North Falls Vol.2

Awoken by a loud snap, Sichiro looked around and saw he was in the forest. He looked up and saw the moon trying in vain to touch the forest's floor.

Just then a low growl came from his immediate right He turned to look just in time to see something lunging at him. Then he woke up. He woke with a jump and frantically looked around trying desperately to recognize his surroundings and to his relief he was in his room, with a sigh he lied down back in bed "what a pain" he uttered.

It was a few weeks after his abduction and he was constantly being forced to relive the memory every time he tried falling asleep. A knock came to his door the following morning "Sichiro? breakfast is ready" Lyrian said on the other side "Alright, coming" he responded as he tried climbing out of bed.

He had been using the crutch for the first two weeks after the attack but now he was satisfied with a small limp. He got to the table and Rachael scoffed "Jesus, you look terrible" she told him and he gave a weak smile.

Lyrian came from the kitchen and looked at him, he had bags under his eyes "Oh dear are you alright?" she asked and he gave her his best smile "yeah, just

haven't been getting enough shut eye. That's all.' he said clearly indicating he didn't want them to pry. Lyrian went back to cooking more food while Rachael gave Sichiro a small kick under the table.

He yelped in surprise "hey, what the hell?" he asked and she pointed to his eyes "yeah, I know" he uttered as he looked back to his plate but another kick came.

Sichiro looked up at her and she had her phone out.

She took a picture and went to typing, his phone buzzed with a message and he looked. It was a picture of him and he noticed his eyes were glowing green.

As he studied the picture Lyrian came with more food "who's hungry?" she asked happily but Sichiro suddenly got up and walked towards the bathroom dropping his gaze. Lyrian looked at her daughter "what did you do to him?" she scolded but she put her hands up in defense "nothing, I swear" she responded.

A knock came to the door and Sichiro froze. "Hold on" he said "Sichiro? Honey, are you okay?" Lyrian asked. He felt his chest getting hot and he began to sweat "yeah- Yeah i'm fine" he responded. "Well if you need anything just ask okay?" she told him and then took her leave.

Sichiro stared in the mirror, his eyes began to flicker from their usual blue to green. He felt his skin ignite and he looked at his arms but they were fine. He thought he was losing his mind until his body cooled a bit, he took a few deep breaths and one big one before exiting.

Sichiro came out of the bathroom with a sigh, Lyrian and Rachael looked at him with faces full of questions "felt a little sick, I'm feeling much better now" he reassured them. Rachael continued to eat while Lyrian offered him to rejoin breakfast.

After breakfast Lyrian went to work, she was a nurse at North Falls Health Center. Sichiro lied in his bed looking at the ceiling until Rachael suddenly walked into his room 'spill it" she demanded. Sichiro sat up and looked at her in confusion.

"Spill what?" he asked 'I know you've noticed your body changing" she told him and he turned red "I already had this conversation with the adults at the orphanage thank you" he said lying back down.

Rachael walked over to the side of the bed and sat down "that couldn't be any further from what I was talking about." she shuddered "I was talking about your body transforming, let me see your hands" she told him. Reluctantly he put his hands up so she could see that he didn't have claws protruding from their tips. "What's been going on? Why haven't you been sleeping?" she asked and he took a deep breath before sighing "I keep having this nightmare' he told her.

"Where you relive the moment of your infection?" she asked and he looked at her. He sat up "how did you know that?" he asked "You're having PTSD genius, the sooner you come to terms with what happened the faster the dreams will fade into nothingness. I've never had a conversation with one, but my uncle has given me a lot of insight on the werewolves that semi dominate the S class. My advice to you: get with the program or be fated to end like the one that attacked you” she said confidently as she stood up.

"Gee, I feel so much better now. Thanks" he said in a sigh as he lied back down.

The rest of the day went by slowly and it was nearly sunset when Sichiro decided to walk outside into the back yard. Obviously the fox he had seen there a few weeks ago was gone but he had a doubt in his mind, it was still daylight so he didn't second guess walking out into the open field.

He got to where he thought was the imprint of the fox's body when it lied in the grass, he made sure to look around the tree line and to his relief he only saw a few rabbits scampering about.

He knelt down and touched the grass then instantly he was reliving a chase. But it wasn't his.

He was looking through the eyes of the fox that night as it desperately limped away from the tree line trying to escape its fate before collapsing in the yard.

The worst part is he saw his abduction through another pair of eyes and he wasn't sure if what he was experiencing was amazing or utterly terrifying. Suddenly he snapped back from the vision and looked around, he was still outside and not that much time had passed.

He heard a distant snap to his 11 o'clock and instantly his body froze, he turned to look and locked eyes with the green eyed, black fox. He was certain it was the same one and the two stared at each other for a few seconds before the fox retreated back into the forest.

Sichiro felt uneasy about the whole situation and decided to head back inside just in time to bump into Rachael