Teach him to Trust.

Full summary:

"Lone wolf, huh? So, next time you lose control over your wolf self, what happens then? He looked up at her and started to walk away. "Well, that'll be an interesting day, won't it?"

Rhydian hadn't expected that day to come so soon, and he definitely hadn't expected to find someone who understood him as much as Maddy Smith did... He's spent as long as he could remember depending on no one but himself, but perhaps she'll be the one to change that, perhaps she'd be the one that would teach him to trust.

Rhydian's POV

"Rhydian! Rhydian!"

I thrashed and kicked against the net that wound around my legs in a desperate attempt to break free, the forest fire was surrounding me, inching closer and closer and I was running out of time to escape, there was only a small opening through the trees and it was getting smaller and smaller by the second. I wasn't sure what trap I'd stumbled into but I couldn't fight free, I clawed at the binding around my muzzle, trying to free my mouth so I could howl for help, but felt an iron grip pull my paws away.

"Rhydian! Wake up!"

Someone shook my shoulders and I bolted upright, colliding with something hard on the way up. I recognised Mrs Vaughn through the sleepy haze in my eyes and panicked. "Get out! You're not supposed to be in here! Not unless I say so!" My sketches were everywhere in this room, pictures of wolves and yellow eyes and full moon, I only put them up in the confidence that they wouldn't come in here, they weren't supposed to come in here.

"Rhydian, calm down!" She said, her voice muffled. "You were having a nightmare, and it's only two in the afternoon, I thought something was wrong." I blinked away the blur in my eyes enough to realise she was holding her nose and blood was seeping between her fingers, I must have knocked her as I woke up...

My eyes widened and I stood up quickly. "Are you okay?" I asked looking around for something to help her with.

She nodded and walked out towards the bathroom and I followed her. "Just a nosebleed." She reassured and wadded up some toilet roll to put under her nose. Her eyes narrowed at me in concern. "Are you alright? Sweetheart, you were shouting for help." I turned away at the term of endearment and the acknowledgment of my nightmares. I'd had them for as long as I could remember, and I used to be able to cover them up, but they'd gotten a lot worse after my first transformation... I shouted a lot more than I used to... "They're getting worse, aren't they?" She said gently. "Are you sure there isn't anything I can do to help?"

There was something I wanted to know the answer to, I wanted to know if being scared of fire was a Wolfblood thing, I'd never liked it, but ever since Mr Vaughn had put the fire on a few days ago it had been a constant feature in my nightmares. I'd hardly slept since, which was probably why I'd finally crashed in the middle of the day. But I couldn't exactly talk to Mrs Vaughn about a Wolfblood thing "I'm fine." I muttered, wadding up some more toilet roll for her... I felt bad for hurting her.

She dabbed her nose and winced before looking down at her shirt which was dotted with blood. "Ohh, Rhydian, I need to change, could you go down and take the pasta off the hob? I don't want it to boil over." She said hurriedly and I nodded.

I was glad to get away. Don't get me wrong, I wished I could have helped a bit more, but I still wasn't really sure what to say to her. I stopped at my room, grabbing my sketchbook and pencils so I could draw after dinner, and pulling my bedroom door firmly shut behind me to hide my sketches.

I was stirring the pasta when she came downstairs, dressed in a different top and holding a folded piece of tissue in one hand. She had a bruise forming on the bridge of her nose, but I wasn't sure if it was dark enough for human eyes to see. I looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry...I uhh...I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know." She said quietly. "Don't worry, it was just an accident." I watched her for a few seconds to check she meant it before walking over to the sink with the pan and colander, and draining the water from the pasta. "...You know...I'm always here if you want to talk about it." She said quietly.

I huffed and tipped the pasta into the tomato sauce that was simmering on the next ring over. "I don't want to talk about it."

She sighed. "I'm not saying you have to... I just mean it might help..."

"I said no!" I snapped at her, throwing the spoon into the pasta and walking away into the living room, grabbing my sketchbook off the dining table as I passed.

