Marked by the Alpha

Chapter 2

“I do understand. You love Sandra more than me.” I spat out and walked into the house without looking back. I was on the verge of crying again. How much tears can a girl hold? I was just one person and I certainly couldn’t handle this crap anymore. I was only seventeen and I shouldn’t be worrying about these things. I wished I was normal. I wished that my parents were still married, that my dad took care of his ‘little girl’, and that my boyfriend loved me unconditionally. But I wasn’t normal. I was Daniella Saunders. I was far from normal.

Half an hour later, my dad finally left. He tried to say good bye, but I ignored him. My mom left me with some Ben & Jerry’s strawberry ice cream before going to her meeting. I wished my brother were here. He would’ve been comforting me and he would’ve told my dad to leave me the hell alone. He would’ve protected me. He would’ve tickled me until I started smiling again.  

My brother, Darren was two years older than me and right now, he was at college all the way in Washington. I missed him terribly. He was working on getting a degree as a mechanic. My father wanted him to become a star baseball player, but Darren didn’t listen to him. It was his life after all. That’s how I learned to stand up to my father. Darren was my inspiration. His voice popped into my mind. “Hold your head up high and smile. Stand up tall and remain strong. You are strong. You know why?” I would smile at him, knowing what he would say next. “Because I’m your brother.” We would laugh and he would tickle me until I was almost out of breath.

It was getting dark already and I could see the stars in the sky began to appear. I was sitting in my huge bedroom, looking out the window to the back yard. The only thing I didn’t like about this place was the forest that was a few feet away from my house. It was strange and creepy. It looked like one of those forests in those scary movies they tell you not to go into. The fog surrounded the trees mysteriously and I shivered at the thought of walking into the forest and what could happen if I did.  Just when I thought that, I saw something black zipping through trees. What the hell was that? I started to panic. Was it a dog? Dogs certainly weren’t as big as that. Maybe it was a bear. But bears didn’t move that fast, a little voice in my head said. Goosebumps rose all over my body and my heart started going in overdrive. I closed my eyes and shook my head and looked back at the forest. There was nothing. It just looked creepy as usual. Maybe I was hallucinating, I was tired after all.

Someone knocked on my door, waking me up from my reverie. “Come in,” I called, still looking outside. The door opened slowly and my mom’s head popped inside. She looked concerned and worried. She came in and obviously, she changed into something more comfortable. Her hair was in a messy bun and she wore a white loose shirt and gray sweats. “Honey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just mad at dad.” I sighed.

“You have every right to be. I can’t believe he married a skank.” My mother spat and shivered in disgust. “I can’t believe he chose her over his own daughter.”

I stayed quite the whole time my mom ranted about the reasons she divorced him. “He was selfish. He wanted things to go his way. Gosh, when is he ever going to learn?” My mom just kept going on and on until I got up and started unpacking my clothes. She watched me curiously and started helping me unpack my stuff. It was silent and I appreciated it. I didn’t feel like talking about my dad anymore. What’s done is done.

By the time I was half way done, my right shoulder started aching. I winced and started rolling it. I rubbed it, but it did nothing to help my burning shoulder. My mom noticed and she looked at me worried. She bit her lip. “What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Nothing big. It’s been happening for a week.” I rubbed my shoulder, wincing. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, trying to calm myself down. “It’s probably because I’m tired.”