New story after a long hiatus. Feeling the waters with two chapters before I really get into it and there are lots of twists planned with this one. Leave me a review letting me know what you think or improvements. Title tentative for now.
"Get me another drink, sweetheart." My mom was sprawled on the couch, swishing the last of, what I assume was, whiskey in her raised hand.
"How about some dinner, mom?" I flinched when the glass hit the wall opposite of her.
"I said another drink, please." Her teeth were clenched. I sighed as I went to the kitchen. Most of the bottles on the table were empty, and they hadn't been here last week. She must've been blowing through my dads life insurance. The freezer air felt clean on my face as I reached for the ice cube tray, and I stopped for a second to process the thought of my father. My parents were only 55. Same birthday. Weird coincidence, beautiful story.
Same hospital and everything. With how close the times were, it was likely they spent sometime in the nursery together. My dad had joked that he wanted to be the first to greet her. They would make up stories to strangers about how they'd spent time in the same crib holding hands hours after being born, whenever people asked how they'd met. It was cute. And it really did seem like they'd been best friends forever.
When I looked at the kitchen table, I remembered my father that morning. He drank matcha green tea in the mornings, a habit he'd picked up at his office from all his woman colleagues. His breakfast was leftovers, lentil shepherds pie. He joked about the traffic, how it would be 'the death of him'.
I felt my eyes well up and fought them back. The ice cubes clinked as they hit the sides of the glass. The liquid was comforting as I took a sip just to feel the burn pull back the tears from my eyes. It had been the death of him. That car accident was quick, but he had suffered. He was conscious when the ambulance got there, and he'd been screaming because his legs were pinned by the engine, but not enough to dull his pain. Shock was supposed to have set in, but it hadn't. The driver of the car that hit his had overdosed while driving, I couldn't tell you how, but it had taken them both.
"Neveah?"
"I'm coming mom." I strode away from the kitchen quickly, trying to forget what he looked like by the stove when he first taught me how to make a quiche, or trying to convince me to stop drinking coffee and switch to his 'amazing powdered green heaven'.
'Heaven for my heaven.' He'd put his arm around my shoulders and laughed, his hand on his gut once I punched him.
"Here." My mother accepted the glass and then turned her attention to the TV.
"What do you want for dinner mom?"
"There's a few twenties in my purse. Go get me some vodka, love."
"Mom, let me cook."
"No, Neveah." She looked at me, for the first time since my father had been killed. "You will let me drink, and you will go get me what I ask you for. Because you're my daughter. And of all people, you understand that I lost something I can never get back." I stared at her, feeling the numbness rising in my legs.
"I lost him that day too." My mother stared back at the TV and took a long drink of her glass, letting it fall to the floor by the couch as she finished.
"Children are supposed to bury their parents." She responded listlessly. "Now, to the store with you. Or do I have to drive myself?"
"No." Losing them both to car accidents would be more terrifying than watching her drink like this. I went to the door and paused to turn to her.
"I love you." She had the decency to turn her head and smile, but didn't respond. I flew my coat over my shoulders as I stepped outside. My mom wasn't on that couch anymore. Just a misguided broken heart. The keys were burning hot in my hand.
A year and a half later.
I realized I needed new windshield wipers about ten minutes after driving into my trip. Thankfully, I'd at least had the insight to put on new tires before the trip along with all the fluid changes, but not much else. Annie had promised me her boyfriend, sorry, husband would do all the little repairs I hadn't thought about doing in years. He owned a shop down here, and hired a bunch of guys to work for him on a casual basis. She'd laughed, and said that it kept up, but the community just didn't have the customer base for it to flourish.
Annie and I had known each other since high school, and she had been travelling around the country trying to figure out what city she wanted to settle down only 6 months after her 19th birthday. . Her job as a transcriptionist/translator was enough to keep her going and gave her the freedom to travel to keep her sanity. She met Kyle in less than a year, when she had spent an overnight trip in a city near the town he lived, and hadn't left each other since. The amount of postcards I had stacked in a scrapbook from them and their travels was insane. We hadn't seen each other for five years, since she first left. Somehow, Annie and I managed to stay in contact, and even keep the title of best friend.
I was asked to be the maid of honor in her wedding last year, but my father passed away two months prior, and my mom fell… ill soon after so I stayed behind to take care of her. I'd come home from the hospital a few weeks after, trying to process the state my mother was in, when I'd opened the package containing the photos from their wedding. I called her right away to thank her, but when I started sobbing she stayed on the phone with me for hours after. Annie and I were soulmates, in a strange deep and complicated way.
