After dinner, I helped Aunt Brenda clean up the dishes. I did not talk as I was still upset that she kept things from me, just like my parents. When the dinner dishes were put away, I excused myself, went to the bathroom in my room, and took a shower. After everything I had been through today, the feeling of the water was slightly relaxing.

Getting out of the shower, I stood there, examining myself. On the outside, nothing had changed. At about 5’4, I wasn’t exactly the shortest in my family. My blonde hair sat just an inch above my shoulders. My skin was olive-colored thanks to my mom's Italian heritage, and my eyes were a light blue, almost glowing. No, the real change was mental.

It was 10 o clock by the time I finally laid down in bed. Looking at the ceiling, I remembered the time that mom took me to the beach. It was just us girls because dad had to work. We laid on the beach to soak up the sun and talk about all the cute girls there. Mom would even tease me when she caught me staring at someone for too long.

I never hid my attraction to girls from my mom. On the other hand, my dad was firm in his idea that I would find a good man and marry and have many kids. I did not want to break his heart even though it made it difficult to have female friends over. As I continued to think about the last time we went to the beach, I felt a smile. I knew that there was no bringing my parents back, but I had their memories.

As my mind continued to wander through memories, I felt my eyes becoming heavy. Everything from today made me extremely exhausted. Too tired to fight the exhaustion, I closed my eyes and said goodnight to my parents before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, I awoke to my aunt, bringing me breakfast on one of those bed tables. It was my favorite, Blueberry pancakes with honey and chocolate milk. I know that it makes me sound like a little kid, but there are some things that you just do not grow out of. She did not say anything to me and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

After I finished my breakfast, I got dressed and headed downstairs. The twins were gone. I guess they were outside or at some friend’s house. Aunt Brenda already went to work as she was getting everything ready for the new semester. This meant that other than the servants, I had the house to myself. I went into the family room and turned on the tv. I figured I might as well get caught up on a couple of shows that I was watching with nothing else to do.

After watching two show episodes of Charmed, I decided to go outside. I had not been here in forever and decided that I was going to explore. Going out the front door, I headed straight for the gate that leads into the woods. I remembered all the times my cousins and I would play in the woods. We would pretend that we were in a castle or an elf village.

As I walked into the woods, the smell of nature welcomed me. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees brought small comfort to me. Even though I was used to Tallahassee’s sandy grounds, I had always loved being in the woods. I had been to many of the state parks around Mississippi and Georgia growing up.

As I continued through the woods, I noticed a creek. I know that these are common around this area, but I was curious about where this one led, so I began following it deeper into the woods. Looking back, I noticed that it also ran near the house so I would be able to find my way back. I watched the water running down the stream as I walked. It was beautiful, almost like watching the Mississippi river, but much calmer.

I was shocked when I found out where the creek ended. I had walked for about a mile following the stream only for it to lead me to Truman lake. I never knew that we lived so close to the lake. It was amazing. As I looked out at the lake, I could not help but have a feeling of satisfaction. But I did not know that I was being watched.

As I turned around to head back to the manor, I saw them. 2 sets of eyes staring at me. They were attached to 2 beautiful grey wolves. They were watching me closely. I never heard of wolves living in Missouri. I just stood there frozen. If there were two wolves here, there must be more around. This is just what I needed; to be eaten by wolves.

I waited for them to do something, but they continued watching me. This was becoming a little unsettling. Why were these wolves here, and why were they just standing there? Then, just like that, they turned around and disappeared back into the woods. Sighing a sigh of relief, I slowly started making my way back home, hoping that I would not run into those wolves again.

When I finally made it back to the manor, the twins were standing outside. It looked like they were looking for me. I waved to them as I came to the gate, and they both started running towards me.

“Where did you go, Michala? We were worried about you.” Ally asked. I told them about following the creek to the lake and how I saw two wolves. As I told them, they both looked surprised.

“Well, I am glad that nothing happened to you. But I haven’t heard anything about wolves living around here.” Erin said. But something was off. She did not look at me when she said it. I figured it was just because she was trying not to think about the possibility.

“Mom is going to be gone for a while. There really isn’t anything to do right now. I know. Why don’t we go shopping? Mom left us with her credit card in case we went so that we could get you some things.” Ally said excitedly. I wanted to turn down the offer, but she was so excited that I would have felt bad.

“Sure, just let me get changed,” I said before heading inside and back to my mom’s room. After taking 10 minutes to find something to wear, I headed back outside. “Okay, I am ready to go,” I said as both looked at me.

“Awesome, I can’t wait to take you shopping,” Erin said, almost jumping out of her skin.

“Yeah. We are going to have all the boys drooling over you by the time we are done with you.” Ally said in agreement. Excellent, just what I need, boys…

Opening the garage door, we all piled into Ally’s mustang. Sighing, I buckled up as we headed down through down the road that cut through a field towards my torture.