I settled down on the sofa, wedging myself into the corner and bringing my legs up to rest my book on my knees. I caught sight of my hands then, streaked lightly with wolf veins, I always was quicker to 'wolf out' when I was this tired... 'Wolf out' that was how Maddy put it anyway.

I took a deep breath and started sketching, knowing it would calm me down, when I was drawing I could forget, I could tune out all the noise and the scents and the emotions. When I put pen to paper, the anger dwindled away and I could get everything that was crowding around my mind, down onto paper... It was easier to deal with that way.

The veins in my hands receded and my grip on my pencil loosened slightly, enough that I could draw more smooth controlled lines instead of harsh jagged ones. I drew my nightmare, I drew the fire and the nets and the smoke, no escape, no way to call for help...

Once I had the basic line drawing I lay my head against the back of the sofa and started to shade...

"Rhydian." My eyes flicked open and I rubbed them with the heels of my hands, I hadn't realised I'd dozed off, but I obviously wasn't too far gone that I didn't respond to my name. I looked up to find Mr and Mrs Vaughn in the doorway, she had her back to me and he was looking down at her. "James, it was an accident, I was trying to wake him up from a nightmare and he sat up too fast, that's all."

I narrowed my eyes at them, but they hadn't noticed I'd woken up. "You're telling the truth?" Mr Vaughn pressed. "I know how much you want to keep him Michelle, but he's been known to get violent... If you can't control him on your own..."

I scowled, he thought I'd hit her on purpose? I felt my fists clench in anger and cut him off before he could say more. "I've never hit a foster parent, I've never hit a girl."

They jumped and Mrs Vaughn swung around to face me, eyes apologetic. "Rhydian..." She started.

I shook my head. "The only time I've 'gotten violent' is when people start pushing me around or making fun of me!"

"There are better ways to solve that then violence." Mr Vaughn said simply.

I laughed bitterly. "I'll ask them politely to stop next time, shall I? Let them walk all over me, see how far that gets me?" I spat.

He took a step around Mrs Vaughn, expression stern. "Do not take that tone with me young man!" I was momentarily stumped since foster parents didn't usually stand up to me this early on, but then the defiance kicked in and I rolled my eyes at him, turned back to my sketchbook and started shading again. I heard Mr Vaughn take a few steps closer. "Rhydian, look at me." I ignored him in favour of darkening some of the lines on my trees. "Rhydian!"

I sensed what he was about to do before he did it and managed to grab the sides of my sketchbook before he pulled it away "Get off." I said lowly, trying to tug it back but he held on. I growled under my breath."You're not allowed to take it off me! Social services said..."

"I won't have you ignoring, and speaking to me and your mother..."

I let go at that and stood to my full height, trying to resist the urge to bare my teeth at him. "She..." I pointed to Mrs Vaughn. "Is not my mother! She will never be my mother!" Suddenly I caught a glimpse of my outstretched hand to find it once again streaked in veins, but this time almost solid black. I pulled them away in a panic and backed away from them a few steps. I hadn't even realised I was this far gone, the wolf had come on so quick!

I tried desperately to rein it in the way Maddy had told me, I clenched and unclenched my fists to try and get rid of the wolf, but I couldn't. Mr and Mrs Vaughn were stood blocking the only door, the only escape, but even then my feet felt frozen to the floor.

Mr Vaughn was shouting but I couldn't hear him over the roaring in my ears. I wanted to growl at them, to make them get back but I knew I couldn't and I knew it was only a matter of time before my eyes turned well... Veins could go unnoticed to an extent, but bright yellow eyes couldn't be ignored.

Finally I managed to unfreeze myself, I grabbed my sketchbook from Mr Vaughn and pushed my way past him, down the hall. I paused long enough to snatch up my school bag and ran out the front door, into the woods...

I ran away.

