I woke up to Minnie blasting Kanye in the house's surround speakers.
Ah, what a beautiful wake up call.
I stretched before hopping out of bed and making my way to the bathroom.
After a quick shower I blowdried my hair and walked over to the closet to pick out my clothes for the day.
Settling on a nice pair of straight leg jeans, my air forces, and a black tank, I quickly put my outfit on and made my way outside.
As soon as I got to the stairs I was fully able to grasp the disaster that was about to ensue.
"Yeah Mark, that's fine. Just put the DJ table over by the sofas. David, wait, I told you I wanted eight strobe lights, you only brought five!" Minnie shouted to the multiple people carrying party items into our house.
I sighed, and made my way over to my lunatic best friend.
"At least the house is insured this time..." I said, putting an arm around Minnie.
She turned to me with a devilish glint in her eyes and smiled, "It has fire and natural disaster insurance too."
"Not again Minnie, please. Last time it took 4 months for my eyebrows to grow back!"
"How was I supposed to know the fire breathers we hired had actual fire cream protection? I thought it was some kind of magic fire that didn't actually burn." She shrugged, leaving me to go bark some more orders.
"They were professionals Minnie!" I screamed after her, getting flashbacks to how horrific I looked with no eyebrows, "If that incompetent kid didn't fall for your charms he would never have let u try to make me swallow fire!"
She laughed and continued to walk away, unbothered that her best friend could have died.
Well, died again I mean.
I shook my head and decided to leave the house for a while. Or at least until Minnie the Destructor was done party prepping.
I quickly went back upstairs and changed into a pair of spandex shorts and slipped on my workout shoes, deciding to go for a run.
I left quickly after that, right around the time Minnie started asking the party planner if it was possible to glue horns onto the mini ponies so they could be unicorns.
I stuck my hair into a ponytail, turned on my favorite playlist, and started jogging up the trail that led into the woods.
I made it into the woods in about 10 minutes, and spent the rest of the hour observing some of the forest animals and trying to shift into them.
After a bit of trial and error I figured out that any creatures that weren't at least my height, I could not shift into. I found that out after trying to turn into a mockingbird multiple times and failing.
That left me wondering if perhaps an eagle could work, because flying just about sounded like the best power in the fucking world. I know they have crazy big wingspans, so maybe that would satisfy the height requirement.
I also came to the conclusion that I should probably avoid any animals that could be considered prey, as dying while shifted into a deer didn't sound like the best way to go.
After daydreaming and shifting for a bit, I decided to keep running, and whether my subconscious or pure muscle memory was responsible for this, I ended up back at my old pack home.
I stuck close to the woods, so they weren't able to see me yet, and observed the dynamic.
I was happy to see that some of them were training and working on the skills that I was trying to teach them.
It would be a lie to say that I didn't often find myself imagining how life would have been if my family had treated me right. If my brothers hadn't bullied me everyday of my life, and I actually had some family other than Aunt May to depend on.
I must have been lost in thought because I didn't notice a small predator inching its way towards my leg until it was too late to call for help.
"You have pretty hair", the small child gripping my knee looked up to me and said.
"Uh- thanks kid." I gritted out, trying to pry her hands off my leg.
"I saw you training yesterday. I think it was so cool! I want to grow up and be strong like you, but all the boys say I'm too girly. And daddy says I'm too young to fight."
I looked down at the blonde, curly haired little girl staring up at me.
Brave one, huh. Should know better than to go up to a stranger.
"What's your name?"
"My name's Elizabeth!"
"And how old are you?"
"I'm four" She shrugged tugging on my leg to get me to sit down on the floor with her.
I sighed, not wanting to upset the kid, I sat down next to her, quickly glancing to make sure no one had spotted me yet.
"Look, you might be too young to get in a real fight, but just because you're a girl doesn't mean you cant beat up all of the boys that are making fun of you."
"Really? So you can teach me"
"Well, I never sai-"
"Yay! I am so excited!"
"Now listen here, I don't have time-"
"I'm going to be a warrior! I can't wait to tell everyone!"
"You're not listening! I can't just-"
"Well obviously we have to talk to my Daddy first, but here he comes now we can just ask him!"
Before I could even understand how I was being manipulated by a four year old, I was being dragged towards the house I ran away from all those years ago.
"Daddy, daddy! I know you said I'm too young to train but she said she'd teach me!"
I was still trying to grasp the situation before I looked up and came face to face with Blaise.
I sucked in a quick breath as he looked from his daughter to me, and back again.
"Elizabeth, why don't you go find your mom and we can talk about this later" He said to her in a stern voice.
She must've realized her mistake because she quickly nodded, gave me a hug, and left to find her mother.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, steeling myself against the barrage of insults Blaise always loved to throw my way.
