The Moonlight Chronicles (Book 1: The First Bite)(Complete)&Book2: (teaser)

Chapter 7: Heartache and Heroism

My family was very welcoming at first because they thought they had their dead daughter back from the grave, but then their joy for my return soon faded as they realized that I was not their daughter that had left them a year ago.

Things were a bit rocky at the beginning when I lived at my mother’s house out in the suburbs while I tried to get a handle on living in a more confined world again. My family tried to make it work by giving me my space so that I could adjust to my new surroundings at my own pace and would even attempt to comfort me when the claustrophobia of the walls would begin to overwhelm me.

But, they soon realized that my experiences in the woods had forever changed me and their joy for my return soon turned to fear as there was a wildness and a fierceness that they attributed to my forest living that had not faded even after a few months had passed.

I often found myself growling at them to express my frustrations with my new life and would often howl in my sleep. Which was a frightening experience for them because they never knew if I was having a nightmare they needed to wake me from, or if it was some bizarre sleep habit I had formed to keep myself from being eaten…the truth was far more embarrassing so I would just avoid the subject when they attempted to bring it up.

Then again…how would you go about telling your parents that you howled in your sleep because you were now a werewolf and dreaming of running through the forest with a man who housed the spirit of a wolf who was the dead lover of the wolf spirit which was now inside you? Answer…YOU DON’T. Assuming they don’t send you to the loony bin for even saying it to them…they will likely think it’s some forest induced trauma and send you to a shrink or two at the very least.

While I was grateful that they had allowed months to pass before forcing me to face Ryan’s mom, I am still unsure if I was ready for it when the day to see her again finally came. It definitely wasn’t a day I’ll ever forget either.

I had just woken up and was still in the rumpled pajamas I had worn to sleep when I walked down the polished oak staircase and into the kitchen only to come face to face with Ryan’s mom as she calmly sits at the breakfast table with a subtle smile on her lips. Her hair is a dark brown with a natural wave to it as it falls across her shoulders and the features of her face were still soft despite her age. I’m sure the smile was supposed to be warm and comforting, but it just sent chills down my spine because Ryan had looked so much like her…or at least as much as a son can look like his mother. Ryan’s hair was naturally dark brown like his mother’s, but he would often let his become overgrown and messy due to his relaxed ways.

I blink back the tears as I remember his face that night. The medium length shaggy haircut and perpetually scruffy beard…both soaked with his own blood as I watched the life drain from his once bright blue eyes. What’s worse is how much he reminded me of Hunter. Both had that ruggedness to their looks, it’s just that Hunter’s was emphasized by living in the forest.

She sees me turn away and gently says, “It’s alright. I know you were not expecting to see me and I must be bringing back some pretty painful memories, but I talked with your mother and she asked me to let you know that I do not blame you for what happened to him. In fact, I’m sure you did everything in your power to try and save him. That is why I want you to have these.”

She pushes a small wooden box that had been resting beneath her hands across the table to me and opens the lid. Inside I can see Ryan’s favorite Ka Bar knife resting in its sheath. He had left it behind so that he wouldn’t lose it in the churning waters of the rapids. Next to it is something wrapped loosely in his favorite bandana… the one that he would wear to keep the sweat out of his eyes when we were off on our adventures. I could smell that it had been washed, and all traces of it being with us on his last adventure were replaced by the fake fresh breeze scent of laundry detergent.