Even as I ran the wolf didn't calm down the way it usually did, I felt it as my teeth changed and hands and feet turned to claws. Before I knew it, I was running on four paws instead of two feet, I didn't know where I was running, or how long I was running for, but my mind was whirring. What if they'd spotted something? They could be ringing all sorts of people by now, and even if they hadn't seen anything... Had that argument been enough for them to send me back?...

I felt my chest constrict in panic, to the point where I was panting to catch my breath. I couldn't get kicked out of this one... I needed Maddy and her family to help me figure out all this Wolfblood stuff. If I got kicked out who knows where I'd end up next? What if I was placed in another pack's territory? I remembered Maddy's reaction that first day, what if the next Wolfbloods I met weren't so understanding?

I wasn't sure how I ended up there, perhaps because I'd been thinking about them but I didn't realise where I was until I ran out of the forest and through the Smith's garden.

I pawed at the door and whimpered desperately to get in, I knew that their house was pretty remote, but I didn't want to take the chance of being spotted in wolf form, and I couldn't change back no matter how hard I tried.

Finally Mr Smith opened the door and I skirted around it and inside. It was only him and Mrs Smith in the front room so I backed away under the table and growled at them. I'd only really met them once, that one time they'd been all friendly and cuddly, everything I told Maddy I didn't want... I didn't want a pack, the same way I didn't want a foster family or friends...Don't let anyone close. That was the rule, my rule, and I want about to break it now.

...I wasn't stupid, I knew I'd have to get to know the Smith's more eventually... I just wasn't ready for all that yet... That and they were still pretty intimidating, Maddy said it was because they were the alphas, and with my wolf so used to being a lone wolf, it wasn't really sure how to react to them...

"What's going... Rhydian?" I looked over at the door Maddy had just walked out of and scrambled out from under the table, over to her side. "What's wrong?" She placed a hand on my neck and crouched down to eye level.

"Maddy!" Her parents protested, and I startled slightly, growling at them.

Maddy rolled her eyes at her parents. "He's not dangerous, he's just frightened." She turned to me and stroked my ears back, which made me uncomfortable, since I hadn't been touched in wolf form before. "Can't you turn back?" She asked. I shook my head, I wasn't sure how she was staying so calm in a situation like this, my heart felt as though it was going to beat through my chest and I was panting in anxiety. "First things first. Did anyone see anything?"

I whined because I couldn't give her a yes or no answer, I couldn't nod or shake my head. I wasn't sure how much the Vaughn's had seen, and I didn't know how to shrug my shoulders in wolf form.

"Were you at the Vaughn's?" I nodded my head. "Did you wolf out completely?" I shook my head and nudged her hand with my muzzle. "Just your hands?" She asked, understanding what I was trying to say. I nodded again. "Well, that's easily sorted, Mam or Dad can ring them, if they're not freaking out we can assume they didn't see anything."

I turned my head to the side in confusion. She was acting as though wolves running into her living room was an everyday occurrence. "Come on, let's get you down in the den, Mam's not gonna thank you for treading mucky paw prints through her house." She stood and patted my shoulder before heading down towards the cellar

I followed her and it wasn't until I reached the top of the stairs that I realised I didn't know how to go down stairs in wolf form, they looked twice as steep from this angle. Maddy was at the cellar door before she looked back up at me, I whined and tried once again to turn back into human form but I couldn't figure out how.

She walked back up the stairs and placed her hands on my shoulders. "I won't let you fall, I promise." With her keeping me upright I took the first few steps down with my front paws but I couldn't figure out how to do the same with my back ones. Finally I huffed and sat down on the top step, refusing to move. Maddy sat down beside me and looked down at the stairs, head tilted to the side. "I don't blame you, I can't figure it out either."

She lifted her hand and I flinched away, still not used to being touched in wolf form... In any form. She lifted it slower this time and touched my neck, threading her fingers through the fur there. "Hey, watch this..." She reached up to scratch the spot behind my ears.

