Chapter 310

“So who did you talk to?” Kiley asked her voice rising. “Ben… sometimes… but I couldn’t tell him everything… I ended up hating it there, then I started to hear my wolf only, I didn’t know it was my wolf I thought I was going crazy. Then I could hear everyone talking from across the street, and that only made it worse. I mean it’s one thing to see people whispering and there is a tiny piece of you that thinks, ‘oh they can’t be talking about me, it’s in my imagination.’ But when I started to hear everything, even people that would smile to my face spoke about my mom, or how I was – poor abandoned Oakley…” “Is – is that why your dad isn’t here?” Tera asked sadly, her face pulled in a half smile. I nodded, “he wouldn’t pick me… he got married to Sarah, fell in love and Ben likes her but I just… I hate everything about her and being around her makes me so angry. Then her daughter – Amelia is my age – she’s more his daughter than I am. The only person I had was Ben, I couldn’t talk to him about everything but like I said it was someone. We – Ben and I – were just going to move in with my Uncle Grant because…” I stopped wondering if I should tell them, if they wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore if they knew what I had done back in Middleburg. When I glanced up Kiley’s eyes were wide as quarters, “Did your dad make you move?” the shock in her words told me that she was probably really close to her dad. “No… I couldn’t be there anymore and I… well I was just so sad and angry, my thoughts were all rolling around making one big mess and then I said some things. My dad sent me to my room, and the voice in my head was trying to comfort me but I – it wasn’t working so I tried to,” I looked away down at my lap, “I asked if I could go live with my uncle Grant and his wife Julia, Ben decided that if I was going he was going too. Our dad said he could only go part time but I could move completely. We got into the car and bam, one second later we were in our house here,” I looked up after deciding on the quick not to mention what I had done. Kiley nodded, “Well at least you have Ben, your uncle and aunt too.” “So do you miss anything about home?” Tera asked, I was going to shake my head but then, “Yes. I miss my dad, but I’m happy I’m here, more than I miss him,” I whispered, “I love him and I know he’s probably real sad that Ben and I aren’t there, but I couldn’t put up with it anymore,” I tried to explain it but I didn’t know how just yet. Plus I didn’t want them to judge me; it was hard talking to them about what I did. Everyone here wants to live, they gave up their homes to get a chance to live… but what would they think when they realized that I was just going to throw it away? I wondered. For the rest of the night we didn’t talk about anything heavy, like about my life back home, just watched movies until eventually we fell asleep. The next morning before leaving, Tera invited me over to her house so we could all do homework together, I was getting a walking boot, after Jack removed the rods in my feet. I was thankful that Chelsea had decided to heal me to make the recovery quicker because I felt like life was going on without me, and I missed being outside. . . . After Jack gave me my crutches, helping me get used to them, I slung my backpack on my back, limping my way outside so he could drive me to Tera’s since he offered, not wanting me to injury myself more. Yet I think the real reason was everyone thought I’d run off back up the mountain, no… they care about you Oakley, you were seriously injured, you still are… they just want you safe and this is their way of making sure that happens. Sighing I got into the car, Jack coming right behind me, driving me the mile out to Tera’s house, passing the bush covering the road, still on the path to Chelsea’s house, my head rested back against the window I spotted a boy, shirtless, older than me, glaring, cold with arms crossed against his chest, thick hair matted with mud, shorts just as dirty as his body. Bluish – grey eyes – filled with so much hate and annoyance, I looked away sharply, my stomach churning, hands shaking on my lap. I looked away from Jack, from the boy as well, my eyes concentrating on my thighs. His eyes looked just like Tera’s… maybe – maybe I shouldn’t go to her house I thought to myself, maybe something happened and Tera didn’t want to be my friend anymore. “Oakley…” my head snapped up to my name being called, “Are you okay? You’re crying… are you in pain?” he squinted concentrating on my face waiting for an answer. Blinking a few times, I shook my head, “No… I’m okay,” I smiled even though my heart was racing faster than normal, my stomach rolling. “Okay… well you’re here,” he nodded to the door, Tera and her mom were already on their porch waiting, big smiles on their faces. Maybe it was only her brother that was angry with me… Nodding, I opened the door, reaching for my crutches, hobbling my way over to them, “You’re up and about…” Tera said laughing, as I approached, “Oakley dear, let Tera get your bag,” Mrs. Ryan said smiling, a complete turnabout from the morose woman that came to my room last night in search of her daughter. Smiling I help Tera take the bag, but as we are about to enter my smile drops, as I remember the cold bluish grey eyes, “Oakley? Dear what’s wrong?” “Did you forget something?” Tera asked. I shook my head eyeing the inside of their home, the angry boy wasn’t in there, “I – maybe we should stay out here,” I said weakly, “Why what’s wrong?” “I just – I don’t want to be in the way?” I whispered, but it sounded more like a question than a statement, “You’re not…” Tera said confused, “right mom?” Mrs. Ryan nodded. Did I tell them? I didn’t want to be here when her angry brother came home? “Is – is this a trick?” I blurted out, my eyes widening when I said it, “I mean – it’s just that – I mean I don’t – if your brother is angry with me, maybe I shouldn’t be here – we can go to my house?” I offered the words tumbling out faster when mother and daughter narrowed their eyes at me in confusion their heads tilted to the side. “Why would” both started to say, but Tera stopped, Mrs. Ryan continued, “Why would you think my boys are angry with you dear?” I stared at her like deer in headlights, and if I wasn’t on crutches I would’ve walked – no ran away. “I – I saw one of them, he was glaring at me when we left Chelsea’s house, he… looked… cross…” I stopped when Tera’s mouth dropped open and Mrs. Ryan gasped, eyes glassy, running inside the house, she raced back pushing something at my face, “was – was this the boy you saw?” her hands shaking the object, a double frame I realize, a young boy, maybe six or seven in the photo, smiling, the same bluish grey eyes, his cheeks chubby, not as angular as the boy I saw glaring at me, but the eyes, the color the same. To the right, another picture, hair long, wild, dark ash, jaw line straight, thin nose, the same boy, “Yeah…” “ohhh…” Mrs. Ryan began weeping and Tera wound her arms around her shaking form, I took a step back awkwardly not sure what to do here, “Oh – oh dear, if – if you,” Mrs. Ryan held her daughter to her still crying her eyes focused on me now, “If you saw this boy… that’s my Kieran,” she wept, my eyes darted from hers to Tera for confirmation, and she nodded sadly, “Yeah, it’s him. My other brothers went camping up at the lake, they aren’t down here, won’t be back until Sunday. Mom’s right, if you saw the boy in that photo Oakley, then that was Kieran.”