I fought against the water that was pushing me down, looking desperately for the way up so that I could breathe again, if only for a moment.
'I hope you can forgive me...' Why was that running through my head? Of anything, I would've thought that maybe, maybe, I would be thinking of a way to get out of the water, which, by the way, is still drowning you, you idiot! I fought harder and found it easier to move, still hard, but a lot easier than it was while underwater. I became aware of quite a few things when I worked my way up.
One: I was in a lot of pain, and starting to wish I'd just stayed underwater.
Two: Somebody was holding my hand...I think. My body was still slow to respond and definitely not up to actually feeling anything.
Three: People were crying. Some sounded familiar, but others were just...not clicking. Why were people crying, and why were there people I didn't know around me? A memory came back up to me, and I tried to analyze it, but it slipped through the imaginary fingers of my mind.
Four: There was a beeping noise. It sounded a lot like my alarm and I wished someone would just throw the freaking thing against the wall and kill it!
Mom... I thought and struggled harder to get to the surface where the freaking water was holding my precious air captive. It all rushed back to me and the beeping picked up speed. I could feel something moving through my veins. It was icy cold compared to the warm blood being pumped through my body by my suddenly racing heart.
Mom... The gun shot. The people chasing us. The pain in my side from the bullet I'd taken for Mom. The car. The freaking engine that wouldn't just turnover and start like it should've, Her words...
I love you, Nathan... I hope you'll forgive me someday...
Why did it sound so much like a confession and a goodbye? She couldn't be gone... I needed her... It...It was just a bad dream... A nightmare where me and Jake watched too many horrors and drank too much caffeine before bed, just like always...
But when have you ever had such a bad dream before? My traitorous mind spoke up. I hushed it and told it to shut up and leave me alone, because, it couldn't be true...
"Nathan!" A man's voice shouted. I tried to ignore it and really wake up. Really, but the pain intensified instead of dimming and I knew it wasn't a dream. "Nathan! Come on, baby boy, wake up!" My breath hitched and I felt my heart beat faster, but I pushed all the pain away as my mind sucked me into a memory...
"...Baby boy, what's wrong?" A soothing voice called. I turned around and saw her. The woman I lived to protect, my mom.
"Nothing, Mama, just... never mind..." I whispered, ashamed of letting her know how bad this man was. The important thing was that he treated Mama good, I could handle anything else...
"Baby boy...Nathan, tell Mama what's wrong..." She ordered. I wasn't going to say anything, I was frickin' 12, for Pete's Sake! Then I looked at her neck, just past the turtleneck she always wore now, and saw them.
"Mom, what's that?" I asked, pointing to her neck, where the finger shaped bruises wrapped around her slim neck. Her small smile disappeared and her amber colored eyes lost some of that fierce inner light I never knew I relied on so much. Suddenly, her whole appearance seemed smaller, delicate... fragile. Her light brown hair even lost some of its' luster.
"Oh, it's nothing... David was just a little upset..." I felt something twist my insides and scream in pain.
'Pack... protect Pack... he hurt Her...' something in my mind screamed, thirsting for blood, vengeance, and the knowledge of its 'Pack's' safety. I turned and walked over to the phone, not really paying any attention to what I was doing.
"...911, what is your emergency?..." I stayed silent for a second before answering.
"I'd like to report a case of domestic and child abuse... David Wellington is the suspect, I've seen the kid and the woman with suspicious bruises... 12 Avelonian Avenue... Thank you.." I hung up and went back to looking at the scars on my hand from that man, David.
"Baby boy, why..." I looked up at her.
"You're more important than I am... You're Pack!" I said determinately...
"Nathan! Come on, Nathan, calm down! You're going to hurt yourself!" I finished fighting the water and opened my eyes, quickly letting them adjust before scanning the room. I searched the room and even my heart where I kept all my important people, but I couldn't find the most precious.
"Mom," I whispered before sitting up and ripping all the machines and wires off my body. Everybody was too shocked, and after a minute of tense, awkward silence, I stared at the man who held the most powerful aura, something that the inner me was screaming to put down, because I was the strongest here, not him.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" I said in a deadly calm voice. Nearly everybody either gaped and stared at me in awe or flinched back in complete silence.