I grumbled in pleasure and leaned into her cause wow that felt good. It was only a couple of moments later that I realised how ridiculous I was being and shuffled away from her. She laughed quietly. "You're pretty wound up aren't you?"

I turned my head away from her and she sighed, her hand still ran over the fur on my back, but there wasn't enough space in the small porch that lead into the den to get any further away from her. "You know." She said quietly. "I've never seen a wolf that wasn't me parents before, they've both got brown fur, but yours is kind of grey, or blond like your hair I've never seen a wolf like that." She prattled "...I'm trying to distract you, is it working?"

I hadn't really noticed until she said it, I was calming down a bit, but with the calm came exhaustion, I was so tired... I lay down and let my head rest on my paws dejectedly, I didn't understand how I could feel so on edge and so sleepy at the same time. I closed my eyes and tried to tune out, I just wanted to turn human again but I couldn't even do that...

When I opened my eyes again I couldn't figure out where I was, I tossed and turned and tried to blink the sleep out of my eyes until I felt a hand against my chest, I lifted my own hand to knock it away but it grabbed my wrist. "Hey, hey! Rhydian, it's me!"

Maddy?

I turned to her and sat up, pulling my wrist out of her grip and rubbing my eyes, I was relieved to find I was human again. The events of this afternoon started to come back to me, the nightmares, the argument... I looked around, still not recognising anything. I'd been outside the den last I remembered. "Where am I?"

She laughed quietly. "My room, you'll have to excuse the mess, I wasn't expecting visitors." She said wryly. I looked around, Maddy's room wasn't how I expected a typical girls room to be... It wasn't how I expected anyone's room to look like... It looked more...personal than my rooms ever did. I guess I had my sketches, but if you took them away, you had white walls, a bed, a desk and a wardrobe...

Her room was decorated in muted earthy colours, which I guess wouldn't really appeal to other teenagers, but I liked it. I didn't know about Maddy but bright artificial colours tended to hurt my eyes, her room reminded me of the forest...

She was watching me, almost like she was waiting for me to start panicking again. "You okay?"

I stretched out my arms and legs and arched my back trying to wake myself up a little. I remembered bits and pieces of moving from the porch to Maddy's room now. Some foul tasting potion, which made me relax and turn back, then Mr Smith guiding me here and sitting me on the bed. He and Maddy tugged off my bag and coat, and untied, my shoes before the drowsiness took over and I passed out. I pulled my phone out to check the time and frowned, I'd been out for nearly one and a half hours. I found six missed calls and two text messages from Mrs Vaughn. "Did your parents ring the Vaughn's?" I asked Maddy.

"Yeah, Mam spoke to Mrs Vaughn, she doesn't think they saw anything they shouldn't have." I threw my phone on the bed without checking it, as long as the secret was safe, I didn't need to speak to them. Maddy nodded to the phone. "She's worried about you... Said you heard something you shouldn't have."

"It's nothing." I muttered, looking away from her.

"Is everything alright at home..?"

I growled at her. "I said, it doesn't matter, Maddy!"

"Alright! Will you calm down?!" She scolded. "You're wolfing out again!" I looked down at my hands to find out she was right. I huffed and put my head back against the headboard, I was fed up with this, no matter how hard I tried I could never seem to keep it under control. "Breathe." She instructed, touching a hand to my shoulder.

I shrugged her off and stood up, grabbing my sketchbook and bag, and moving to sit in the corner instead. She just got too close sometimes, she'd lay a hand on my arm, or walk really close and I didn't know what to do about it. I rummaged through my bag to find a pencil and flicked open the cover of my sketchbook, this would calm me down. "You're fretting over something, I can sense it." Maddy told me from her bed.

I paused, my pencil freezing just inches away from the paper. I used to talk like that, tell people I could sense things, except it usually just got me weird or frightened looks. It was emotions mostly, I could tell when people were angry, or nervous, or excited... It must be a wolf thing. I ignored her and continued to sketch.

