The house phone ringing brought me back to reality and to jump up and off the couch. Seeing as no one else was around at the moment, I brought myself responsible to answer it. “Hello?” I asked.
“Hello. I am looking for Conner.” said some serious sounding voice.
“This is he.” I said, wondering what in the world this person wanted from me.
“Hello Conner. This is Leah Clearwater.”
“I’ve never heard of you.”
“Well, it would be strange if you did. I’m calling about Tara. She lives near me now and I’m a good friend of hers. She’s mentioned you, and I have a question for you. Are you coming for her or not?”
“Well,” I sighed “I’m not sure. I’ve seen the videos she’s sent to her mother, and she seems so happy. All I want is for her to be happy and if she’s happy there without me then I won’t come and ruin that by showing up on her doorstep.”
There was a pause before Leah answered. “She’s not quite happy.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, slightly confused and a bit alert.
“She is happy on some level, but I can tell something’s not right. Lately she hasn’t been truly smiling; instead they seem fake. I’ve caught her staring off into nothing and crying when she’s alone. I don’t know why but my suspicion is that it has something to do with you. She needs you Conner. Don’t think for a moment she doesn’t ‘cause she does and I think you need her too. You are the key to her happiness. She will never be truly happy until you come. I can tell she’s ready to break down any day now if she hasn’t already. She needs you here Conner. And she needs you now.”
My mind raced along with this new information. The vision of Tara I had, with her being happy all around, suddenly changed to a dimmer light and a broken Tara sitting on the floor crying, pretending to be happy on the outside but fooling no one. Just thinking about it made my heart sink. And I had done that. I was the one to blame. I threw my fist at the wall in frustration, creating a hole. Just in knowing I was hurting her every minute I was gone made me want to punish myself and run to her at the same time.
“Conner? Are you still there? Is everything ok?” asked puzzled Leah.
“I’ll be there in a few days.” I said bluntly, watching my bloody knuckles heal from the wall breaking.
“Good.” She said and hung up.
I grabbed my bag that I’d left fully packed and ran right into Ulric. “Conner! You’re back!” he smiled, patting my shoulder. “What did you find out?”
“I don’t have time to explain. Basically I know where she is and I’m going. Now.”
“Whoa wait a second.” Said Ulric, blocking my way out. I took a deep breath and tried to keep my temper and nerves at ease. “You just got back and you’re leaving so soon?”
I nodded. Then, Zevi popped up from behind. “You’re going to Tara? Can we come with?” he asked excitedly.
I sighed. “Fine. Pack quick.” I said exasperatedly.
Zevi ran past me while Ulric stopped and patted my shoulder. “You’ll see her soon.”
“I know. But until then...” I trailed off. He looked at me understandingly. Not bothering to wait for all of them, I yelled as they left “Meet me at Laura’s house ASAP.”
Once I got there, I found her trying to get a mattress out the door to a moving truck. I dropped my bag and quickly ran over to help her. “Oh thank you Conner. I thought you weren’t coming.” She smiled.
“I changed my mind.” I said, helping her load it. “Wow that is a lot of stuff.” I noted, seeing all the boxes already in back.
“Yeah, well she basically requested for her whole room and everything in it.” Grunted Laura. I helped her pack everything else in the truck and by the time we finished the whole pack had showed up, including Ann and Sam.
“Oh, did I mention they were coming too?” I asked Laura.
“Um, no.” she laughed. “Oh well. There’s not enough room in the front for everyone so most of you will have to sit in back. We’ll switch who gets to sit in front. Load up, we have a long journey ahead.” Everyone grumbled but loaded their stuff in the back and we headed off.
Zevi ended up getting the front as Laura drove. I was glad I was in the back. This way I wouldn’t be able to beg to go faster or check every minute how far we were. “So where does she live anyways?” asked Ann.
“Some place on the west side of Washington State.” I replied.
“Huh.” Commented Randy.
The back was pitch dark so I found a flashlight and turned it on. That’s when Sam got her bright idea. “Ok guys, seeing as we’re moving stuff and surprising Tara, I thought it would be nice to go in disguise. Like actually moving people. That would surprise her even more.” She said excitedly.
