A Bond Beyond Death

CHAPTER FIVE - BURIED TRUTHS

SELENE'S POV

"You kept yourself away for five years and didn't say a single thing. Do you even understand what that feels like?" I swallowed.

"I was... alright. I was upset that she didn't even say one word to me before leaving, but I was alright."

The way I spoke came across a lot more strongly than I wanted it to. Uncle Nate took a sharp breath as he paced back and forth once before stopping. "How... how did you manage to be alright?"

I hesitated. "She... she left me something before she disappeared." His head snapped towards me.

"Left you what?"

"An inheritance. Not much, but enough to get by." Uncle Nate's expression changed, not anger this time, but hurt.

He said slowly, "So she left not a single word for me?"

"There was a letter too," I whispered. The room felt like it tightened.

"A letter?" he repeated, like he couldn't believe the word existed. I nodded.

"It's in my room. It's always with me. I don't go anywhere without it." Something broke across his face. Not anger. Just hurt. A deep, old one.

"So she trusted you with that," he said in a voice barely above a whisper. "A letter. A goodbye. And she..." He laughed, but the sound came out uneven... "She never said a word to me, My own sister."

Josh stood up slowly, like he was approaching a wild animal. "Dad, it's not Selene's fault..."

"I know it's not her fault," Uncle Nate said sharply, closing his eyes and forcing his hands to unclench. But I can still be angry. I am angry." He looked at me again. The anger wasn't sharp this time. It was heavy.

"I know I haven't spoken to my sister in years, but this...this is cruel. This isn't something someone just does."

His voice was tight now. Angry, not at me, but at the absence. "Five years, Selene, five years you were alone. Five years I could've been there. She should've told me... or you should've."

His voice cracked a little more with every sentence. "I'm sorry, Uncle Nate. You're right. I should've called or texted, but I didn't know she would not come back."

I lowered my eyes.

"She only called me once. On my next birthday after she left."

Uncle Nate’s face tensed up once more. "But after that, every phone call I made went straight to voicemail and every message I sent couldn’t be delivered." My hands curled up in my lap.

"I stopped bothering because it felt as though no matter how hard I shouted, nobody heard anything." Nate’s eyes blazed with anger and anguish.

"And yet you chose to stay quiet. It never crossed your mind that maybe I needed to know that my sister was missing. Selene… I should have been here for you. Either me, or your cousin Josh."

"I didn't want to worry you, I didn't want to involve you in it."

His head lifted sharply. "I'm your uncle, Selene. We could have done something! But you decided to sit and wait because of what..." He let out a bitter laugh. "... You didn't want us to worry?"

Josh leaned forward, trying to relieve the tension. "Dad, stop, yelling won't help. And for goodness’s sake, she was a child. She was most likely scared because she didn't know where her mother was."

"Oh, please……She was sixteen, Josh. Sixteen. That is the same age you lost your mother, and you did not just sit there and do nothing."

I noticed it right away. Uncle Nate's face flashed with old hurt and regret. Josh felt it too. He swallowed hard.

"This isn't the same situation, Dad," he said quietly, choosing each word carefully. Josh glanced between us before speaking again.

"Perhaps she was protecting you and Selene." Uncle Nate let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

"Protecting us from what exactly? The werewolves?" For a second, the entire room froze. I blinked.

Werewolves?

Weird choice of word, but okay. It didn't click. Not at first. But then, like a tiny spark in the back of my mind, a memory surfaced. The dream. The forest. Those eyes. The shadow that chased me until it stopped being a shadow and stood on two legs. The man at the bar. My heart beat faster.

No.

It was just a dream. A nightmare... But how did he know my name? I swallowed hard and pushed the thought away. Dreams are just dreams... Right?

Before I could think any further, Uncle Nate cleared his throat sharply, as if he had realized he had said something wrong.

"I mean..." He waved a hand. "Danger. Whatever. Forget it."

Uncle Nate and Josh exchanged a look I couldn't decipher. One of those looks people use when they know something they aren't saying. I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but my throat tightened. I was honestly too tired to chase strange metaphors. So I let it go.

Uncle Nate sank into the nearest chair, his elbows resting on his knees, his face buried in his hands.

"I just... I don't understand why she would shut me out like this. Why would she keep all of us in the dark?"

Josh approached him more gently this time. "Then perhaps it's time we try to understand rather than tear each other apart." His voice landed like a pin dropping in a silent room.

Uncle Nate stiffened, his jaw clenched. "Understand? I've been trying to understand for years. And it has gotten me nowhere."

Before anyone could respond, he pushed back his chair and walked out, as though staying one second longer would break him.

"Dad?" Josh called after him. There was no response. Josh turned back to me immediately.

"I'll be right back, okay? Let me go talk to him." I nodded. As soon as he disappeared down the hallway, the silence washed over me like a wave. Finally, everything caught up with me. My chest tightened. My eyes burned.

I couldn't keep the tears from falling. Ugly, embarrassing tears. The kind you try to hold back until they stop listening to you. I curled into myself, pressing my palms against my eyes. And then came the thoughts. The regrets.