Lost & Found

Opening up

Alice's POV:

When I finally got back to my room safely, I was feeling shattered. Into million pieces and million thoughts.

"You finally get it. Don't you, little girl?" I could fell Ama's happiness. She felt like the winner.

"We really can't be apart for long. This shouldn't ever happen. Now I won't be able to resist for long." I felt like the looser.

"That's how the bond works."

"Hey, roommate. Where have you been?" Stella woke me from my inner dialogue. She turned around on her bed with messy hair and sleepy voice. Obviously she just woke up from her nap. Then she started with inspection. She analyzed the state of mine and she practically jumped.

"What did I miss?"

I wasn't answering. I just slowly walked to my bed at sat down.

"Your hair is messier then mine, your lips are swollen and you are blushing." she had full list of evidence and I still wasn't answering.

"What happened? Did Kyle locked you somewhere or what?" she laughed a little.

And just like that my eyes were filled with tears. Now she wasn't laughing anymore. She ran and sat next to me promptly hugging me. "Ali, come on. You are scaring me."

"It's just that... I don't know how to explain."

"I guess it's time to tell me some of your secrets." she said.

"What if you won't like me after that anymore?" I said and I was honestly sick-worried.

"I promise I'll be there and I will really try to understand it from your point of you." that had to be enough.

I looked at her: "Kyle kissed me."

"And you didn't like it?"

"I loved it. Every second. Time stopped and it was just the two of us."

"Then what's wrong? That's a good thing."

"It's really not."

She was really confused.

"Did you hear about the tragedy that happened at the beginning of this school year? After the welcome party?"

"I heard something, but the principal didn't really want to say much."

"What did you hear?" I could see she wasn't really seeing where I was heading with that.

"Some girl died. She was at the party and then she had a car accident or something. I heard a lot of versions, but mostly that she got lost in the woods and she drove into the lake."

"Did you hear anything about how they found the place?"

"Not really. Wasn't really thinking about it. When you didn't show up, I thought maybe it was you. I mean my roommate, but principal told me you were coming later. But what does it matter now?"

She stayed quiet, waiting for me.

"That girl. She wasn't alone in that car. They were two...they got lost. They were arguing, both scared and blaming each other for it." she was looking at me more and more worried. "They weren't really looking where they were going and then...they got to the end of the road. There were no fences, just some bushes. The spot was up on the hill above the lake." when I looked at Stella, she was crying.

"That's how you lost your friend? Dalia?" she asked with a shaking voice.

"We drove through the bushes and right into the water. And I don't know what happened after that." even when it was really hard to tell, it felt good to get it out. "I woke up. I was at the shore. I was wet and really cold. Everything was hurting me, I had a lot of scratches, some were deeper and bleeding heavily especially the one right here." I pointed at the spot hidden in my hair that still hurt sometimes.

"I didn't know where I was, how or with whom did I get there. I was alone. So I started walking. Just trying to find help."

Stella was shocked. "What happened then?"

"I saw light in the distance, so I was walking along the shore. I got to the other side and there was some family with little kids. They already cold police and were packing their stuff. They had two little boys and they looked so scared. And when they saw me, they looked at me like I was some ghost. They helped me." we were quiet for a while.

"When did you realize that Dalia was missing?"

"When police arrived. They were asking me what happened and I just didn't know. But they were asking questions and then, piece after piece, I remembered something. They asked me if I was driving and I said no. They asked who was driving then...and that's when I knew."

I couldn't continue, I was crying too much. Stella hugged me and held me for a long time.

"After I realized she was gone, I couldn't talk for days. I didn't know what to say. You know, Dalia is...was the daughter of our Alpha and Luna. My dad is his Beta. We grew up together as sisters. We were always together and for the last few months we were in a lot of trouble. We were partying and, as Dalia would say, living our lives to the fullest. But it got out of hand, so they wanted to send Dalia to this boarding school. They wanted to separate us. But she was stubborn as hell and agreed only after they promised I would go too. And then, after the accident, they were angry with me. They wanted to know everything, but I couldn't really tell them anything. " I was slowly calming down.

"I should have stopped her."

"But Ali, it wasn't your fault, you know that, right?"

"It was. We were arguing and I should have stopped her. Her parents are right about it. I'm a she-wolf and I survived. How could I let her in that car? I chose to let her there alone."

"Don't say that. You probably had no choice. If you stayed, you would have died in there. That wouldn't help anyone."

"She wouldn't be there alone at least. Or if I at least knew what really happened in that car...but I don't know. I just can't remember. Only if I knew what happened. If she was awake. If she said anything or if I just panicked and let her there."

"It's over, Ali. You're safe now." She was hugging me softly, caressing me on my back.

"How could I betray her like that? I get why they hate me. All of them. Luna, Alpha, my family..."

"I don't hate you. In my eyes, you haven't done anything bad. I'm really sorry you had to go through something so terrible."

After my confession, I felt really exhausted, but also relieved. Stella was really the best. She was calming me down, saying all the right things. And the best part - she wasn't looking at me with doubt in her eyes. I could see she honestly believed me. I really didn't understand how could she, even I wasn't able to do that. After my confession, I couldn't go anywhere. We were lying on the ground of our room, Stella brought us some food so we didn't had to go to dinning room. I didn't eat much, but she made me eat at least something.

Mostly we were talking about random stuff. Not ones did Stella brought up the party that we missed. Even when she waited for so long to go there, she knew this was more important. She talked about music, school, choosing safe topics. And between these, Stella was asking slowly and carefully about my past.

"How did Dalia look like?"

So I showed her the photo. Stella said she looked really wild and beautiful, like the queen of she-wolfs.

"She was just like that. Everyone either loved her or hated her. She was just so full of life. She wanted to see and do everything. And all the boys were in love with her. How could they resist?" I smiled. It was nice to talk about her life and not about her death.

I even let the picture on my desk. Finally.

Then someone knocked at our door.