Illusional

I'm Sorry

    "What did you need to talk to me about?" Bill asked quietly.

    "It's... it's nothing." I said in defense, trying to shrug it off.

    "Mason, you just wanted to talk with Mr. Yemmingham while we were trapped." Andrew called out. Now, for anyone reading this book, please remind me as to why I'm friends with this blabbermouth again. I would greatly appreciate it.

    "I'm not talking to him, Andrew..."

    "Okay, if you won't... I will."

    "Fine. Go. Shoo. Away from me. Get out of my line of sight." I said in utter contempt.

I went into the sleeping room and closed the door, having a lot of anxiety over how Bill might react to what Andrew will say to him. Not that I really should care about what he thinks...

I tried to play games on my phone while I still had battery to try to relieve the unnecessary tension and stress I had, but after 15 minutes, nothing would work. My knees continued to shake, and my stomach felt like it was full. I just lied down, wishing I had never disrespected Bill in the first place...

Fortunately, as if sent to me, Marleigh entered the room.

"Hey, big bro."

"Hi, Marleigh..."

"Uhm, is everything okay."

"Uhm... not really. I don't like how Andrew put me on the spot to talk to Bill."

"Andrew said you wanted to talk to daddy. Also, didn't he tell you to call him 'Dad'?"

    "Well, you're just going to have to suck it up and deal with it, because I still don't consider him as my dad. And I absolutely don't give a care if Bill and Mom were married and the latter gave birth to me, nor do I care if it's my fault. Between beating me for stuff I didn't do to what just happened last night, it's simply unacceptable."

    "Andrew told me all about how you felt bad about how you treated him and you even wanted to talk to him about how you felt."

    "And what do you suppose drove me to treat him like this?"

    Marleigh didn't speak, supposedly not knowing what to say. "Do you seriously not care about any of this?"

    "Are you mad at me?"

    "I'm sure Bill didn't mean to hurt you on purpose." I gave stared at her for 10 seconds before she told me to stop.

    I heard footsteps coming to the room. Andrew came in. He was done talking to Bill.

    Oh no...

    "Mason, Mr. Yemmingham wants to talk with you." Oh no, indeed.

    I walked over to Bill's room, not knowing what would even happen.

    "Sit on my bed." Bill commanded. And I did. Even when in a sitting position, relaxation was far from me.

"As you're aware," Bill started off with, "Andrew told me all about how you felt about the relationship between you and me and how we treat each other. Right, Mason?"

I nodded my head. Notably, Bill wasn't angry that I didn't provide a verbal answer.

"After considering all that has happened ever since you were born, I have one thing to say to you..." I waited for something bad. Really bad. But, believe it or not, he said, "I'm sorry."

    I looked at him with confusion as soon as he said that. Never in my 15 years of living have I ever heard a single apology from him. Whatever Andrew told, clearly worked.

    "Sorry?"

    "Yes. I really am, Mason."

    "Sorry for what?"

    "For a lot of things, actually. Looking back at last night, I realized how well I treated your sister compared to you. I realized how harsh I was towards you and Stella. I realized how naïve I was towards all the aspects of your life."

"Do you mean that?"

"Every single word, son. And I bet that's why you sometimes defied me, isn't it?"

I didn't want to admit it, but I had to tell the truth. It's the only way. "Yes, it was... I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry. I will always do my best to make sure I raise the best son I can. I love you, Mason."

A smile was forced onto my face. "I love you, too." We shared a hug. A long one. I haven't been hugged in quite a while, actually, and never had a good response to being loved. This felt good.

    I left the room, clinging those words to my heart. When I left the room, I found a wolf in the kitchen, who stopped to look at me. Of course, I didn't trust it for a second. I knew this was simply another anomaly. I don't know how it happened, though, considering everyone, or at least me and Bill, was awake. I just pretended the wolf didn't exist and I continued to go into the sleeping room, where I suspect everyone was, presumably sleeping, for... some reason.

    I was right. They were sleeping. I woke up everyone to show them the wolf in the living room. They all shot up when they woke up, sometimes before I even touched them. Turns out, the wolf was mostly passive, even when we touched it a few times. It even barked from time to time. This seemed... oddly peaceful for such an anomaly. Still, I didn't trust its mannerism, and therefore continued to have doubts.

    The other guys, however, decided it was a good idea to play with the wolf, and the girls even started to train it. I hope they come to realize that we have no clue who this wolf is, how they got here, and what its motives are. I even warned them about this, but they didn't seem to care.

    I still had a bad feeling about that wolf, so I decided to distance myself. I'm now in the sleeping room, resisting the urge to get out and play with the wolf, to write meaningless words in this journal, and even to eavesdrop on some of the tricks the girls were teaching it.

    Almost 3 minutes have passed, and I peeked outside to see if anything happened. Nothing did, although the wolf seemed to become agitated, and even started to growl at the other guys. They didn't seem to mind, though.

    I tried to do some research on exactly what type of wolf was in the cabin, so I took a picture and searched up animal detector websites. Unfortunately, there was no Internet, because the power was still out. However, if I had to guess which exact wolf we found, it would likely be an Arctic Wolf, although considering the circumstances, I'm probably wrong.

    Suddenly, something nudged me on the back of my left knee.