Fears To Face

Epilogue

I walked into the school cafeteria during my lunch break with Rayne's arm wrapped around my waist and walked over to our table where Gwyn and Mallory were already seated. It was a month into my senior year and I knew it would be a good one.

Rayne had spent the whole summer learning and working his butt off, and his hard work had paid off, because he had passed all his tests and had enrolled at my school, senior year. That he had been so busy didn't mean I hadn't seen him often, though. While Rayne was learning in his backyard in the sun, I had been lying in the hammock, reading a book or asking him questions about the things he was learning or explaining things he didn't understand.

It had been weird for him, being back in high school, and people had stared at him as he passed them, both in negative as good ways, but Gwyn and Mallory had welcomed him warmly and had invited him to sit on our table during lunch break. Within a week he was accustomed and liked it here, especially the fact that we had at least half of our classes together. He walked through the hallways with confidence, a smile on his face, knowing that his future now had more open doors than he would have ever dreamed off.

Next to work and school, there was Adam, the follow-up of David, the second son. It had been super weird in the beginning, knowing we were the cause of his brother's death, even if it was him or Rayne, but over time the awkwardness faded and once, Adam had said, "I didn't really like him anymore. I mean, I used to, when we were kids we played together all the time, but aspects of the cycle that went quicker with him than it did with me created a gap between us from when I was five or six. He has always been my father's favourite and I was the outcast, because I liked being human. The moment I said that out loud after my first turn made our bond even worse and from that moment on we clashed regularly. So, it didn't really feel like my brother anymore for a long time."

That had Rayne and me tongue-tight for a moment for sure. But after that our friendship with Adam had definitely improved. Over the summer we had learned that Adam was seventeen like me, first turned when he was fifteen, and had had doubts about what his father assigned him to do for a while now. He was young so he was content with how his life was and felt no preference to being a wolf yet. He hadn't told us that in the beginning, only after we told him how Rayne and my mom lived, that, if Adam liked the way his life was now, there was a possibility to stretch that out way longer than his father had ever told him. Adam had had no idea it was possible to postpone it and had been hesitant towards it, being so accustomed to go on with what his father wanted him to do, with what he had been learning for his whole life. But eventually, he opened up to it more and a couple of weeks ago, he had actually taken his first treatment.

Adam didn't see his father very often anymore. After we told him all the things David had done to us, he seemed to understand why Rayne had locked David up and said David had gone too far. Especially when he decided to expand the length of his human life, he slowly started ending things with his father. David had been infuriated, but there wasn't much he could do. He was locked behind a door after all.

Rayne and I sat down on our table with our plates and Gwyn smiled from the opposite side of the table before she asked, "How is Sam doing? Does he like it in Mendocino?" She had asked me that at least once a week for the past month, but I didn't mind.

Waking up to a house where now only three persons lived was still strange. I couldn't seem to get used to it, but the fear I'd had a couple of months ago, that I would barely see or talk to Sam, proved to be unnecessary. Sam had moved to the campus of Mendocino University with Reece, but honestly? He basically only slept there. He wasn't here every single day, of course, but he was the whole weekend and during the week mostly two times as well. We still had long conversations and told each other everything. If something happened on a day he wasn't coming home, he would call me during the evening and tell me everything about it. There were miles between us, but we were just as close as when he still lived at home.

"He's great. He loves it there." Going there had really been a new start for him. People accepted with for who he was more easily, not knowing him any different. He was happy there, had a good time and liked his classes. Wasn't that what was important?

Mallory's eyes averted to the table for a second, like she always did when we talked about Sam. We had made up, much to Rayne's persistence. Yeah, I'd really missed her, but I had been too stubborn to call her, until Rayne practically forced me into it. We'd talked and realized we would never agree on some points, major one being; Sam. So, we agreed to just not talk about those topics anymore and that was working out better than I expected. We respected each other's opinions, but that was it. Our friendship had never been the same, though. Sometimes, it felt like the only thing that really kept us together is both our friendships with Gwyn and the fact that we have been friends since we were kids. Other times we had fun and I actually forgot we had been fighting for months. Maybe, as time passed, there would be more of those moments.

Rayne's hand rested on my leg under the table and he kissed me briefly as I smiled up at him. "What are you thinking about? You seem far away with your mind." I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder for a moment.

Only a half year ago, I could have never guessed were I would stand now, but being here, in high school with Rayne on my side, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

The end

****AN*****

I can't believe this is it! My first story is completed on Wattpad! I'm so thankful for everyone who read my story and enjoyed it. It honestly means the world to me.  <3 So thank you, thank you, thank you for reading the first story I ever wrote.  I had a blast writing it and I loved getting back into this story to edit and update it over the last few years. I just can't believe I can put the story to 'Completed'