Soul Mate

Soul Mate part 20

             S O U L   M A T E S

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                   Chapter 20

Intro:

Before I had time to think, I reached into the door, and quickly pulled out the diary. How I knew it was there, I don’t know, I just had this feeling in my gut, and I knew that I needed to go with it. I quickly flipped it open to the first page, and almost dropped the book. My hand covered my mouth, to stifle a scream or a gasp, I don’t know. Tears gleamed in my eyes, but I was too shocked to sit down and cry. No, I had never been in this room.

But my mother had.

I leaned forward, and with shaking fingers, grabbed the picture wedged between the diaries silver bound pages. The blood pounded in my ears as the truth set in. The truth that was about to shake my world upside down once again. I darted from the blue room and immediately into another person.

                As I stared at Emma Rose, I could see it, just as my mother had described. In all the tales my mother had told me, about living in the home she had been so cruelly taken from, the people who had loved her. A beautiful web of words, designed to take me away from the dark and destructive world that we lived in. If only for a few minutes.

                The picture found its way from my numb fingers, and fluttered to the floor. I turned and ran, darting down the hall, the photo filled walls seeming to glare at me as I fled.  I wasn’t alone now, but in a way, I was more alone than I had ever been before.

                Alone, alone, alone.

                It flashed before my eyelids as I ran farther and farther away from her, I couldn’t bring myself to think of her as Emma anymore. Her arms outstretched, as she called to me.

                “Annabelle!” She yelled.

“Anna! Please! Just let me explain!”

                I didn’t turn back. Not once.  I dodged through the winding corridors. The solitary photo said it all.

                My mother, and ‘them’. Her parents. Smiling at the camera, looking the same as they did now. More lines on their faces, more sorrow in their eye, but it was them. Emma and Daniel Rose, Isabeau’s parents, my grandparents. They’d known, and they left her.

They’d left me.

Alone, alone, alone.

I followed my nose back the way I’d come. The kitchen, the library, the office all blurred by me as I came into sight of the jarred front door.

Nick and Daniel stood, chatting as I ran by. Nick’s eyes met mine for a split second as I flew by, but already they were filled with concern, and a wild fear for me. Always fear, or concern. I governed his life now. I hated it, that he looked at me like that, but I knew it was my fault. It’s always all my fault.

My fault, my fault, my fault.

I wish that I could be normal for him, that we could be normal together. We could get married, settle down, have kids. I didn’t  even know if he liked kids. We didn’t need kids, we could travel the world. Tears streamed down my face as images of the Eiffel tower flashed before my eyes, a little boy with Nicks hair and my eyes.

 Dreams. I didn’t deserve them, and I didn’t deserve him. I was ruining his life and I knew it.

My fault, alone, my fault alone. I was drowning in it, it sat on my chest and suffocated me as I struggled to push myself further, away from the hurt, and the pain.

“Annabelle!” He shouted, his tone laced with the ever present worry that I was becoming too accustomed to. I ignored him, running through the door. As I made a beeline towards the trees, I cast a silent plea for him to forgive me. I could hear them behind me as I raced through the darkening canopy of trees.

I ran further and further until I could no longer hear anyone, my heartbeat ringing strong and clear in my ears, never faltering. I pushed on.  The browns and greens of the forest assaulted my senses, and I held nothing back as I changed into my wolf, letting myself run freely.

I didn’t even notice until I’d  reached the Sun Rose border that I wasn’t alone. I skidded to a halt, my feet dragging sticks and debris as I skidded to a stop. I finally came to a shuddering stop, ten or so feet form a large, brown, wolf. Shit.