The Protector

Chapter 2

The thing green blades of grass were covering in a crisp layer of frost that let out an early loud crunching sound as I shuffled along. There were no piles of snow, but my breath still fanned out into a cloud around my head, hovering for a moment before in the air before disappearing all together. I wore a blue hoodie over two pairs of shirts, but the cold air still found ways around my layers to nip at my skin beneath. I had always thought of winter to be a very ferocious season; nipping, freezing, grabbing, holding whatever it could with its icy claws. It went without saying that I preferred the summer. 

 I shuffled forward, watching as tiny white specs started to softly fall onto my jeans before melting away from the heat that escaped my thin clothes. It was at that point in time this year when the only thing you could see were trees covered in snow and the occasional house in the distance, causing everything around me to sort of blur together in one plain color.

“Hey,” a small yet high pitched voice called out from somewhere behind me.

“Hey, Tommy,” I said, glancing and reaching over to ruffle the boy’s curly hair when he reached my side. Someone at school had once pointed out that Tommy and I looked like siblings, but I didn’t really see it that way. Tommy and I both had dark hair, but he had curls and I had straight hair. Aside from that and our brown eyes, we were very different in the structures of our faces. Whereas Tommy’s face was more round, probably because he was so young, mine was already shaping up with hard edges and jagged corners. However, ever since someone had mentioned that, I’ve since felt a sort of pride whenever being around Tommy as if somehow that made me equal to the future leader of our people.

“Jeez, watch the hair,” he exclaimed as he combed his hair back in place with his hand. “And would you stop calling me that?” I couldn’t help but chuckle at Tommy’s annoyance, knowing that the only reason he freaked out over his appearance these days was because he was finally getting over his fear that all girls his age had cooties.

“Calling you what? Tommy?” He attempted to push me in response, but I quickly stepped out of the way, causing him to stumble before regaining his balance with his quick reflexes. Chuckling, I started to walk again, Tommy trailing behind me despite his annoyance with me at the moment.

Even though Tommy was two years younger than me, he was one of the very few people who I could stand to be around growing up. I had met Tommy when he was four and I was six while I was at some barbecue for the Luna’s birthday during a game of hide and seek. Of course, I had seen him before because he was the Luna and Alpha’s son, but that night he seemed different than the other times I had seen him. When he looked around for a place to hide, he seemed to actually think about the best place rather than just running behind a bush like most kids. It was as if, since I had seen him last, he had started to think about the consequences of his decisions. Eventually, he had chosen to hide behind a hedge on the side of the pack house with me, a small area where only two small bodies could fit into. After that night, Tommy’s new inquisitive eyes seemed to always linger on me and he became a constant presence to me, sort of like fresh gum on the bottom of one’s shoe. Though two years of age difference was a lot when we were kids, Tommy seemed more mature than even some kids my age, and that appealed to me. 

“So what are you doing this weekend?” Tommy asked in a monotone voice. I took a pause before I spoke- in an attempt to keep my tone the same so he wouldn’t hear just how much his question had affected me. 

“I have a test I need to study for.” That was the truth. This weekend was my fifteenth birthday and the only thing I planned to do was sit in my room and read or study until it was Monday again.

I started thinking about what work I had to do for school and how long it might take to complete it all, while unconsciously blocking out Tommy’s voice beside me. It was a skill I had gained over the years.

“-really wouldn’t be a problem. Mom said she’d love to plan it.” I became aware of Tommy’s voice and tried to focus on what he was saying, pushing my thoughts back. “There’d be cake, and balloons, and presents-”

“Tommy.” I cut him off with a sharp tone, immediately realizing what he was suggesting. Though I didn’t want to hurt Tommy’s feelings by rejecting his proposal for a birthday party again, I couldn’t contain my sudden anger and dread at the gruesome thoughts that were filling my head. My birthday was nothing special. If anything it was a day that my pack should mourn on- the day that Ryder Enders, a walking disaster, was born.

