The Luna's Nerd

~Chapter 9~

"Rise and shine." I knock on the doorway to Titus' room and he jumps in the bed with a pornography magazine opened on his chest. "You're sick, man." I laugh turning away and he grumbles back something that is incoherent.

"I'm going to the library. Before you say anything, yes I'm covered for the snow." He begins snoring again and I know he's too tired to care whether I'm properly dressed for the cold or not.

I slowly shut the door to his room and run downstairs. I'm not going to spare another second wasting my time in this place. I need to get to that street address as soon as possible.

I hurry downstairs and make sure to leave the door open when I leave. Titus' car is parked in the driveway and it's covered in snow. I already know Titus will stay up for hours to shovel the snow away. Winter is his least favorite time of the year.

I walk down the road at a slower pace. As anxious as I am to see what's going on at the address, I also don't want to rush and hurt myself. It will make my quest a lot harder being in pain.

I don't know exactly where the street is, but I've got a GPS leading me to it on my phone just in case I get lost. Maybe going to this place will shed a new light, and I may remember some things that I lost the day of the accident. I'm growing anxious by the moment, and I fear that I'm following along a ghost path. Maybe Titus keeps things from me for a reason. So I won't get hurt? Or so he won't? Perhaps he just doesn't want me to know the truth because he thinks it's too much. I've been in the dark for too long, and now I just know something strange is going on. I can't stop myself at this point.

I look up puzzled at the direction of the street. There's a lot of trees and I can't see very far. There's also a path into the woods that hardly identifies as a road. Either way, there's a sign, and attached to it in white letters says 115 Westwood Road.

Here? This is the place marked on my birth certificate. There is no way I was born on a dirt road 18 years ago.

I cautiously approach the sign to get a better look at it. I can't believe my eyes. The sign is scratched up and the thought of entering those woods makes me fear what's in there. Maybe I've dug too deep. I turn around and I see a small figure hiding behind a tree. She's shaking, and I can see the side of her body potruding from behind the tree. "H-Hello?" I ask carefully approaching her. She doesn't move, but she's still shaking as if she's terrified of something. Of me? "Excuse me?" I gently touch her arm and she screams and falls to the ground.

"Mom! Mom! Help!" She shouts and begins to cry.

"Calm down. I won't hurt you. I swear." She hiccups and her cries soften. She looks about 7 or 8 years old. She's quite small and has dark brown hair and green eyes. Her skin is as pale as the snow she's covered in. "Are you okay?" I ask holding out my hand to her. She vigorously shakes her head yes and doesn't take my hand. "What's your name?"

The little girl still stares at me. I know she's still scared.

"I'm Ty. Are you from around here?" The girl nods her head again. "Where?" I don't want to scare her away. She's in the middle of nowhere and I don't think her parents are around.

She slowly points to the awful road that leads to God knows where. "You're from there?" I ask just to make sure I'm clear where she's pointing. She nods again. Hopefully she wasn't raised by a pack of wild animals. The only hope I do have is the fact that she was screaming for her mom, so there must be some form of civilization out there. "Is it okay if I take you home? If I'm right, I think I may come from there, too." I explain to this little girl.

I bend down to her level so that she can see me more clearly. I'm quite tall, and I bet as tall as I am, I probably looked terrifying as hell looming over her. She opens her mouth as if she wants to say something, and then closes it very quickly. She nods her head yes and wraps her small arms around my neck. She holds onto me very tightly and I understand she wants me to carry her. She doesn't weigh much and it's almost like carrying air.

"Does your family live here, too?" I ask beginning on the road. If any animals are to come out I need to protect this girl with my life. Even though we're both strangers I'm the one taking her into the woods in the first place.

I feel her nod her head against my shoulder. "I may have been born here.  Me and my brother, Titus." I say. The little girl feels stiff in my arms, and in my peripheral vision I can see her staring at me.

"Alpha Titus?" She whispers gently in a small voice. "Y-You're his brother?" She asks. I look at her and she seems a lot more at ease than she was when I first saw her.

"You know him?"

She nods her head, "He lives here, too." She tells me.

"Really? Does he come here often?"

"Not as often as before, but to check up on us and make sure we're ok." She buries her head in my shoulder again, but I'm too paralyzed to ask the little girl any more questions. Titus goes here? Why? Does he have a family I don't know about?

My heart races and I continue through the path. It's growing thinner and thinner by each step, but I'm driven by the area of grass just head. There's no trees, and I assume it must be a clearing. Someone has to be there. "Farah," says the little girl, still quiet, "My name is Farah."

"It's nice to meet you, Farah." I greet softly.

"You too." She whispers gently and I craddle her close to my body.

"Madrid misses you."

"Madrid?" I ask. "Who's Madrid?"

Farah looks up at me and says, "She's your grandmother." I pause momentarily. I have a grandmother? Well, one that's living? "Yes, 'course you do." Says Farah. I must've voiced my thoughts.

"I don't think I've met her." I whisper. Or I don't remember her... I blink away tears. How could I forget my own grandparents. Hell, I don't even remember my own parents. My childhood. I'm such a fucking freak!

Farah points to the clearing, "Just up there." She informs and I step into it. I'm completely taken aback by what I see. I can't believe this is it. Maybe there's not a ghost trail.

This can be it. Here, maybe I can find the answers.