My body hurt, everything was sore, my muscles ached in places I had no idea they could ache. This is why I didn't go to the gym, the after-effects were painful.
Just because I was a werewolf doesn't mean I was in great shape
I mean come on, I'm a drug addict.
I had found a couple more pills hidden in my bags that I hadn't realized I hid, so I was still high, but not enough to stop myself from going about my day, but I dreaded the future that I knew was coming, I knew I was either going to need to find more, or I was going to hit a withdrawal. Neither of those options sounded fun to me.
Not that I had been looking, but I had taken notice of the fact that all the medical cabinets in the house were empty aside from toothpaste and contact solutions. That the kitchen had not even a Tylenol bottle in sight. It made me feel gross, and a bit angry with the fact they didn't trust me enough to even have simple medications laying out.
But how could I blame them? They didn't know me, I was just some drug addict that their grandson took in to raise, and I could only imagine what my parents had warned them about.
I sighed as I looked out the living room window to the long driveway, Darren was hauling his suitcase into the back of the SUV, while Silas spoke to Nani and Miquel. I wanted to go out there and say goodbye, give them a hug and promise them I would be better the next time they see me.
But I didn't make promises that I couldn't count on keeping, and at this point, I didn't know if I would be able to keep a sober promise, or even promise them that I would see them again.
What was that supposed to mean?
I pushed the dark thoughts from my mind as I opened the front door. Silas looked over and gave me a warm smile, something I could always count on him to do. He had a good habit of making things feel safe, he made me feel like I was wanted and had a purpose when all I felt was dread and hopelessness.
"We're gonna miss you bud," Silas said, hugging me from the shoulder and putting a hand in my dark locks, making a mess of my hair, "Don't give them too much trouble. I'll call you every night. Promise."
"And if he doesn't, I will," Darren said, giving my head a pat when Silas moved his hand. I gave my dads a soft smile, I wanted to do right by them, I didn't want to fuck this up.
I watched their car until it was nothing but dust on the dirt road. I sigh left my lips as I turned back towards the house. Preston was giving me the morning but said once he was finished lunch he'd be looking for me. I looked up at the summer sky, clear - not a cloud or bird in the sky.
Ali, Ali!
I jumped, blinking for a moment to realize I was alone, my skin crawled for a moment with the phantom voice in my head. I shook myself turning towards the house pushing myself to get ready for the rest of the day.
"It won't be too much work when Riot gets back. I want you up early tomorrow, help me wake everyone up. I'll show you the morning routine, and after that, you and Riot should be fine to work alone while I go on vacation."
You're going on vacation?
"Oh, Yea, Riot, and I take two weeks every year. This year he went to Newfoundland to visit some friends, it's beautiful there this time of year. Once he gets back I get my turn, I'm going on a road trip with a few buddies for mine, ones in Calgary, the other in Edmonton. We're going to go east for a bit. Normally Miquel would help us out, but he had a hip replacement in the winter. So really, you came just in time, how lucky is that?"
'Oh yea, so lucky.' I signed, knowing he wouldn't understand me. Preston ran a tanned, dirt soaked hand through his blond mop of curl before turning to me with a smile. "Maybe tomorrow night we can watch a few movies, I need to clean up tonight. Riot gets back in a few days and if the house is a mess he'll skin me. But I could use some company if you're interested. You play DnD?"
'Uh, no. no DnD. But I'm down for a movie night.'
"It's settled then, I'll see you in the morning, five on the dot." Preston dusted off his jeans, getting up from the gator as my eyes widened at the time he gave me. He just smirked at me, ignoring my increased volumed Hey from my phone as he walked away with a wave. "Stop yelling at me and set that alarm! Night, night Star!"
I woke up to the sound of my alarm buzzing the next morning, and then the sound of a rooster. I silently groaned and I stuffed my head under my pillow, the breeze from the open window tickling parties to my exposed arms.
Thanks to the open window I heard the door to the guest house shut, and the call of a chipper Preston whistling as he did â whatever an insane person did at nearly five in the morning.
I sat up as a shiver racked my body, but I ignored it as I got up and dressed, opting for a band tee with a zip-up sweater â something easy to take off when the sun starts to beat down on me later in the day.
I did my best to be on time, despite not really wanting to be out of bed, I didn't want Preston to get the wrong idea of me. I was a hard worker, or... I was once upon a time.
I remember wanting praise at every corner when I was with Charles, I wanted to do everything right. Because if I didn't, I didn't get to eat. I wanted food, I wanted to use the bathroom when I needed to go. I wanted to be able to see people. I didn't get to see people if the job wasn't done. I just wanted to be good.
You need to be good.
Another shiver wracked my body, but I didn't feel cold, in fact, I felt warm. I walked out into the crisp morning air and was greeted by Preston, standing at the bottom with a steaming mug in his hand. "I figured you would need this." He said with a chuckle, handing it to me. I took it and gulped down the coffee quickly, leaving a little in the bottom for later. Not that we would have time for that.
"We start by letting the girls out of the coop. Well, the girls and Gilbert." Preston said walking towards the chicken coop. "After that, we refill there food and water for the day, I recommend filling the food and water on the outside before letting them out. They don't typically have empty food in the coop, maybe just some water. They sleep a good bit of the night so it only needs to be changed every other day and I changed it yesterday. After we finished with the girls, and Gilbert. We move onto stacking some hay for the goats, then letting them out."
'So we're basically waking everyone up?'
"Yea, well, they're all up already, we're just letting them out."
I nodded and followed him along. I watched mostly, Preston was quick with his work. He changed into Dunlops and walked into the coop, taking all the water buckets out before giving them a rinse and refilling them. He had me scoop feed into the food feeders and I hung them in the respective spots. I watched as one swayed for a moment before feeling my stomach twist, and my head spin. I gave myself a little shake, following after Preston as he locked the gate to the chicken coop and opened the hatch, letting all nineteen chickens â and Gilbert â out for the day.
We went on with that, me following along as Preston showed me what he did in the mornings. "I don't work for the whole morning. Around eight I'll go in for an hour, relax, have some breakfast." He assured me when he caught me looking at my phone for the time. The sun was long up in the sky, my sweater long gone on the back of the side-by-side.
I was sweating though, my arms sticky, my shirt sticking to my back. We hadn't even been doing anything strenuous. But my body felt like it was about to give up. My muscles ached, and every now and then I couldn't help but shiver. I opened my mouth to tell Preston that I wasn't feeling very well. Which was stupid because I couldn't speak but it was just a reflex. Preston spoke on as my head started to spin, my mind started to race. Was this heat stroke? Was I ok? What was wrong with me?
Preston finally turned around, and by the look on his face, my face read that I wasn't feeling too hot. Before I could take my cell phone out of my pocket, which I was desperately trying to do, but my hand wouldn't go into my pocket to get it. I kept patting at my pants trying desperately to get into them so I could tell him something was wrong.
But he knew.
Because in a moment he was running towards me as my eyes rolled back and my body fell to what I could only assume was the ground.