Still ▸ Teen Wolf [Book Two]

sixty four; luke connelly

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SIXTY FOUR;

LUKE CONNELLY [STAND-ALONE CHAPTER]

Luke Connelly felt his hands trembling, and by the time he laid one of the tremors over the other, the one previously still would begin to shake. Biting down his frustration, the teenage boy hissed out before opting on just shoving his hands into his pockets all together, completely dismissing the problem as a whole. Letting out a cough, his head hung low in front of the sink trying to put his thoughts together before he had to go back outside and face his family. The last thing that he needed was to see his mother, the fight that the two of them had only a few hours prior continuing to run through his mind. Once again, it was over an issue involving his younger sister, an argument they seemed to be having on a frequent basis nowadays. Ever since his sister, Sage, turned ten, things began to stir into a never-ending feud between Luke and Mallory Connelly. His father, Hal, found himself at work even when he was not being called in, his desire to get away from the midnight screams infiltrating his hours.

Luke's mother believed that they should be teaching his younger sister how to survive as an altor druid, as if she weren't even considering all of the problems that would arise in that. That was only one of many things that they couldn't agree on. While she was on board with the idea of telling Sage, he wasn't. He knew why Mallory wanted to tell her. She wanted to manipulate her, convince her of things that weren't true. He refused to hand Sage a burden to live with for the rest of her life, and he hoped to God that a generation had been skipped and she would not face the damage that an altor created. The idea of his little sister, the blonde, little light that was sleeping in the room across from him right now, becoming consumed in the darkness that pain created broke him into pieces. The idea of her growing up and having to live the way he had, having to drown in the agony of knowing her friends were in trouble and there would be nothing for her to do about it, it wasn't something he wanted to be alive to see. She wouldn't know. Not until she was older.

And, maybe, there was the possibility of her actually becoming an altor no matter what. Maybe, she would grow up and find herself in a place of total darkness. Luke could not predict her future, just as much as Mallory could not control her youth. The woman was convinced that she was old enough to grow up, that ten was an age to strive in strength and education, but Hal and Luke both disagreed. Hal and Luke knew that Sage was the only hope they had left, that she was the only person they could pray to be good. Luke had to hope to a God that he was gracious enough to understand that she didn't deserve any of it. Had it been a choice, he would take all of his baby sister's pain and cope with it, as well as his own. He would walk through fire, through hell, to assure she was happy, no matter the costs. Their father, just as equally ready.

As he stood there in front of the mirror, he realized that this was his life. He was already losing his mind, the tremors in his hands enough of a symptom, just as much as the vomiting from earlier had been. Luke was going crazy, just as his mother was, just as his sister would eventually. No matter how bright of a heart they had, and no matter how beautiful of a soul they may possess, an altor can not exist without pain. Pain creates insanity, and everyone knew that. He just refused to accept the idea of becoming anything like this mother; the woman that cared more about herself than her children. She was the woman who never attended a single one of his lacrosse games, and a woman who forgot Sage's birthday every other year. She was not a mother, she was just a woman who gave birth to them, and a woman who gave them this inescapable curse that he could never stop no matter how many times he pleaded and cried.

And the worst part of it all was knowing it wasn't her fault either. Even if he wanted to hate his mother for everything that she put them through, he couldn't. Because she had no choice in this life. She had no control over her own thoughts, over her own sanity. Not anymore.