Their house was so Annie I didn't even have to look for the number; who else would have flowerpots shaped as cats on their front porch? Also, she was sitting on the steps waiting. I barely had time to put the car into park before she was opening my driver's door and pulling me out of my seat.
"Omg, I can't believe it." She pulled back, her eyes wide, to survey me. "You look so good."
"The gym does that." Laughing, I pulled her back into the hug.
"I can't believe you're here." She smelled like pine, when the needles are still fresh and green. She felt like home.
"Where's this husband of yours?" I asked, wiping at my eyes and trying to pre-occupy myself by pulling my long hair into a ponytail. "Who's gonna carry all these bags?"
"Your concierge is here." I heard a deep voice from the porch. His smile was wide, his teeth stark white against his tan skin. His hair was longer, pulled back into a small ponytail at the base of his neck. He was tall, dark, and gorgeous, but I wasn't surprised. Annie was a stunner herself with her dark hair and her equally as dark eyes. She was tan, but more artificial than natural. We were both as white as it comes. "Let me grab something for you."
"Oh I was just kidding." I went to sidestep to the trunk when he pulled me in for a hug.
"Welcome to my humble abode." His warm body was a shock, despite how the inside of my car could've rivalled the inside of the sun.
"Thanks. Not to be a bother or anything, but I'm gonna need to be fed soon." Annie started to laugh and came over to grab one of my bags as well.
"We have muffins? And I'm making Shephards pie tonight."
"Sounds amazing." I responded.
It took only a quick trip up the stairs for her to show me my room. The view astounded me. There was a reading nook almost directly across from the door, with a large window that viewed the forest behind the backyard. I could see the start of a path between two thick trunked trees, and wondered where it led. The bed was huge, and covered in a large blue fluffy duvet. A bookcase and a desk was to the right of the nook.
"This is amazing." My voice came out whispy.
"Is that your new favorite word?" She asked, seemingly amused. She dropped my bag by the foot of the bed. "Let me give you a quick tour!" The house was impressive, with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, an open concept kitchen dining area, and the living room catered with an impressive sound system. "I'll let Kyle show you the 'man cave'. He's very protective of it."
"No girls allowed!" He yelled from somewhere in the house. She rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face was hard to ignore. Reaching for a muffin, Annie passed me a knife and some butter before speaking.
"This is weird hey?" I nodded and took a large bite of the muffin.
"It's just been so long. To be honest, I never imagined you here but it seems so you."
Her eyes gleamed. "I've never been happier than I am here."
"It helps your husband looks as though he's been carved from marble." She shrieked with laughter at my comment, something she'd been exceptionally known for throughout high school. We talked casually for another hour or so before she decided to start dinner.
"Hey, I'm sorry I missed your wedding." I said softly. Annie stopped chopping the carrots for only a second before continuing, not turning around.
"You've apologized enough."
"I know, but I still-"
"Your parents needed you." She was firm, her voice unwavering. "You had no choice. I wouldn't have let you come knowing that." Annie didn't know the truth. She knew how my dad had died, but I hadn't told her the story of my mom. She didn't know about the drinking. And she didn't know about the suicide attempt. I struggled with telling her, to let my guts fill the kitchen, but Kyle came blundering down the stairs, as if sensing the tense silence.
"Hey sweetheart, I gotta go to the shop. Jacob just got six vehicles in, all minor stuff, but he won't be able to get it done before he has to go."
"Okay. Think you'll be home for dinner?"
"Don't wait up for me or anything, I'll heat it up when I'm back." He kissed her on the cheek and squeezed her shoulder. "I love you."
"I love you." She smiled as he kissed her hair and pulled back.
"See you later, Nevaeh." He waved a bit before he was out the door. Annie didn't seem too put out, and kept along chopping her vegetables. The newspaper on the table had a large headline across the front: 'Wolves of Legend Return?' with a blurry picture of what honestly looked like a bear more than anything.
"You have mythical creatures here?"
"Mythical creatures. Superstitious old women. Same thing." She shrugged. "There's a book upstairs in your room with the legends from Kyle's hometown in it, if you want to read it when you're bored. It's pretty interesting, and I know you're into that kind of stuff."
"'That kind of stuff' as in reading?"
"Yeah that." She chuckled. "Hey," Stopping, she turned to me. "I have a surprise for you. Wanna watch it while dinner's cooking?"
"Sure?" She nodded and turned back. As it turns out, the surprise was from her wedding.