She sighed and stood up from the bed, walking over and plucking my pencil out of my hand. I glared at her but she just raised her eyebrows in answer, I reached into my rucksack and found another pencil only to have that one taken as well. I flashed my eyes and bared my teeth at her in warning, grabbing yet another pencil but she didn't give in, she grabbed it off me. "How many of these do you have?" She complained.

"Eleven." I snapped. "Ranging from 5H to 5B as well as a HB pencil, then I have charcoal, fine liners..."

"Hey, alright!" She held up her hands. "Don't go all art nerd on me!" She tossed my pencils back to me, realising it was a lost cause, and sat down a few feet away. I picked my pencil up and began drawing again, unhindered. "Rhydian... I just want to talk." She said quietly.

"I don't want to talk to you, to anyone." I muttered, shading in the wolf in my sketch.

"Why?" She pressed. "We've known each other nearly two weeks, we're the only people your kind that you've ever met, but apart from that first day, every time I try to get to know you, you hide your muzzle in that book and you close up."

I growled under my breath, gripping my pencil tighter. "What's it to you? If you weren't a wolfblood I wouldn't have begun speaking to you anyway!"

"I'm trying to be a friend, Rhydian! But every time I push too hard or get too personal you push me away!" She shouted.

"I don't want friends, Maddy!" I slammed my book shut and threw it against the opposite wall. "What's the point?! Opening up to people? Getting attached? All it'll do is make it hurt more when yet another foster family kicks me out!"

"Is that what this is about?" She asked softly. "Are you missing your friends from your last placement?"

I scoffed bitterly. "You really don't get it, do you? I didn't have friends in my last placement, I was only there for two weeks, five weeks in the one before that!" I kicked at my bag in frustration. "I haven't had 'friends' since I was ten, and then you sit there and expect me to know what to do when you joke on and try to talk to me." She frowned, placing a hand on my own.

I'd begun to tap my first two fingers against my thumb, it was some sort of nervous tic I'd developed a few years back, it got almost uncontrollable when I was stressed or panicked. I processed my emotions through my sketches, and I was just itching for a pencil and paper. I tugged my hand from under hers. "That!" I specified. "I don't understand that."

She was quiet after that, just sat by my side and watched my fingers closely. I tried to pull the tic under control but I was too worked up to be able to. She watched for a few more seconds before picking up one of my discarded pencils and slipping it between my fingers. I was surprised she'd figured it out, not many people realised that those small involuntary movements were the same ones I used to shade in pictures.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and already felt myself calm down. "You think the Vaughn's are going to kick you out?" She said finally, standing up, she retrieved my sketchbook flipped open the cover and placed it back down in my lap.

I shrugged, shading again. "They've never argued with me before, foster families usually wait a few more weeks, let you settle in before cracking down on the rules..." I muttered. "At this rate I'll be out of here before next full moon." I sighed and turned my pencil to rub out a line I wasn't happy with. "What if I'm put into another pack's territory? I'll be driven out!... I can't get kicked out of this one, Maddy... I just... I don't know how make them want to keep me..." I put my head in my hands "I get so... Angry, all of the time, and there's nothing I can do to control it."

"It's like that for all of us Rhydian... I'll be the same after my first transformation, it's a part of what we are. It's natural, I promise." I scowled, this wasn't really making me feel better. "Mam and dad can help you, teach you to control it, but you've got to let them."

"They keep trying to make me part of your pack, I told you, I don't want that!" I snapped.

She shuffled around to kneel in front of me. "Pack animals don't do well on their own, you need to be around your own kind..."

"I haven't been around my own kind since I was two, Maddy!" I avoided her eyes because she was starting to give me that same look I'd seen in countless social workers and therapists... Pity. "My pack, my own parents didn't even want me, so why the hell do yours?"

Maddy frowned and shook her head. "Mam and dad don't think you were abandoned... Your parents... They would have wanted you." She blurted out.

