The Worst Kind of Wonderful

Chapter NINE

✖️The Worst Kind of Wonderful✖️

It is the stars,

The stars above us,

govern our conditions.

-William Shakespeare

Chapter Nine~

The night slid by slowly and without sight of an end. It simply rolled on at a deliriously languid pace in no particular direction. My parents arrived after my other company left, looking confused and on edge, their eyes wide and my mother's hair fizzing at the tips. They asked how I was feeling and despite the fact that my shoulder still ached viciously, gnawing and sending signals of raw pain to my mind as my medication wore, I shrugged in a agonizing motion and told them not to worry.

It took far too long to sort through my discharge papers but after two hours of slipping in and out of consciousness I was finally released. When I checked my phone I found a number of text messages from Andrea, filled with exclamation points and capital letters but I ignored them, choosing to let myself relax and forget about the stresses of my life.

As we drove down the short dirt road toward our home I instead let my mind wander into the past. I remembered the beauty of my childhood, its simplicity but also the tragedies that plagued my years. Annabelle's father's death and my twin sister's disappearance echoed through my head and I asked myself as I had done so many times before, where Lacy could have possibly gone and for what reason.

Images of the person who once made up one of the greatest pieces of my life, the person now missing from it, passed through my head. I remembered her aspirations, her secrets, the long black braid that always trailed down over her right shoulder. I still had a notebook of hers, tucked away behind my present, too far deep into the past. I missed Lacy terribly, sourly and desperately. I could see her fingers wrapped around a worn number two pencil mapping out a future in architecture, lips pressed into a determined grin. I thought back to the time Lacy spent weeks off in the woods when we were very young, always with that secretive smile on her face when she returned.

It wasn't until one day she came out with Benjamin Hartley, both of them covered in paint that we uncovered the truth behind her outings. They created a fort, one of Lacy's designs, painted by Benjamin in the theme of princesses for Andrea, Pirates for me, and fire breathing pink and black dragons for Lacy. It was my favorite place to be for years and after Lacy's disappearance Andie and I sat in Lacy's favorite spot and cried until no tears would come. I hadn't had a complete family in far too long. Home wasn't home without Lacy.

We pulled up to our house, my parents jumping into action. My father grabbed the sling the doctor had advised me to wear for the next twenty four hours and helped me position it comfortably while my mother grabbed our purses and opened the door. Andrea sat nervously on the white fabric of our couch, a worn blue quilt resting on her shoulders. Her phone lay beneath white knuckles and her lip began to bleed just slightly where her canine tooth tugged on it.

"Mia!" She exclaimed excitedly as soon as she noticed my entrance. "What the hell happened to you?" I looked to my parents for an explanation.

'Doctor Alvi couldn't have possibly told them the truth... Could she have?' My mind raced, my wolf stirring violently in my head.

"Some humans were hunting..." My mother began shakily, holding back a sob.

"They must have mistaken your sister and Zak for something else because they shot her." My father finished for her.

"But why didn't she heal?" Andrea asked, still on edge and confused.

"The arrow must have encountered wolfsbane." My parents continued to explain, Andrea nodded but understandably sent me a skeptical glance. The excuse for my condition was far fetched and I'm sure my parents would have questioned it too if they were presented with a possible alternative.

"I think I'm just going to head up to bed." I started easing my way out of the room, trying not to alert Andrea to my escape plan.

"I'll go with you." She informed me sweetly giving no room for argument. She followed me up the wooden steps, her eyes digging into the back of my skull with burning force. As soon as we were out of hearing distance her mood flipped like a switch, her voice echoing through our old playroom with the intensity of a riot. "What happened to you Mia?"

"I-"

"And don't you dare give me that bull about humans shooting contaminated arrows." She warned sternly.

"I don't know much more than you do." I explained running my free hand through long loose hair. "All I do know is that a- a rogue shot Zak with a training arrow and that some guy tried to kill me but ended up dead. I know that I have no clue what to do with this information. And I know without a doubt that all this scares me, it terrifies me, and not just for me but for Lacy- wherever she is- as well."

Andrea looked shocked and apologetic as soon as the last part left my mouth. "Im sorry for yelling, M. I just need to know what I can do to help you." The tense moment was broken by Stefaan wandering into the room, purring as if he swallowed a motor boat. "Steffy!" Andrea hollered in a baby voice, excited by his change in mood.

"What's up with him?" I asked laughing. "The only time he acted this way was when you brought home that human friend. You know, I'm pretty sure he'd be a pretty happy cat if he didn't live with wolves." Andrea sent me a glare and brought a now silently squirming Stefaan into her grasp. I felt my wolf's nerves in the back of my head, something was off but I consciously ignored it to avoid falling prey to her paranoia.

We took a seat on the rug and before I could stop myself I was asking a question in a category that had been an unspoken kind of off limits for a very long time. "Do you remember the day Lacy showed us the fort?" I whispered in a barely audible voice.

"Yeah," she smiled sadly, sliding long fingers through the cat's fur. "It was the only time I saw her and Ben Hartley in the same space, without bickering." I couldn't help but laugh at that, smiling lopsidedly at the pretty little window in my mind that showed a time where Benjamin, Mr Day, and Lacy existed in my world.

"I like to think she's off somewhere, Europe maybe, using her architectural genius to support herself." Andrea admitted softly, squeezing a hissing Stefaan into her chest and pressing a small kiss to the tip of his pointed ear. "Maybe she found her mate." I choked on my own spit at that.

"What?" I asked carefully.

"Well, you know I don't believe in it personally- she's actually the only one I know who believed in the whole 'soul mates' thing past childhood- but sometimes I like to pretend. I mean, if anyone were to have a mate, it'd be Lacy."

"Yeah," I laughed, agreeing nervously. "I think I'm going to go to bed now Andie. I'll see you in the morning." She helped me up and over the cream colored carpet slowly. I made my way down the hall, padding across the floor in my bare feet and trying to make as little noise as possible. I was tired of drama, tired of the stress and overload of emotion but as my heart rate continued to climb unexplainably and rapidly halfway to my room I knew I wasn't getting that. There was a aching pain in my chest and I practically ran to my room.

The door's paint was chipped and slightly yellowed with age and the knob scratched from years of turning and opening. I rested my forehead against the cool surface and took a breath, trying to calm myself. After several minutes and little progress I opened the door and let darkness leak from the room and wrap me in its silken embrace kissing my tired eyelids and persuading them to close.

I felt at ease suddenly and thanked the source of my comfort silently, longing for sleep, but as soon as the door closed behind me hands pressed firmly over my lips muffling a cry of surprise as another arm wrapped around my waist. My back was against a warm hard chest and head under a sturdy chin.

I could feel the adrenalin pumping through me and I was about to begin my attempt at an escape, feeling good about my chances as my wolf came to the surface. I wouldn't be able to shift but I could do damage if needed. At the thought of hurting my attacker my wolf whimpered painfully. That's when I felt it...the now familiar comfort that wrapped me perfectly and the chilling sparks that flew up and down my spine releasing tingles of pure raw emotion. Even in the blinding darkness I knew exactly who the person in my room was.

✖️