Chapter 12 Memories

Elijah’s Point of View

Rage overpowered me in a flash when I learned about what happened to Atasha. I punched Zacharius in the face, hit his stomach, and made him fall to the ground. I knew he planned to ruin our training, the main reason he wanted to join us here. I felt that I was ready to tear his bones apart if Veronica didn't stop me immediately. As soon as she grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Zacharius, I put my fist down, and my sister always acted like a mother for the both of us.

I looked at Veronica angrily. Her eyes gleamed as they turned blue from its usual amber color. I snarled and padded my way to Zacharius, who was busy brushing the blood on the side of his lips, but Veronica stopped me again.

"Stop, Elijah!" she warned me. "This is not the right time to battle against your brother, knowing Atasha was lost in the woods! So calm down!"

"This is all his fault!" I yelled, my ragged breathing was visible as my anger couldn't seem to slow down a bit.

"You always love blaming others, El." Zacharius chuckled, stood up from the ground, and looked at me intently. The muscles on his face clenched. "El, my beloved half-brother that sees me entirely as his foe in his whole life. Why don't you give me some love?" He smiled.

"I said stop! Damn it!" Veronica stepped in between us, and her hands were stretched sideward to make sure no further attack would happen. "Can you please stop using this opportunity to start a fight for the reason that you can't resolve your insecurities for each other? You're both insane! That lady has gone missing, and I can't believe you still have the energy to fight each other!"

My jaw clenched, eyes locked to Zacharius, but I decided to look away. I couldn't deny that Veronica had a point. If only this fella didn't come with us. If only he didn't try to be involved with our matter, then I would have been more careful of Atasha.

For some reason, I was not too fond of the fact that she picked Zacharius over me when I offered my help earlier. I was afraid she would be brainwashed by him. I had to admit that my ego was trampled at that time. No one ever resisted me that way. It was the first time that someone refused me. Actually, I shook my head as I no longer wanted to recall it. My lips curled for a thin line. I breathed heavily and tried to calm this shit inside of me as I knew that Veronica was right.

I needed to find Atasha.

"Alright, so if both of you cooled down already, let's split up and find Atasha now. That pup has a strong scent that is scattered everywhere. We might have an issue tracking her down," Veronica commanded, her tone being authoritative and wary.

I didn't complain and nodded without saying a word. I glanced at Zacharius one last time. His punchable face made me want to puke.

I swore I would make him pay when something bad happened to Atasha.

I headed towards the pines and inhaled her scents. Veronica was right that her scent was scattered everywhere. I needed to find her before it got too dark. Otherwise, she would be in big trouble knowing there were rogues lurking in the forest.

***

Atasha’s Point of View

Throbbing pain on my forehead awakened me from what seemed like a long unconsciousness. Gasping for air, I found myself lying on the ground, and my vision was still blurry after passing out.

A soft whimper escaped my lips when I realized that blood was streaming down my face. My hand reached my forehead, and I confirmed that I got a wound from hitting my head on the tree branch.

I forced myself to get up slowly. My eyes wandered everywhere, and all I could see were trees, grasses, and the darkness of night from each corner of the forest.

"Elijah," I called the first werewolf who came to my head. "Elijah? Veronica, Zach?"

I kept calling their names but to no avail. The night breeze was oddly sending me creeps. The noise of the insects was loud and filled the entire forest. My lips quivered as I stood up, wondering in which part of the forest the horse had taken me before I passed out.

"Where am I?" I embraced myself.

Being alone right here made me anxious. My heart was pounding in fear, but I managed to move forward, trying to find the right way back to the barn.

"Veronica!" I didn't have the strength to scream out loud because I was afraid that I might attract wild animals that were lurking in the forest.

Time passed. I had been walking for almost an hour but still couldn't locate them. Were they aware that I was missing? Did they leave me out here?

Were they even worried? A lot of questions whirled through my head.

What if they decided to leave me here and move on with their lives?

What if Elijah gave up on our agreement and decided to break our deal and throw me away? No, it can't be.

