I wandered the Reservation with no particular destination in mind. Mindless walking. The only time I could just get away and let the buzz of thoughts from the others in our pack turn into just that, a buzz.
"Emileah!" Sometimes I liked to turn people's voices into buzzes too. "Hey Emileah wait up!" Or even that drone from Charlie Brown...Mwa mwa mwa mwa- "Hey can you wait up a sec-"
"What do you want Hunter?" He finally caught up to me. His eyes glanced to the group of teens across the street from us. I followed his gaze, unimpressed by the silly humans and turned back to him. "Any day now, Hunter." His eyes found mine again.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing? How everything has-"
"Let's cut to the chase Hunter. We're not friends, the only reason we associate is because we're both shifters and because of our connections with Leo so please stop wasting my time and tell me what you want." He idiotically shook his head.
"Right, okay I was just wondering if you heard anything from him."
"Leo? Of course not. That little punk knows I'm the last person that would be sympathetic to his little attention getting charade." Hunter seemed to be physically taken aback by my statements. Like I said we weren't friends. If we were, he'd be used to this by now.
"I thought you two were close." There we go with the assumptions from outsiders looking in. I increased my pace.
"What makes you think we aren't?"
"Honestly, you sound either bitter about something that involves him or you just plain hate him."
"I'm not my mother, I don't do bitter. If you do something to tick me off, you're dead got it? I don't have energy to waste on being angry for long periods of time. As for hate? No, I don't hate him. I just hate that he has enough gall to rip our family apart." He had followed me all the way to the Haven house. He was standing there looking sheepish. I wish he would just end this conversation.
"How is your dad?" He questioned it like an after thought.
"When I hear from him I'll let you know." And with that he was greeted by the slamming of a door in his face.
"That wasn't very nice." I turned around at the voice to be greeted by blond hair and short stature. The little kitten girl.
"I don't do nice."
"Do you know when Sahara's coming back?" What is it with people today and their questions?
"Do I look like Sahara's keeper?" The girl just stared at me. Great, she probably doesn't even know what that means. "No, I don't know." She flinched as I made my way to the kitchen island. The girl joined me after struggling to get into one of the stools. She kept eyeing my bowl of cereal. Then her eyes would flicker back up to my face. "What?"
"You're the only one that hasn't changed." I paused mid bite to stare at her not comprehending.
"What do you mean I haven't changed?"
"When you all came back from Alaska. Everyone was down then Sahara left with her parents and then Miss Leah got really…um…"
"Moody?" I offered.
"Yeah I guess. And Mr. Collin and Mr. Brady are never around the house much anymore. But you're still your grumpy and angry self. Like normal."
"I'm not grumpy and angry kid."
"You're not?" She asked, not believing.
"No. I'm a realist. You've been hanging around Sahara too long so you interpret anything that's not roses and rainbows as bad." She tilted her head in confusion. "Look, I'm gonna set you straight right now." I got up and grabbed a glass and put some water in it. I set it between us on the counter not caring that some of the liquid sloshed onto the counter from the force. "You see this glass?"
"Yes." She nodded.
"If I showed Sahara this glass, she will, without fail always tell you that it's half full. Leo, you remember him right. Moody dramatic kid that we kicked out the family for a little bit?" She nodded. "He'll probably tell you it's half empty. I'm telling you now don't be the optimist like 'Sare because you'll be ignorant of all the negative things in the world. And don't be a pessimist like Leo or you'll miss all the little happy moments in life."
"So I should be like you?"
"Don't be like me either. Be your own person." I watched her face screw up into one of contemplation.
"My mom married my stepdad when I was four." I paused my reach for my cereal spoon when she started talking. "He started beating me when I was five I think."I didn't bother to tell her this wasn't a socially acceptable way to start a conversation with someone." I got really mad one day when I was six because he started to hit mommy. That's when I turned into a cat."
"That's why you ran away?"
"No," she added the shaking of her head as if to emphasize the point. "I ran away because I want to go back and help mommy one day." That struck me right to the core. I may be harsh sometimes but this kid had the face of an angel. How any low life could get a kick out of hurting her was beyond me. But that wasn't what really got me. It was the fact that she hadn't been on this planet a decade and she could already feel protective over her parent. She knew she had an advantage. She could shift. I wouldn't care if her shift was a turtle. She could do something he couldn't. She was a cat and cats have claws. The only thing I could think about was her scratching that man's eyes out.
"Listen to me kid when you graduate from the Haven school and become of age, you join a tiger clan. They're cats, bigger than you but they'll teach you how to be a ferocious little house pet. And when they teach you to fight and defend yourself you go and shred that monster of a stepdad to pieces and you love it while you do it you hear me?" She nodded. A silence fell between us so I resumed eating my third breakfast of the day.
"So what do you say when you see the glass?" She asked after a moment.
"I'm gonna tell you that it's a stupid glass of water that has nothing to do with me." I answered without looking at her. "What about you?" She shrugged then reached for the glass and drank the water in one go. "That's my girl."
All in a day's work.
A/N: So just a few chaps to get you used to Emileah before the issues are addressed. :) :/ :| ....sorry was having too much fun making smileys