The Black Rose Pack

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I couldn’t feel or move my body, but I felt the pounding of jackhammers in my head. My eyelids felt too heavy to move and as soon as I saw the sunlight blazing through a broken window, I quickly shut them again. After several minutes if waiting, I attempted to brave the bright light again. Slowly, my overly sensitive eyes adjusted and feeling started to come back to the tips of my fingers and toes.

I then realised it was cold. Not in the way that it was when it snowed, but in a way that your body seemed to lack in heat, and it knew that darkness and death was washing over it.

Did Phoenix have the same feeling before he died?

Something cold hit my face, and looked over at the small figure that stood over me.

"You still look like shit, but at least you're still here," Serena said, a little grumpily. She looked annoyed or tired. At that moment, I couldn't really see her face. I could only hear the angry tone of her voice.

My mouth hurt, and my jaw felt as if it had been dislocated. “You owe a dollar to the swear jar,” I ground out, wincing in pain as my jaw snapped.

"Yeah, whatever, not like it matters anymore," Serena mumbled. Her eyes shone with unshed tears, her bottom lip trembling and her cheeks were red.

“Serena, I care,” I mumbled, propping myself gently on my elbow to look closely at her.

"Well nobody else does!" she yells at me. I was taken aback. She was always the type to stay quiet, to never raise her voice, but then, I realised, that the both of us has changed in the last couple of hours. That we may never be the same again.

Slowly I asked, "What happened after I had blacked out?"

Serena turned back to face me blankly again and replied, "You changed."

My head hurt too much to interpret what she said, but as the numbing pain ceased, my eyes widened and my head snapped towards her, my sight blurring.

“What do you mean ‘I changed’?” I asked slowly.

"Well, you looked like Dad a bit, just smaller," Serena said back, smiling. Although, it wasn't a comforting one. Serena then held up a hand, silencing me and dusted off an old wooden chair, sitting down with her arms and legs crossed.

For a thirteen year old, she was tall, though not as tall as me or Phoenix, but she was still able to tower over the other kids her age pretty quickly. However sadly, all she felt was that she was a freak in a world of werewolves and probably other creatures like us. But a lot of us, mainly Dad, knew she was special, and telling her that, made her feel more like a freak.

Serena then continued, "You, dear sister shifted, and kept me up all night looking for you. Thank you so much for that. I was alone, trying to find you. Do you know what that's like? I thought that my only other living family member had abandoned me!" She was crying now, her sobs loud as she looked around the cabin. She was trembling, and if I could move, I would have gone to her and held her, but my body felt broken.

“Serena…” I whispered, attempting to move, then stopped at the sound breaking branches. There was someone out there.

Both Serena and I didn’t move, in hopes it would be a rabbit, but we knew better as the thing growled it wasn't.

They had found us.

I motioned for Serena to get behind me and we slowly backed towards the door. Meanwhile, the growling became steadily louder and we began to hear a new sound; footfalls.

Serena gave me a wide eyed glance, and I did the only thing I could do and shift... or at least try to.

Shifting for the first time is like trying to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time; difficult and painful.