Chapter 10
Kris
It was reaching the end of the day when I got home. I looked gloomily at the forest's edge, praying that my wolf was nearby.
"Kris?"
I looked up at Clara.
"Yeah?"
"You coming inside?"
"Not really... Could you get me some food? I'm starving!"
Clara looked at me strangely and left me outside. I walked- hobbled would be a better word- to the back porch.
I sighed with relief when I saw my wolf waiting for me in the lawn. He grinned and trotted over to me, letting me stroke his massive head.
"Hey, big guy," I laughed. "Why'd you run out on me, huh?"
He coughed and suddenly hid under the porch. I was surprised he fit inder there.
"Kris? Here's your food."
It was a leftover steak from last night. It was already warm, and Clara had put some Oreos next to it. She set a glass of milk beside me and looked at me with worry.
"I'm going to go to bed. Are you okay with getting to bed by yourself?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Clara turned to glance at me again, and closed the screen door behind her. I waited until her footsteps disappeared. My wolf crawled out from under the porch.
"So you're afraid of my big sister," I stated, looking at him with a teasing expression. He growled playfully and bumped my shoulder with his nose.
"Yeah, yeah, shut up," I laughed, biting into a piece of steak. He grinned.
Brady
I growled playfully and nudged her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Kris said around a mouthful of steak. I grinned.
"Why do you always look at me like that?" Kris asked suddenly. I blinked and realized I was staring.
I ducked my head in apology.
I'm sorry, Kris, you don't like it when I stare, do you?
"I never understand it when you look at me like that. It's like I'm something special. I'm not."
I looked up.
I beg to differ.
"I mean, I broke my ankle on a tree root."
So? Humans do that sometimes.
"And I'm talking to an animal."
Well, actually, I'm human, but...
"And my family has the worst luck, including me. I mean, I tried proving that I could take care of myself when four guys tried to rape me! But I couldn't, and I got mad at the boys that saved me. Now, one boy in particular thinks I hate his guts and I don't know what to do. I'm just like my mom."
Wow, you feel that way? About me?
"And my mom is dead!"
Kris began to sob, now. No, she shouldn't be sad...
"My father beat her... Every day. She tried to keep it from us. She tried to hide the fact that my father was drunk almost every night and that she was abused most of the marriage. Then, one day, I ran into my mom and father in the middle of one of their 'arguments.' My mom's face was bloody. In fact, her whole body was bloody. And my father was holding a knife in his hand. He broke my arm and told me that if I told anyone, my neck was next. I was sent to the hospital with Clara and told everyone, even Clara, that I was practicing my gymnastics. That's what I still tell everyone..."
I began to growl. Who would dare abuse this angel?! WHO?!
"He was found out, though, when they arrested him for the rape of an innocent girl and domestic violence. Not to mention the obsessive drinking. My mom was sent to the hospital, where she died with nobody for comfort. My grandmother was too late to visit. My father... Hell, no! I was stuck in a police station with my sister, telling them about every brutal detail of what I saw that one day. And my mother died as I was talking. I'm never going to be able to stop my father, and when I thought I could beat those men... The ones that tried to rape me... I thought that if I took them down, I was taking vengeance against my father for what he did. I got lost in my own pride... I'm a monster."
I growled. Her father beat her and her mother and she was the monster?! Kris leaned into me and buried her face in my neck. I wished I didn't have to stay a wolf. I wanted to phase and wrap my arms around her, to comfort her with a hug and voice. I wanted to kiss the tears away from her cheeks. But I couldn't. She would surely shun me away if she knew.
"I moved here three years ago. Clara and I wanted to be as far away from that horrid place as possible. Clara is twenty seven now. I am eighteen. It was nearly eight years ago when that happened. Clara wanted to move me away sooner, but we were under serious protection for a while. We had to live... In the same house where my mother was abused and practically killed. It haunted me whenever I walked into their room, where I'd witnessed the abuse my father had given my mom. I miss her. Every time she thought I was frightened, or when she was frightened, she'd sing me that song from Tarzan. The one where I'll be in her heart. I never understood why she sang it, at least until after I realized what a monster my father was. I know now why she would always hum it to me after she got in an argument with my father. She was telling me that she'll always protect me. She won't let my father hurt me. I really wish she were here."
Kris was full-on crying, now. I felt her tears soak into my fur, but I cared less about that. At the moment, I only felt pain for what she went through. For how she felt. I wanted to kill her father. I would do it now, gladly, if it weren't for the fact that, one, I didn't know where her father was, and two, I would end up leaving Kris when she needed me. I didn't want to do that. So I stayed.
AN: Yeah, this is a tough chapter to read. In fact, I have a lump in my throat now, and I'm writing this thing!
Come, stop your crying,
It'll be all right.
Come take my hand,
Hold it tight.
I will protect you
From all around you,
I will be here,
Don't you cry...
This song has always touched my heart and it makes me cry to use it in the chapter like this...
