Ghost Towns

Thirty Five

Rye got up early, to her surprise. She had been so exhausted for days and days, and yet...she felt refreshed. As if she had slept a week's worth of hours in only a single night. Yawning, she stretched her arms out and blinked away the haze of waking up.

Light streamed through the room's single window, pooling on the bed, where Rye sat, alone. She rolled over, reaching for the empty pillow beside her, and found it cold. Jax must have awoken even earlier than this. Was he always an early riser? Rye realized that she did not know. For the time she had spent recovering in his home, he was never there when Rye woke. She smiled, the thought filling her with warmth. There was still so much left to learn. About him, about herself, about what life could be like, and what they could make out of it.

Rye threw the covers off of herself and rose, stretching the blankets neatly back over the borrowed bed. She slipped into her boots, though she didn't bother changing out of the sleeping dress Maria had given her. She found Jax's coat hanging on a nail next to the closed door and slipped it over her shoulders. It was not summer any longer, but not so cold that she was uncomfortable. Not yet, anyway. There was still time before the snow would come.

In the kitchen, Ellie was up, standing with a frying pan at the stove, humming to herself. From the couch, Corey was snoring softly. Maria and Hugh's door was still shut.

Ellie greeted Rye with a smile and a sweet 'good morning'.

"Can I help?" Rye asked, smiling back. She joined the girl at the stovetop, where Ellie was frying strips of meat.

Without waiting for an answer, Rye reached for the abandoned knife and began to spread butter over slices of toast.

"Thank you," Ellie said, as she wiped her hands in a towel. "I'm surprised to see you up so early,"

Rye laughed. "I'm surprised to be up early. I guess I slept well."

They were interrupted by a particularly loud snore from Corey on the couch. Rye slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from snorting.

"Not sure if we can say the same for him," Ellie said, half-smirking. Her eyes were alight with amusement.

"I'm sorry the sleeping arrangements were this way," Rye responded, an echo of last night's guilt still plaguing her.

"Don't worry about it," Ellie patted Rye's arm. "You slept well. That's important. You need to rest."

Rye's chest filled with unexpected warmth. She hadn't expected to like these strangers so much, so quickly. But Ellie had a way about her that was so gentle and friendly and difficult not to feel comfortable with. Even Corey had been lighthearted and outgoing with Rye.

Suddenly, Rye's mood had dampened. "Will you be staying here longer?" She asked Ellie, and then immediately added, "I didn't mean it like I want you to go. The opposite, really. I feel connected to all of you, but...I suppose you have places to go home to eventually."

Ellie paused, her hand curled around a spatula and her eyes fixed on the frying pan. When she looked up at Rye, her expression was clouded. "Corey and I - did anyone tell you he's my brother? - we...have a cottage we live in. Very much like this one." Her gaze seemed distant. "But home for a wolf isn't supposed to be so..."

Rye touched her shoulder. "So lonely," she finished.

Ellie's gaze snapped to hers, back to the present. "Yes," she whispered.

"I know," Rye nodded. "It used to bother me, wondering why Jax lived in isolation. I can't imagine living that way," her sentence dragged to its end. She realized abruptly that she couldn't live that way. She had grown up in a bustling little village. Surrounded by voices and noise and laughter. Even now, when she knew all the fears that stood between them, Rye had difficulty justifying why all these wolves lived so apart.