So..... what do you do the day after you learn that nothing is what you thought it was, and the only friends you have can turn into massive wolves?
First you question your sanity.
Then when you realize that the eyes don't tell lies, you get pissed at them for being monsters.
After you decide that you're getting no where with the whole being pissed thing, and you can't just sit around and debate the issues of the world, you go get ice cream.
There isn't a particularly good reason for that, but I'm sure it will make me feel slightly better.
Besides, what better way is there to contemplate if you're ever going to talk to them again, then over a nice waffle cone of ice cream?
Admittedly I think the answer to that question is no, but that doesn't mean I can't decide to contemplate it some more as an excuse to get ice cream.
I pulled into the parking lot of the ice cream shop that Chance took me to when we found out that Alexander asked Brandy to be his girlfriend.
It may be true that I make the best ice cream Sundays ever, but I didn't really feel like making it today. I just wanted to be able to sit down, and have someone put the ice cream in front of me. No need for me to focus on what was going on so I didn't end up with tuna fish in my ice cream instead of cherries again.
"May I take your order?" a girl that looked about my age asked with a smile.
"I think I'll just get the same thing I had last time. Mint..." I started before she cut me off.
"Chocolate chip with Oreo on top, in a waffle cone. I'll be right out with that," she said before skipping off with a smile.
She needs to get a really good tip for that. Even if it was slightly creepy that she knows what I ordered last time I was here.
A few minutes later she came back with the waffle cone I asked for.
"How did you know what I ordered last time?" I asked taking it from her happily.
She shrugged, "We don't get a lot of people here that we don't know. It makes you more interesting than most people."
I'm more interesting than most people without being new around here.
"Makes sense."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, why not." I said happy for the distraction she was giving me form a certain issue I was having at the moment.
"Where is Chance? I thought you two went everywhere together."
And there goes the distraction.
"We had a..... disagreement."
Understatement of the year.
"That's too bad," she said looking at me with sympathy, "I hope you work it out."
Is this part of living in a small town?
"Me too," I said knowing that it wasn't going to happen.
She gave me one last smile before turning around, and going back to cleaning the tables.
I guess Sunday wasn't one of their more busy days.
"Do you know how hard it is to catch you alone?" I heard someone ask from across the booth I was sitting in.
"What?" I asked looking up.
"You always have people with you. Even when you're at home you have your adoptive siblings, or Chance with you. It's quite annoying.
"I don't have Chance over that often," I defended myself, but at the same time wondering how he knew that.
"Sure you don't," the guy said sarcastically.
Really? He's not over that often.
Especially when you compare the amount of time he spends at my house, and the amount of time Hero and Brandy spend at my house.
Well.... Not anymore.
At the moment they're all kind of banned from my house.
"The fact that your boyfriend sleeps at your house on a regular basis is not what I came over here to talk to you about though," the guy said grabbing my attention in a second as he suddenly got serious, "My name is Jack. I was a friend of your father."
What?
Chance doesn't sleep at my house.
Hero does semi regularly, but Jack refered to Hero as my adoptive brother.
I looked at him with confusion, "My father?"
What does a friend of my father's that I've never met, want with me?
"Yes," he said giving me a sad smile, "you father. He was a good man, but he got mixed up in something that wasn't so good...."
Anger started to raise in me as I looked at him. My dad didn't get mixed up in anything that wasn't legal.
Jack must have seen the look on my face because he held up his hands in a defensive manner, "He didn't really have a choice Elizabeth, but he did get mixed up in something less than wholesome. I need you to listen to me."
The anger in me started to go down as I realized that I should at least give him a chance to explain himself. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to kick his ass if he doesn't make it believable, but it does mean that I'm going to hear him out.
"Explain," I ordered looking at him with a glare, despite the fact that I had decided that I was going to hear him out.
"Okay," Jack said dropping his defensive manner, "First I would like to say that I'm sorry for what happened. Even if he didn't deal in something that was entirely good, he didn't deserve to die."
I raised my eyebrow at him.
Everybody says that. That's why I don't tell people what happened. It's all impersonal, and no one really means what they say.
Especially when they say they are sorry for what happened because they don't know what happened.
They never do.
"I know that sounds cliche, but it's true."
"Get to the point."
"Okay.... Your dad got mixed up with a group that dealt primarily in contract killings. It wasn't on purpose though. Like I said before, he didn't have a choice. He accidentally walked in on one of the contracts being completed....."
"Stop," I said holding up one of my hands, "I don't need all the details. What does this have to do with me?"
