The New Light of Hope: Books I to VI.

Chapter XII: SilentShadow.

Milly:

The next day when me and Abby went back to the Shade Hunters Division, I decided that once I was done with helping out the animals, I would help out one in particular that had caught my attention the previous day.

I had started that day off with helping ShadowHunter organize the hunting patrols as well as any other patrols and assisting the apprentices with Defense Training, whereas for Abby, well, she did the same thing as well, but she mainly kept her eyes on SunPelt during that time.
Once I had finished with everything and helped everyone to the best of my ability, I began to search for the wolf. But eventually, I found him. He was hiding in the shadows, where nobody would be able to find him. He soon saw me and snarled at low volume. "What the hell do you want?" He asked. "I just came to see of you needed some after I saw you yelling at that fighter yesterday." I answered him.

Wolf: "Well, he bumped into me so he got what was coming to him. And whatever I do throughout my day-to-day life, is none of your business!"

Milly: "I can tell you're in pain and the least I can do is to try and help you out."

Wolf: "I do not need anyone's help. Not even yours."

Milly: "I'm only trying to help you out. Whatever's on your mind, you can share it with me."

He did not respond to me at first, he only laid his head down. It was not long until I heard him mutter: "They– they call me… SilentShadow."

Milly: "SilentShadow, eh? I'm Milly."

SilentShadow: "I know who you are. I saw you and your friends at the meeting Chief CrimsonPelt held to welcome all of you here to the forest."

Milly: "Oh, that does make sense. Well anyway, I have a question for you: Why did snap at FrogPounce yesterday?"

SilentShadow: "Because he stepped on my tail, so I had the put him in his place."

Milly: "But he said sorry to you."

SilentShadow: "Either way. But I do regret doing so."

Milly: "If you have mixed negative emotions then that indicates that something is wrong and you should talk to someone."

SilentShadow: "Like who? I have nobody to turn to for help."

Milly: "Perhaps I could help."

SilentShadow: "Yeah, right. As if I would seek help from some inexperienced mouse from Silverville."

Milly: "I'm only trying to help you. If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

He said nothing at first. But before I got up and left, I heard him say: "I had a very broken family life." I turned around when I heard him say those words. "You… did?" I asked.

SilentShadow: "But it's not like you would even care."

Milly: "I'm listening."

SilentShadow: "All right, if it gets you to leave me alone. I was mistreated terribly by my father and although my mother did her best to protect me and my siblings, he still went on hurting us. If you think that was bad, my brothers; GorseFur, SlashHeart, and RedFang, followed him up with his terrible ways whereas I sided with my mother, my sister, JuniperFrost, and my brother, ThrushHeart. But once Chief Stone knew what they were doing, he exiled them. Not long after that, my mother was killed, leaving me, JuniperFrost, and ThrushHeart were devastated."

Milly: "I'm sorry to hear that. Mind telling me what happened afterwards?"

SilentShadow: "When I came across my father again, he told me how I was weak and completely pathetic for siding with her and how I should have sided with him instead. He then confessed to me that he was the one who killed her. Furious, I went ahead and gave him just what he deserved and something that should have been done ages ago."

Milly: "You… killed your own father?!"

SilentShadow: "Well, hey. The bastard got what was coming to him."

Milly: "I mean, don't you think you went a bit too far?"

SilentShadow: "Maybe I did, maybe I did not. And I'm quite surprised that you decided to listen to my sober tale in which you seem to relate to. I suppose your early life was similar to mine?"

Milly: "Well, except for the abusive parent bit and the patricide bit, yes. My uncle, who was an Army veteran was someone that not even my own mother couldn't trust. I remember my father carrying me to a different room whenever he came over to visit. I remember overhearing my mother and my uncle arguing with each other. Whenever both my mother and father had to go somewhere, they would bring me with them because my mother didn't trust my uncle to look after me, sometimes asking one of my grandparents or someone she trusted to look after me. To make matters worse, my uncle didn't even care about me or my siblings or any of my family members, he didn't even acknowledge us in the slightest because he was more focused on his Army career than his family. When I was around nine or so, he disappeared without a trace."

SilentShadow: "Do you know where he is?"

Milly: "No."

SilentShadow: "It must have been hard growing up with a family member who didn't even care about you in any sort of way–let alone possibly even neglect you."

Milly: "It was. But I swear to God, if I ever see his face again–"

SilentShadow: "I guess we do have something in common: A broken past that can't be fixed no matter how hard you try. I suppose the Spirit Runners chose you for a good reason."

He then got up. "As fun as it was talking with you, I must continue on." He said.
"Wait!" I yelled. "Before you do anything else, if you can, find FrogPounce and apologize to him for yesterday."

"I will. I promise." He said. He then left.

I would then continue to help this troubled wolf every single day. I knew what he had went through in his past, it was needless to say the least that I have been there before. But that conversation would change many things for that troubled soul soon enough.