Prowl: In Heat

Chapter 1

Mourning Hour

There are enough people to make a party, enough food to feed a nation, and enough black to call it a funeral. Conveniently, that’s the occasion. Mid-August, early afternoon, many grieve the loss of a brave, honorable, kind soul whose name was …

Noah Blanchard—he was the only man that was crazy enough to put up with me. Josephine’s mind thought back to her mother’s kind words regarding her father.

He’d say, ‘If men thought women were a mess before, they’d rethink that the day they met you because you are a whole piece of work.’ And trust me, at the time, that was meant to be a compliment. Few laughed. Her mother couldn’t help but do the same as she recalled such a time.

The man wasn’t your finest sweet-talker, but he was the most honest man you could have ever met—the sweetest and bravest—because you had to be brave to say that. Anyone else who would have said that to a woman would have gotten their heads cut off. But with him, for some odd reason, I found that rather charming. Crazy, huh? A man like that couldn’t be charming, and yet he was, she said, smiling in thought. He was one of a kind, truly. And throughout our time together, even throughout our time apart, he’s never once changed. I suppose you’re thinking, ‘Just how could a woman leave a man like that?’ This man’s got a job, a brain and owns his own home. Well, let me tell you. It wasn’t easy, Clarissa said honestly.

You see, I knew who I was. We knew who we were together, and together, we wouldn’t have made it to the distance. And a man like that, he deserved someone who was willing to take that step, who was ready. And at the time, I wasn’t. And perhaps it was a good thing because it made us closer than ever. But how could we not be? We had a beautiful kid around, and she needed us. And we were determined to make it work, together or not. We made a promise when we brought her into our world, and she welcomed us into hers. We promised to make it work, no matter what. And we did, didn’t we, kid? Sweetly, she smiled to her daughter. Without a word, Josephine nods with a soft smile shared to her.

Yeah, we did … we did good. We kept our promise. Her mother’s words softened. Her eyes glistened with a glossy glimmer before a cold tear streamed down her cheek.

What happened to Noah is unfortunate. It’s heartbreaking. It’s completely and utterly unacceptable. No one knows the kind of man that man was unless they actually knew him. And the person to blame for this will pay the price for killing such a good man. I guarantee that.

Someone got to your dad, beat him up real bad, and left his body for dead. When we found him, it was too late, Josephine recalled the day she received such heartbreaking news that even now she struggled to accept.

Could you imagine someone taking someone you loved, beating them to death and leaving them for dead somewhere as if they were trash hauled out to the side of the road to be picked up, as if they were less of a person, simply something to be scrapped up and thrown aside?

Tell me, would such a person be heartless for beating a man for hours? Maybe he would be considered psychotic for sending that man through countless means of torture that could cause a head trauma, internal bleeding, stab wounds, loss of fingers, and a broken jaw.

They’d be considered murderers, killers, less than human. The world was festering with them devouring all the good people of this world. Without good reason at all, Josephine cursed the person to blame for this as she mourned the loss of her father.

Josephine! The sharp call of her name stole her away from her thoughts that were washed away by fallen shades of red, like the blood that dripped from the open wounds along the palms of her hands.

Oh my god, Josephine! Samantha rushed to her aid. Josephine watched the remains of the glass cup fall to her feet.

Your hands. Samantha guided her hands over the sink and allowed the warm water to rain along her hands, clearing the blood from the wounds to find any more remains of glass that may still be within her skin.

What happened? Samantha asked.

I … I was … I was washing the dishes, Josephine last recalled after getting around all those heaping helpings of condolence dishes. She began to clear the sink of the following dishes sitting in the sink.

I must not have been paying attention, Josephine dryly said as she watched Samantha carefully remove the shards of glass from her hands.

But does it hurt her? Does it bother her? Is she trembling or panicking? you may be wondering. Josephine didn’t even drop a single tear or mind the fact that they’re there. Who’s to know how long they had been there?

Had Samantha not arrived when she did, Josephine would probably still be standing there with glass in her hands as if they weren’t even in her skin at all.

Samantha …

Stealing a single shard of glass from her hand, Samantha raised her head to meet Josephine’s gaze. Did it hurt?

Josephine shook her head before verbally responding, I can’t even feel it. She glanced at her hands. The glass pricked through her flesh like thorns on a stem of a rose. I can’t feel a thing.

Not the pain of the glass, not the pain of the loss—she felt nothing but the numbing pain in her heart that turned her into a ghost just passing through.

