Hate me, love me, kiss me

Unearthing

I look at the calendar hanging above my bed, I have one more week before the big game and we've only lost one since the scrimmage with San Diego but it was a long day so coach let it go. It's raining outside and there are speculations of a big time flood happening near the school so they cancelled it today. My Mom has been sleeping for awhile. I looked through every nook and cranny to find every drop of alcohol in this house my mother could have stashed; I threw away 6 bottles of cheap vodka and 3 bottles of mouthwash. While my Dad and brother are still away I decided to give her my own detox treatment. I unscrewed her door and took the lock off the bathroom- now she can't hide from me. So she's decided to get through this by sleeping as much as she can, fine by me. I pick up my phone, I look at the text I received from Alan yesterday,

'Thanks for spending time with me yesterday. Can we do it again sometime?' I smile every time I read it. I begin texting,

'How about now?' I reply. Not more than a few seconds I hear a knock on the door. I get off my bed, wrapping a warm blanket around me and walk to the door. I see his face, I smile. I open the door,

"Hi." I said. 

"Hey." 

"Come in." I direct him in the house. 

He sees the door sitting in the living room. 

"Don't mind that, can we chat, in my room?" I say. 

I walk in front of him and head down the hall. I open the door and let him in. Most people I'd be ashamed of them seeing my house like this, only Alan, carter and stetson know about my troubles. I don't feel ashamed of them seeing this part of me, for the first time I feel like I can be vulnerable. I shut the door behind us and offer him a seat at my desk. 

"How did you get here so quickly?" I ask.  He shrugs his shoulders and replies, 

"I was around," I put a piece of my hair behind my ear and look around. 

*Thunder rumbles* 

He looks up, how could I have let that cross my mind? 

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I should have been more considerate you must be terrified." i dig my head into my hands, he chuckles.

"Of thunder? We're not dogs Serenity." How many times does he have to remind me. I keep forgetting. Why did I invite him over? 

"Serenity?" I heard my mothers quiet whisper as she sees us in my bedroom. I quickly get up, sh*t. I could feel the rage in her bones,

"WHO IS THIS MAN?!" Alan gets up, extending his hand out toward her, 

"Hello ma'am, my names Alan Davis. I live down the road." My head turns to him, I didn't know he lived down the road. Has he always lived down there? 

I smile hoping my mother wouldn't loose her cool, but it just made her even angrier.

I saw her hand swinging, headed for my face, I close my eyes getting ready for impact but it never reached my skin. I open my eyes and see Alan holding her wrist. 

"miss. White," His voice is cold but tender at the same time. He looks her in the eyes. 

"What are you scared of?" 

"Them finding me." 

Is he impelling her? Can he make her stop drinking, or even stop hurting me? I don't know If I should stop him because part of me wants to ask him to answer so many of my questions, but I'm scared of the secrets I'd be keeping from her. I don't want her to feel empty inside, like she is living a life not meant for her. But on the other hand it would be nice to stop showing up to school with bruises painted on my skin from the death grips and belt whips.

'If anything tries to hurt you, I will kill them.'  My eyes are open wide, he can't kill my mother. 

"Who?" 

"The wolves that my mother stole from. They want the ring and she told me I can't give it to them." Grandma Terri stole a ring? She's a sweet old lady in a nursing home, she couldn't still anything. Alan grabs her hands,

"Daisy, where is the ring?" He asks. She shakes her head,

"I-I don't know." He drops her arms and his gaze, I look at him to try and see what he is thinking but I can't, his face is blank. He zips up his jacket, my heart races. Is that what this was, to get close to me to talk with my Mom? 

"I'm sorry I have to go." He says. 

"What?" I say annoyed. I get up off my bed and chase after him, but by the time I reach the door he has already transformed into his beautiful white wolf self and runs off. 

"DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF ALAN!" I screamed with tears down my face. 

...

P A I N

I haven't seen Alan, carter, or stetson in three days. I've stopped hearing the constant howls and barking throughout the night, I think they've left. It's for the better, but why doesn't it feel that way? I'm left with so many unanswered questions. But, since he left I've been able to focus on school more, I'm ahead in all my classes once again and lead volleyball player,

"WHITE! Come here." I look at coach, as I finish tying my shoe. She is talking to a couple of other staff. I stand up and walk towards her, I place my hands on my waist and ask,

"What's up?" That's when I realize the people standing in front of me, three coaches from three universities. I was to in shock to hear what they were saying. I'm meeting them early. I begin to hear little tidbits of what they are saying. There compliments on how I pass perfectly or set to the right person in every play. My serves are flawless and my team is remarkably put together. They enjoyed me the best in the libero position because I have a hard time letting the ball hit the ground. For some reason I started feeling nauseous and my heart wanted to crawl out of my throat. 

