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"THE AFTERMATH"
Elise Sinclair is exhausted, please let her sleep. She just wants five more minutes, is that much to ask after what she's been through? Please, just let her sleep. But the world is awake and it wants her to wake up. The cold blasts of her leave her shivering and in need of a blanket, something she doesn't have. The creaking of the shed takes away any peace she has.
The hunger hits and it's excruciating and her stomach is loud enough to wake someone up. She wants food and warmth and quiet and sleep.
She stands up, noticing the new bruises and scrapes that litter her body, some are still bleeding, and paws around until she finds the clothes Mrs. Lupin laid out for her and puts them on. They are two sizes bigger than her but they're soft and fluffy so she doesn't care.
She knocks on the door of the shed, grateful to see that the lock held. She exhales, she didn't hurt anyone but herself. It's a nice weight to take off her shoulders. No one is dead because of her.
"Hello," she calls out, hoping someone is there.
There's a rattling of the chain and then it falls to the ground and someone opens the door. Remus' mother, Hopeand Remus is right behind him looking just as bad as she thinks she looks.
"Good morning," Hope says, cheerfully. "There's breakfast inside and you can warm up."
He leads them down the path to the house and it's just as long as Elise remembers it from the night before.
"Why do you have two sheds," Elise asks, teeth chattering.
"We just built this actually, for you," Remus explains, shivering.
"You didn't need to build anything for me," Elise says, instantly. "Really, you didn't. I would've been fine."
"It's my fault you're a werewolf so it's the least I could do," Remus says in a tone full of self-loathing.
"No, it's not," Elise says, out of nowhere. "It's not your fault."
"Yes, it is," Remus says, tiredly. "I bit you."
"You bit me, but it wasn't really you," Elise says.
Remus turns to meet her eyes.
"Last night, I almost killed my Mum and my little brother. I got locked in my room, long story and not the point. I didn't want to, I would never want to. The werewolf part of me is uncontrollable though, I wouldn't have been able to stop. I think I get it now. They're separate and we shouldn't spend the rest of our lives hating ourselves for the monsters we can't control."
It's not as black and white as Elis wanted it to be but reality never is. It just is.
Remus doesn't respond but Elise can see tears in the corner of his eyes. She looks down as they walk back to the house, shivering but in comfortable silence.
