The Icy Beta: Chapter Nine
*Hailey's POV*
I was sitting in my room. I wasn't in my room at Auntie Clara's house but one of the mansion's rooms. They told to stay with them as it was dangerous to go back to Auntie Clara's house. I didn't know that Chloe and everyone else lived together. Chloe never mentioned anything before. I guessed the reason of staying together was related to their secret. I was worried about Auntie Clara. I was afraid that man would hurt her but Jayden told me that he had sent people to protect Auntie Clara.
"Hailey, ready to go to school?" Chloe popped her head into my room.
"Yes." I took my bag with me and walked to the garage with Chloe.
"Where is Brayden?" I looked around but didn't see him anywhere.
"He left already." Chloe looked at me with a sympathy look.
I smiled weakly at her. "Let's go then."
At first, I thought it was nothing that he didn't go to school with us. As days passed by, I started to feel that he was actually trying to avoid me. He didn't have lunch with us in school. If I happened to be there early, he would just leave the table without eating. He wouldn't go home with us as well. I hardly even met him at home. If I did see him at home, he would just walked past me without saying anything. That lasted for a month. And this day, I decided to confront him. I woke up earlier than usual and hoped that I would meet him before he goes to school. I had decided that I needed to know what he felt about me. Otherwise, I would stop myself from having this stupid one-sided crush on him. Even though, I knew it would hurt me badly.
I went to sit in the living room facing the stairs. He would definitely come down from the stairs if he was going out. I looked at my watch. It was 6 in the morning. We would usually go to school around 9 in the morning. I wasn't sure what time he would go out of the house in order to avoid me. I was guessing the earlier I started waiting for him, the better it would be. After one and a half hour later, I heard footsteps and it was getting louder as the person nearing the living room. As expected, Brayden appeared and walked down the stairs. He didn't look towards my direction as if he knew that I was waiting for him in the living room. I stood up from the sofa and walked up to him. I grabbed his arm and stared into his eyes. I was shocked to see Brayden looking so pale and tried. He had eye bags and he looked like he hadn't been sleeping for days. His hair was in a mess.
"Can we talk?" I asked. He didn't move away from my grip but he avoided my gaze and was reluctant to look straight into my eyes.
"Why are you avoiding me?" I asked. He remained silent.
"I thought our relationship was making progress." Tears started rolling down my cheek. "After you talked to me in the storage room, I thought you were opening up to me. When you came to save me, I thought you cared about me." Brayden turned to look at me. His eyes were showing signs of sadness and pain.
"I do not know why. Ever since the first day I met you, I am attracted to you. Even though you were cold to me, I didn't really mind. At least, as the days go by, you were showing some level of concern for me. Am I wrong about that?" Brayden continued to remain silence. He took his hand away from mine and walked away from me.
I turned around swiftly and faced his back. "I like you." He stopped walking upon hearing what I'd said. I ran to him and hugged him tightly from the back.
"I don't know what is wrong with me. But it seems that I can't stop thinking about you. I don't know what are you hiding from me. I don't know what those kidnappers want from me. I don't know whether what that man said was true about me being his daughter. I totally don't know what is going on around me. I don't know what danger I'm in that you guys needed to protect me. I don't know what is going to happen to me. All these don't matter anymore. I don't need any explanations. But there is just one thing I needed to know." I paused a while before continuing.
"I like you. Do you... like me too?" This moment was the time where I wanted to know the answer so badly but at the same time, I was afraid to hear his answer. We stood at the same position for a few minutes. Brayden pushed my hands off him and stepped away from me.
"Brayden?" I called his name as I was unsure what he was trying to do. He stood in front of me with his back facing me. He clenched his fist tightly. I walked nearer to him and wanted to reach out to him. Suddenly, he turned around and ran out of the house, brushing past me along the way. I stood at the spot dumbfounded.
What does that mean? He rejected me? I dropped to my knees in shocked. I held onto my chest and stared at the ground blankly. Tears dripped to the floor. I stood up and walked aimlessly up the stairs. I headed down the walkway and entered a room to my right. I slid down the door and pulled my legs to my chest.
Doesn't he like me? I thought I felt it. I hit my chest repeatedly but the pain wasn't going away. I was crying so badly till I had a hard time breathing.
The windows in the room were widely opened. As the wind blew, papers went flying around the room. I sobbed a few times before wiping my tears away. I stood up from the ground and picked up the papers that were flown to the ground. There was this sketch on one of the papers which caught my attention. On that paper, there was a wolf's head being sketched on it. I remembered Auntie Clara once told me that I had a birth mark on the right side of my shoulder that looked like a head of a wolf. I quickly dashed into the bathroom and took of my clothes. I looked at my shoulder through the mirror. There was really a mark on my shoulder. I took the paper and placed it beside my shoulder to compare it. They resembled each other.
