Chapter 133: Expired

Chapter 133: Expired

Sylvia's pov.

The doors cracked open and before me stood my younger brother who I hadn't seen for months now, his appearance looked different, more mature?

This confused me as the young lad was just my baby brother, and yet the free spirited and cheery boy I once knew was gone. In its place was a stoic young man who seems to have gone through a lot.

“Alfie!” I muttered with a shaky breath.

The emotions rising inside of me like no other, everything I had always protected my brother from, I don't think I did a really good job.

The light in his eyes had disappeared, and he was only a teenager. A smile creeped onto his features, “You’re back!! I heard the rumours around the pack,” He cheered excitedly.

I had only been gone for a few weeks and yet puberty seems to have visited.

These were signs of the wolf inside of him. Ever since the night I had failed to shift into my wolf, I had feared that the same case might happen to my brother, I don't think I have to be afraid any more.

“Are you… taller than me?” a chuckle escaped my lips as I wrapped my arms around him and confined him. He was definitely taller now.

His birthday would soon be coming along as well, which means the pack would be undergoing a shifting ritual, but I doubted they would want to include him in it.

He didn't comment, just smirked, “It's good to have you back.”

I couldn't help but return the smile, despite my heart squeezing gently, “It's good to be back.”

“How's mom?”

At the question, I watched as the little smirk that sat at the corners of his cheeks slowly dwindled, “She's not doing too good.”

We both walked into the apartment while he explained what had been going on since I was home, “I thought someone has been paying for the drugs? What happened?”

Alfie was just as confused as I was apparently with his brows creased, “Other than what you send home, no one else has been paying for her drugs…and…” He paused.

I cocked my head in confusion, “And what?” Anxiously curious for what's to come next.

Alfie sighed dejectedly, his voice lowered to a whisper as we finally arrived in the room my mother resided, “She's getting worse.”

I pushed the door open to see my mother laying almost lifeless if it weren't for the heavy blankets that rose and fell with her gently breathing.

My heart shattered into pieces, “Mom!”

“Mom!! It's me, Sylvia,” my voice was barely above a whisper as I feared if I disturbed the silence it might also disturb her health.

My mother stirred where she laid, her face came into view, saggy cheeks, pale skin, with black patches, her eyes were dull and lifeless. It's like I was staring at a dead corpse.

I fought the urge not to suck in a breath, sitting down gently beside her, “Mom?” One could hear the pain beneath my voice.

This wasn't the mother I had been treating for the past half of my life, nor was she the one I had left a few months ago. She was worse than a shell of her former self.

It took her a while before she finally noticed me, attempting to smile but even that took a lot of strength from her, “My… dar…ling Syl..vie, yo…u’er back.”

Her hands moved in an attempt to caress me but it didn't go far enough, grabbing her hands in mine gently and placing it on my cheek, reigning back the tears in my eyes, “Yes mom, it's me, I'm back.”

Bringing my face closer to hers to kiss the top of her head, “I'm back, and I'm not going anywhere again.”

She barely even had the strength to speak, the little she could, caused her breathing to be ragged and my heart twisted at the sheer suffering she was going through.

Why? Why all of this? After everything?

I couldn't help but blame the moon goddess, assuming she even existed at this point.

“Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me, I would have come sooner,” now I regretted not returning to the pack earlier and almost made the decision to remain in Briseville.

A shadow of a smirk sat at the corner of her lips, “I didn't want to put too much pressure on you,” she stuttered, “You've done a lot, you should be able to do you.”

It hurt, it hurt deep down knowing this was how she felt, “Mom, everything I do, I do it for you, for us,” the tears I've been trying so hard to hold back in couldn't be held any longer.

“We can't afford to lose you, not after losing dad,” there was no way I was going to let her go.

All my mother did was smile painfully, her brows creasing and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears which she blinked and I wiped away.

“It's just been so...” she pressed her eyes closed as though retching in pain, her veins popping as she threw her head backwards.

I squeezed her hands, “Shhh, it's okay Mom.”

“What matters is I'm back now, and I'm going to take care of everything,” I made a silent promise in my heart, that this time I wasn't going to leave her.

I wasn't going to leave them.

“Get some rest mom,” I whispered, kissing her forehead once again before letting her return to sleep.

My brows creased as I stared at her for a while longer, not understanding how her illness could have gotten so much worse to the point that she resembled a walking dead.

“Where’s her medication?”

Alfred rushed to the cupboard and pulled out a box before pulling out the drugs. She had been taking the drugs apparently, but they haven't been working.

I frowned looking at the covers and realised why they never worked.

They are expired.