WHO: Greta [narrative] WHEN: Monday WHERE: Her apartment WHAT: Panic! WARNINGS: talk of periods and pregnancy
Greta was splitting her life between two different worlds and sometimes it frightened her how easy and natural that had become.
She worked and visited her family and spent time with her friends. She shopped and watched TV.
She ran through the woods and let wolves chase her down. She slept curled against the warm flank of Norse monsters.
Both of these lives felt real to her now, and they were fine so long as they didn't cross each other. They needed to remain distinct and separate, the wolves and the world.
She had gotten better at her life with the wolves. She was faster and fitter, she was stronger, she understood the game more. She'd taken to running barefoot and her feet had gotten used to that, turning from cuts and blisters to callouses.
But back in the city she wore shoes and she obeyed her rules. She didn't talk the the wolves of men and she stayed on the path.
Two lives, equally important, equally loved.
Which was why she was finding it very difficult to remain calm now that her period was three days overdue. She had always assumed that there was no risk of ever falling pregnant to a mythological Norse wolf (or three) but why had she assumed that? She didn't know anything for certain. And now... well, she didn't know.
She kept telling herself she'd wait another day and then get a test. She was just late and it didn't mean anything. She double and triple checked her calendar. She spent her work hours distracted. She had nightmares of giving birth to tearing, furry pups.
Greta cradled her stomach as she slept, feeling horrified of what might already be growing inside there. Would they be human? Would they kill her? And how was she going to tell her father?
When she got home from work on Wednesday she felt like she was coming apart at the seams. A pregnancy test. She just needed to buy a test and know for sure. But Greta knew that as soon as she did that it would be real and she couldn't handle it.
So instead she pulled her furniture together and gathered her blankets, making herself a fort to cry inside of while she thought about her options.