Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1
My mother just died.
Don't worry, she wasn't the best mother in the world, in fact, most of my grief is from the relief I feel from her death.
I wouldn't need to clean up after her anymore, I won't have to be scared that her fellow drug-using men won't succeed again in hurting me in such a visceral way and as a bonus, I'm leaving this stupid town.
I sniffled as I looked at the picture in my hand, one of the very few things I could call mine, a picture of the three of us in one place.
Before that fatal accident that took my father.
Shaking my head, I threw it into the box, I didn't want to start crying right now.
Aunt Kelly was coming to get me and I needed to be ready and on my best behaviour, she's the only hope I have now anyway.
I looked around the small room that I'd done my best to clean up after they'd come to take her body. I felt her selfishness in every smear of ash on the wall from her smoking, the floors were no longer as dirty as she always made them minutes after I'd mopped them, and I had arranged everything into a ghost of what it used to be before my Dad left us.
But the biggest contrast between last week and today was the silence.
Before I could ponder more on my predicament, a car sound alerted me to an arrival; one I'd been waiting for.
With one last glance at my world for the past five years, I headed towards the door. No need letting her in to see the wreckage my once-loving mother had turned our lives to.
As I pulled the door open, her hand was already raised to knock.
“Hello Aunt Kelly, good morning,” I greeted, smiling even though my cheeks hurt.
“Aww you poor child,” she said, her voice soft and soothing, as she reached out to pull me into a crushing hug.
Tears threatened to spill, and maybe I should have let them fall but I was determined not to inconvenience the woman with my abscesses.
Although all my attempts to reach out to her and everyone from my Father's family proved abortive, I still had to stifle my emotions and be a good girl.
If she chased me out on the streets, I'd have nowhere to go.
“Thank you for coming to get me,” I told her, pulling out of the hug.
“It's not a big deal, I should have done that a while ago but your father left strict instructions not to interfere in your lives. But then, your mother has passed and this house is going to be repossessed soon. I might be insulting his memory by flouting his last wish but I can't bear to leave you all by yourself.”
“Oh,” I blinked, a tear followed by realisation coming out of my eyes.
“Why would he do that?”
All these years, I would have lived a better life, my mom might have gotten the help she needed and maybe not died so suddenly.
She wouldn't have wiped away every loving memory I have of her and replaced it with this…
“I'll never understand my brother in this life, maybe in the next. Come on, we've gotta go, the drive to Nashville is a long one.”
I nodded and locked the door before following her.
Aunt Kelly is tall, above six foot and she has long, brown hair that flows down her shoulders all the way to her waist.
Whatever was in the water in Nashville, I was ready to have some of it if I could get to looking that beautiful.
I got into the car after throwing my box in the boot and then the long drive began.
Throughout the journey, she played music at a very low volume and told me stories about her children and husband, getting me ready for the new environment I was headed to.
I don't know when I slept off or why I did for so long but I woke up and we were driving through a gate, nothing like the security gates I've seen but I guess since I came from such a small town, I was out of touch with the rest of the world.
The gate was at the top of a hill, towering still and there were houses built by the side with guards in uniforms on each side.
“You said this is an estate?” I asked her as she drove through after nodding to the guard by the window.
“Oh you're awake,” Aunt Kelly smiled widely at me. “I can already smell Tori’s beef stew. You'll eat and rest properly. I'm sure today and the past week have been hell for you.”
Talk about the past five years.
I nodded, noting that she'd evaded my question but the thought of food was more important than the alarm bells ringing in my head.
My nutrition throughout this ordeal has gone from protein and vegetables in different ways to cereal and protein bars with the occasional pizza.
Anything else was a welcome development and my mouth watered at the thought of it.
I remembered my Dad's cooking and I got misty-eyed all over again. I'd cried over his death for so long that it felt like a part of my soul now, because in his wake was a shell of the woman my mom once was.
And then me.
After two minutes drive into a town that spread out in a way that reminded me of a drawing of paradise I saw when I was little, Aunt Kelly drove into a compound covered by trees with clothes strewn all over it.
“Do you need me to take those inside?” I asked, confused as to why they're using this style of drying clothes like we were in the dark ages or something.
“No dear, they're meant to be there. Don't worry, you'll understand everything soon enough.”
Cryptic much?
Before I could ask her to explain though, the door burst open and her family ran out of the house, racing towards her.
Two children, one husband and a wolf.