Boundaries

Chapter 23

Dylan waits by the stream, a small smile on his face.

It's a crystal clear day, the sun shining through the trees overhead and sparkling on the gently trickling water that babbles along the riverbed. It's just another beautiful summers day, one that reminds Dylan of his idyllic childhood, but there's a bite in the wind that reminds him that September is just days away.

His summer will very soon be over, but he doesn't let the thought phase him. They meet here regardless of the weather. But Dylan will miss the summer, because summer with Orion is the best time of year.

He loves it when they can swim and sunbathe, their skin brushing against one another as they lie side by side in the shallows of the stream. His mind wanders to new possibilities, a thrill coursing through him as he imagines their next summer, kissing in the sun, holding each other in the stream.

Dylan glances up, registering the position of the sun and frowns gently.

Orion should be here by now. He's always here by now.

Dylan bites his lip, chewing it absently as he wonders what's held the elder boy up.

He leans back on his hands, closing his eyes and relishing the soft breeze and the warm sunshine on his bare feet. His habit of not wearing shoes has followed him into adolescence, and he doesn't think it will be changing any time soon.

This does sometimes happen, he thinks to himself.

Once Dylan got kidnapped by his father for a whole day to shadow him in his Alpha duties. Dylan shudders just remembering it.

And once Orion had gotten grounded, unable to sneak out for three days until eventually, he couldn't bare being pent up anymore. How long those three days had been for them.

Dylan watches the sun continue to crawl through the sky, and when it finally begins to make its descent, he decides to call it a day. His chest is heavy with disappointment, but he perks up at the knowledge that Orion will almost certainly be here tomorrow.

But when tomorrow becomes today, Orion is once again no where to be found.

Dylan frowns, his fingers fidgeting restlessly and digging into the dirt beneath where he is sat. Nothing has happened to him, he would know if it had. His father would have told him. Orion, as the future Ironhill Alpha, is too important to just go missing or...god forbid...die.

So where is he?

Dylan continues to make the pilgrimage to the edge of his territory for an entire year.

He waits in their spot, quiet and watchful, awaiting the arrival of his best and only friend. He had been hopeful that maybe on his sixteenth birthday his friend would come, but instead Dylan spends it alone.

With each day that passes, his shoulders grow heavier, his despair settling deep inside his heart, making a home there as his loneliness claws away at him. But he never stops hoping, and that perhaps is the worst part. He wishes he could kill it, stub out that tiny ember that continues to burn in the bottom of his heart, taunting him again and again.

He goes over that last day in his mind, replaying every moment for the thousandth time, trying to pin point what went wrong.

Orion had never talked about girls much, but maybe the kiss was different for him. Maybe he hated it? But why had he held Dylan afterward? The way he had looked at him as he had held him close...the way he had promised...

Dylan squeezes his eyes closed tight.

He doesn't want to remember.

That summer is the loneliest summer of Dylan's life, and this time, he is not sad when it is over.

September 1st, the day before Orion's eighteenth birthday also marks the day that Orion kills his father. Dylan feels no sadness at Ironhill's loss.

The next day, Orion is officiated as the new Alpha of Ironhill territory. It is also the day that Dylan makes his final pilgrimage.

He stands in their spot, knowing now that Orion isn't coming back. He stands still, memorising everything, reliving every moment so that he doesn't forget. Dylan knows he won't ever come back to this place again, so he takes the time to remember.

He remembers the first time he saw his boyhood friend and how they had played in the stream. He remembers their birthdays, the secrets they'd shared, the nights that they had slept beneath the stars, and finally, their first and last kiss.

Something, a part of him perhaps, lives in this spot. In the woods, besides the river, on the edge of two territories. He feels frozen, as though time is standing still until Orion comes back. He despairs at the knowledge that somehow, he'll need to move on regardless.

Dylan knows that nothing will be the same again and his heart aches for the death of his childhood. He wishes that it didn't have to end so soon. He wonders if anyone ever realises that they've seen their last day of freedom; of real, child-like happiness. He doesn't think so.

The next day, Dylan signs 'hello' to Sam for the first time.

He likes Sam, he always has, and when he signs 'hello', Sam looks at him like he puts stars in the sky. Dylan asks his father if he can shadow him more often. He begins to read more, study harder and train longer, and his father is thrilled.

But his mother notices something else.

He smiles less.

And she can't work out why.