Loving Ashlynn (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 47 - Aftermath, Run. Skip. Hop. Jump. Fly. (Samson Conrad POV) Pt.1

Do you guys care that the Conrads are were-jaguars? Someone said I should make them werewolves because no one wants to read about cats (LOL).

Chapter 47 – Aftermath, Run. Skip. Hop. Jump. Fly. (Samson Conrad POV) Pt.1

"Didn't you see the weather report?" I asked Silas years before when he was going with Brian to fly the plain that took his life. "It's too risky, don't do it, why don't you guys find something else to do?" I told him.

"We have to live Samson, just because we have to be careful doesn't mean we have to be boring robots," I could almost hear the judgment in layman terms. Which I sure was what Silas was going for in the first place.

I was the boring twin.

The one that played it safe.

The one that over thought every little decision made, letting the moment pass me by while I analyzed it to death.

"Your brain is where fun and exciting ideas go to die Samson," he told me once. "The world is full of scary things where you won't know the outcome unless you jump. What? Are you never going to experience something because you're scared, it's risky and you don't know for sure that you'll land on your feet?"

Silas always had a way of dragging me into whatever he was doing. I'm not sure I did it for the same reasons as him sometimes. I knew there would be trouble or that our parents would be angry but what overrode those thoughts were that at least he wouldn't be going down on his own.

"If you always know how something is going to end, what's the point in doing it?"

"Give her some time son," my father said just after Fatima left the kitchen. Emotions running high and wild, I knew Fatima wouldn't just add fuel to the fire but I also knew she had this belief that she was a burden to our family. At first I thought maybe she just thought she was better than us somehow but that all changed when I realized that there was so much more to Fatima Ashlynn than we had been told.

She was entirely too kind and helpful and weirdly, when she did something for you she did it with all her heart. Yet, somehow when you tried to do the same back for her it was lost in translation.

Then I was gifted more of her story, I took the time seeking her out because Damnit if she wasn't in my every thought. There was so much that was unique about her and I enjoyed every layer there was to her. Dad might not be aware of the truths I was, but I do stay away from her. I give her time.

Except, that's not all together true.

If Fatima was going to leave the room then I had to stay. How else would I know what was going to happen next? Lydia dying was tragic, but not anyone's fault but her own and maybe Cynthia. If what Imogen had stated was true.

I knew there would be a punishment that Danny, Leslie, and Lia maybe would want handed out to Fatima. After Silas died, when I finally stopped the sedation stage. Brennan finally came to me and set the record straight, it wasn't a dream, and Silas was gone.

I had missed more time than I even realized, but that didn't stop the guilt and anger from being so much it consumed me. I could have told someone what Silas was up to and prevented the crash. While I would take the blame one minute, the very next I thought, "How was Silas able to get into the bunker without someone realizing that dad or an adult wasn't with him? What adult in that place should be held responsible? Surely he or she needed to lose their job."