Monstrous ➙ Theo Raeken

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Dedicated to my girl Annabelleleigh72 because she's been extremely helpful and listens to me rant about how I want things to go. Check out her stories you guys! Also for _Stxdia_ who leaves me motivational comments that make me want to continue Clarissa's journey.

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Clarissa remembered the day when her lung collapsed she was younger. Remembered the moment that she felt like she couldn't breathe, the first moment that she had seen Melissa McCall as a nurse. The older woman had asked the child to rate her pain, watching as the little girl clutched the hand of her younger brother and turned to her parents. Clarissa didn't want to worry them by saying that the pain was unbearable so she had held up nine fingers. A finger for every breath that she had attempted to take but felt the sharp wheezing pain hit her body again and again. After her surgery, Melissa had come into the hospital and called the girl a warrior because she could see that while the pain was clearly written across her face, she fought through it for her family. She didn't say that it was a nine because she was a warrior, her pain was a nine because this was her ten. Losing her family, losing her loved ones, that kind of pain is worthy of a ten.

Sitting there, in her old house, next to the place her parents died while Corey's body lay peacefully across their couch. That pain was the pain worthy of a ten. She sat there silently, eyes darting around as she was lost in her thoughts. Their most frequent stopping points being the body of her young friend who was far too young to die and the darkened blood that came from her parents body. She didn't hear when Delcan came into their house, only feeling the weight that he placed on the couch and the arm that pulled her into him. She could hear the second person standing awkwardly by the door, hear the thrumming of his heartbeat out of fear. "Brett, you can come in. I don't bite. Much."

"Hey Princess." The term of endearment that usually held a joking tone to it, held nothing but sadness as he came to sit on the other side of Clarissa. She didn't look at them, not even a glance. The chimera knew if she made even the slightest bit of eye contact with them that she would fall towards Corey's body once more, not letting go in fear of him being out of her sight forever.

She wanted to believe that he was dreaming, peacefully so as he laid there on her family's couch. She wanted to pretend that the stains on the floor had been a soda that her brother had dropped in a moment of sheer clumsiness. The dreams had hurt so much more than the reality because in the back of her mind she knew that they weren't true. Her parents were gone, Corey was gone, and she was following shorty behind them.

Clarissa had never been a person that was big on praying but her faith had wavered in the past few weeks. The thought that God would inflict so much pain on her family and friends alone made her question it. The fact that praying couldn't save her family, save her, terrified her but selfishly she prayed that her brother would be alright in the end. She didn't pray for her life because she had come to peace with the possibility of dying. She prayed that Brett would care for her brother and that her brother would watch after Theo. Her family watching after each other after she left the cruelness of the world.

"Why us?" Clarissa questioned, voice cracking as she finally looked towards her brother. Tears were gathered in Delcan's eyes, tears that were barely holding onto his long lashes. Her heart was frozen as she looked at him, her body feeling as if she was submerged into a tub of ice. "What did we do to deserve this?"

"I don't know." Delcan muttered softly, a slow tear trickling down his face while he gazed at the unmoving body that lay before them. "I don't know but it's not fair."