LILY'S SIDE
This time, when Lily arrived home it was still dark out, her father was asleep, and her arrival was undetected. With relative ease, she slipped up the stairs, into a pair of pajamas, and collapsed onto her bed. She fully expected to fall asleep straight away but for some reason, tonight, she couldn't. She just couldn't.
Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the old, worn glow in the dark stars stuck to her ceiling. She had put them up there, with a lot of effort mind you, when she was 8. They didn't glow so much anymore but she still liked them all the same.
She liked the real stars better though, when she was lying in the forest. Tonight was wonderful. James was thoroughly amazed and she was sure now that her wolf really did exist it was a nice feeling.
Sighing, she closed her eyes once more and tried to sleep.
JAKE'S SIDE
This was crazy.
Jake knew it was crazy too.
He had imprinted on a girl who had no idea he was an actual human being. She had come back and brought her best friend who was, admittedly, alright but Jakes just didn't like the idea of her being so close to him. He was jealous, already. Did he love her? Yes. Did he know her? Not really. Time for that would come. Imprinting was a rough deal.
He wanted daylight to come now though. With the sun came Lily.
LILY'S SIDE
"Lily!"
Her name rang up the stairs.
"Lily, wake up!" her father shouted once more.
Rolling unceremoniously out of bed, the red head landed with two feet on the floor, blinking her eyes as she adjusted to the daylight.
"That you, are you up?" she heard her father shout.
"Yeah Dad, yeah, go to work!" she replied padding across her bedroom to her mirror. The bruise wasn't so bad, she thought as she looked in the mirror. Not bad at all really.
Running a hand through her hair she smiled softly at her reflection as she heard the front door shut and the car start. He was gone, today was Monday, she was free. She knew exactly what she was going to do today. She felt like she was living a fairytale story. All she needed was for her wolf to save her from this stupid town or better yet let her ride on his back to find her one true love.
Laughing at that ludacris thought she shook her head. "You, Lily Martin, are insane" she informed her reflection with a nod and a smile before collecting her shower essentials and going to the bathroom.
The shower itself felt good. No, better than good, it felt amazing. She shut her eyes and focused solely on that, breaking the trance only to wash her hair and body. In truth she was probably in there for a half hour but to her it felt like a lifetime and when she finally emerged from the steamy room she felt like a new person. A new hungry person, she thought as her stomach grumbled.
Going downstairs to make herself a bowl of cereal she quickly scarfed it down before grabbing her keys and heading outside. Time for an adventure.
By the time Lily arrived at the same place she and James had come in the night before it was 11am. The sun was high in the sky and she was so excited. Tugging her hair up into a pony, she climbed out of her car and raced into the woods. In no time flat, the same giant russet wolf emerged out of nowhere and she absolutely beamed, darting over to him and throwing her arms around his neck. When had she grown so fond of him?
Even Jake was a bit surprised, but pleasantly so, to see her so soon. He had expected something to keep her again like it had the other day but apparently not.
Lily smiled over at him, petting him as she did. "Lets take a walk" she murmured and Jake was all too happy to oblige.
They started off int he direction of the meadow Lily had first met him in and when they arrived, she settled herself under a tree and stared up at the sky, the wolf by her side.
"It's nice here" Lily said finally, causing the wolf's chocolate brown eyes to rest on her. "I mean, you're lucky. I wish I could live out here away from .. everything" she said softly, closing her eyes and resting back against his soft russet fur. "You know, be free, go wherever you want and all that. Life, life's too short - too short to waste it here in this town with my father" she informed her friend, tilting her head and looking at him. "I hope you never meet him wolfie, though you probably won't .. you probably don't even know what I'm saying do you?" she asked with a chuckle. "That's alright though. Maybe I'll tell you one day" she said softly, and Jake couldn't help but wonder what it is she would tell him and if she ever would and when he could let her know he did understand.
He did.
It was 5pm when Lily finally decided to come home. She would've stayed longer, the meadow was so peaceful and it was nice to be able to just talk without judgement, but she had to be home when her Dad got there - unfortunately - she was not.
She would be fine though, she reasoned, because it wasn't dark and she didn't have any other obligations. She probably should've left a note - she always did - but she was so anxious to leave this morning she forgot.
Opening the door and stepping inside she smiled at her father nervously who was sitting on the couch. "Hey Dad" she greeted him cheerfully hoping to maybe infect him with her mood since he didn't seem too happy himself. "How was work?"
"How was work? How was work?" he asked, repeating the question Lily had just asked. Over the years, she had learned that that was never a good sign. "How do you think work was when I spend all day working my ass off only to come home and find you gone with no notice, no nothing and I - I tried to call you during the day and you didn't pick up. Suppose that's because you weren't here. A little consideration goes a long way Lily" her father began and Lily only nodded, hoping to deflect an arguement.
Living with her father meant having to deal with this, this awful twisted thing that had taken him over. She couldn't exactly give a name to it, only that it was cold and cruel. When she was younger, she would make believe the man who stood before her now wasn't her real father. Lily's father often suffered from severe mood swings. One day he would be perfectly happy, totally amiable, and the next he was a monster,
So that's what she told herself he was when he treated her like this - a monster. She'd say 'Don't you worry Lily Martin, this isn't your real Dad and even if he yells, even if it hurts, he'll be back tomorrow or the next day.'
The monster would always return though. The monster was here now.
"You're right Dad" she supplied finally, looking at him as she wrung her hands together.
"You're damn right I'm right." he said as he stood and crossed the room to where his daughter stood. Lily stiffened.
"So where were you and don't give me that garbage about the woods again I want to know and I want to know now, these past two days you've been acting awfully suspicious." He informed her with an almost snarl.
"I'm sorry Dad, but I really was at the woods though. I promise. It's just so nice there" she said, hoping he'd believe her but when he scoffed she figured he didn't. "Don't you dare give me that excuse Lily, that's bullshit, now tell me what you've been doing and I promise not to give you the beating of your life."
She repeated her answer because that was the truth and because of this he didn't have to keep this promise. He never kept them anyway. This wasn't her father after all. This was the monster,