The Forgotten Son

2

He grabs my wrist and pulls me back and says, “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant you are cute, and strawberries are my favourite after all.”

I look him in the eyes, the vodka catching up to me, as I say, “Kiss me again.”

He smiles and says, “Ask me when you are sober, and maybe, just maybe, I will.”

Before I can say anything, he says, “Get on,” and he shifts back into his white wolf.

I sigh as his fur brushes my face, soft and gentle. He lays down in front of me as I climb on, and I hold onto his fur, not too tight to cause him pain but not too loose so I can fall off.

As he starts to walk, I say, “You know, if you hadn’t have come into my life the way you did, things would’ve been different between us.”

I put my face in his fur, breathing in his scent, and I chuckle and say, “Why do you smell like salted caramel?”

I sigh, remembering he is in wolf form and can’t communicate with me. I sigh as I look at the moon and say, “Of all people, she sends me a snobby teenage control freak.”

He stops walking, and I say, “Aww, did I upset you?”

He looks around, and I see his ears twitch. He lets out the most wrenching howl, and I hear my mum say, “Roman, hold on.”

I say, “I am too drunk for this.”

He snarls, and I grip tightly onto his fur as he takes off running, dodging between the trees. As I turn my head, I see it, something so unnatural but so beautiful. My own creation.

I smirk as I bury my face into Xavier’s fur. I let out a whimper to show I am scared, but deep down I know I am not, and he probably does too, but he is too focused on getting away from this thing.

When we get back to my mum’s pack grounds, she pulls me off Xavier and drags me into the house and says, “Stay here.”

I say, “Mum, don’t, it is terrifying,” I say between tears. “P..please.”

She says, “Your brothers are out there.”

I say, “They are over 300 years old. Let them fend for themselves for once.”

She shouts, “Roman, I am not leaving them,” and she runs out of the house.

I say, “Stupid cows,” and I head up to my room, but I stop when I see my bedroom door open.

I say, “H..hello,” and I quietly go into my room, watching my own footsteps and shadow. I look around, and that’s when I see Ryan’s beta reading my diary.

He turns and looks at me and says, “What the f**k are you?”

I look at my diary, and I look at him, and my eyes turn black, then white, then blue.

I say, “I am none of your business, but that book there is mine. You shouldn’t have read that.”

I take a step towards him, and he takes a step back.

I say, “Do you know how rude that is, reading other people’s stuff?”

He says, “You are a monster.”

I laugh and say, “Oh, honey,” and I look him in the eyes, my own sclera settling at grey, with my iris settling at red.

I say, “Boo,” as I appear next to him, making him fall back out of my window.

I scream, “Mum,” and I run downstairs as she comes in and say, “It’s gone.”

She looks at me, and I say, “It was in my room, and Ryan’s beta, Tim, he tried to stop it from attacking me, and it… it, he outside,” I say between breaths.

They all head outside, and I hear gasps.

I look in the mirror and smirk and say, “Shouldn’t read other people’s diaries.”

I hear someone coming, and I head into the kitchen and get a glass of water.

Xavier comes in, and I see the conflicted look in his eyes, the same look I had growing up, always having to put others before myself.

I say, “How bad?”

He says, “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

I nod, and he looks at me and says, “You are oddly calm.”

I stop what I am doing as I look at him, and I say, “Welcome to the family. People die and go missing all the time. Apart from us, it’s pathetic. Death only claims those who wish to stay.”

He looks at me, and I say, “When you have witnessed so many deaths, it just becomes numb. I helped my dad and brothers and my grandparents clean up after the last demon war. It was ghastly.”

He says, “He fell out of your window.”

I say, “He was thrown out of my window, actually.”

He walks to me and says, “Roman, that thing ran back into the woods, and Malcom followed it.”

I look at him, and I see he wants to accuse me.

I say, “There were two. One was smaller. It was running the other side, and it split. I did try to tell my mum.”

He looks at me and says, “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

I say, “Accidents happen, Xavier. You haven’t slept properly. Maybe you just missed it.”

He shakes his head and says, “No, I would’ve…” and he stops.