I frowned feeling my chest grow tight, the same way it did whenever someone mentioned my parents. "They can't know that." I muttered bitterly.

"Rhydian, if cubs are abandoned it's at birth. Your mum wouldn't have been able to raise you for two years then just walk away, that's not the way Wolfbloods are...something must have happened to her, to both of them "

I shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to have this conversation anymore. "I got along just fine without them anyway." I huffed, I didn't want to talk about this, my parents didn't want me, if they did I wouldn't be here.

"No you didn't, Rhydian... You need to learn, about your abilities, your limits, how to control your wolf... I can see it, me parents can see it. You have all this energy and anger, and you don't know what to do about it, the things you can do scare you."

"Shut up!" I growled at her, but she ignored me.

"You come to school every morning with dark circles under your eyes, because you have nightmares every night! You're not sleeping, and you wonder why you're wolfing out all the time!"

"Who told you that!" I demanded. The only people who should know about that were social services, counsellors and my foster parents.

"No one told me anything, Rhydian. It's just what happens when Wolfbloods don't sleep near the pack... Even when I sleep over at Shan's I have to take something with me mam's scent in it... Wild wolves live in a pack, watch each others backs while they sleep... Your wolf will try to keep you awake, alert, to keep you out of danger during the night, ready for the challenges you'd face in the wild, since there's no one to look after you."

I peered up at her, but leaned back, she was leaning forward, even closer than before. "That's why I have nightmares?"

She nodded. "It's all about controlling your instincts Rhydian, but only in public, around humans, here, you can be wolfblood, you don't have to worry. All those things people thought made you weird, they're normal here, you don't have to try and act human."

I crossed my arms and huffed, looking away from her. I don't think she realised just how overwhelming it got when she started talking like we weren't human, I'd spent a long time thinking I was human, you can't just chop and change. "How's instinct telling you to interact with another wolf, with me?"

"Maddy, I don't know!" I snapped.

She sighed and moved even closer, resting her head on my shoulder. I shifted uncomfortably and tried to shrug her off but she just glared at me. "Sit still will ya?!"

I stopped moving but leaned my head away from her "What are you doing?" She tilted her head in towards my neck and started sniffing.

"Going back to basics." She said, unfazed. "A humans senses develop, eyes, ears, nose." I frowned, both at the close proximity and because I didn't have a clue what she was getting at. "Our senses develop, nose, eyes, ears, just like an actual wolf cub." She leaned back and tapped my nose, but I pushed her hand away. "This is your keenest sense, and I haven't seen you use it, not even once."

I furrowed my brows, I knew that my sense of smell was far better than most people, but I didn't understand how I could 'use' it. "Scent is vital to a wolf, and a Wolfblood." Maddy continued. "Not just for locating food or whatever, it's an important means of communication. On your first day I caught your scent before I saw you, from that alone I could tell that you were a Wolfblood, male, new to the area since I hadn't caught you scent before..."

She sniffed my neck again and pulled away. "Right now I can tell you've spent all weekend at the Vaughn's, since their scents are the most prominent, I know that you've been drawing a lot since I can smell the graphite, the paint and the ink on your skin. I know that just before you left you were cooking tomato pasta, but didn't eat any because the scent is on your clothes but not on your breath." She sniffed the air. "I know you're nervous, tired, frightened, because I can smell the hormones in your bloodstream."

"Wolves sniff each other in greeting, as a way of finding out where the other has been, what mood they're in and so on, so it's very important for you to learn how to use your nose..."

I sighed I knew I couldn't act human well, but now apparently I couldn't even act Wolfblood either. I picked up my pencil and continued drawing. "This is stupid." I muttered, and shuffled further away from her.

She frowned at me."Rhydian! How do you expect us to teach you anything when you won't listen? You'd sooner just hide your head in that book than talk to us!"

