"Ali! Ali! Someone, Alistar!" Why was she screaming? Stop screaming. Mama, you're hurting my ears. Why are you being so loud? Moma?
"Alistar!" Dad? "Alister where are you?" Dad, I'm over here!
There was smoke everywhere. I couldn't see. I couldn't scream. I looked around but everything was dark, my hands though, I looked at my hands as they trembled, they started off as clean, just muted by the smoke until one droplet of blood fell, then another. I grabbed for my neck and took my hands away to see them coated in warm, sticky blood.
I let out a scream, one that I could clearly hear, one that shot blood from my throat.
My eyes shot open, and I was quick to sit up, gasping at my neck, my breath heavy. I didn't see anything around me for a moment before my eyes adjusted and I realized where I was, and that a frightened-looking Nani was sitting beside the bed. I tried to relax, I took a deep breath and looked at her, my eyes meeting her sweet dark ones, and as I met them I realized she wasn't scared, but worried.
"Shh, lay back down," She said, her voice so calm that I couldn't help but lay back in the bed, but I grimaced in pain as I did, my back, my arms, my legs. Everything hurt, everything burned. Without a word, Nani placed a cold cloth on my head and dabbed it. It was only then I noticed that she was on her knees, sitting on a pillowed stool with a bucket of ice water sitting on the floor beside her. Wordlessly she reached back into the bucket with the cloth, the cubes hitting off one another was the only sound in the room for a moment before she dabbed my forehead again. "I have not called your fathers." She said after a moment. "I will call them later today. But not until you have had something to drink. Are you feeling nauseated?"
I watched her, she had a small water bottle in her hand before I had time to even adjust to her question. Before I could answer I put a hand to my mouth, she grabbed the empty water basket beside the ice bucket in a moment and I emptied whatever was in my stomach into it before my eyes fought themselves and shut just as quickly as they had opened.
"He's asleep now. He should be fine in a day or so." Nani's voice was hushed, it was on the other side of the door.
"I'm surprised, he must have been clean longer than we thought to be going through withdrawals now." Darren's voice was even softer on the other end, but clearer than it would be if he were in her ear, which told me they were on a video call. "Do you need us to come back?"
"Oh no, no of course not. Riot is back tonight so the farm is taken care of. Star just needs to rest, once his fever breaks it'll be only the high road from there."
Darren let out a sigh on the other end but agreed before Nani walked off with another topic. I shifted in the bed, my body on fire. Withdrawal. I should have known. I hadn't really gotten this far into begging sober. I had gotten the sweats before but I always had something on hand. Because I was a wolf, withdrawal hit sooner than it would a human, because our bodies break down the drugs faster, meaning they leave our systems faster. I hadn't had anything in me since yesterday morning. My mouth was dry, I wanted to grab the water bottle but my body also wanted to vomit again, so I was better off not moving.
My ears perked again at a new sound, the sound of laughing. Preston's voice was in the field behind the house, laughing at something, but he wasn't alone. There was another voice out there, one I didn't recognize. My brows knotted together, and I could only come to the conclusion that it was Riot, the only person who would be on the farm that I didn't know.
I looked at the window, the sky had gotten dark, I wanted to stay awake, ask Nani how long I had been asleep. But it wasn't long until I fell asleep again. This time the fires were gone, my family dead once again as I sat in the closet of Charles's room. It wasn't small by any means, but I didn't like spending my time in it. Being the only wolf on a shifter compound meant I wasn't free to move around as I wished. A pillow sat in the far corner, a table in the middle of the closest held a bottle of water as well as an empty bag of crackers. My stomach growled, I was hungry again. But I wouldn't dare ask for food.
The door creaked and I looked up quickly, holding my breath for Charles to yell at me, but was surprised to see Ray walk in. She was smiling as she walked in and shut the door behind her. She hid a hand behind her back which only meant one thing. 'What is it this time?' I asked, trying to hide my excitement.
"Eli made chocolate chip for you." She spoke softly, kneeling down in front of me as she took her hand from behind her back, and opened her hand. Four cookies were trying hard to not fall to the ground, and I quickly took them into my little palms and ate them as fast as I could. Ray just giggled, but it didn't last as we heard the voice of her father boom in the halfway, calling for her. "You have crumbs on your face." She said quickly before getting up and running out, leaving the door open just a crack. I always thought she did it by mistake â leaving the door open. Charles always got mad, thinking I was leaving. He would withhold food from me, make me stand at the wall with my hands behind my back for hours.
I learned later on that she would do it on purpose. Because she knew what kind of monster her father was. Of course, she did. She was one too.
I heard her giggle one more time before my body jolted, my eyes opening to the empty bedroom, or empty for a moment. Because Nani walked in with a hot cup of tea in her hands, her nightgown touched the ground as she walked in. I glanced at the open window, the sky was getting bright. It was early morning.
"Good morning sweetie." Her gentle voice said as she walked in, she placed her cup on the end table before sitting on the bed and placing a hand on my forehead, "How do you feel?"
I reached for my phone, cringing at the light that hit my face, I turned the brightness down, ignoring the missed text messages from my friends back home. 'I feel better, still a bit nauseated.' I said. She nodded her head, humming for a moment.
"Your fevers broke. That's good."
I looked at her, before I shut my eyes, wanting to fall asleep and run away from him. But for once I didn't fall asleep, so instead, I looked back at her, she was looking out the window, her hand on my shoulder. "You know, I hadn't had to nurse a sick child since your father was a boy." She said with a soft smile. "He hardly got sick. But when he did, oh my. Darren got the man cold even as a small child." I smiled at her, it was weak, but she gave me a little laugh before continuing. "He was ten when he got chickenpox. Oh Star, you should have seen him." She laughed again, a sweet sound to my ears. "He moaned and groaned. Begged for bathes. I do miss those days. Julie was never sick, never one to be coddled. And Verne, your uncle he wouldn't let you know he was sick. Still to this day. When we speak on the phone he will never tell me anything bad. Just the good news. But your father will lay it all out."
'I don't believe you.' I didn't Darren was closed off. He hardly shared anything, you wouldn't know if the man had a cramp in his side let alone that he was sick.
"Oh yes, every time we speak. It's the mother's touch." She said with a silly little wink
'Tell me more.' I urged sitting up in the bed.