Running From Myself

No. 15 - Refresh

Aria's POV

'Aiden, have you got everything?' I shouted from upstairs as I checked all the rooms.

'Yes!' Aiden shouted back, his tone laced with annoyance. 'Will you calm down, we are more than on time for our one way ticket to hell.'

I sighed at his harsh words. He's been against us leaving England since the idea was proposed. He thinks we are abandoning our problems. Running away from them. But I know, probably better than anyone, that you can run, but can't hide.

'Aiden, I thought we talked about this. Mum and Dad would have wanted us to go to LA and fulfill our dreams, so even if you don't want to go, will you please do it for them? After everything that's happened. Please?' I begged, pleading with the wolf inside of him that binds us together as a family. After my mate was revealed, we all went off researching our wolf heritage. Turns out we are very powerful wolves. We all had the ability to shift, but we never used it. We were all so focused on elemental abilities, that we overlooked the physical ones. We're natural born werewolf hybrids.

Aiden stayed silent for a while, contemplating the situation with a frown etched onto his face, in what seemed like permanent marker. He must have lost the battle against his wolf as he huffed in defeat.

'Fine, but only for them.'

I sighed in relief and nodded gratefully as I turned to Ether, Jazzy and Melanie. 'Could you guys start putting our stuff in the living room, ready for Mason and the moving crew?'

They nodded and got to work, while Aiden locked himself in his room, moping. My shoulders slumped at the realization that he wouldn't lift a finger to help us move out of the seemingly perfect pearly white house that had been our home for 3 years plus.

'Don't worry Aria, he'll come around.' Melanie said encouragingly, soothingly rubbing my back.

'I hope so, I really need his help if we are going to do this.' I answered with a sigh, feeling the pressure begin to build in my throat, signalling that I was going to cry.

We all gathered in the living room with all our stuff, leaving nothing of our past life in this house behind. Of my past everything.

After everything that went down, I and I alone, went back to school. Why? To train and win the Leagues. After the tragic events that took place, I swore an oath to myself. I would never again be too weak to stand up for another. So in fulfillment of that oath, I went back and fought like my life depended on it. Only this time it was different. I was different. I showed mercy on my opponents, gave them a choice. I didn't kill anyone, and I didn't use my abilities. Fist to fist. Hand to hand combat; that's all. And still, I managed to win. With my incredible human speed and strength, I had proven myself worthy of the title of League champion. With the $1,000,000 jackpot that came with my win, I invested half of it in a charity helping orphans like myself. The other half I invested in us moving house.

A sudden realization came across me and I shuddered. I was officially an orphan now. I shook my head, trying to cage the blissful memories and haunting dreams of my parents. We needed to get away from here. Here, where everyone treated us like royalty, wasn't good for us. We were becoming the people they were molding us to be. We were changing, bending to their will. We needed to leave to a place where we were no one. Insignificant. To the West.

That was where our destiny awaited us. Our true purpose.

Rrrring!

'I'll get it!' I heard Jazzy shout down the corridor as she opened the door. There in the doorway stood Mason and the moving crew.

'Hey A. You alright?' Mason asked as he gave me a soft side hug. I nodded with a small smile, trying not to give away how much I was really hurting. Mason had enough on his mind already, no need to add to it.