"Excuse me," I said. I rushed to the bathroom outside of the gym, luckily I made it in time. 

I rinse my mouth out with water and wash my hands, I open the door. I look at my watch, my brother should be out there by now-

"Serenity White please come to the office." what now? I just want to go home. I grab my bags that were sitting next to the gym. I turn around and head to the office, which isn't that far. I've been to the office before, Mrs. Black is always nice so there isn't a reason why I need to be afraid to visit her. I walk through the doors and the front office lady- Bridgette? Becky? Bethany- uh, it doesn't matter, it is something with a B. She hands me the phone and says,

"It is your brother." My brother? Isn't he waiting for me outside? I grab the phone from her and hold it against my ear,

"Ryan?" I say confused. 

"Hey Siren!" He says loudly, he sounds like he's driving. I can hear music playing quietly in the back round. 

"Where are you?" I ask. 

"I'm off to a junior college in the big city of Connecticut!" he laughs. I nearly freeze,  he's never expressed that he wanted to go to a college, why now? Why is he going to leave me alone? He can't do that, not now, not while I'm trying to do everything myself. I haven't just come across being smart, I had to earn it. I want to be happy but I'm almost mad that he's left me to take care of my mom all by myself. He's been gone for so long, did he even take mom to a rehab or Dad to a car show? Was he showing them the college why I fended off intruders from our home looking for a damned ring?! 

"That's awesome." I lied. 

"Don't worry, I'll be back during holidays, and your big game coming up, I promise!" He yelled. I faked a laugh and hung up. I smiled at the B lady, I heard the phone ringing and I knew it was my brother calling. She kept calling my name but I ignored it. I grabbed my bag and began running. I was going to run my way home, before my bus began honking at me ten minutes later telling me to get on. I walk up the stairs on the bus, I'm the only one. I smiled at him and walked to the back of the bus. I brought my bag to my chest and leaned my head against the window. I felt a tear slide down my cheek but I quickly wiped it from view. 

It's dark when I get home, I see a new car in the driveway- a new, old car, I should say. I thank the bus driver and look at my house. I walk down my driveway with my head hanging low, I know no ones watching this house anymore, they must have been bored. I look to the left of me, the house down the road, the lights are turned off, it is the only house I know out here.

*Glass shattering* 

My attention is drawn to the sounds of dishes breaking and furniture being thrown,

"oh no." I whisper under my breath. She must have gotten to a hidden spot in the house while I was gone. I run up my driveway and up my front porch. I open the door and notice a bunch of men searching through my house. I decided to jump on one of them,

"THE RING ISN'T HERE GET OUT OF MY-" as I was beating one of them I felt a sudden poke in my neck, I fell backwards and hit the wooden table of my house. When I fell, I saw my parents laying side by side, the man was standing beside me. My vision is going blurry and I can't move. 

"We can't have her sending a message to Alan Davis, he'll rip us to shreds if he knows we're here. Now look for the damned ring," These men are different, they smell different too. My head hurt and I couldn't feel if I was bleeding, my eyelids felt like they were metal, I couldn't keep them open anymore so I closed them. 

I felt a giant headache, why? I roll around trying to ease the immense pain I was feeling in the back of my skull when I remembered the intruders, are they still here? I can't hear anything. Open your eyes Serenity, come on open them. There was a foul smell coming from the west, if I was facing north. Finally my eyes open and it's bright outside. I try and sit up, but everything hurts. I look over to my parents lying on the floor.

"MOM! DAD!" I screamed. My heart sank when the smell got worse as I crawled to them. I finally reach them, wheeping over there bodies. I slide under my mothers head and hold her,

"Mom, wake up! Please! Wake up!" I hold her stomach where the blood was once coming out of. I pat her face gently, 

"Please, I can't do this without you." I cried. 

"Dad? Wake up. You guys can't be dead!" I cried. I layed my head on her chest,

"Please wake up! I'll drop out of school and help you full time, just like Ryan did. I promise! I'll do anything you want, you just have to wake up! please." I cried. I couldn't stop the tears flowing from my eyes, there are endless rounds of them. 

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" I screamed hoping Alan could here me. 

I tried doing CPR on them both but the pulses never came about, they haven't woken up like they should have. It's all my fault, I should have called Alan- no, I never should have even brought Alan here, what if he's the reason why they are dead?  I sit on my bed in bloody clothes rocking back and forth staring at my parents' dead bodies. 

*door slamming open*

I grab the knife that I took from the kitchen,  

"Serenity?" I heard his voice and I dropped the knife and cried. He ran past my parents and right to me I stood up off my bed and cried right into his arms, I cried so hard that my headache became worse. 

"what happened?" He asks.