The Hunter McCall

Chapter 21: The Animals

I get to Beacon Hills at around 1 in the morning. I walk up to the door and see a light on in the kitchen. Instead of getting my keys out, I just knock, knowing someone is home. 

The door opens and I see my very tired mother. "Ellie? You're home early." She says, waking up a little bit. 

I have been holding in my tears for so long and seeing my mother puts me over the edge. I crush her in a hug and she hugs back, a bit confused. I finally feel myself let my tears loose and I cry into her shoulder. "Ok honey. It's ok." She says, patting my head as I cry harder. "Lets get you inside." She says, pulling back. I nod as she grabs my bag and closes the door. 

We walk over to the kitchen where I sit at the island as my mother makes some coffee and hot chocolate. 

She hands me a mug of the hot cocoa and she sits down next to me. My hands wrap around the mug and I just look at it. "Honey, what happened?" Mom asks softly. 

"I-I..." I can't find the right words to say. I can't tell her about the supernatural world, but I need to tell someone about Ellen and Jo. I also don't want to lie, but it's the only option I have left. "I was with a friend, Jo and her mother, Ellen. I've known Jo for a few years now and we got really close. We were-" Here comes the lie. "We were driving and I..." What am I gonna say? "I should have said something. I saw another car, going really fast. The other car... It hit us." I look down at the hot chocolate, my throat burning from the held in tears. "I tried to pull them out, but Ellen died on impact." Now, I am not holding back anything. I am shuddering as I basically re-watch their deaths. "I got Jo out and dragged her to the side of the road." I look at my mother who is looking at me sadly. "I tried to save her and help but..."

"Honey, it's ok." My mom says, pulling me into a hug. 

"No, it's not. It's all my fault! It's all my fault!" I cry into my mother.

"Shhh, sweetie. It's not your fault. You couldn't have done anything." Mom says in a soothing tone.

"I should have said something! I should have done something!" I keep crying and my mother assures me that it wasn't my fault so many times that I lose count. 

I finally calm down a little bit and look at the clock. "Oh my god. It's 3am." I say, pulling off Mom. "I'm sorry I didn't realize. I didn't--" I ramble on about how sorry I am that I kept her up so late.

"Honey, it's fine. But now that you've calmed down a little bit, why don't you tell me about the rest of your summer?"

"Well, I went camping." I say, wiping my tears off my face. "I also saw the devil." I joke. 

"You're version or mine?" My mom asks.

"Mine." I sneer just thinking about him.

"What did you do?"

"Well, he was investigating some friends for some reason, and he tried to play the 'I'm your father so you have to listen to me' card." I say, my voice going deeper. 

"How'd you react?"

"Coldly."

"That's my girl." She says, smiling. "How about you get some rest?"

"Ok." I say, grabbing my things. We walk up stairs and get ready for bed. As I get into my own bed, Mom comes back in my room and tucks me in like a child. 

"You going to be ok?" She asks. I nod as she gives me a kiss on the forehead. "Night. Love you."

"Love you too." I say as she walks out, closing the door. I roll over onto my side and close my eyes.