FULL NOVELXO Chapter 2 - Night Howlers
Time moved on very quickly and before I know it, we are already two months into the first semester. Currently, I am in one of my classes which is all theory based. I prefer the practical side of nursing more because taking down notes for an hour literally bores me to death.
The clock ticks by ever so slowly, as if taunting me, knowing that I’m itching to get out of this class. I doodle on the margin of my page aimlessly, wondering what I’m going to get up to today since I have no work. I’m on placement at a nearby hospital until March and it requires me to give four days out of the week to patients. On top of that I must come in for classes, so most of the time I sign up for daytime shifts at the hospital since I can’t afford to miss anything.
The placement is great and I’m learning so much just by assisting doctors when they would examine their patients or sit on the side-lines and take down notes. I have quickly learned the correct way to dress a wound, treat infections, take blood samples and watched on as scans were conducted. There are many things I am restricted from, obviously as I’m just a student and not a real employee.
But there is one thing I don’t like about the job and that is my supervisor, Henry. He is a burly man, probably in his late forties and likes to make sure my time at the hospital is akin to hell. I am 100% sure he is a pervert because he has put me in uncomfortable situations more than once…while he watched.
I have not told anyone either that I am working a longer shift than I should be. Once he started making me do his errands and small things that I felt like shouldn’t be a part of my job, I confronted him only to be shut down by a threat of a bad report.
If I don’t pass this placement with good grades, then I won’t be able to graduate. At first, he was lovely and even let me off early but when the time to switch a placement was over, it was then that he turned into the devil himself. My only wish is that I make it out alive with good grades.
The sound of the bell ringing has me jumping in my seat slightly which causes Maddox to snicker. I send him a playful glare before packing up my things and following him out of the lecture hall and into the bustling crowd of students either making their way to or from their lectures.
“Will you ever stop daydreaming in class and actually pay attention?” Maddox teases, draping his arm across my shoulders.
“Nope!” I exclaim cheekily, grinning when he laughs loudly.
“Do you want to head to the café for break before our next lecture?” He asks and I agree, my tummy already growling in hunger.
We walk down the stairs and into the busy cafeteria where students seem to hang out nearly every hour of the day. Although the café itself has opening hours, it is still open for students to sit around and chat between lectures.
Maddox and I grab a blue tray before starting our hunt for food. There is the salad bar which I stop at to get this amazing Mediterranean salad that only the University sells, before grabbing two slices of pizza and chips from the hot food section. I add a smoothie with it before joining Maddox at the checkout.
I chuckle at the sight of his tray. You can’t even see the blue colour of it because it’s packed with his favourite ham sandwich, four pizza slices stacked onto a plate with chips at the side, two packets of candy with a bottle of Coca Cola.
He winks at me before paying the woman at the counter. “What? I’m a growing boy.”
I laugh and nod before paying for my own food and following him to one of the empty tables. We sit down and immediately dig into our food. I smile in content when I take a spoonful of the salad. Looking up when I hear something tear, I am greeted by the sight of Maddox popping a piece of chocolate in his mouth before offering the pack to me.
Grinning, I take a piece and thank him before starting on my pizza and chips. I had opted to go for the Neapolitan pizza whilst Maddox went for a pepperoni one. Looking around, I can see lots of students in the café and the seats are almost filled as more students walk in searching for a place to sit. Since it’s currently lunchtime there is a much bigger crowd coming in and the queue at the checkouts are long.
“Where’s Eva?” Maddox asks suddenly, making me frown as I remember that I haven’t seen her in class today.
“I don’t know. I thought she left early when she didn’t come down for breakfast. I was running late so I didn’t check her room either.”
“Her room is a pig sty.” He snorts before taking a sip of his drink. “I doubt you could even see her if you checked her room.”
I giggle before nodding in agreement. “I was only able to find her one time because she told me where she was.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” He asks with an unhinged jaw, which I immediately close because I could see his chewed-up food. “She never tells me where she is!”
“Well, I guess we know who her favourite housemate is.” I chirp, grinning mischievously at Maddox who only kicks my leg lightly in reply.
We continue to chat about our next class and how much Maddox hates it before I ask if he will be sticking around on campus after. He tells me he has no plans after this class and I repeat the same thing. We are thinking about what to do when suddenly his eyes light up in excitement and he turns to me.
“Are you up for baking this evening?” He grins, hope in his eyes as he stares at me.
“Okay!” I nod, pushing my empty tray away so I can rest my arms on the table. “But what should we bake?”
“Brownies.” He states without hesitation, making me frown.
“No, you ate all of them last time! All Eva and I got were crumbs!” I protest, shaking my head when he smiles sheepishly.
“Luna,” He drags my name out in a pleading manner. “I promise I’ll leave you guys some. Please, I’ve been craving them for ages!”
“I made them two weeks ago.” I deadpan, rolling my eyes when he frowns in confusion.
“Really? It feels like a month went by.”
I chuckle before agreeing, but not before making him swear that he won’t eat them all up. If there’s one thing you need to know about Maddox, it’s that he has a sweet tooth and every now and then he needs a wake up call. Especially when he would go to buy groceries and come back with more candy than actual food!
“Maddox, I need that for the brownies!” I yell, snatching the chocolate away from his hands.
“Oh…sorry Luna. I thought you had some and this was just extra.” He smiles sheepishly as I stare at the chunk he has bit off already.
I sigh and shake my head, telling him to get me the flour, butter, sugar and eggs. He got to it immediately and I break the chocolate into pieces before adding it into a bowl so that it could melt. I like to use this method instead of melting chocolate in a microwave like my mum prefers.
Maddox hands me the butter and I cut and measure exactly how much I need before adding it to the melting chocolate. As I stir the ingredients, Maddox places the flour, eggs and sugar onto the counter before grabbing the weighing scale and measuring them.
