Family Secrets

Raul - 1

I don't know what made me decide to go into the woods tonight. It's not even my perimeter-duty day. Actually, I have to sneak past D. to get into the thicker part of the woods (which isn't hard considering he couldn't smell a skunk sitting in his lap). I don't know. I just... needed to. So, I'm here now.

"Is this your doing, Wayden?" I ask the star-flecked tree canopy. "You bring me out here for some reason? Or do I just need to get away from everything? It's not like anybody would miss me."

In the midst of nine brothers, I am the middle child. Juan, Eliseo, D., and Diego are my big, responsible, pain in the ass brothers, and Salvador, Adrian, Xavier, and Dustin are my sweet, annoying baby brothers... not that you could tell with how Mama treats us. Somehow there's always been enough love to go around, even if some of my more dramatic sibs do manage to monopolize her attention on occasion.

The shifting wind pulls my thoughts from my family, grounding me once again in the present. I inhale deeply, appreciatively.

The open, pristine woods. Not a lot of Weildon come this far out, ironically. Our abuelita says it's because we've become domesticated. She doesn't say it as a compliment.

Me, though, I'm different. She always has said she sees the wild living and breathing inside of me, that I remind her of her grandfather. Juan and Eliseo may be larger and stronger than me, but I am still wild.

I inhale deeply once again, loving the smells that dance through my brain, the joy that courses through my veins. Some people use loud music, alcohol, or rowdy friends to pump themselves up. For me, there's nothing better than nature.

Without thought, my stride begins to lengthen, my pace to quicken. Soon I'm dashing through the woods, a silent, deadly predator not on the hunt but just running for the pure joy of it.

As I dart around a large tree and startle a deer, I can't help the laugh howls from my chest. Pure joy. That's what this moment is.

Unfortunately, those moments never seem to last long.

I'm not sure what I notice first whether it's a smell or sound or even the energy, but my laugh stops, my steps slow, and my skin prickles.

I'm not alone.

Slipping quickly behind a tree, I weave between it and several more, crouching low so the brush can obscure me, threading my way sideways and backwards so that if I am being followed, I will see whatever is following me.

Nothing.

Senses alert, I turn toward the direction I had been heading and sniff.

Dark creatures. A lot of them.

I know I should be afraid. That would be the proper response in this moment. I should be terrified and do my level best to back track as silently as possible, all the while praying to Wayden that I make it back alive. Then I could alert the Warriors and they could chase them away. That's what any sane Weildon would do.

But.

This Raul, ummhmm, he's a wild one, just like my abuelo. These walls, these rules, they will not contain a spirit like his. Raul is not meant for this kind of civilization. He is something more, something older, fiercer. You watch. One day he will begin tearing down these walls brick by brick, and Wayden have mercy on any that try to stop him.

Abuelita's voice dances through my mind as I pick my way through the underbrush, moving slowly and carefully towards the smell of so many dark creatures.

My skin prickles, not with fear. No. My brothers often speak of having to move beyond fear, but that's never been the case for me.

My brothers have to rely on the strength of the pack to bolster their nerve. They have forgotten why they were created. Like Abuelita says, they have become domesticated, forgetting that they were born to hunt.