Chapter 67

LAYLA

I stand in the room on the plane surrounded by his clothes. I can not help as his cologne is still lingering on some of the clothes and my thoughts can not seem to stop thinking about him. How am I supposed to act around him now, after what happened?

He can easily just dismiss me and fire me from this job so that he does not have to deal with the consequences of what happened. But something inside me tells me that he will not do that. He just does not seem like that kind of a person. I hope that I am right in my thinking and that I did not make a mistake to give myself to him.

Then without warning that same pain that I had in the bathroom at the airport in my hand, once again manifests itself. This time it is even more severe as it brings me straight to my knees. I want to shout out in pain but then everyone will hear me.

I grab my wrist with my hand trying to somehow cut the blood flow off from my hand as if it would help stop the pain. But then fear overtakes me as I remember what I saw in the bathroom. I was so sure that I was only hallucinating because I am so exhausted.

Now, I am sure that I was not hallucinating because the same thing happens. First, a nail and then hair, and then my entire hand is a claw. I watch as the hand that is holding my other hand at my wrist also starts to change. I am sure that I am hyperventilating from what my eyes are seeing and my body is experiencing.

Then in a blink, it is gone. I turn my hands up and down trying to see if I can see any clue of what just happened. But I see nothing. It is just gone. The pain is gone. The hair is gone. The nails are gone.

"Fuck..."

I stand up and still stare at the ground as if maybe something is lying there. As if someone has tricked me and played a prank on me but there is no one in the room. Am I so exhausted that I am now hallucinating or is there something wrong with me physically?

I do not know for how long I was just standing there looking at the ground. But then after a while, I remember that I had to take a shirt to Jake. I quickly grab anything that I can see and then walk straight up to Mark.

"Can you please give this to Jake?"

I do not explain and he does not ask any questions.

"Yes, sure"

I turn around and walk back to my seat. I can not face Jake right now. I do not know what is going on with me and I really do not have any space in my mind to think about him right now. All my thoughts are occupied by what just happened to me. I take deep breaths as if this is going to help me somehow.

"Are you okay?"

Then I remember that I am sitting next to Jason and he is not even on my list of things to think about. I really do not have time for his attempts to get into my pants as I have already lowered my pants for someone else. I am such a mess.

"Yes, I am fine. I just need to sleep, please"

I find myself almost begging him to give me some peace of mind. Luckily, he gets exactly what I am saying as I put in my earphones. I lay back my head and close my eyes. I need to try and at least sleep. Maybe I was just seeing things. Maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me. Just get some sleep, Layla.

JAKE

I watch as my foot is tapping against the floor just waiting for her to come back. I want to tell her how I feel and if she feels the same way about me. Then there is a knock on the door and I take a deep breath trying to sound as calmly as possible.

"Yes?"

The door opens and I find myself inhaling, holding my breath. But then to my utter disappointment, it is Mark and he has a shirt in his hands. I know exactly what that means. It means that Layla is not coming back.

"Layla asked me to give this to you"

I do not want to show him my disappointment and so I act as if it was communicated this way.

"Yes, of course. Thank you"

He nods his head and then he leaves. I hold the shirt in my hands and I realized that this was the only way of getting her into my room without looking suspicious. Now, there is no chance that I would be able to see her again on the plane. It would probably be even more difficult when we get to the hotel.

I fall back into my chair completely hopeless at the fact that I will not be seeing her again. I put my shirt on and then sit back in my seat. I stare out of the window and I wonder how I am going to save this situation.

LAYLA

I must have fallen asleep because when I open my eyes I see everyone starting to pack up their things. I feel the plane has stopped moving and Jason is not next to me anymore. I am so happy that I do not have to deal with him again and then I stand up feeling much better than what I did before I fell asleep.

I want to get out of the plane before Jake makes his way off the plane. I do not want to face him right now because I have other things to think about. We get in the vans and make our way to the hotel. We have a night in a hotel before we have to set up the stage tomorrow. I feel relieved because I really want to figure out what is going on with me.

Everyone gets dressed and is ready to paint the town red but for some reason, I just want to stay in my room tonight. Rita comes to me and says.

"Are you ready?"

"I am not going tonight"

"Are you being a party pooper?"

I laugh at the way that she is saying it and then I shake my head.

"No, I just need to rest a little bit. I really do not want to be bitten again"

Now it is her turn to laugh and then suddenly something clicks inside my mind.

"Okay, it is your loss. See you tomorrow"

I watch her leave the room and then I am all alone again. I quickly roll up my sleeve and then I look at my wound. It is still gone. Then I start to wonder whether the bite and the change of my hand have something in common.

"It cannot be...can it?!"

I quickly open my laptop and then I type in the words. Bite, fast healing, claw. I get all kinds of remedies and mosquito treatments and then when I keep on scrolling I see something that I laugh out loud about. Werewolves.

I have watched a few movies about werewolves and vampires. I have watched the horrors and the romance ones but never would I think it is the truth. They do not exist. If there was something like that we would have known about it by now.

I close my laptop because it is becoming ridiculous now and then without warning, I am almost thrown off my bed in severe pain. I fall on the ground laying in a fetal position as an unbearable pain shooting through my entire body. I crawl up even more trying to stop it somehow but nothing is helping.

I have to let the pain be expressed out of my mouth as I try to silence the screams that want to escape my mouth. Then my one hand that always changes, change before my eyes in an instant. Then the other. I am in complete shock as my feet do the same thing.

I crawl closer to a mirror and then I watch in horror as my entire body starts to transform. After what feels like hours of pain, I stand in awe at what I see in the mirror. A huge white wolf staring back at me with purple eyes. I walk closer and the wolf walks closer too. This can not be happening. It cannot be true.

I touch the mirror and I see the paw of the wolf put her paw on the mirror too. Then I look down at my body and I realized that I am a wolf. I do not understand what is happening but I feel so much power running through my being. It is almost as if this is how it should be.

How can I even think that? How can I believe that this is how it should be? Then suddenly I am transformed back into my human form. Now, when I look in the mirror I am completely naked and I just stand there staring at myself.

"Am I sick?"