Other than the obvious of it being my father that was the one that got killed......
"Long story short he wouldn't comply with the wishes of the person that they took him back to. There's more to it than that, but I won't get into all the details. About a week before he died, he told me what happened, and that he was worried about his family. He made me promise that if anything were to happen to him I would make sure to take care of you and your mom. I don't think your mom is in much danger since she is always at the hospital, but you spend an extraordinary amount of time in your house, and I have no doubt that if this group wanted to get to you they could go through your boyfriend, and adopted siblings."
Not like it's creepy that he knows I spend a lot of time at home or anything.....
I stared at him like he'd grown a third eye, "I'm sorry, but I don't believe you. It made a good story though."
"It's not a story, Elizabeth. How else would I know your name?"
"You said it yourself. You were my father's friend."
"But you know that your dad keeps the people from work, and his family separate. I didn't even know that you existed until he came to me, and asked if I would look after you."
"My name was probably in the papers after my dad died."
"You read the article. I know you did. It didn't say any names."
But my last name isn't really common. He could have gotten my first name from another source without much difficulty.
I think he saw my doubt because he continued, "Your dad said to tell you that he was sorry that he didn't get to see your eighteenth birthday."
"How is that supposed to convince me that you're not lying?"
"It's not. This is," he said pulling out an envelope with familiar handwriting addressing it to me.
Inside there was a small picture of my dad and I when I was about ten. I flipped it over to find some more of that all too familiar handwriting.
I'm sorry I didn't get to see this one, but I'm sure you look really good with wrinkles.
I laughed at my dad's sense of humor, and put the picture back in the envelope so it wouldn't get hurt.
"How did you get this?" I asked looking at the guy across from me.
"Your dad gave it to me."
My dad wouldn't give that to someone else.
I'm pretty sure that if he knew he was going to die he would have just left it in his desk knowing that someone would find it.
There was something else that was off about the card, but I couldn't seem to put my finger on it....
Maybe it's just been too long since I've read my dad's handwriting, and it didn't look exactly like I remembered.
That might be it.....
"Elizabeth," he said, pulling out of my musing, "I'm trying to protect you. I promised your dad that I would look after you, and I intend to keep my promise."
"So.... What do you want from me?" I asked, giving him a skeptical look.
"Well...."
My dreams were interesting tonight.
It started out with me in front of my old house like it use to do all the time, but instead of forcing me to go inside, my dream took me around it, and despite the fact that there were no trees around my last house, I found myself in a forest.
When I looked around the forest I found the wolf that I realized was what my brain imagines Chance's wolf to look like.
He changed into a human, and started to walk toward me.
I think the shock of it woke me up because in the next second I was looking at the alarm clock on the dresser.
The numbers 2:30 were glowing on the screen.
It shouldn't be too hard to go back to sleep. I'm warm, and it's late, and I have someone's arm wrapped around my waist......
Wait.....
Was 'I have someone's arm wrapped around my waist,' on that list for a reason?
I looked down, and realized two things.....
Yes, there was a reason that having someone's arm wrapped around my waist was on the list, and that Jack was right when he said that Chance was over here a lot.
Don't know how he knew that when I didn't, but he did.
Now that realizations are over.....
I turned over as much as I could, and slapped Chance across the face as hard as I could.
His only response was to pull me closer to his chest, and breath slightly louder for a second.
Mine, however, included things like cursing the fact that he has a bony jaw, and shaking my hand out.
"Chance," I whispered, shaking his shoulder a little, "Wake up."
He growled a little, and I dropped my hand.
Maybe it won't be so bad to just let him sleep.....
I turned around in his arms again so my chest was no longer pressed against his.
Did he do this every night?
Is that why the nightmares stopped after that night he carried me back from the woods?
I think so, but why would he keep doing it after I kicked him out of my house?
The part of my brain that wasn't pissed that he was here, was telling me that I thought it was sweet and that I didn't mind him helping my nightmares go away, but that part that was pissed was loud.
After a few minutes of conflicted thought I let out a small sigh.
This was getting me nowhere.
It's not like I can change my current position anyway. I can't wake him up to kick him out again, so I might as well just go back to sleep. I'm sure it can wait until morning.
With this decision reached, my eyelids started to flutter shut, and I could feel my breathing slowing down to match Chance's.
I snuggled into Chance's chest more, and let sleep overwhelm me.
The last thing running through my brain before I was completely incapable of thought was how grateful I was in that moment that Chance was here....