"Look, I didn't know she was your kid, I didn't even actually offer to train her, she somehow tricked me into it. Tell her I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come, I'll leav-"
"Please stay." He stated, grasping onto my hand and looking into my eyes.
A frown made its way onto my face, and confusion must have been clear because he followed it up with,
"Elizabeth struggles with making friends. There aren't a lot of girls her age and most of the boys don't play with her because we scared them off. Her mother and I are very protective... Mariah, my wife, knows about you and how you were treated. We wouldn't let any of the kids even joke around with her, we didn't want to lose her like we lost you."
I struggled with the words I was hearing, so shocked I couldn't even gather up the strength to pull my hand out of his.
He walked me over to a table, and we sat down.
He continued, "The first time I held that little girl in my arms, and thought about what I would do if anyone ever caused her harm, I thought back to all of the times when someone I was supposed to protect was bullied and mistreated. I was swallowed by my guilt at that point, I didn't know how I could ever be a good father, when I couldn't even protect my sister from myself. I struggled with alcohol and drugs for the first year of Elizabeth's life, and it took Mariah's second pregnancy to finally snap me out of it."
I felt wetness sliding down my cheek, and hadn't even realized I was crying.
"Nothing I could ever say could make up for everything Aaron and I put you through in the past. But god, what I would do to have even a chance to make it up. To be able to show my daughters that I didn't fail their only aunt. Please, stay. If not for me, for Elizabeth."
I shook my head, wiping some of the tears away, "That's a low blow."
A small smile found him, "I'm not against them. Give us a chance. I know Aaron gave you the letter, and I'm sure you haven't read it and probably don't plan to. It might not even help, but I would do anything to have you back with us."
I looked up into his watery eyes and blinked, unsure of how to react.
After years of abuse, it would be almost impossible to be able to trust them again.
I got up, shaking my head, "Blaise, I'm sorry, but it's not possible. I don't think I could-"
My words were interrupted by a childish giggle, as another blonde little girl ran across the grass away from her mother and towards us.
"Come back here and get in the bath!" Her mother screamed.
"No! Don't wanna!" She responded, still racing.
"Angela!" her mom yelled at her.
Both me and the little girl turned to look at her mother.
The child ran up to Blaise and into his lap.
He cleared his throat, "This is my second daughter, Angela. Angela, meet your aunt."
A sob caught in my throat as the little girl looked up at me with a grin missing a few teeth.
"Hi!"
I nodded a hello, and choked back another cry as she hugged me.
She then got off and continued running away from her mother.
I looked back at Blaise.
His eyes searched mine, waiting.
"Okay." I choked out. Tearing my gaze away before I made a fool of myself and started sobbing.
He smiled, "When will we see you again?"
"Tell Elizabeth I will be back to train her next week."
He nodded, clearly unsure whether or not to hug me goodbye.
I made the decision for both of us as I got up and took a step back, putting some distance between us.
A bit of sadness filled his eyes but he bowed his head as I nodded goodbye and turned around.
Heading towards the woods that I came from, I glanced over my shoulder and saw him sitting, looking up at the sky with a relieved smile.
Water began to pool in my eyes again.
I cleared my throat, "Blaise-" He looked back at me, as I walked into the corner of the woods, "We are having a small party at our house. If you would like to come and bring your wife and Aaron, it starts at eight." I stated.
Quickly turning around so I didn't have to face the possible rejection.
I could hear his smile as he answered, "We will be there, Angie."
I didn't react and simply kept walking into the woods.
I wandered around for a bit and settled on a rock by the stream.
I needed to gather my thoughts before going back to see Minnie and the chaos she has probably started.
I shut my eyes and tried to make sense of the events that just happened.
I know people grow and change, and even though the way my brothers treated me was inexcusable, they were teenagers in high school. Probably unaware of how fucked up they were making me emotionally.
To hear what Blaise went through after I left, and god, to meet my nieces... Way to hit a girl while she's down. If not for my brothers, how was I supposed to give up the chance to get to know Elizabeth and Angela?
I sighed loudly.
A huge part of me is desperate to forgive them, but the other is terrified of being hurt again. But, at least now I can take solace in the fact that I finally have a real family to take care of me if my brothers fuck me up again.
Josh would probably rip their throats out while Minnie prepared the barbecue for a nice Aaron and Blaise burger.
I laughed at the idea and got up from the rock, deciding to stop worrying about this and let life take its course.
If they really have changed, I'd be willing to let them back into my life.
If not, they won't be around for much longer anyways.
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That's it guys!
Sorry it took so long to get this out, the semester really took a toll on me.
But, now that I'm on break I will be updating more!
Hope y'all enjoyed this. I wanted to give Angie a chance to reconnect with her brothers, so I'm hoping this was a step towards that.
Next chap will be the partayyyyy.
Much Love,
Antonia