Heather's Apartment (currently uninhabited)

[Heather]

The door closed safely behind her, Heather’s eyes half closing in relief. Finally, she had made it back to the safety of her own apartment and she could relax. She didn’t bother to stumble towards the bed, as tempting as it was to be able to collapse on the soft mattress and just let herself drift off into the safety that provided, Heather didn’t think she had the energy to make it into the other room. Instead she slowly slid down the door, injured arm clutched protectively to her chest.

The gash in her arm didn’t seem as bad as she had first thought. At the very least, the blood appeared to have stopped, because she couldn’t feel anything cool running down her skin. With another sigh, her eyes closed fully.

She’s just rest here for a few moments, gain her strength. Then she would clean up. And perhaps, just perhaps, she would work up the courage to find the pack.

[Heather]

Somehow, in between blinks, Heather had managed to fall asleep. She jolted awake, body twisting to the side as it tried to compensate for the sudden shift between relaxed and tensed again. With a muttered curse in French, the young she-wolf banged her shoulder against the frame of the door. The shudder that ran through her body was enough to get her moving and with another muttered sentence in her native language, Heather pulled herself to her feet.

Heather stood in her bath room, biting at her bottom lip as she carefully peeled her top off, the drying and clotting blood sticking painfully to the fabric and in turn sticking to her skin. The removal caused the wound to open up again, recently healed skin breaking apart and her arm bleeding all over again. The smell of the blood was waking her wolf up again, the exhausted beast in her mind trying to rise up at the scent. It was an instinctive reaction, one Heather was as helpless to control as her actions on the nights of the full moon and her eyes flashed yellow as it strained to come out again.

She pushed on, trying to ignore the more animalistic side of her, turning on the tap and letting the clear water run cold. It wouldn’t do to change again so soon after the night and it certainly wouldn’t do to change while she was still hurting. Heather only hoped the gash would have healed enough by the night so she could change with the minimum of pain.

[Heather]

Heather had bandaged up the slice on her arm as best she could, fingers clumsily working the clip to connect the twin ends together. Even after the years she had spent alone, being forced to patch herself up nearly two nights out of the three of the full moon every month; Heather was still no good at anything more than the most basic of first aid. When it came to the more serious wounds she endured as part of the wolf’s fury, then she had no choice but to hope her extra healing skills would kick in fast enough.

Slowly, she moved from the bathroom to the main room again, shrugging on a loose, darkly coloured top. It would disguise the white bandage on her arm as well as making her look like just another person on the street. Nervously, Heather ran her fingers through her tangled hair. It was tempting to go back and brush it, but if she did that, then she would find something else about her appearance that wasn’t right and before the young she-wolf had even realised it, it would become to late to risk finding her pack and the ordeal would have been put off for another day.

She took a last look around the dully decorated room – Heather had avoided making it too homey, not wanting to put down roots only to pull them up again – and tried to keep her breathing even. This was it. The end of the road, because the thought of having to go back to that cage for one more night, to be alone and scared was just too much to bare right now. She was just going to have to risk the pack and pray that they would let her in, that it would be the right pack for her.

At least if they chased her away, she could move from the city and the uncertainty of if this would become home would finally be over. One way or another.

Continued at: Alleys and Streets: Main Streets