"I got Embry, one of the groomsmen, to wear it and stand in place of where you would've been. It was a really small camera, so he barely knew it was there." It was a point-of-view video, and I felt myself tearing up again before a few minutes had passed.
"You did this for me?" Choking, I saw her wipe away her own set of tears.
"You're my best friend, of course I did." We watched the whole thing, hours of it, only stopping to grab dinner. We must've fallen asleep because I came to as the front door opened.
"Hey." I yawned as Kyle took off his boots and came over to look at his sleeping wife. "How was work?"
"Much longer than I thought it would take."
"Owning a business kinda sucks sometimes hey?"
"Well, co-owning makes it a little easier. At least Jacob had to suffer through it with me." He hoisted Annie up into his arms, who was still passed out. "Night Nevaeh."
"Night." I folded the blankets as he went upstairs, and did the dishes so Annie wouldn't have to do it in the morning. It was quiet out here, a lot more quiet than out in the city. I decided to pour myself a mug of hot chocolate and go sit on the porch for awhile.
The swing drifted slowly back in forth as I sat. The stars were bright here, and I knew that one of these days I would have to go to the beach and just listen to the waves and watch the stars. I heard the soft patter of the rain and closed my eyes.
"Ah, I thought I heard you come out here." I looked up to see Kyle closing the front door behind him. "Insomniac?"
"Maybe a little." I smiled, moving over so I wasn't in the middle of the porch swing. "Did you want any hot chocolate?"
"No, that's alright." He sat down beside me. "I'm not the biggest fan of sweets."
"How on earth did you get Annie?" He laughed and shook his head, resting his forearms on his knees.
"By giving her all of my portion. Do you mind if I smoke?"
"No, go ahead." I stared at the marshmallows as they melted in my mug as he lit up.
"I want to say I don't know you very well, but Annie painted a pretty good picture. So far, you've met all my expectations."
"I aim to exceed most expectations, but I suppose it's still the first day." A wolf howled in the background, and I turned my head to look into the woods, but Kyle seemed unperturbed.
"What are you doing for a living now?"
"Writing." I responded. "I have a publisher that I just email the finished product to, and we deal with it from there."
"That's why you're out here for awhile?" I nodded. In all honestly, my parent's home was too hard to keep. My mother was refusing to go back, and it all had been handed over to me. I sold most of their stuff and their house, the only thing I kept were my dads favorite baseball cap, his wedding band, and all the photo albums. My mom had picked what she wanted beforehand.
"That's alright with you? I know it was sudden." The house had sold faster than I expected, my bank account jumped higher than I'd ever seen it. I hadn't told Annie I had nowhere to go, just that I wanted to come down for an extended vacation.
"Of course. You're pretty much Annie's sister."
"We are sisters." I corrected, gently. "Maybe not in the conventional sense. But we're the only sister either of us had."
"She says that too." We were quiet again, just the wolves howling in the distance and the odd creak of the swing. He broke the silence, "I'm glad you came down. It's all she talks about."
"I'm glad I came down too. 5 years is too long." He nodded in agreement before brushing off his pants and standing up.
"I should probably try and get to sleep. Gotta wake up with the women who wakes up with the sun." He paused when he got to the front door. "Come by the shop tomorrow. I'll introduce you to the guys, maybe one of them can show you around if it's not busy."
"Thanks. Goodnight."
"Night." I listened to the click of the door as it shut. Swirling my now cold chocolate drink, I watched the silent road ahead with blurry eyes. Annie was my home, and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else, but how long could I really stay? How long could I lie to her before she found out – rather, figured out – that I didn't actually have any place to return to?
"I really messed up this time." I whispered, letting the dark take my voice and carry it somewhere safe. My limbs felt heavy, but I wasn't tired. All I wanted to do was remember this moment, this moment on a porch swing with the dark forest ahead of me. A wolf howled again, this time much closer, and I jumped. In the process, my mug hit the ground and bounced into the grass. Cursing my luck, more due to the dark than to the rain and wet grass, I peeled off my socks and slowly stepped onto the lawn. Immediately, I felt a chill spread up through the bottom of my feet, but knelt down to pick up the mug. That's when the atmosphere changed. When I felt a different kind of chill than the ones my feet felt run down my spine. I slowly looked up and around, but saw nothing. The hairs on my body stood up, but my curiosity prevented me from running into the house. Still, I couldn't see anything. I straightened my back and turned back towards the house. A breath shot across my neck, and I whipped around to find nothing behind me.
Maybe I would have to read that book of legends after all.