We groaned. Sam had always been a big acting person. She always wanted to be a big Hollywood star. Well, until she met Randy.
“I don’t know...” said Ulric skeptically.
“Oh come on! It’ll be fun! I brought fake facial hair, overalls, and we can use the pillows to make us look fatter! Please! Just imagine her face!”
We all groaned again. Sam was so darn persuasive. She could make a lamb try and eat the lion. “Fine.”
“Yay!” she clapped happily.
We traveled the rest of the afternoon, camped out for the night, and headed off the next day in the cold rain. Luckily the sun peeked out by noon so it wasn’t so bad. But, by the next night we were getting cranky from being cooped up all day in the dark and being on the road all day. This only made us slightly out of our minds, which resulted in us liking Sam’s plan even more. We came up with little games to play in the meantime like what shapes you can make in front of a flashlight, I Spy (which didn’t work so well, seeing as it was always black), who can tell the best scary story, and prank calls. Yeah, it was real...fun. During all this time I couldn’t stop thinking of her. All the things I want to say when we finally get there, everything. But I had to wait.
The second night we stopped on some secluded back road somewhere in eastern Washington. We had spread the sleeping bags out and around the truck. After being in that thing all day, it felt good to be out in the fresh air again. I was sleeping closest to Randy and Sam, yet I kept my distance from the lovebirds too. They made my heart ache even more and remind me what I did to Tara unknowingly, and how I miss her. In the middle of the night, I awoke suddenly to something. One moment I was in a restless sleep, the next I was sitting straight up, fully awake.
I looked to my left and saw the lovebirds, all cuddled up and smiling in their sleep. I looked away with painful memories arising. My mind focused on why I was up in the first place, on what woke me up. I had heard something. Something lonely, sad and desperate.
I had heard a howl.
Not just any howl, a werewolf’s howl. They can travel for hundreds of miles, but only other werewolves hear them. I don’t know why I was the only one who woke up to this one. It had been extremely faint, yet somehow it called directly to me. Like I was the one it was meant for.
With this disturbing thought, I tried to get some more sleep for the day ahead.
The next day, we drove and drove and drove, and ended up stopping at McDonalds for lunch. As the day went on, I only got more and more impatient. I sat in the front in the second half of the day, with Laura trying to comfort me though it didn’t really help. Then I restlessly watched her call Tara.
Just hearing her voice through the phone made the longing to see her even stronger. I resisted the urge to rip the phone out of Laura’s hand so I could talk to Tara myself and instead sat there and kept my mouth shut like a good boy. Once Laura hung up, she smiled at me. “Only an hour away. We’ll be there soon; don’t worry.” She patted my knee and started the truck up again and headed for the highway.
By the time we turned onto the back road that would lead to her house, I was verging on being a wreck with the knots of nerves in my stomach. Still, I didn’t show it on the outside. Laura could tell though. “You’re just like my husband before the wedding. A cool collected guy on the outside while a nervous wreck on the inside.” She smiled. I gave her a look before turning back to the scenery out the window. We drove into a forest and after a few minutes I saw a house loom up amongst the trees. My jaw dropped at the sight. Surely she didn’t live here! Laura pulled up and smiled. “We’re here.”
Still in slight shock, I hopped out and made sure my fake facial hair was in place before opening the back and letting the others out while grabbing a box. The others were all in costume as well and had the same reaction I did to her house. “Why couldn’t we have bought this one?” asked to Ann to Ulric.
He just shook his head and smiled. “Ours is fine honey. We just need to build on that extra room...”
We all lined up behind Laura as she rang the doorbell which echoed throughout the house. Geez, it was big. I couldn’t see who opened the door due to the fact I’d been purposely put at the back of the line, but by the happy exclamation of “Hi Mom! Come in!” I guessed it was Tara. We shuffled through the door and I heard her say something about putting the stuff upstairs. Once I finally got past the entranceway, Tara already had her back turned to me and was talking to Laura, but it didn’t matter.