A sting of pain struck my chest. I felt the heat on both sides of my eyes. I gasped and hoped that these were all just my thoughts and I was wrong. They wouldn't try to leave and betray me . . . Even just for a short period of time, I knew that they found me useful despite my shortcomings. Even if Elijah decided to leave me, I knew for sure that Veronica would still try to find me; the same goes for Zach.

But where were they? I continued to trek, and as time passed by, my hopes were getting smaller and smaller.

My hand reached my stomach as soon as I felt how it rumbled. I was already hungry and thirsty. I sighed and let my feet move on their own even though I didn't know where to go. My eyes glanced up at the night sky and saw the picturesque view of the moon. It was gleaming yellowy white, undeniably significant while surrounded by such exquisite glow of thousands of stars.

"It's a full moon," I whispered to myself and sighed once again. "Are you watching over me, Moon Goddess Selene?" I didn't mean to sound snarky, but my voice came off that way.

Just when I was about to continue trekking in vain, I heard the voices of a group walking somewhere. I turned around and saw a group of men wearing quirky masks from afar.

I assumed they noticed me because their eyes behind those masks they wore were directed at me. I thought they were humans, but I felt how the terror took over my body when the man who seemed to be leading them waved both of his hands that made his claws visible.

"Take her!" he ordered.

I screamed. I felt the danger as they started running towards me, it felt that I was electrocuted within my entire body, and the next thing I did was run as fast as I could. I assumed they were rogues who wandered in the forest.

My eyes went teary as I heard their devilish laugh while trying to hunt me down. I stumbled over my feet, and my head hit the ground. I touched my head then checked my hands that were full of blood.

My visions got blurry as I saw someone grab me, but I couldn't help but fall asleep.

***

"Astrid, wait for me!" I ran towards her as we played along the forest. We always love following the butterflies. The first one to catch them wins, then the loser's head will be flicked.

I recalled this was my favorite place with Astrid when we reached ten years old. Our mother would always bring us here to stroll and whenever we got home, she would scold us a bit as our face was full of dirt, and we smelled nasty.

“No more playing outside.” I remembered how our mother wanted us to be elegant and act like adults.

When mom taught us how to be ladylike, only Astrid was able to do it. She studied hard and worked very elegantly. When we were at school, I admired how Astrid was popular with our teachers. At that moment, I also hoped I could be like her.

"Atasha, stand up," my teacher said while she was pointing to question number one on the board.

I stood up, and everyone was looking in my direction.

"Please, answer this,” my teacher repeated, which made my heart pound faster.

"Uhm . . .” I pretended not to see the question clearly written on the board.

My teacher then instructed me to come forward if I couldn't see it. When the teacher started reading the question for me, to avoid humiliation, I just started saying gibberish words out of nowhere and acted like a foreign. That made the entire class laugh. I was not sure why but the teacher just asked me to sit down.

I always do that to escape any humiliation, and the class would always laugh, despite the fact that my actions were becoming repetitive.

When it was our lunchtime, Leo approached us and invited me to his birthday party.

"Hi, Atasha, can you come to my birthday this Saturday?" He smiled. I didn’t know why but Astrid seemed enthusiastic with him.

"I'm helping our mother this Saturday—” My words got cut off by Astrid.

"We will be coming to your party!"

I glanced at Astrid and whispered to her that our mother would get angry with both of us if we came to his party.

"Sure, Astrid, if you also want to come.” Leo smiled and walked away.

I was impressed with Leo on how he can differentiate us two since most of my classmates sometimes had a hard time telling the difference. I heard that he was popular because he was a son of the Silver Moon Pack's Beta. I think he was smart, that's why he could tell us apart.

The next day, before the party, during our class, some students were teasing Leo. They said they saw my name written on his paper. I wasn’t sure what the big deal was. Leo was trying to stop the students while other students teased me that he had a crush on me.

"Leo likes you!" A group of girls was teasing me. I didn’t know how to react, but I was flattered that Leo could have a crush on someone like me. I think Astrid was more likable though.