A lot has happened. It’s normal, Samantha assured her.

Is it?

When my parents died, I couldn’t cry for weeks, Samantha explained in the midst of her, carefully stealing and prying the founding pieces of glass in the flesh of her hands. Until one day, I’m recarpeting the floor, and I see some scuff marks on the steps.

Scuff marks? Josephine asked with a wrinkled brow of confusion.

Yeah, when I was a kid, I use to run up and down the stairs a lot. It drove my mother nuts, said if I didn’t stop, I was going to fall and hurt myself. And of course, no matter how many times she warned me and threatened to have my tail for it if I didn’t stop, I continued. Until finally, I tripped up and took the hardest fall ever. I busted my chin and everything, cried so hard, I had snot and tears coming down my face. It was not a pretty look for me, Samantha said with a kind smile.

What happened after? Josephine asked.

Her smile softened. Instead of my mother saying ‘I told you so,’ she came down, scooped me up, and took me to get cleaned up. After all the waterworks, she got me calmed down, kissed my cheek, and said, ‘There, there. You’re all right,’ all before saying ‘I told you so.’ Samantha laughed lightly, causing even Josephine to share a soft smile to her story that had a hint of humor Josephine herself couldn’t resist.

Now as pointless as this story sounds and as little meaning it has, that single moment, that little scuff on the stairs was caused by all the moments I drove my mother crazy doing the single she hated the most. In the end of the times, we drove each other crazy, and I ended up proving her right. She would take me in her arms, tell me she loves me before saying ‘I told you so.’ She’d make sure she knew I was all right before she would do the very thing she just couldn’t resist doing, Samantha explained. I suppose seeing that little scuff made me think of her. It somehow showed me how much I missed driving her crazy, how much I missed hearing her be right about something.

Her words regarding her mother made her think of her father—the fights on the couch on Saturday nights, the disagreements in their taste in music, how they’d scrummage through recipe books to fix up their meals when they weren’t settling for takeout, all those Sunday afternoons they’d play baseball or football in the park with the guys from work and their own kids.

Her wounds created from the glass, a few freed from the pieces, slowly began to heal before her very eyes. Not even a faint scar left, they were simply mended as if they were never wounded to begin with.

Strange? Right, well, what has been uncovered in the many strange outcomes of her life that has happened over the summer? Even now, she has yet come to understand the meaning and reason to it to begin with.

While filled with tears that suddenly formed ran down her cheeks and dripped from the edge of her jaw or the point of her chin, she caught the attention of Samantha who raised her head to find cold tears streaming from her eyes.

What’s wrong with me? she asked in a breaking sob while trembling in uncontrollable fear and rage toward her own disability to understand the following changing her inside and out.

Chapter 2

One Summer Ago

Early summer, a Friday night, Josephine was fifteen years of age and currently on a date—her first date—upon a night of a full moon with filling clouds of water that released drops of heavy rain. It drenched our young couple who were merely moments away from their first kiss. Immediately, the two were forced to take shelter at a most stop just mere blocks away.

Here. Slipping off his jacket, he kindly laid it over her shoulders. Between the chilling air and the tickle of his hand that brushed along her skin, Josephine shuddered so noticeably. She blushed with embarrassment.

You all right?

Y-yeah, of course. No, of course not. It was her first date with a boy who liked her enough to ask her out. Out of all the girls in her school, it rattled her mind even now. Just cold, I guess. To her luck, she was able to hide her nerves. But if he heard the beating of her heart, he’d realize it in no time.

What do I say? What do I do? she began to wonder as they were left in this awkward and dragging moment of silence. Thank you, Josephine blurted out and said like an idiot, startling him no less. For tonight, Josephine added softly.

Thanks for accepting my invitation.

Although if he had the ability to read her mind, he’d know that in that moment, she was thinking that if she hadn’t accepted it, she would be the biggest idiot in the planet.

Scott Fisher, sophomore, star pitcher of their high school, lived on the fifth floor of her building where he recently moved into. He was easy on the eyes, a kind sweet-talker who kind of got all the girls. And out of all those girls who swooned and openly flirted with him, he, for some reason, picked the girl who volunteered at a local pet store who was occasionally found passing out free kitty litter and chewing toy coupons, who was a regular at Sal and Carmine Pizza, and who read way too much manga on her free time, which drives her dad nuts by the way because it’s a waste of her youth in his eyes.

Looks like it’s getting heavier out there.

