The Elevator

Aftermath

"Well, after Leanne's outburst, we were more worried about her mother. So we rushed her to the hospital. It turns out that she had low blood pressure and needed to be monitored. We were worried and sat vigil by her bed. Neither of us spoke a word. I was still grieving for my son. He was just thinking. Every time I looked at him." Jacob shook his head. "His face, contorted in pain."

"I'm sorry, you sat vigil for a woman that was in shock and had low blood pressure? Isn't that dramatic?" I scoffed.

"They were like parents to me." He mumbled.

"What happened next?" I ignored his statement, knowing full well I wanted to snap his neck.

"Eventually her mother woke up. She was crying hysterically until her ma-husband pulled her into his arms. She was crying, but not as much. They were looking at each other, silently communicating with each other." Jacob explained. He was stroking the side of his head as if it hurt. Now and then, he would push his fingers, pushing pressure into the temple.

"They both turned to me and they hung their head low. It was then that they knew whatever they were going to tell me was going to be bad. Let's just say it was worse." He chuckled. I could sense that he wanted to cry, but he just couldn't do that anymore. He allowed too many tears to fall already. For he was an Alpha, and he needed to be strong.

"What did they tell you?" I muttered.

"Her father told me for years that they hadn't been nice to Louise because they thought she was betraying her ma- soulmate by sleeping around. They were ashamed of her and treated her poorly. Apparently, Louise was shunned in her own home." He murmured. "It wasn't anything I didn't know. The whole pa- town picked up on it. Leanne bullied and beat her sister. We all joined in. Leanne would often shout and tell the town how much her sister was disappointing her parents, soiling her family name."

"Leanne would often tell me about her sister. Tell me how she would try to hurt her and how she was purposely humiliating her to get back at her because her parents were proud of her and not Louise." Jacob explained.

"You haven't explained what happened, whether Louise got vindicated." I retorted.

"She did." He smiled sombrely. "When her parents had explained briefly how they had treated Louise. Her father was questioning everything, while her mother just sat with an empty look in her eyes."

The question that I had always wanted to ask. I always wanted to know the full extent of the lies that my sister had told, what she had gotten herself into. What she had blamed me for. My parents would never tell me. All they would say is, "you know what you did, we shouldn't have to explain it to. It's bad enough Leanne had to tell me." Leanne was always clever in her manipulations with our parents. It didn't matter if I told them I didn't do it, they wouldn't believe me.

"I believed Louise to be involved with a rou- a group. I thought she was on drugs. They were told she was helping the group hurt people in the town. Her father said he didn't report it because it scared them that their daughter would be punished. They wanted to protect what little honour she had left." Jacob hung his head low.

"Well when, my son turned up dead with the note addressed to Leanne. I remember screaming at her for answers. It was until then that I realised the force of what I had said." This means that he finally Alpha commanded her to answer his questions. Despite her mark and being labelled 'his mate' she wouldn't have been able to ignore it.

"She admitted it was her that was hanging around the group. It was her who had been sleeping around. It was her that been involved with her soulmate who was a ro- wanted man. That it was Louise who had killed a dangerous man protecting the child. The dangerous man that Louise had killed was her soulmate's brother." Jacob said as he hung his head.

"A group had formed around me and Leanne and they revealed her sins to the pa-town. Her lies had announced, as well as mine. The town realised she wasn't my soulmate when she answered my questions. They lost respect for me and Leanne that day." He said as he wiped his forehead.

"What did the little town do?" I asked. I wondered if my sister got what she deserved, but then I thought back to my little nephew, who had died. Did she not suffer enough? Part of me wonders whether she had changed after this, but would the town let her change? The "town" was the pack, and they were probably just as judgemental and quick to point the finger as when I lived there.

"Well, they reacted how anyone would. They felt betrayed by the people they trusted the most. They looked at her in disgust. She looked pale and shocked. She realised what she had said and where she had said it. That perfect image of hers was destroyed. She got what she had given her sister all those years." He finished.

"What do you mean?" I asked, with my forehead furrowed.

"They shunned her. She was treated just as poorly as her sister was. They made her an om-helper to the town. She lost her... erm... celebrity status?" He replied.

My sister an Omega, I truly never believed I would hear the day that my sister got what she deserved. The belly laugh escaped my lips, tears rolling down my cheeks. As much as I wanted to stop, I reveled in her misfortune. The desire to see her as an Omega swelled inside my chest. However, there was a level of disappointment in her punishment. If my parents had found out I was helping the Rouges, I would have been killed or banished. Despite all her sins, they still showed her leniency. They gave her the mercy that they never gave upon me.

"What's so funny?" He questioned. I could see his fist clench.

I really didn't know how to ask without revealing I was a werewolf, or how I knew about werewolves. How do you ask the question that is simmering on my lips? I wiped my eyes and gathered the courage and confident to question him. "How come she didn't leave? Why didn't the town banish her from their sight? How did you not push her away like Louise?"

He seemed shocked by my question, but I needed to know why did they favour her over me still after all she had done? Any other wolf would have been banished, but they merely gave her the status of 'Omega.'

"Her parents. They begged me." He sighed. "They said they had failed their daughters, and they lost one, they couldn't lose the other. I suppose I found pity on her and truthfully I thought that Leanne being a helper would be the ultimate punish. She loved her status too much. Also, I didn't trust her to cause more harm to our town if she left. Part of thought about Louise too. I knew despite everything, she wouldn't want her sister killed."

I pondered what he said. Would I have wanted my sister killed? No. Deep down, as much as I wanted her to suffer, I wouldn't want her dead. Did I think she needed punishment? Yes, but did I think what she was getting the punishment I deserved? I don't know.

"How did you get punished?" I asked, amused by my question. His eyes widened in surprise. I knew he wouldn't believe he needed punishment. For his ego was still in the way. He would use Leanne as a crutch for his poor behaviour and terrible decision making.

"I beg your pardon? Punished? Why did I need to be punished?" He scoffed.

"Well, you betrayed your soulmate."

Edited 08/08/2023