Evelyn

Chapter 12: Maximus

⚠️⚠️TW: Talk of domestic abuse and strong language!
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After hours of driving, I was back to my pack. And yet, it felt foreign. I turned onto the dirt road, looking at the rusty and dilapidated "Night Wind" sign. It seemed like it was from a memory of long ago the way it was aged. I peered through the dense tree line, eyes scanning my periphery.

Then, it came into view. My house.

The large two-story wooden cabin was set back deep in the woods, far away from the rest of the pack which lived closer to town. As I parked the car and entered the large home, the silence was deafening.

Twenty-foot high ceilings made of mahogany left the space lacking warmth. It was freezing in the house, so I walked through the foyer to the living room. I walked to the fireplace, placed firewood in it, and began a fire. As I watched the wood catch flames, I couldn't help but remember Evelyn's dreams.

My soul ached and I felt myself compelled to go to another part of the house. Leaving the fireplace, I walked up the balcony of stairs to a room I hadn't entered in years.

The library.

Passing shelf after shelf of dusty books, my eyes came into contact with a rocking chair and fireplace that hadn't been used in 20 years. I kneeled before the fireplace and felt tears sting my eyes as I looked at it.

"I will have a grand library, full of a massive collection of books and complete with a fireplace. My husband and I... we will read stories to them every night, huddled around that fireplace," she said with a smile.

But, instead, I sat in a dark library. There was no warmth. No fireplace glow. It was covered in dust. Untouched and unseen. It would never hear the giggles of children or sighs of contentment. It would remain haunted by the absence of her spirit.

"ARGH, GOD, WHY?!?" I yelled into the abyss, fingers gripping my hair.

No one could hear me. No one could hear my shouts. No one could hear my cries.

Hugging my knees to my chest, I sobbed over and over again until I felt sick. I cried for the woman I could never have. I cried for the family I would never have. I cried for the loss I hadn't experienced. I felt like I was regressing to the little boy who had been so weak again.

"You disgusting being, you're cursed!" she screamed at me.

She threw a glass at me and I dodged it, hiding behind a counter as it shattered against the wall.

I was thirteen years old but that didn't stop her from hating me. From hurting me.

Stomping around the corner, the women looked deranged. Her red hair was in disarray and her eyes were filled with rage, "Come here you MURDERER!" she screamed.

She lunged at me with a knife, and I ran out of the house and into the forest.

Faster.

Harder.

Run.

I willed myself to get to safety. I ran and ran until I arrived at the old cabin. Running into the house, I climbed the banister and entered the library. Sitting at the fireplace, I held my knees to my chest and sobbed.

Then, something clicked in me. Like a circuit had been wrong all along and suddenly went into place. Pain shot through my body as bones cracked into places they never had before. I shifted for the first time.

Most children would be scared.

But, I wasn't scared.

No.