I see the self doubt in his eyes, and I say, “Look, why don’t we sleep in the…”

He says, “We will be checking the cameras.”

I say, “Sorry, what cameras?”

He says, “The ones in your room.”

I say, “Who put them there?”

He says, “Goodnight, Roman,” and he leaves the kitchen.

Once they are all in bed, I grab my laptop and say, “Why do you have to make things difficult?”

I grab a pen and paper as I start to draw a camera, and I say, “Show me what is hidden. Show me what I cannot find. Show me what they hid from me and unbind.”

I look at my laptop screen as my room comes into view, and I smirk. I see Malcom stood at the top of the stairs.

I say, “What can I do for you, Malcom?”

He says, “Why?”

I say, “Why what?”

He says, “Why kill him?”

I say, “Let me guess, you are Loki, his Lycan.”

He comes downstairs and sits at the table and says, “Yes.”

I say, “Some truths are better told at the end of the story, but don’t worry. You will live to see the lies.”

“So what are you going to do?” he asks.

I sigh and say, “Tea or coffee?”

He looks at me confused, and I say, “What would you like to drink?”

He says, “Hot chocolate. Malcolm needs to settle after seeing Tim in that state.”

I say, “He shouldn’t have read my diary and then insulted me and called me a monster.”

“If you call someone a monster, you best hope they aren’t.”

He sighs, and I take another bit of paper and draw a hot chocolate.

“Whipped cream and marshmallows?” I ask.

He says, “Uh, yes please.”

I add them, and I say, “Careful, it’s hot.”

He looks at me confused as the paper bursts into flames, and in replacement is a hot chocolate.

He says, “Wow, that is extraordinary.”

I hum, and I start to draw my monsters.

He says, “You created them?”

I hum and say, “Yes.”

He nods and says, “And you couldn’t, I don’t know, make them fluffy and friendly?”

I stop what I am doing as I look at him, and I say, “Maybe in your next life.”

He looks at me, but he doesn’t question my words.

I say, “I don’t need incantations for everything, but Dad is crafty with what he does.”

He nods and says, “Yeah, I noticed.”

I say, “Don’t take it to heart…”

“Theodore and Alexander are his most prized sons.”

I add my monster into the video, and I put my thoughts into it.

I hear movement, and Mum says, “What are you two still doing up?”

I say, “I was talking to Loki about my history project. He offered to lend a hand.”

She says, “Loki?”

He says, “We haven’t met properly. I am Malcolm’s lycan.”

She nods and says, “Right, well, Roman, you should be in bed.”

I say, “Yes, Mother, I know, but I don’t feel safe.”

I look at her, and I cry and say, “He… he…”

I stop, and she pats my back and says, “There… there,” and she walks into the kitchen.

I turn to look at Malcolm, and he mouths, “What the f**k is her problem?”

I sigh and mouth back, “I am not her two favourite sons.”

I wake up in the morning to Mum crying, and I realise I fell asleep at my laptop. I groan as I move. Note to self, don’t fall asleep sat at the dining room table. It hurts.

I walk over to her, and I say, “Why are you crying?”

She says, “Do you think your father still loves me?”

She looks up at me, and I say, “We did this last weekend, Mum. Yes, he still loves you. No, I can’t prove it. And can he, after 200 plus years?”

I look down at her and say, “Sometimes I don’t think Dad himself knows how to prove to himself he loves himself.”

She says, “I just wish he could be more like modern men.”

I say, “Yeah, tell me about it.”

She looks up at me, and I say, “Do you want a cup of tea?”

She nods and says, “Yes please.”

I nod as I head into the kitchen, with her following me, and she says, “We really did well with you, didn’t we?”

I hesitate as I say, “Yeah.” I roll my eyes. “You really did.”

I grab the kettle and walk over to the sink, and she says, “It was so sad seeing Ryan’s beta like that.”

I nod as I fill up the kettle, and she says, “Xavier wants you to be there when he tells the beta’s family of his passing.”

I put the kettle back as I nod and say, “Why me?”

She says, “You will be his husband. It is your duty.”

I say, “Why marry me off?”

I look at her and say, “Why me?”

She says, “Don’t start having a tantrum, Roman.”