We work in silence with Elvis Presley singing in the background. Maddox has some of his vinyl’s out and has brought his turntable down to the kitchen since I didn’t mind a few tunes from back in the day. I hum in time to the lyrics but I’m not as loud as Maddox as he sang along and pretended to play all the instruments used in the record.
I let him have his moment, slyly taking out my phone before recording him jamming out to ‘Suspicious Minds.’ He has his eyes closed and is completely lost in the moment until a giggle escapes my lips. He freezes and opens his eyes to see me recording, yelling my name as a cute blush brightens his cheeks. I stop the video and lock my phone before putting it back in my pocket and running around the table.
“Delete it!” He whines, stomping his foot when he couldn’t catch me.
“Never!” I yell, doing an evil laugh just to annoy him further.
He groans before stomping to one of the seats and plopping down on it, crossing his arms as he glares at the hardwood table. I snicker before walking to cabinets and opening one, pulling out a pack of skittles and a Twix bar before making my way towards him. He still hasn’t noticed what I’m carrying and I almost laugh again at how childish he looks right now.
“Aw Maddie, I’m sorry. Truce?” I hold out the candy, watching as he glances at it from the corner of his eyes before looking away stubbornly.
“It’s going to take a lot more than -”
“Take it before I eat it.” I deadpan, a smirk on my lips.
“No!” He shouts in horror, snatching them off me and cradling them to his chest.
I roll my eyes and chuckle under my breath before walking back to see if the chocolate and butter has melted. It still has a few minutes to go so I get started on making the rest of the batter. After I have finished that, I line the baking tin with greaseproof paper. Next, I add the melted chocolate into the batter and whisk it, adding flour and some baking powder to thicken it.
When I have folded it in gently, I pour it out into the baking tin and make sure it’s evenly spread. Popping it into the preheated oven, I start on cleaning up. Maddox soon joining me and helping me put away the ingredients before drying the dishes as we chat about tomorrow’s classes and work, Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ playing softly in the background.
That evening, Eva walks in on us singing the lyrics to ‘Jailhouse Rock’ at the top of our lungs with a plate of brownies on the table. Her light green eyes sparkle in amusement before she grabs a brownie from the plate and stands behind my seat.
“You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see. I sure would be delighted with your company.” Maddox sings off tune, twirling her around while she laughs loudly. “Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me!”
“Let’s rock everybody, let’s rock. Everybody in the whole cell block. Was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock.” Eva and I join in, both pulling me up so we dance around the kitchen.
I laugh in delight, a squeal escaping me when Maddox lifts me into the air and twirls us around before setting me onto my own two feet. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long while.
I shot up in my bed at the sound of a long, painful howl. Panting, I pull the blanket closer to my chest for comfort. It sounds very close to the woods behind our house and I’m afraid the animal will jump over the not-so-high wall and end up right outside our back door.
I stay still in my bed and listen for it again. After a few minutes of complete silence, I think that maybe the animal had left and I settle back down to sleep. But then I hear another howl, different from the one before. It sounds further away from the house but it still freaks me out.
I decide to go get a glass of water to calm myself down. My feet hit the cold, hardwood floor and I shiver before immediately slipping them into my cosy slippers. Grabbing my fluffy robe that instantly reminds me of home, I open the door before making my way down the stairs as quietly as I could so I didn’t disturb Maddox or Eva.
The kitchen door has been left open and I smile at the memory of dancing to Elvis Presley just hours before. Walking over to the fridge, I grab the pitcher of water before pouring myself a glass. There’s a sliding door that leads to the back which is currently hidden because of the drawn blinds.
Although my curiosity has peaked, I didn’t dare pull back the blinds. Besides, the animal had sounded further away so I don’t think it will be outside, not that I could see past the wall.
I stay in the kitchen, sitting on the dining table for a while. The small sips of water are calming me down and my eyelids are starting to droop again. But just as I’m about to get up, I hear footsteps as someone makes their way down the stairs. Maddox soon appears through the kitchen doorway with tousled hair, slouching as he walks.
“Hey, what are you doing up?” He grumbles sleepily, rubbing his eye while getting a glass of water.
“I-I heard a loud howl, it woke me up.” I reply hesitantly, watching as he put the glass back down on the table before turning to me.
“I heard them when I was the only one here before college started, don’t worry about it.” He smiles tiredly, waving it off.
“Are you sure? It sounded real close.” My fingers play with each other nervously, the thought of a wolf being so close has goosebumps rising on my skin, and not in a good way either.
“I heard that sometimes they are close to the tree line of that forest but not enough to actually break it and cross over into the city. This area is patrolled quite often so there’s always someone checking up on the woods from time to time.” He reassures me, stepping over to rub my arm soothingly seeing how tensed I am.
“Okay.” I mumble, nodding in agreement because I don’t want him to stay and console me all night just because I freaked out.
“Good! Now, let’s get back to bed yeah?” He pulls me up and tucks me into his side, turning off the kitchen light as we make our way back up the stairs and into our respective bedrooms.
I wave goodbye to him before closing my door, sighing heavily as I make my way back to my bed. Pulling away the ruffled sheets, I slip in and curl up into a ball, trying to warm up as quickly as possible.
My heartbeat quickens when I hear another howl, though this time it’s low and short. In an instant, it’s gone and all that’s left is the quiet night and an owl hooting in the distance, as if to say that he is keeping watch. In a weird way, that sort of comforts me no matter how much my brain told me it isn’t possible.
Nevertheless, I snuggle further into the sheets and pull the blanket up to my neck so that I’m engulfed in warmth. Humming sleepily, I shut my eyes and drift off into a deep slumber with the sounds of howls playing in my mind.