"Maddy, I want to learn, it's just so overwhelming! How would you react if one minute you were human, then a freak, then a werewolf. Then suddenly it turns out you're none of those, you're a Wolfblood, an entirely new species you've never even heard of!" I tried to explain. "I'm sorry, but it takes more than a few weeks to get your head around that!"

Her eyes softened and she sat back down beside me, laying her head back against the wall. "I know, I'm sorry, I keep telling mam to lay off you and I'm being just as bad... I'm just trying to help..."

"I know." I tried to reassure her. "It's just too much at once, and I'm too tried to concentrate on what you're saying anyway." I'd obviously slept for a few hours on whatever her parents had given me to calm down, but it had been so long since I slept through the night that it hadn't really done me any good.

She was quiet after that, playing with her fingers and taking the occasional glance at my sketchbook as I continued to draw, I couldn't think of a reason to hide it from her, what with her being like me, so I didn't bother. "Tom said you were really good, but I haven't gotten a chance to see them properly." She told me finally. "... Would you mind if I had a closer look."

I shrugged and slid the sketchbook over into her lap. She gazed at the drawing, taking in the flames and the net and frowning. "It's what I dreamt of last night." I muttered. "The flames closed in and the net cut through my fur..." I trailed off and took a shaky breath. She watched me for a few seconds before, reaching out to touch the wolf, I grabbed her sleeve and pulled her hand back. "Soft pencils smudge easily." I warned. "... I need to set it first... Well, after I finish, I still need to put the shadows in, and graduate the shading on the wolf... And finish the fur, but I'll need my charcoal for that..."

She laughed quietly. "You really are an art nerd." I frowned and felt my cheeks heat up. I hadn't realised I rambled so much when I talked about art... "It's amazing." She told me, lifting the page and tilting her head to the side. "But... I watch you drawing all the time, where's the rest of your sketches?"

I shifted awkwardly since her questions were getting a bit more on the personal side. "... On the walls in my room." I murmured. "I do a different sketch each day."

"Do you always draw wolves?" She asked. I didn't answer that question. I drew whatever was on my mind, the most confusing or memorable thought or event of my day, most of the time that was to do with wolves, but not every day. Maddy seemed to realise I wasn't going to answer that and just asked another question, unfazed "How long does it take you to do each sketch?" I didn't answer that one either. "Where did you learn to draw like that?"

Again I didn't answer and she sighed in frustration, standing up, obviously giving up on me. "Mam told the Vaughn's she'd give you a lift home when you woke up..." She said hesitantly. "Will you be alright talking things through with them."

I huffed and looked away from her. I didn't want to go back, I didn't want to have to deal with what had happened this afternoon yet. She began to walk out the door before I spoke again. "Art therapy." I told her finally. "...That's where I learnt to draw, or rather I realised that I could draw..." I said hesitantly.

I frowned because this was a difficult story to explain unless you told the whole thing... But I guess it was kind of pointless, keeping secrets from her, when she was the only person who really knew the truth. "When I was ten I was fostered by a woman down in Bedford, to this day it was the longest I've ever spent in one place, one and a half years..." It didn't sound impressive, but she'd been the first parent that hadn't kicked me out because I acted a little weird.

When I turned twelve, my temper started to get worse I started to get into trouble at school and at home... I had two foster brothers, Jack who was eight and Michael who was fourteen. Michael would torment me, call me names, I don't even remember what he did that day, but I snapped... Let's just say he ended up with a black eye, broken nose and four scratches, right down here..." I ran my fingers in a clawing motion over my left cheek and down my neck. "I remember her screaming at me... I was frightened, so I ran up to my room, and the next thing I know, my social worker is in the house, in my room, and packing my stuff..."

She wasn't speaking, I got the impression that she thought I'd close up again if she interrupted me. I shrugged "I was taken back to the care home I'd come from and never heard from her again. Two weeks in the care home, and a similar thing happened with another kid, after that social services decided I was 'unfit to live with other children.' That meant no more care homes, so I've been bouncing from placement to placement ever since..." I laughed humourlessly. "I think they're running out of places to put me actually..."

