible, tugging her shirt over her head as she hurried down the hallway towards the kitchen.  

“About time you woke up, sleepy head,” a child’s voice called from the breakfast table.

“Hush, you.”  Circe smiled and ruffled her younger brother’s sandy blonde hair.  He had already poured him a bowl of cereal, and she noticed there was a dry bowl waiting for her at the table too.  He was so responsible, even  more so for a eight year old.  

Then again they both had to be. Circe had basically raised the kid.  He was more like a son than a brother to her.

“Where are your glasses?” she asked him, noticing them absent from his face.  She went to the counter and found them stashed behind the toaster, then handed them to Carlisle.  “You need to wear these, otherwise you’ll trip over things.  You’re already clumsy enough as it is.”  She said jokingly.

The boy reluctantly put them on.  “I don’t like wearing them.  The other boys.. they tease me.  Say I’m a nerd.”  Well, he was ridiculously smart.  Smarter than Circe had ever been at that age.

Circe knelt down next to him and looked him in the eyes.  “Now what have we talked about bullies?  You can’t let what someone else says dictate your life.  There’s nothing wrong with you kiddo, we’ll figure this out together, got it?”

He smiled shyly at her and nodded.  “Got it.”  Carlisle looked down at his bowl shyly, then back up at her.  “When is mom coming back?”

Good question.  “She’ll be back soon,” Circe said with a reassuring smile.  “But for now it’s you and me.  Kind of how we like it.”  She winked at him and he grinned in return.

It had been over a week since they had seen their mother.  Unusual even for her.  It wasn’t uncommon for her to be gone for days or a week at a time, but they were approaching two weeks now.  The whole disappearing act had gone on as long as Circe could remember, but at the time at least Carlise’s father had been in the picture to watch over them. That changed.

Not that Circe blamed the guy, the woman did disappear all the time, and she wouldn’t ever tell Circe where or why.  

As for her own father, Circe had no clue who he was, or anything about him.  Her mother always acted weird anytime Circe would ask about him, and she never gave any information up.  Her mother flat out refused to speak about him, but when Circe mentioned him, her mother got a terrified, yet longing look on her face.  

Circe gave up asking about him.  She wasn’t sure she wanted to know anything about the mysterious man who was her father.

She had given up long ago about asking where her mother went all the time too.  Probably to some rich boyfriend of hers who was married, yet paid all their bills.  Circe couldn’t remember the last time their mother had held down a steady job, yet the bills were always paid.

Circe had also stopped caring where the woman went.  As far as she was concerned, her and Carlisle were better off without her mother’s influence.

Circe slowly ate her cereal.  “Alright bud, go brush your teeth.  You got ten minutes until the bus is here.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She watched him hop down off the chair, put his bowl in the sink, then scurry off to finish getting ready.  Circe dumped her own bowl in the sink, and ran her fingers through her hair.  Her head came up and she looked out the window into the backyard.  

They lived on the outskirts of the city.  The city had around one hundred thousand people in it--a nice sized city--but they lived out in the country.  The house was set back on a few acres of land, and their house butted up against a forest.  Their closest neighbor wasn’t miles away, but far enough away where if she chose, she could have a loud rambunctious party and they wouldn’t hear a thing.

It was kind of concerning at times.  Circe was pretty brave, but even the bravest of women got scared alone in the house with no one more than a eight year old to come to her rescue if something went wrong.  Then again, what could she do?  Circe didn’t have any money to live elsewhere, she was a student at the university.  She very well couldn’t sell her mother’s house for money, or convince her to move.  Taking out student loans for housing was out of the question, and she very well couldn’t leave Carlisle alone.

Circe sighed at her dilemma, but there was nothing to do about it.

Circe turned to go finished getting ready herself, when she caught something out the corner of her eyes.  She jumped back suddenly.  It had looked like a tall man, yet when she looked again he was gone.  Circe shivered.  That stupid dream last night had her on edge, and thinking about them living so far out and alone had made her paranoid.

Then again, giving into her paranoia, Circe went to her room, opened her nightstand and checked her Ruger 38 special, to make sure it was loaded.  With Carlisle being eight now, she really should keep it somewhere else, but it made her safe when she slept to know it was so close.  Perhaps she should look into a safe of some sort.

She swiftly put the gun back as she heard little feet patter down the hallway.

“Come on Circe.  I’m gonna be late!” he said, exasperated.

“Sorry kiddo.  I’m coming.”  She slipped on some flats and walks with Carlisle outside, checking to make sure he had his lunch, backpack, sweater, and everything else little boys needed to go off to school.

“I’m fine.” he reassured her.  “You forget I’m more responsible than you half the time.  Did you even do your homework last night?” he teased, as the bus pulled up and squeaked to a stop.

“Your job isn’t to worry about me,” she said sticking her tongue out at him playfully.

“Your job shouldn’t be to worry about me either,” he said seriously, before getting on the bus.

Damn the kid was insightful.  She sighed and crossed her arms as she watched the bus pull away.

Her hand ran down seemingly of it’s own accord to her belly, where her empty womb sat.  It had been the most difficult things she had ever gone through, and she still cried at night over the loss, but perhaps it was a good thing she had miscarried a few months back.  Could she even imagine raising yet another child alone at eighteen?

An eery feeling passed over Circe.  She felt like eyes were watching her, yet when she looked back over her shoulder there was no one.

She shivered again.  It seems she had done a lot of that this morning.  

Circe hurried back inside to grab her purse and keys.  She didn’t even bother putting on make up this morning, instead she rushed to her car.  She didn’t have a class today until ten, but the thought of being in the house alone right now, worried her.

Reviews

[Skjjcruz]

Thanks for sharing, this is really cool, I like where it's going, such a clever idea for a story!

[char]

Nice. I was worried for a bit there, I thought Circe was a teenager in high school. I mean, I was last year, well, I'm still a teenager, but I don't like reading about people my age. Don't know why. Anyhoo, keep 'em coming.

[ashesonfire]

Mmmm no... that sort of story ONLY works in Japanese culture mangas XD

I'm actually tempted to raise her age to nineteen instead of eighteen.. I wanted her to be young, but with a mindset of more a twenty-something-year-old. You know, hard life forcing you to grow up type thing.

Thanks again:D

[char]

Like me! Nineteen with the mindset of a wise old sage! xD

...I wish... -_-

[ashesonfire]

hahaha!

I always wondered how mangas got away with teenage girls in relationships with... oh.. say.. teachers?? Only in Japan...

[char]

I hear ya. But to be fair, it's only in manga and other related stuff. Put it in reality and it's unacceptable. Everywhere, not just Japan.

Makes me want to test the waters and see what I can get away with... hmmm.

[ashesonfire]

hahaha yeah. Things I read in books, I find fascinating and cool, but in reality I would SO not be okay with.

Okay.. take Black Oval... sooo many things I've written in that books that in reality I would soo not be okay with. Darn horrible characters of mine...

[char]

Reminds me of this one time when I was writing and this character was so awful, I was like, "What the Frenchy toast did you just do?!" but my protagonists weren't like me at all so they just took it...I got mad at my own characters that night... haha! :D

Horrible characters... if you think about it, though, we DID create them. They're rooted somewhere!

[ashesonfire]

Hahahaha! I deny all attachment to Davis...

Yeah sometimes your characters do things that surprise even you..

[char]

Lmao. Just pick the fan-favorite out of them all.

[ashesonfire]

Mathis :P I deifnitely claim Mathis.

[ashesonfire]

I added a paragraph to this chapter, by the way. I put it in bold case so it was easy to find.