Bryn.
I wake up the next morning, my mouth dry as I yawn and rub my tired eyes. I stretch my limbs, my tail twitching as my back cracks, my ears wiggling ever so slightly from the sensation. I used to always be grateful for the shrubs and straw I dreamt on in the caves, but with this new luxury of a mattress, I've never felt more human. If I could even count myself as one of them.
The sun glows through the hole-ridden fabrics shielding the windows beside the door, I must have missed the sunrise again. When it was just me and the wolves, I'd make sure to catch a glimpse of dawn's beauty every day I could, sitting along the mountain, no care in the world. It was harder to get myself out of bed in the human world, and even harder to sit out on the grass when strangers stop and stare. Am I that much of a beast?
I slide myself out of bed, Dani still deep in slumber in her own as I pull the curtains back softly, looking outside. I don't see much. Cars parked every couple spaces of the lot, more doors, a dying tree that stands on the curb. I wonder if everyone else was still fast asleep like her. Something in me begs for the light of day, to feel the fresh air and escape the musty room we booked. I know I shouldn't, but I couldn't stop my hands from unlocking the door anyways, stepping alone into society. The cold breeze hits me, but nothing I wasn't accustomed to in my old habitat.
I stood along the railings to the second floor, my eyes finding a staircase down to the asphalt, sneaking my way down carefully. I reach the building Dani went in to ask for our room, sitting along the outer wall as I stare up at the clouds. My mind likes to picture them as friends, the shapes and beings I make out in the fluffy white sky. When I'm alone, I sometimes find myself talking out loud, imagining them talking back. The wolves were never talkative, so I was forced to find my own connections.
Just as I pointed out a dragon like cloud, a man and a young girl appear from around the corner, stopping dead in their tracks. I stare back, flashing them a friendly smile, but that seems to only make them fear me more. Maybe its the teeth...
The young girl screams at the top of her lungs, the shrieking noise echoing the walls of the motel. I nearly jump out of my skin.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" The man ogles at me, clutching the arm of the small girl as she cries. Almost as if on cue, Dani bursts from our room, spotting us from below and racing to the bottom. She grips my arm, tugging me to my feet.
"What did I tell you...?!" She yells with concern, smiling nervously at the father and daughter as they watch. "I'm sorry sir..." Dani gives me a serious look, and leads me back to the room, the two strangers not moving, as the man pulls out his cellphone, making a call.
Dani slams the door behind us, catching her breath in panic.
"I-I'm sorry... Dani." I mumble nervously, as she pulls me to sit on the edge of the bed with her. She laces her fingers in mine, her thumb rubbing the back of my hand.
"Shhh..." She tries to soothe me before she keeps going. "Bryn... I thought I made it clear to you." Her voice is stern yet gentle. "Those people, you really gave them a scare, you know?" I stare down at our interlocked hands.
"I didn't mean to... I just... Wanted to see the clouds..." My voice is soft and somber.
"I know... I know Brynmore. But... You're not like those people. Okay? You're not exactly, normal, to those people." She tries hard to break the news as delicately as possible. "People like them, they fear you..."
My eyes begin to sting, my face heating up as I feel the tears brimming.
"Are you... scared of me?" A tear falls from my cheek.
"I could never be scared of you, Brynmore. I know you, and I know you're not what those people think you are. You're just you, Bryn. And that's okay..." She frowns, pulling me into her arms in a comforting embrace as her hands rub up and down my back.
I've never been this close to a human before. I've never felt this warmth in my chest. I've never felt this safe. I wrap my arms around her, burying my face into her shoulder as the tears begin to slow.
"I found you online, Bryn..." Her words are hesitant as to not frighten me. "They're looking for you. The government..." I pull my head back slightly.
"What do you mean?" I stammer, my voice still broken.
"There was an article... I read it last night. About you, your mother..." Dani speaks as my eyebrows furrow in confusion.
"My... what?"
"You have a mother, Brynmore. A father too... She-She tried to save you from them..." Her words replay in my head as I try to understand them. A mother... I had a mother...
"But... The wolves... They were my family." The tears dry from my cheeks, my nose still sniffly.
"No, Brynmore... You don't understand. She gave you to them... She wanted to protect you."
Everything I thought I knew comes crumbling down around me in an instant. I feel the air escape my lungs, and the blood rush to my brain. She pulls me impossibly closer, her face against my hair as I cling onto her.
The world was a dark, dark place. Society, was evil. I begin to shake. The thought of having a loving mother, one that didn't have fangs, nor fur, was hard to accept as true. Unless...
"Was she... like me?" I ask in a low tone, afraid to hear the answer.
"She was human Brynmore. You were human." She starts, as my face turns pale. "You were hurt, sweetheart. Bad men used you as their test... They made you this way..."
I was human once. I wasn't like this. I wasn't always a monster. I didn't always have a tail that follows me from behind. I didn't have the same dog like ears, or sharpened claws. I was just a baby, a human one at that.
"You didn't deserve this Bryn..." Dani says with tears in her eyes. "No one deserves this..."
Before she could comfort me any further, several loud knocks bang against the door. Both of our heads quickly turn towards the noise.
"I'll get it... Stay here." She gets up, the warmth of her body immediately leaving me and becoming something I miss. She opens the door, her back to me as she speaks with a shaky voice. "C-Can I help you?"
"Dunmont Police Department, may we come in?"
YOU ARE READING
BRYNMORE
Mystery / Thriller"Madison... There's something I should... tell you, honey." Paul speaks vacantly, a tinge of remorse in his words. The mother looks up carefully from her trance. "I fucked up, Maddy. I told them I was having doubts but-" "But what, Paul...? What di...