Daydreaming ended after he shared his first words. Her eyes watched as the droplets of rain fell from the skies and danced along the ground. The drops exceeding in numbers made her think it might just last throughout the whole night.

Yeah, it is.

It was beautiful from a distance, never as romantic to stand under as it was in the movies. They were alone upon a moonlit night, closing in for a single kiss that could write off a sweet beginning or endearing ending. It wasn’t the case here. Rain was just rain, and it’s not pleasant to kiss in the rain or, in her case, have her first kiss in the midst of such cold and pouring hour.

Maybe it’ll let up soon if we’re lucky.

Maybe, Josephine responded, turning ever so slightly to look back at Scott who happened to meet her gaze. Her cheeks flushed at his kind smile. Her heart fluttered, her head was a mess, and her legs began to turn to mush.

Scott, can I ask you something?

Sure.

Why did you ask me out?

Why? he asked. Josephine nodded, and he smiled. Cause I like you, he said as if it were obvious, and maybe it was. He was what you could picture at the age of fifteen as the perfect guy. He would never just come up to you and ask you out in reality; it’s more just a fantasy. You would dream of it, but you would never account on it coming true.

Is that weird?

N-no, well, maybe it is. Honestly, I don’t know. Josephine finally sighed with a shrug. I just don’t get asked out a lot.

Well, neither do I.

What do you mean?

I don’t get asked out much.

Yeah right. Josephine could almost laugh; she found that very hard to believe.

I’m serious. I don’t get asked out much. I guess girls wait for the guy, but I’m not exactly the best at that. It wasn’t easy asking you out either. I’m not the type to put myself out there, but I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone these days.

You’re serious?

That hard to believe?

Definitely. Josephine laughed, and so did he.

It’s the truth, he said honestly. So I guess this is a first date for the both of us.

Suddenly, they were sitting in the same boat, and Josephine didn’t have the slightest clue up until now. I guess I thought you would have been on all kinds of dates. I mean, you’re this great guy and everything so … Josephine bit her tongue after realizing what she had allowed to pass from her lips. I mean … Josephine pursed her lips shut in mere thought of what excuse to make up for that little outburst. But it was unnecessary. Just a single touch of his hand and the sweetness of his eyes that looked back into hers, her heart got to pounding like a drum solo in a rock band. Within every step closer, she watched what was happening before her.

It was her first kiss under the full moon of a chilled rainy night in summer. Her heart fluttered just thinking about it.

Would you say she saw fireworks? That she was suddenly sprung and madly in love with the first boy she kissed? Well, no, it’s just a kiss and far from one that would create true love upon her young soul. God forbade such a thing to happen so early; it would kill her dad who disapproved of the date from the start.

*     *     *

Creek what now?

Creek Meadows, Ohio. It’s where your mother is residing at the moment, shacked up with her new girlfriend.

To her understanding, a few short years back, her mother (Clarissa Ford) and her father (Noah Blanchard) split because of her newfound sexuality. But her mom was always a free-spirited woman of her own pace, and neither of them were married. They were together for a long period, shacking up themselves and raising Josephine from the time she was a baby in the process.

Josephine’s personal thought on the matter was only to see her parents happy. Considering their relationship didn’t last in the end and knowing they both have hectic schedules, pressuring themselves with marriage would simply bring the two apart and ruin their relationship with each other, putting things between them on horrible terms in the end, which they didn’t. Neither one had hard feelings toward the other after their breakup.

They were both found to be dealing with this maturely for the sake of the child, still keeping in touch and remaining in Josephine’s life even after.

Nothing in particular caused their parting—not the usual cheating or lack of communication or connection. It was simply one of those times when two adults find themselves seeking more than the other could provide.

I was thinking about sending you to your grandmother for the summer, but your mother insisted I bring you to her. Now that they are all settled and she’s built up some vacation time, she thinks the time would be spent best if you were there spending the summer with her.

Very dramatically said. That’s definitely Mom, Josephine said with a soft smile.

Indeed, Noah agreed. Josephine stole the first slice of pepperoni and bacon bit pizza. So this would have nothing to do with that date I had with a certain boy, would it?

The disapproving grunt said enough, more than words could ever dare say. And if his grunts had words at all, they’d be unkind. But what man have you met who allowed his daughter to date and approved of every guy, no matter how kind they might be? The kindest ones are the ones they fear the most. Just as her mother said once before, The kind guys are the first to steal every father’s princess away from them.

It was a thought, he murmured with a mouthful of pizza.

As I suspected.

She took the first bite as he brought himself to ask,