A promise that i keep (Wolfblood)

Chapter 2.

Rhydian

I am at my Foster home now. I don't call it my home because you don't have to hide who you are in your own home; you can be yourself. Here i can't even get through a meal without having to lie about where i am at the end of every month or why my friend moved away.

   I am sitting at the table, in 'my' dining room. As i drum my fingers against the sides of the chair, my 'mum and dad' exchange worried looks. I hate this, all this distance between us and how i can never really say how i am feeling. Finally my 'dad' breaks the silence.

"So, Rhydian, Mr Geoffreys called me today. He says that you have had some trouble with controling your emotions." Here we go", i mumble to myself.

" Now, we have come up with an idea to help you with this. At school you are going to have sessions with a counselour."

"WHAT?" I exclaim. So this is what they think of me. I'm some damaged kid with behavioural problems that needs to be 'managed'. "You don't even know anything about me. Who are you to say whether i need help or not?"

"Rhydian, calm down, you're being ridiculous" my 'mum' snaps.

Am i? Am i really the one who's overreacting when it's my FOSTER parents who, when they hear that i had a small argument at school, suddenly decide that i need counselling? "Well i'm not going to a stupid counsellour to talk about my feelings when there's nothing wrong with me." Suddenly i feel the same as i did in the fight with Jimmie, but worse. Maddy would call it "wolfing out". But Maddy isn't here anymore, so i have to deal with it myself. I run upstairs to the bedroom. I am about to transform. I rush to lock the door, but i hear someone coming up the stairs. So i run to the other side of the room, open the window and jump down. My 'mum' will have reached the bedroom by now. I get to the woods just in time.

I love being in wolf-form. It feels so free; i can hear and smell everything so much clearer. Life seems to be put on pause as i bound along, listening to the birds and feeling the cool breeze that surrounds me. I remember walking through here with maddy and her parents, on the day she had to leave. I can still feel her warm hand in mine, still remember the sadness that filled us both that day. Shannon and Tom were with us too, but in our last moments together, i could just see her, Maddy. It was just us for that one minute, when we finally told each other how we felt, when we were finally completely honest. We knew then that, no matter how long we were apart, we would find each other again. Shannon and Tom supported me from then on; they are the only humans i can really confide in, without any lies or secrets.

Maddy

We have just come back from a successful bit of hunting. It was hard at first, learning to live in the wild, but Jana has taught us how to fend for ourselves and now i can even let people rely on me out here. When we entered the wild pack, some members weren't sure if they could trust us, but Jana welcomed us and now we are at peace with the wild wolfbloods.

I didn't even know about the wild wolfbloods until a few months ago, and now i am one myself. It has been 3 months since i have had to leave my home, my friends and the safety of our town behind, yet i still think about that life everyday. It took me a while to open up to Jana, as she and i have been rivals in the past, but i think she understands what it's like to lose the ones you love.

   As we enter the den, i sense Jana coming towards me. "You showed a lot of skill today" she says wisely. Since becoming leader of the pack Jana has become more sure of herself and is a great person to talk to if you need advice.

  "Thanks" i reply. "I learn from the best!" We both giggle. It has been strange learning from Jana about the wild, since when we were in the human world Jana needed a lot of help from me.

We are now all sitting down to eat. I am next to my parents. I suppose that our appearances have changed  a lot since we left the human world, and our personalities have got tougher. "I wonder if Rhydian's foster parents are still vegetarians" i say. I mean, it was alright when we were living in the house, because Rhydian could come round for dinner a lot, but now he must have hardly any meat in his diet.

I  didn't mean to say this out loud, and i regret mentioning Rhydian immediately. My mum and dad never really mention the human world anymore as it hurts them to think about what they lost.

"Do you ever stop talking about the human world?" My mother growls. "It's not like you're ever going to see Rhydian again." See what i mean? My mum would never had said anything like that when we were in our own home. Now she's changed; i can't even have a simple conversation with her now.

"Emma!" My dad shouts, shocked. He turns around to comfort me but i've already run off deep into the woods.

I hope that you have enjoyed the story so far! lots more is going to happen and new characters will be introduced. I am now going to upload every Sunday. Thanks for reading!