The Intruder

Chapter 5

We decided to park a bit further so that none of Emily’s parents spots us. We got out of our cars and said our goodbyes.

‘We are gonna be here a bit longer.’ I told Emily. ‘Just come here or shout if there’s any trouble, we’ll be there.’

‘There won’t be any trouble.’ Emily assured me. ‘Thank you both, I’ll help you however I can. It’s disappointing I turned out not to be a werewolf but I hope we’ll stay in touch.’ 

Abel nodded gratefully.

‘I’ll visit you soon.’ I promised, not looking forward to not seeing her.

Emily looked at me, opened her mouth, ready to say something but instead she turned her gaze to Abel, then back to me, smiled at us, got into her car and drove to her house.

It was the most depressing moment I have had in a while.

‘It’s all gonna work out, man.’ Abel clapped my back supportfully. 

I left out an audible sigh. I was grateful for what he’s done but feeling like s**t after being separated from Emily and knowing that he didn’t even believe she was my mate was making showing my gratitude difficult.

‘Maybe she is your mate.’ Abel stated frankly.

I looked at him with my mouth wide open, feeling a huge weight lifted from my heart.

‘Are you serious?’ I asked, desperate for him to tell me something more. ‘Why isn’t she shifting then?’

Abel shrugged and walked into the car, leaving me with that unanswered question.

I soon followed him and asked to wait just a bit more.

‘Zach, I’m sure she is okay, it’s been a while already.’ Abel told me after about 5 minutes of waiting.

‘She’s probably just gotten in.’ I responded.

However after an hour of Abel convincing me to go and me begging to wait more, he started the car and drove us back home not caring about my lack of consent. 

Emily’s POV

I walked home hoping my parents wouldn’t be sleeping. I opened the door and walked around the house to find all the lights off. I walked to my room and tried to get some sleep. However what Zach told me about my parents was still in my head and it didn’t let me rest. I thought of waking them up and asking them if what I had just heard was true. In the end I decided to wait till the morning.

I heard my alarm going off. I managed to get some sleep but it couldn’t have been much as I still felt tired. 

It was Saturday, meaning I could stay in bed a bit longer after I talked to my parents. I walked downstairs to the kitchen, still in my pyjamas. I didn’t know what I expected to hear but I was hoping it would calm me down.

I saw my dad sitting at the table, eating some yoghurt and reading something from his laptop.

‘Good morning!’ I greeted him and sat in the chair next to him.

‘Hi, Emily.’ He responded, smiling widely. ‘How did you sleep?’

‘Not good.’ I chuckled. ‘I need to ask you something.’ I looked at him and after I saw him closing his laptop I continued. ‘Yesterday I met some people and they told me some crazy things about you…’ I didn’t know how to say it without upsetting him. I felt I was betraying him by believing what Zach told me and now questioning his honesty.

He looked down for a moment, deep in thought. I considered changing the topic but after a restless night I knew I had to get answers from him.

‘It was really hard for me to believe you’d do things like this but I saw no point in them making it up so I decided to ask you…’ saying this made me feel slightly better about confronting him. Just as I was about to get to the point my mom walked in.

‘Good morning’ she greeted us, looking at me closely. ‘Emily, where have you been last night?’ she asked while sitting directly in front of me.

Her question caught me off-guard.

‘Oh, I was going to stay at Angela’s but she didn’t feel well so I went back.’ I came up with that story but she didn’t look convinced.

‘Emily. You weren’t at Angela’s.’ She stated confidently. ‘What are you hiding?’

I opened my mouth, trying to grasp what was happening. How did she know?

‘We called Angela’s parents,’ my dad said. ‘They said you weren’t there.’

I couldn’t remember Angela’s parents and I found it hard to believe that my parents and Angela’s knew each other.

‘It’s okay, Emily. ‘My dad put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly and gave me a weak smile. ‘Please tell us if something is troubling you, okay?’ He stood up, grabbed his laptop, yoghurt and started walking away.

‘Aaron…’ My mom stopped my dad. ‘It’s serious.’

‘Katherine, honey, ‘My dad answered. ‘I need to go to work. Emily, I’ll talk to you later.’ he gently bumped my head with his palm and left.

My mom looked directly at me and put her lips in a tight line.

‘There are things you don’t understand.’ she said challengingly. ‘Your father trusts you. Don’t make him regret it.’

With these words she walked away.

I stayed in the kitchen amazed how terribly that conversation went. I could feel that since around middle school my mother was being less and less loving to me. But today I felt it reached another level and she began to hate me.

I was fighting tears going to my eyes. Why was it all even happening? Suddenly I felt a terrible pain in my stomach. I stood up and went to the living room. I laid down on the couch and curled up in a ball. I winced my eyes and prayed for that feeling to be over soon. I should have stayed in my room...