She looked beautiful. Her skin was glowing and she looked stunning in a strapless cream colored dress that was fitted to her curves. I had a hard time not going over and holding her in my arms, feeling her skin against mine or her warm breathe near me or kissing her to no end but instead acting like I didn’t even know her at all. “Stick to the plan.” Muttered Randy. Oh yeah, the plan. Basically if Tara doesn’t recognize us right away, which seeing as she hasn’t even second glanced at us I think it’s safe to say she hasn’t, then we do our job until she does. If by the time we finish unloading she doesn’t recognize us, then we reveal ourselves. (Geez, that sounds dirty)
So, I resisted making any eye contact and followed the others upstairs. Gradually, I found I was actually already feeling better just with being in the same house as her. I found myself breathing easier, and my thinking was clearer. I wasn’t clouded by the fog that’d enveloped me when she’d left anymore. Having this advantage only made it easier to keep the act up.
While carrying boxes to and fro, I noticed Tara introducing vampires and werewolves alike that were also at the party to Laura. No big deal. Then while I was going back for yet another box I heard Tara say “Um, Mom, this is Mirabelle and Rena. They are my daughters...”I didn’t even register the last of what she said. I was in shock. She had daughters?!?!? It was a good thing she had her back to us because she would’ve seen six bearded people staring at her and her daughters with deer in headlights expressions, seeing as the others reacted like I did. We were all in shock. By the look on Laura’s face, she didn’t see this coming either.
“I adopted them.” Tara added. Suddenly the list of questions I had for her got a whole lot longer. Why would she be adopting kids so quickly? They both looked to be in their mid-teens, not older than Tara or I. Why adopt two teens randomly? Something was definitely up here.
After a minute or two, Zevi nudged me and we got back to work. I was a bit dazed though...
After ten more minutes or so of working, we were almost finished unloading and carrying things. And then she leaned up against the staircase, close to where we were working. She was so close now! I used all of my focus to keep working and to do my best ignoring her in all her finest.
Then I noticed her drink. At first I thought it was punch or something, but until now did I see that I was not. She was holding and drinking wine. Not to mention she’s underage, but that’s not the point here. The point is the Tara I know, or knew, did not drink. At all. Something’s wrong here, otherwise she would not be doing that. Maybe that Leah person was right in her unhappiness. Up to this point she seemed fine and content, but this says another story.
Again, I had lost my focus on the acting and I was looking straight at her as I walked past. Her grass green eyes glanced up at me and something flickered in them. Recognition. She froze in astonishment and her glass of wine dropped and shattered on the floor. Yep, I think she figured it out.
Her shock was quickly masked over, but nevertheless she had us all stop working. Once she had Randy rip off his disguise, I knew that this was the moment that I would FINALLY get her back in my life. The only problem was I was the farthest away from her which meant I would be the last to be greeted. Grr....
By the time she got around to me, she was in a very emotional state. I guess she had been on the verge of breaking down. Boy, she was good in acting to make you think otherwise though. Not to mention I was a nervous wreck too. Then the questions of: did she really love me? Did she even imprint on me at all? And such, arose again which further put doubt into my mind which did not help.
When she came up to me after her handshake with Zevi, I was at lost on what to do. Just having her presence this close had never felt so god. I thought over what to do when this moment arrived so many times in my head, but now that it was here I found myself just standing there. Should I hold her hand? Should I hug her? Or should I just pull her in and plain kiss her? My pondering was useless now seeing as she’d walked right up to me, giving me no more time to think.
Seeing tears welling up her beautiful eyes, I did what went naturally and pulled her in my arms.
*end of flashback*
“... and you guys know the rest.” I finished, amused by the others’ expressions. They’d found interest in my side of the story early on and listened intently and now they were all in a state of shock. I looked over to Tara and found she was indeed in slight shock with some awe mixed in. I guess she didn’t expect that coming from me.
“Oh wow. I did not see how much you were hurting too. I was in pain, but I didn’t realize how much it could destroy you too.” she said sadly, after finding her voice again. “I’m sorry.”
I squeezed her hand reassuringly and smiled. “Don’t be. And anyways, everything’s fine now. There’s nothing to worry about anymore.” She smiled back.
“Ok well, while you guys finish up your sappy soap opera, I would like you to pass the milk please.” Said Leah, clearly not as heart struck upon our story. I just shook my head and handed the milk to her.
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the more you do the three above, the more i upload! hehe