“I know, I know. Not your thing,” Tommy groaned, as though he had just been told he couldn’t have a cookie after dinner. The appearance of a grey house with rusted window panels came into view, causing Tommy’s footsteps to falter. The house was a rusted three story hazard. The greyish paint was long since peeling off, the attic window on the frontside of the house-boarded up, and the wood on the porch was so warped age so that if you stood directly in front of the house, as Tommy and I were standing now, you would notice it was bending in the middle. To add to the character of the house, just enough shingles were missing in places on the roof so that every time it rained outside, I’d have to go around with six pails and place them just under the leaks inside. Two of those spots were in my room. We had an underground basement that you would access from panels on the ground outside the house, but no one has been in there for years so it was safe to say the basement was probably just as worse for wear as the outside of the house. 

The inside was really no better than the outside, floorboards that creaked with every move, paper thin walls that allowed you to hear the wind from outside, a broken attic window that allowed what little heat the furnace produced, to slip out to the cold. The chimney was so full of soot that it would be a fire hazard to try and light the thing, the kitchen’s counters were rotting away, and there was never any hot water in the bathroom.

A few years back, after we had moved here, when I was young enough for the school bus to drive me all the way up to my mailbox, I had once heard a kid from the back of my bus call it a “busted down crack house,” and I couldn’t think of a better term for the place after that.

“I’ll uh… see you later, Ryder.” I nodded as the sound of his steps crunching the frozen grass beneath him slowly receding. Tommy had never, and would never, visit my house. Not only because I would have to be a lunatic to invite him over, but also because he had heard the various rumors about my father and was scared to death of the man. I don’t think my random absences accompanied with a new bruise when I showed up again, helped his uneasiness any. 

I sighed as I approached the warped steps that creaked under my weight. Everything in this house made some sort of sound, which for me was like being a mouse surrounded by traps ready to go off at any moment. My ears adjusted to the sounds around me and my hair began to stand as I crossed the threshold of the front door as if the house itself was a magnet. A very large magnet that would pull me inside and trap me there forever.

I took my time to close the rusted screen door, before creeping up to my room, skipping the steps that I knew would make awful creaking sounds with any sort of pressure. After dumping my bag in my room, I made my way downstairs to some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. I wasn’t forced to cook meals but I knew that if I made dinner I’d often get some sort of leeway and seeing as though this weekend was my birthday, I would need any sympathy he had.

I scarfed down a helping of the grilled cheese in my room before pulling out my english book to reread, in order to pass some time before I fell asleep. I read The Great Gatsby and fell asleep somewhere along the time when Nick was having lunch with Jordan Baker, causing me to dream of elegant parties which were thrown to attract the girls of old money.

“Ryder!”

I suddenly woke up in a panic to the sound of my father's voice echoing throughout the air, his footsteps bounding up the stairs and practically shaking the poor excuse for a house. I shot out of my bed, my body automatically tensing in preparation for what might happen next. Trying to calm myself, but failing miserably, I could feel my heart thump against my ribcage. 

“Ryder.” He yelled as he threw my door open, putting a hole straight through my recent patch work.

He flipped the light switch on, a small buzzing sound from the old bulb filling the short silence that was quickly followed by the sound of a moth or two flying into the light. I didn’t ask him what he wanted but waited for him to tell me instead because I knew the last thing he wanted to hear just now was the sound of my voice.

“What the hell is in the sink?” He yelled, the smell of the alcohol on his breath causing my stomach to instantly drop into a deep and dark abyss. “Why didn’t you clean up after you made that mess?” He growled, his eyes turning a dangerous black that reminded me of the night sky when there was no sign of the moon.

I mentally scolded myself for my stupidity while trying to keep my face void of emotion like he had instructed me to do before. I kept my eyes on him, knowing if I looked away from him at any time it’d be an instant hit. That being said, I had to also keep my expression blank or he’d think I was challenging him which would definitely make him go off. My father was a tricky man when it came to how to act around him because he didn’t want you to seem too weak but yet not too strong either.

“I’m sorry. I’ll clean it now,” I quietly said, noting that while his eyes were as black as they were, I needed to move cautiously because one wrong move and his form could change and attempt to rip me into shreds. 

“You bet your ass you will!” He roared, making no move to step away from the door. I cautiously walked over to leave my room, but I should have been more prepared. I should have known that he was too angry to just let things go at the moment. Anytime his eyes were that black, he needed to let out his anger to calm his inner animal. 

At first, I heard a small grunting sound to my left and then my head was moving. I heard a deafening crack and I fell to the ground, my vision cutting to darkness before I could even take in a breath of shock. The darkness enveloped me. 

The only place that welcomed me.