I quickly headed back to the table and looked through other papers. There was this other paper with a sketch of a huge wolf. On the table, there was a book placed at the side with a bookmark slotted in between the pages. The book had a brown cover and it looked kind of old. The pages were yellowish and seemed to be torn easily. The title of the book was 'Ancient Stories'.
I flipped open the book to the page where it was being bookmarked. The page on the left started off with a heading called 'The Beast'. There was a huge, fierce-looking wolf drawn on the next page. The wolf had a pair of red eyes, large paws and sharp canines. I started reading the content of the book. This was a story of a beast.
Werewolves were watched over by the God of Moon as known as Moon Lady. Moon Lady was responsible to pair up werewolves and ensure every werewolf would have a mate. That was to prevent werewolves from becoming lonely and the most important thing was to ensure the production line of werewolves would continue. Afraid that humans were unable to accept the existence of werewolves, Moon Lady would only pair male wolf with she wolf. However one day, Moon Lady made a mistake by pairing a werewolf with a human. The pairing was unable to be reverse.
Afraid that something bad might happen, Moon Lady monitored their lives. From strangers to lovers, Moon Lady saw that the human girl accepted the werewolf as who he was. They got married and gave birth to a sweet baby boy. Just when the Moon Lady thought nothing bad was going to happen and everything was progressing smoothly, something happened on the day of the child's 21st birthday. On his birthday, he shifted into a huge wolf. This wasn't some normal wolf. He was a beast. He lost all humanity and went on a rampage. He killed his parents and went on the streets killing innocent people. He had bloody red eyes. He was faster, stronger and he healed faster than any other wolves. He wiped out the whole town of people, both humans and werewolves.
With his presence, humans started finding out about werewolves. Humans became terrified. In the end, humans and werewolves harmed each other. He was a threat. Moon Lady felt guilty because of the one mistake she did. She made up her mind and she killed the beast with her own hands. After the beast was dead, the world returned to its peaceful state.
The beast... It had a head of a wolf stamped at the back of his shoulder.
The book slipped out of my hand and slammed loudly against the floor. One drop of tears fell out from my eyes. My brain was spinning badly. I couldn't believe what I had read. I was unable to digest the information properly.
I am... a monster. I opened the room door to see Chloe standing outside of the room. I ignored her and ran passed her.
"HAILEY!!!!" Chloe was calling me and chasing after me. I kept on running without looking back. "Hailey!!!!" I could hear her voice fading as I ran. I let my tears flowed freely. Usually if anyone who read the story would be laughing and thought that it was some nonsense. It could never be real. How could there be werewolves in this world? Not even mentioning some human changed into a beast. But as I was reading it, everything felt so real. The pictures drawn on the papers and the book had similarities with the wolf I had encountered in the forest. But the wolf in the picture seemed to be fiercer, with a larger jaw, sharper canines and claws. It should be a sketch of the beast instead. In addition, I had the same tattoo as what was drawn on the paper. And... My eyes turned red once. Did Chloe and the others know about that too? Was this the secret that they didn't want to tell me? Was that why Brayden kept a distance away from me?
I did not know how long I have been running but I was still far away from going back to Auntie Clara. After a few minutes, I finally saw the main street. I hurriedly went to the street and flagged a cab. I hopped into the cab and told the driver Auntie Clara's address. Once I reached, I saw Auntie Clara coming out of the house.
"Auntie Clara!!!" I ran up to her and hugged her tightly.
"Hailey! I miss you so much!!" Auntie Clara returned her hug. We went into the house and talked for hours before Auntie Clara left for work. I walked into my room's bathroom and stared at the reflection of myself in the mirror. I took off my shirt to see the tattoo stamped on my shoulder. I didn't want this. If the story was real, I would become a beast. I would go around killing people. I didn't want this at all. I didn't want to harm anyone. I didn't want to kill innocent people. I didn't want to kill my friends. And most importantly, I didn't want to kill Brayden.
I looked around the bathroom and took a scrub on my hand. I started scrubbing my shoulder. I scrubbed harder and hoped to erase the mark. I bite my lips to prevent myself from screaming in pain. As I scrubbed, I could feel something wet rolling down my skin and I could taste blood in my mouth. Tears were forcing its way out from my eyes.
"Hailey!!" I heard my room door being slammed open. Someone snatched the scrub away from my hand and threw it on the floor. The person hugged me tightly as I cried loudly. The person started shifting away from me. Suddenly, a towel was wrapped around me.
"Hailey..." The person ran his fingers across my face to wipe off my tears. I turned around to look at the person.
Brayden.
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Last edited 12 June 2018