After Nightfall - By Emma Wilson

1. Existence

Last night was yet another sleepless night. I spent most of the day round at Matt's, only coming back home to get a change of clothes and let mum know where I was. Chris's house was full of about 20 teenagers most nights of the week. Myself, my brother Matt, and 4 other kids were 15. Other kids were 16, 17, 18 and above that, some were nearing twenties. Chris was 18, his parents didn't mind, they were "down with the kids".

In Jaywood, nothing was a secret. Jaywood was a small town in a deserted area of Seattle. Not many lived there as there wasn't much to see; There was Jay high school, The Jay-hood police, the town hall, and the forest… We were pretty much forest bound. When we were not in the forest, we were at school or crashing somewhere, anywhere.

But there was something extra-ordinary about myself and my friends. We were different from other teenagers in Jaywood… in the world. We had a deep, dark secret that had been around for centuries… We were werewolves. Wolf when needed, human when not. We helped fight creatures that like us, were not meant to exist in our world. Yet, every night we would patrol the Jaywood area, protecting its occupants and getting rid of any un-wanted guests. Our main problem to this day… Vampires.

My alarm beeped annoyingly from my bedside table; 7:30 AM, time to get up for school. I groaned loudly and tried to ignore it. The beeping continued to drill through my head. I pulled the covers and my pillow over my head. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP! It continued. I sat up straight and through the stupid alarm to the other side of the room with unintended force. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces, finally stopping beeping. I fell back down and pulled the warm covers back around me, drifting into a more peaceful place…

"ASHLEY!!!" I awoke to feel someone shaking vigorously on my shoulder. I shot up, to see Mrs Jones staring down at me, her hands on her hips and half of my biology class surrounding her. I had been dreaming, strange, it was a lot like this mornings happenings.

"Ashley Black, if you or your brother dare snooze in my class again it will be a year of detention for you both! I rubbed my eyes. Laying with his head on the table, my twin brother Matt still lay asleep, his face looked peaceful, but his eye bags dark. I hoped I didn't look as bad as him. Yet he still managed to get the attention of most girls in the class. I didn't know what they saw in him, maybe because I only saw him as a brother. He had long, scruffy, chocolate brown hair that reached his eye lashes. His eyes were topaz blue, as were mines. He was of an average height, that we shared too. We were not identical twins, I had dark blonde hair.

I shook Matt's arm and he jumped, bless him. I knew how it felt to be awoke from a happy place… He just sat up, stretched, yawned, and went back to doddering on his jotter. This was a regular occurrence for us. Being some of the youngest in the pack, we were expected to be at school everyday, yet still keep up with the patrol of the area most nights. The older kids could miss a day when they needed to and not suffer so much for it. God help us when we get exams; we barely have enough time for sleep never mind study.

The bell rang and everyone fled from the class room. We waited until Mrs Jones had turned her back on us and ran before she could stop to give us another lecture on how our snoozing in class was effecting our grades in the long run. We met with a big group of people in the school car park . Most of the younger members of the pack were there, others must have been bunking off for the day. After my rush this morning, I hadn't had time to pack lunch, so I was dying to get home. I grabbed my skate board and helmet and started for home. I could have got there a lot faster if I had run, but phasing in the forest after school was to risky. Kids would be walking home from school, and anyways, I was wearing my good clothes. I skated home as fast as I could, I weaved in and out the people on the sidewalk, and skidded round the corners. As I began the approach to my cabin outside the forest, I could see a group as tall boys and girls standing outside my house. I skidded to a stop beside them, realising it was the older half of my pack.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked, catching my breath and taking off my helmet. Ricky, the Alpha male answered.

"We need you in the forest now, Ash, there's been a killing" Ricky spoke with urgency and order in his voice. I through my bag and skate stuff through the door, shouted to let my mum know where I was going and took off as much clothes that I could without completely stripping. I texts Matt to let him know what was happening and then I ran for the forest…