Traumatised Tim

It was the screaming that woke Tim up. A baby’s cry that was loud and piercing. Tendra was home and with her was his nephew. Technically speaking, anyway. Tendra was more mother than sister to him. Always had been. So many times he had begged to be stronger and faster so that he could take the beatings she got. So many times he had pleaded with her to hide with him under his bed and still she told him to go and leave her. And like a coward he had hated his pathetic self for seven years.

                He had been weak. He had been vulnerable and his weakness had led to his sister taking pain; the pain he was too childish to handle. Then Ray came along and saved Tendra, and Tim had been both grateful and disheartened. He had wanted to save his sister but he hadn’t managed it. Now he felt he owed everything to Ray. Ray told him he wasn’t a coward. He knew it to be otherwise.

                Now though he had a second chance. Tendra had fallen pregnant with her mate’s child. A baby boy they had proudly announced to the pack and now the child was at the bottom of the stairs. Tim was up, running towards his bedroom and wrenching it open. He smiled with joy, Tendra was beaming though dark shadows under eyes told him she was tired. In her arms was what looked like a bundle of white woollen blankets that the pack had made for her. But the closer Tim got, as he descended the stairs, the more he could see that there was a peachy coloured skin underneath.  That and there was also a terribly persistent noise coming from it.

“Let’s see Tendra.” He begged and Tendra knelt down so he had a better view of the tiny baby in her arms. The large round blue eyes turned from Tendra’s face to Tim’s curious one and he was met with an acceptance that overwhelmed him. The tiny child stopped crying and started waving its arms around. Tim wasted no time in catching, in his hand, one of the baby’s and he watched with fascination as the little fingers curled around his index finger with a strength that took him by surprise for one so small. The cute wrinkled skin of the baby fingers wound tight around him, stopping him from moving and keeping him standing - captivated by the new member of his family.

                He knew in that moment that this was his chance to do for someone else what Tendra had done for him. Protect. He would watch over his nephew with a vigilance that would upstage every other warrior of the pack. He would allow his nephew to have the freedom and happiness in life that had been denied to Tim for seven years of his existence. And Tim would make sure his nephew never had to go through any of the pain that he and his sister had had to bear so many times in their past.

                Tim looked expectantly up at Tendra who knew instantly what he wanted. “His name is Christopher.” She told him with pride in her voice. Taking his eyes away from his sister he knew he had to be quick, Ray was moving from behind her to no doubt send everyone back to bed and take Tendra to their room, so she could rest herself. Looking back at his nephew Tim made every last second count. He lent over and kissed the hand that gripped his finger and murmured into the baby’s ear. “I will always be there for you Christopher. Always.”

*

Tim stood on the edge of the forest with his back to the pack house which Tendra was calling him from. He had finished school only that day and Tendra was trying to hold a celebration for him but he kept telling her that he didn’t want one. The weekend was supposed to be full of food, dancing and lots of proud adults talking about their children growing up before their very eyes. Tim was looking at his Thursday with a different outlook.