Astrid then shouted, "Can you please be quiet? I'm reading and can't concentrate!"

I was stunned to hear Astrid scream like that. I never saw her screaming, even in our house. She was usually quiet, and her calm expression, especially in hard times, was what I most adored. This was the first time seeing her act this way. All of them stopped, but I could hear the whispers from my classmates.

"That girl is obnoxious as hell. She always wants to be the star in this room. Give me a break."

"Yeah, we get it, the bright student loves to show off!”

Those whispers were loud enough for me to hear. They were totally mistaken about Astrid. When the class was over, we got out, and I tried to talk to her about what had happened earlier. But Astrid became distant ever since she got mad at school. Every lunchtime, Astrid joined different girls, and I was left alone.

"Is this seat taken?" I saw Leo glanced at me.

“No.” He immediately sat down.

"I want to ask you something," he said. I simply nodded while I was eating. "Why do you talk gibberish if you're called to recite?"

I didn’t know what to answer him, so I kept eating.

"I don't want to offend you. I just found it very funny and cute."

I was choked on by what he said. Good thing he grabbed the bottle of water and helped me to drink. "Thank you!" I said as I cleared my throat.

He reminded me about his birthday party this Saturday and suddenly ran to his friends to the library.

"See you on Saturday!” he yelled from afar and waved.

At the birthday party, I saw that there were some students from our class that were here. Some were from the elite families in the Silver Moon Pack. I didn't see Astrid at the party. She started not talking to me entirely though she still smiled back at me. However, those smiles were empty, and it was telling me something was not right. I came back to my senses when Leo tapped my shoulders.

"Hey, you okay?" I nodded. "By the way, he's my cousin Alexander. He wanted to meet your sister if that's possible," Leo uttered.

I saw Alexander nudge his elbow.

"Yeah, absolutely," I replied.

After a few minutes, I went outside their house, and in the back of my mind, I felt that Astrid needed my help. There was something that she was not saying. I left the party and saw Astrid suddenly, and she appeared waiting for me.

"Let's go to the church, Atasha. I have something to pray to the Moon Goddess."

As we entered the old Church, I saw a lot of rats running around, and the lights were off and broken. The chairs were filled with dust and mites.

"Are you sure, Astrid, this is a church? This place is filthy, I think we should go home.”

I tried to stop her, but I met a strange old woman in her 40’s. Her overall aura was creepy. Every step that she made sounded terrifying. I was grabbed by my arm and crying for help because her grip was too tight.

"Atasha, wake up!” Astrid touched my forehead, and I was lying in the grass in front of the terrifying Church. "I'm finished praying; let's go home," she said and grabbed my hand. "I’m sorry, Atasha, I know you're worried but I already confess everything to the Moon Goddess.”

She embraced me, and I was so happy that Astrid was now okay. We walked home and asked her what had happened to the creepy old woman. She said there were no such things, and she thought I was too tired. I no longer argued with her, and my head was already aching. The same day, I had nightmares of that creepy woman. It had been like that for ten days straight. I would wake up in the middle of the night dripping with sweat.

As we both reached seventeen years old, some werewolves attacked our pack. I tried to transform, but I wasn't able to do so. My father looked at me with disappointment. Astrid was able to shift and save our family. That day, I was considered a cursed wolf by my own father.

The night when I was sleeping in the same room with Astrid. My father opened the door and went straight to my bed.

"Atasha, wake up, and I'll hide you in a separate room!" My father yelled. "You should be separated from Astrid from now on."

I cried when I heard that because I was not used to sleeping alone. Ever since I was a kid, Astrid and I have been forever in one room.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"Atasha, wake up!"

I woke up from that dream in which reminded me the start of my terror. I gasped for air and came back to my senses. I saw Elijah's face in front of me, his gaze fixated on me. My head was on his lap.

Tears started falling down my face as the sadness brought by my memory of my past started to filled my chest once again, and without any hesitation I cried my lungs out.