November was pretty uneventful. I got one more crystal, this one gray, that came with a note saying, /Forgiveness is hard to earn. Use this if you need to center yourself again to try and earn it back./ I had no clue what it meant, but placed it with the others nonetheless. A week or so after the gray crystal arrived, things started to get a little strange. I noticed that I lost my temper a little easier, and my eyes seemed a little darker than normal when I looked into the mirror. And then this happened. I’d had what seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, to ask Naomi to use her power again to learn a little more about what Ren’s monster time had been like for those around him. So I walked over to her room and knocked on the door. It was December, a few days before Winter Break. Naomi opened the door at my knocking and smiled. “Hi. What’s up?” I returned her smile. “Hey. Just had a question.” She nodded. “Come in.” I followed her inside. I sat one the bed, and she sat at her desk. “So, what did you want to ask me?” “Remember the time you teleported us to Ren’s past?” “Uh, yeah. Kinda hard to forget.” I nodded. “I was wondering if you’d want to do it again, to find out more about him?” She shook her head frantically. “No. No way.” “Why not?” “Well, first of all, it was an accident in the first place. And second, that isn’t like when I teleport into memories. We’re actually there, and what if we’re spotted, or we accidentally change things? That would have repercussions in the future.” “But even if it was an accident, you remember how you did it, right? So you could do it again. And we’d be careful.” I could tell Naomi was a little thrown, and truth be told, I was too. If things had been normal, I would have backed down then. But things weren’t normal or anywhere near okay, and I didn’t back down. “I said no, Wolf. And I’m the one who can control this power,” she said firmly. “But why are you scared? We’ll be careful, and we can come right back after we’re done.” “/No/, Wolf. I’m not doing it again. I don’t care if we are just there for less than a second. I’m not going.” I finally lost it. “You’re always so cautious! Just do something risky for a change!” She pushed right back, as hard as I did. “And you’re always about to fall off a cliff! Would it kill you to step back and let someone else take risks?” We were nose to nose and on our feet. I had a strong suspicion my eyes were darker than normal. Naomi seemed to notice too, because her resolve wavered. “Well, if you’re not going to help, I’ll find someone else,” I said icily, in a voice that barely sounded like my own. “Good luck then,” she said, turning away. I stormed out the door. As I slammed my own, I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were darker than they were normally on the full moon. I heard Naomi’s quiet sobs next door. I wanted to apologize, to do something to heal the wound I’d just made, but if I went in there again I’d lose it, I knew it. My eyes drifted to the black crystal. /Use this wisely if you ever need to escape the confinements of your mind./ If there was ever a time I needed to, it was now. But I didn’t want to do it yet. I might have calmed down by now, but there was nothing I could do to undo what I’d just done to me and Naomi.
Notes/Credits: If you're reading this, you probably know I wrote The Wolf Boy. Well, here's the sequel: The Monster's Curse. This is Chapter 11. Previous Chapter(s): Chapter 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/652476202/ Chapter 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/652950608/ Chapter 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655177024/ Chapter 4: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655177565/ Chapter 5: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655621072/ Chapter 6: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/656955201/ Chapter 7: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657580423/ Chapter 8: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657583863/ Chapter 9: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657586191/ Chapter 10: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657668860/ Credits: Me, for being the author Shannon Messenger, JK Rowling, Eoin Colfer, and many other authors for inspo @aqua_di_angelo, @AL600AWESOME, @Lanze_cupcake_face11, and @Yayabinks for inspo and supporting the story! QOTC: Why do you think this is happening to Wolf?