I stopped, shifting nervously and she nudged my shoulder softly with hers. "Talk." She said gently, sensing my unease.

I sighed, but carried on. "...I was... In a bad place after that, confused, angry... So they took me to see a child psychiatrist...counselling, to try and help me control my anger..." I scoffed. "It worked for a bit, but then I remember one time, they asked me why I pretended to hear and see and sense things, they thought I was lying, just after some attention... After that I just refused to speak to them, any of them, because none of them were listening to me, they didn't believe me..."

She shook her head, making sure I met her gaze. "That's awful, Rhydian, you didn't deserve that... I can't believe no one found out!"

I huffed, getting to the point of my story "Every time I moved I got a new therapist... Each one just as narrow minded as the last, up until one of them stopped trying to get me to talk and just put a pencil and paper down in front of me, told me to draw... I did because... Well, I didn't want to talk to her. She just carried on doing that, every week, every session I'd draw another picture, then one month down the line she put them them all out on the desk, and started talking... She could tell from my sketches that..."

I paused, because this was the bit where she'd find out just how messed up I was. "I was struggling with anxiety, abandonment... This was six months after they kicked me out of the care home and I'd already been moved on from five different foster placements, I didn't understand what I was doing wrong... I was constantly on edge, worrying about the things I said, the things I did... Each time I was kicked out, I would go over it in my head over and over, trying to figure out where I went wrong... I still struggle with it now..." I looked down at my sketchbook in her lap. "Sketching helped me get those thoughts down on paper, instead of them being all jumbled up in my head I could order and organise them up on my bedroom walls..." I trailed off. "...It sounds ridiculous, I know..."

"No..." Maddy smiled. "It makes sense... I bet your room looks amazing!"

I shrugged self consciously, as nervous as it made me, telling her all this, I was kind of enjoying it too, she was the first person I'd ever felt I could truly be honest with, I could talk about all the weird wolf things and she'd understand me... "You could come and see it... You know, if you want..."

She grinned. "I'd love to... Why don't I come back with you? Help explain things to the Vaughn's?" She suggested.

I put my head back against the wall and sighed. "I don't know what to say to them... Maddy, he thinks I hit her but I didn't, she was trying to wake me up from a nightmare and I sat up too fast."

"Then just explain that to him." She pressed.

I shook my head. "Mrs Vaughn told him what happened and he still questioned it... My file says I have a tendency to get violent when I'm agitated or angry... Which I do... You saw what happened with Jimmy... But I'd never..." I huffed because I wasn't exactly giving myself a good case here. "I just wouldn't have hit her, and I don't like that he thinks I could, even though he has every reason to."

"Is that why you wolfed out this afternoon?" She asked and I nodded. "It was just a misunderstanding, easily sorted." She reassured. "But I think it'll be best to get it out the way."

I shook my head, what if I started wolfing out again? "I told her she'd never be my mum, they don't like it when you do that." I murmured.

"Rhydian, stop fretting... Mam said she sounded pretty upset, but that's because she knows you heard them talking... Things got heated, but then what do you expect, you're still settling in, it's gonna take some time to get used to new people... I'll come with you, and I won't let you wolf out, I promise."

I scoffed. "Yeah? No offence Maddy but you don't exactly know what you're talking about. How are you gonna stop it?"

"Green fields and sunshine." She said as if it were obvious, and I tried not to show her that I found that funny a second time. She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Come on!" She grabbed my hand and pulled, and even though I didn't understand why she did it, I mean, it's not like I needed her help to get up, it didn't freak me out as much as last time.

AN- Hey! It's taken me longer to perfect this one than I'd planned, but I think I managed it in the end. I'm not 100% sure on how many parts this story will end up with, so it might be worth putting it on your follows if your interested, they'll definitely be a part two though, since it's pretty much written.

Let me know your thoughts! Since I love hearing your views and encouragement!

Please Review!

-EndlessMoonrise X