The Wolves of Cain

Citizens of Cain

A/N:
Released on February 12, 2017

Edited on September 9, 2018

Word Count: 1322

-----

Chapter 1: Citizens of Cain

Mason Hallow stands in front of the fireplace in his spacious living room. For a split second he thinks, "I'd enjoy this house more if my parents hadn't just left us here." But the thought is gone before he can seriously think about it.

One of the only real family members Mason has left, his twin brother Lucas, walks through the doorway unnoticed.

"Hey, Mason." Lucas calls out, knowing that his brother isn't paying attention, as usual. Mason remains facing the fireplace but turns slightly to show that he's listening now.

"Do you know if Jerica came inside?" Lucas asks with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, leaning back on his heels impatiently.

"Yeah, she's here. She hasn't left yet." Mason answers after a moment. Jerica, Lucas and Mason's younger sister by a year, couldn't be more different than them. Unfortunately, that means they argue a lot.

"Okay, I was just checking." Lucas explains like he's done a thousand times before. Mason finally turns to fully face him.

"She's probably having a sleepover with Lena tonight to kick off the beginning of the summer." A hopeful smile creeps across his face while speaking, getting a scowl in response.

"Mason, I'm not going out partying tonight. I just want to relax." Lucas runs a hand through his brown hair in exasperation when he sees his brother's smile fall away. "Finals this year stressed me out. Can't we have a night off?"

"Yeah, sure I guess." Mason suddenly grins and says, "I coasted through finals. Easy-peasy." Lucas only shakes his head. "Besides, our senior finals are what really matter. We're only sophomores."

"I know." Lucas replies unconvincingly, but Mason doesn't question it.

Instead, he says, "I'm just glad that we don't have to go to school for a while. Now the teacher can't call us hooligans every day." Lucas cracks a smile for the first time in days and Mason starts to laugh. As the brown haired twin joins in the laughter, they're cut off when Jerica walks in.

"What are you two laughing at?" She asks in a tone that implies she's in a bad mood. But her siblings know that's just how she is. Jerica's constantly on edge, ready for a fight at all times.

"We were just talking about our teacher." Mason replies plainly. Jerica puts a hand to her forehead with her usual amount of drama.

"Please, talk about anything but school." She says, abruptly switching to her "happy mode" as Mason calls it.

"Lena is coming over tonight." She announces like it's already a done deal. And although Lucas and Mason are older than her, they know not to argue with their younger sister.

Lucas thinks up the mantra that seems to echo through his head anytime his sister is around. "Think before you speak" because Jerica can get mad over the smallest thing. It's always best to use a filter around her.

~*~

The doorbell rings and Jerica's already racing through the living room to get the door. Lucas and Mason sit at the kitchen counter, mutually deciding that they should just stay there.

"Lena! I'm so glad you're here!" Jerica exclaims as the girl walks in the front door with a worn out backpack slung over her shoulder.

The girls are very contrasting best friends, looking and acting nothing alike. Jerica had brown hair when she was a kid, but dyed it purple years ago and keeps it at shoulder length. Her eyes are brown just like her brothers. Her light blue glasses aren't prescription lenses but she wears them every day.

Lena has never dyed her orange hair and let it grow for years. Her hair is naturally straight and stops at the middle of her back. She has freckles below her blue eyes and on the bridge of her nose.

"Jerica! It's so weird... I thought I saw something in the woods behind your house when I walked over here." She tells her best friend as they walk through the living room. Jerica stops when she hears what was said, spinning around to confront her.

"Are you serious? Define this 'something' that you saw!" Jerica raises her voice in excitement and leans closer to her best friend. Lena takes a step back with her hands up.

"Okay, chill Jerica. Obviously I'm going to tell you." She replies, sounding playfully exasperated.

"Are you two fighting again?" Lucas asks as he and Mason enter the room. She turns around to face him.

"I'm not always angry, you know! Just because I-" Lena interrupts Jerica before she can go on and aggravate everyone.

"We're not fighting, Lucas. I was just about to tell Jerica what I saw in the woods a few minutes ago." Lucas doesn't look at Lena but his body relaxes from his "ready to fight" stance.

Everyone else is too busy to notice, but Lena's seen that way Lucas stands at least a million times before and knows he isn't getting ready to throw a punch, he's actually getting ready to throw words. He doesn't physically fight anyone.

Jerica faces Lena again and asks the obvious question, taking an impatient step forward. "So, what did you see?"

"Well, I didn't see it very clearly because the sun went down a while ago, but it might've been a large dog. Maybe a small bear..." She responds thoughtfully, trying to remember exactly what she saw.

"Oh! It would be so funny if you two chased after a bear in the woods!" Jerica exclaims while gesturing to her brothers. Lucas only shakes his head.

"No way, Jerica. I'm not going into the woods in the middle of the night!" Mason spits out the words like he can't wait to get them over with.

"Ha! You're such a baby! It's not even 11:00 p.m. yet." Jerica teases her brother.

Lucas briefly thinks about how their sister has always treated Mason better, but he shakes the thoughts off so as not to let it get to him. There's nothing to do about it. Jerica is the way she is.

"I'm not a baby!" Mason defends himself. In reality, they all know he's the baby of the group. Everyone's afraid of something, but everyone should try to overcome those things. Mason isn't as likely to do that as anyone else in their group.

"Oh, yeah? Then go out into the woods now and find whatever it was that Lena saw! I dare you." Jerica declares triumphantly as if she's won something by scaring Mason.

Lucas runs a hand through his hair nervously, knowing this probably isn't going to end well. Lena just stares at everyone, waiting to see what happens.

"I... I-" Mason stutters so it's clear that he won't be going on a crazy hike through the woods to find some animal. Lucas sighs in relief, but no one notices over Jerica's response.

"That's what I thought!" She glances over her shoulder at her friend and says, "Let's go upstairs."

Lena follows Jerica out of the room while Mason stands there horrified with himself.

Like a good brother, Lucas pats him on the back to console him. "It's okay, Mason. I wouldn't have gone out there either. It would be incredibly stupid. You did the right thing."

With nothing left to say, Lucas leaves for the comfort of his bedroom. He's just glad no one majorly fought today. He sits down on his bed, thinking of how grateful he is that Mason didn't do what Jerica said, when he sees someone run across the backyard.

Of course Mason did the opposite of what he was told. Everyone knows he does almost everything Jerica says because he likes to be her favorite brother.

Lucas jumps up, grabs a hoodie, pulls it over his head, and chases after Mason into the woods behind their house. He's pretty sure he can remember the path he walked on as a child.