Living a Lie

Truth

"Who is this?" I ask Grant staring at the photo. I don't know who this man is but there's something familiar about him.

"His name was Jackson Pierre. He was the alpha before my dad." He says walking towards me and looking at the portrait.

"So he's still alive then?" I ask. I don't know why but I just want to meet him and talk to him.

"Oh..um no. He's dead." Grant answers sadly. Too sadly. Like something bad happened.

My curiosity getting the better of me, I ask, "What happened to him?"

"Well it's a long story," He says sitting down, "you might want to get comfortable if you want to know."

"Yes. I want to know." I say sitting across from him.

"I don't think you'll like it." He says hesitant. I know that probably means it's about my pack but I want to know what happened to this man. "About... I don't know...19..20 years ago our Luna found out she was pregnant. The whole pack went into celebration. See when Olivia, that's his wife, got married to Jackson, she wanted a baby. She had grown up being the only kid and hated it. She insisted that as soon as she got married she would start a big family.

"Anyway, they tried and tried and tried but they never got pregnant. Finally, she went to the doctor and found out she was fertile. They were both devastated. About five years later, she got pregnant. That's why the pack started celebrating. I was around two or three at the time and just remember everyone was so happy. As I was saying, the pack celebrated all nine months. When she finally gave birth, it was a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Everyone was excited. It seemed like the world was perfect then. Then trouble happened. The Lowell pack started killing off pack members." My face must show my disdain because he asks, "Do you want me to continue?"

"Yes," I say wanting to know what happened.

"Well, they started killing off our members. Now our packs have been fighting for generations, but this was different. They weren't going after our warriors or soldiers. They killed our children, our elderly; people who couldn't defend themselves. My father was the pack's beta at the time. I remember him coming home and telling my Mom this when he thought I was asleep.

"Then one night Jackson's and Olivia's home caught on fire. The pack members got to their house as soon as they could only to see blood everywhere. The Lowell pack had slaughtered all the people in that house. Didn't matter if it was a soldier or a kid; they were all dead."

"So that's how he died? They killed him like everyone else?" I whisper. I can't help but feel bad for all of those people.

"No, that's not how he died," he says gravely, "the pack's job is to protect the alpha if the need arises. My father was able to keep the enemy away just long enough for them to run. They knocked my dad out and chased after them. I don't know the specifics but when my father woke up the Lowell pack was gone. He ran into the woods looking for Jackson and Olivia and when he found them...when he found them, they had already been found. Olivia's neck was broken and Jackson was torn apart."

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry." I don't know what else to say. All those people that died; all those mothers and sisters and brothers and fathers and grandparents who lost so much. For losing so many of their own and then losing their alpha and Luna.

"The pack was a mess after that. My father became the alpha and slowly the pack was built up again." He says standing up to look at the photo again.

"What...what happened to the daughter?" My voice cracks but I don't notice. I stare at Grant wanting to know if the baby died too.

"They took her," he slowly turns to look at me, "they took her that night. We never found her body." I can't look him in the eyes and drop my head. A miracle baby and only to live such a short life. Lowell pack. My pack did this. If someone told me this, I would tell them their lying. That we would never do something like that, but I believe him. Why would anyone make that up? I suddenly feel sick and ashamed.

"What was her name?" I whisper. I doubt Grant can hear me but I don't want to say it louder.

He walks over to me and kneels before me. My head is still down, looking at the floor. He puts two fingers under my chin and tilts it up. I stare into his eyes. They look so sad and yet, there's something else. Hope maybe? "Sage. Her name was Sage Pierre." He says slowly.

_________________________________________

I'm sitting down with a glass of water in my hand. I feel numb and stupid. Grant's sitting across from me with a worried look. I don't know what to say or do, so instead I keep my head down and think.

All my life I felt different. I could never tell why but I did. It's like people would treat me differently. They were either nice to me or mean to me. I was never popular in high school; kids would always make fun of me and be jerks. But I just thought it was normal. Just school, but then I had kids who were nice to me. Like they felt bad for me. I could be overreacting right now but I just have a feeling.

I close my eyes and think of what some of the kids said: Get away freak, you're nothing like us, you're them, you're different, or I could never be with someone like you. I just thought they were mean but now it makes sense. They knew. They all knew. My heart sinks as I think about my friends. Katherine was always nice to me, but now I wonder if she just felt bad. She always cared for me like a kid but I just thought that was her type of personality. Lynn's parents were best friends with my parents. I never thought that was a big deal but maybe they made her be nice to me. Then Sasha was Katherine's cousin so maybe she made her be nice to me too. My eyes tear up as I think about my life. Did everyone know? Did everyone just pretend?

I look down at the ring on my finger and lose it. I start sobbing so much I don't think I can stop. Grant runs over to me and holds me. I lay my head on his chest and cry.