Win my Heart

Chapter 21

What does it mean to love, when the persons you love are the ones that twist the blade through your heart? What does it mean to care, when the ones you care about sell you at the highest bidder? What does it mean to be compassionate, when its the weapon that is used to crush your very existence?

As I rushed over to Kathryn and my mother, I remembered the day I had found Kathryn in the woods separated from her rogue pack as they had just left her behind. I remembered the promises we made to each other and how we had become friends. I promised her that I would make her stronger. I promised her that each fragment of her shattered mind I would mend it back together. I promised her that I would accept each dark part of her. At that time, I was too soft and too forgiving. My soon-to-be-mate had turned out to be hers and I was again left alone. I fooled myself with false lies that this was just the card life had dealt me and I was ok with it. Bullshit! Life gives us choices; I could of grabbed on with both hands and just went with it or just sit back on the sidelines, as I foolishly did. However sad it may be, I regret nothing. My only regret is not doing the things I could while I had the chance. Kathryn is my friend and she always will be. And I've long since let go of my feelings of the past.

I grabbed my mother's hand when she was about to raise it to do more damage.

"What the hell are you doing, Mother?" I said angrily.

"Showing this dog her place," she spat out.

I dropped her hand. "Have you forgotten that I am one of those dogs. Don't forget how I got my heritage, Mother."

"Don't remind me, Child," she bashed.

"Are you ok, Kat?" I turned to Kathryn.

She rubbed her face that was now sporting a bright red hand print. How hard had that woman slapped her?

"I'm fine, Ri. I was just coming to visit you."

"She lies" the voices whispered.

She would never lie to me.

"Naive child"

"Foolish child"

"Credulous child"

"Ask her again."

"Why are you really here, Kathryn? I've been here for months and you knew this and you never tried coming before? So why now?"

"Answer her truthfully, Dog!"

"Mother stop!"

"We need a bit of help back at the pack house. We've been having multiple miscarriages and the doctors have no idea what to do and some of the women are loing their minds," she rushed out the truth.

"You are just a pawn to them and a little pet they keep on a lease and yank the chains when they need you and kick you back to your kennel once they're done," my mother mocked.

"Just using you again," the voice whispered.

"Nothing more than a bitch and a puppet. Perhaps you were right, I should remember you are a dog," she continued.

I have had enough of this. I turned to her. "Just say one more word and I'll burn you to a crisp."

"Do you think you are any match for me, child?"

"Don't be too full of yourself. I have toyed with the dark magic as well," I said. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in a crypt somewhere rotting?"

"And I here thought my daughter would be excited to see me."

"Don't delude yourself. The innocent child you once knew was gone ages ago."

I turned to Kathryn. "What am I to you?"

She looked confused. "What do you mean? You're my friend. My sister."

"And yet I feel like an outsider. I will think about helping the pack. But ask yourself this: If you were me and you are just called when something goes wrong and no one truly cares about YOU but just your gift, would you be inclined to help?"

I turned to my mother, "I was happy when I heard the news that you had died. It means I could bury that past and that weak end. I don't need you. When I actually did you were never there so by all means don't be there now."

"Can both of you just leave? I've had enough for one day." I waved my hand and teleported them somewhere else.

***********************************

Beyond the darkness, space and time lost its continuity. Where was I? And what had led me here? These questions befuddled my already daunted mind as I tried to make sense of this inscrutable mystery. I was standing at the beginning of what looked like an abandoned street; abandoned being an extremely derisory term to describe this terror- striking, nightmare of a place. The cobbled road, which must have once been full of life and bustling with people, was now dilapidated and derelict with potholes dotting the entire path and pieces of debris lay strewn across the ground. Putreying trees permeated either side of their streets, their emaciated, black branches reaching towards the sky like the fingers of a witch. I felt something like featherlike touch my cheek and I turned around. I saw no one. When I looked back in front of me, I found myself in a grave yard. My brain imploded with emotions of panic and distress, but strangely, my body was deadly still. I was standing on a tarnished grave. Against all my better instinctual impulses, I crouched down and inspected the crumbling sepulcher. It looked as though it had gone through centuries of wind and dust and it had taken a toll on the tombstone, eroding it beyond recognition. It was almost completely covered in moss, with a significantly conspicuous crack running diagonally across it. The words craved within the stone were completely illegible becausee of the layers of mud caked on the surface.

I heard a crying just beside me and when I looked there was a little girl. I stooped down to her level.

"Are you ok? Can you tell me who this is?" I asked gently but she kept crying. I reached out and touched her and she flinched away from me.

"You caused this," she whispered.

"Caused what?"

"Look in front of you."

When I did I gasped. There were hundreds. No thousands of graves.

"How could I have done this?" I was filled with trepidation and fear numbed my entire body.

"Because you didn't come back," she whispered and then she disappeared.

I shot up out of my sleep. I put my head in my hands and started crying.

What the hell am I supposed to do?