Flames and Starlight

33🌘

Laura

The ritual was painless. . .except for the part I had to get a tattoo.

I should've known that a ritual of this magnitude would be more than fancy words and drawing a moon on my forehead - not that I was having any regrets - but I was definitely not expecting a tattoo.

Ben told me he would help me get it in the morning; tonight, he was going to let me rest and get settled. He allowed me to stay in the guest bedroom in his cabin and promised he'd have my cabin ready by tomorrow evening.

I couldn't fall asleep, excitement flowing through my veins as I imagined all the possibilities and opportunities I was going to be able to take from now on that I was free of that toxic household.

A smile had spread across my face as I imagined how furious my parents were going to be once they found out they could no longer control me and use me as their punching bag.

Despite not getting any sleep, I was wide awake and energetic for the day. I joined Ben for breakfast, where he asked questions and got to know me better, and told me my cabin should be ready by six o'clock this evening and he scheduled an appointment with the Clan's tattoo artist for this afternoon. 

I never liked tattoos very much and never wanted to get one - I had an abnormal fear of needles - but I'd suck it up and do it. After all, there was no going back now. 

I thought to call Ruben, to make sure he was coming and he was okay. Ben let me use the house phone to call him. I waited, willing for him to pick up, but he didn't. I tried again. And again. Still no luck.

I tried to think of an excuse for him not answering; his phone could be dead, he was busy driving, he couldn't talk at the moment.

But I knew it was more, that there was a bigger reason as to why he wasn't answering. I was worried about him. He told me that his parents had threatened to call the police and report him as a runaway if he ever left home. I prayed they didn't follow out on it and had him arrested. My hands balled into fists as I thought of how terrible they treated their son, how little they thought of him and didn't value him, making his life miserable. They didn't realize what a great son they had.

From that interaction I had with Mr. Erikson at the hospital, I could tell the man was a world-class asshole, and if he treated a total stranger as he did me that night, then I didn't want to know how he would treat his own family. I felt like breaking his nose from what he said that night and what Ruben told me, and slapping his mother for allowing this to happen to her son and striking him. He said his mom wasn't as bad, but she was still terrible. She should've stepped up and taken care of her child better.

I sighed and finally hung up the phone. I debated about what to do, wondering if I should go out and try to find him.

I opened my mouth to call out to Ben, to ask him what he thought I should do, but he called out first before I could say anything.

"Laura, your grandmother is here to see you," he called to me from the front room.

I stilled, my heart sinking. Somehow, I hadn't even thought about what she was thinking about all of this and if she were angry or not. Even though she had been the one to suggest joining the Clan to begin with, she still had to be incredibly angry from the way I ran out and joined without her.

I'd honestly tried to avoid thinking about her reaction to all of this. Despite me no longer caring about what my family thought of me, I still cared about what Grandma thought and how she felt about all this.

I winced, knowing what I was about to face. My grandmother was the only person in the world that could invoke real fear in me. The wrath of my grandmother was unlike any other and I really, really didn't want to have to face it.