Alexandria Laughlin Marshall (TO)

Watch Out New Orleans

   I feel the plane slow down, and I finally open my eyes to see out the window the large airport. I look to Hope, to see she is smiling out the window.

I ask, "Are you excited to be home?"

Hope smiles, and nods her head. We quickly gather our bags, and exit the plane. Once exiting the plane, I look up at the signs trying to figure out how to leave. Hope then taps my shoulder, 

"We need to go left." I nod my head, and follow Hope.

Once we get to baggage claim, Hope breaks out into a run. I look up ahead, and see a young women with short brown hair and brown eyes. I see Hope and the women engulf into a hug. 

They both look up at me, as I meet them. The women and I share a smile.

Hope then says, "Alex meet my mom, Hayley Marshall."

I smile, "Hi."

Hayley sticks out her hand, "Nice to meet you. You can call my Hayley."

I take her hand, and say, "Nice to meet you Hayley."

After collecting our bags, Hayley carries them all to the car. As Hope, Hayley, and I get into the car, I say with a slight laugh, "Your really strong, I could barely carry my bags."

Hayley turns back to Hope and I in the back seat, and says, "One of the many perks of being a hybrid."

My eyes widen, and I ask curious, "What type of hybrid?"

She smiles and says before turning back front, "Werewolf and vampire."

I say with a smile, "That's cool, I'm a werewolf and witch siphon. That's why I'm here actually, I think Hope told you-"

Hayley turns back to me, and says, "That you have the crescent birthmark?" I nod, she then gives me a book, "Well lucky for you, when I was looking for my family, a girl apart of the pack showed me this book. At the back it contains all the names of members of the pack who were born in New Orleans."

The book a leather bound bible, it cracked and worn from age. I flip to the back of the book to see generations of names, and I realize just how old it really is. There are names that date back to the the 1920s.

I think of the name my father told me in a dream I had recently, he told me to use that one because that was his birth name in the pack. So I flip through the aged yellow pages of the Bible, until I reach the second to last page. I feel the car jolt forwards, so I place my finger in-between the pages, making sure not to loose my place. I quickly put my seat belt on, anxious to learn about my father's family.

Before flipping the book back open, I hear Hayley say, "You may have a hard time finding the person's name, because when I was put into the system they changed my entire name for my safety."

I nod at her through the rear view mirror, and say, "My father told me what his birth name was." I then go back to pages, and see the name was looking for: Brandon Labonair. "Found it!" I half yell.

"Really?" Hope asks.

I nod my head, "His name is Brandon Labonair and he was born March 12, 1987." I turn to Hope to see her eyes widen, and she looks to Hayley who turns around, after stopping at a red light. I see them give each other looks, and my eyebrows knit together in confusion. But before I can ask any questions, the car behind us beeps making Hayley turn back around to drive.

I ask after a silent moment, "What is it? Do you know his family?"

Hayley says, looking at me through the rear view mirror, "Hope and I will tell you about him when we get to the house." I slowly nod, wondering what they are not telling me.

———

    After the silent car ride to Hope's house, we finally make it inside. I place my bags in the large courtyard in the middle of the house. I look around to the three level house, and am in aw. But when I look over at Hope, I remember what happened in the car. So I ask, "Did you know someone in my father's family?"

There is a moment of silence, before Hayley walks in and says, "Yes, he was suppose to be my brother."

My eyebrows instantly crunch together, "What?"

I can hear Hayley let out a sigh, and she explains, "He was born a about four years before me. But soon after he was born, our parents were killed. A man, named Marcel, put us both in foster care-"

I interrupt her, and ask Hope, "Marcel, like the Marcel you know?"

Hope nods her head, and Hayley continues, "He changed our names, because the people who killed our parents could come looking for us."

I then say, "Sorry, but why would people want to kill you?"

Hayley takes another breath, "We were the last Labonair's left, and our family was like royalty in our werewolf pack. But people wanted the werewolf go leave New Orleans, so they thought that taking out the Labonairs would do the trick." I nod, trying to digest all of what she said.

Suddenly something clicks in my head, and I say to Hayley, "What a second, so if my father is your brother," I then turn to Hope, "doesn't that mean we're cousins?" Both Hope and Hayley nod their heads, and I say with a smile, "I think my head's going to explode." Hope lets out a small laugh, and Hayley lets a small smile show through.

I then say with sadness, "I don't know if you want to know this, but my father died, soon after I was born."

Hayley nods, she then says after a moment with a confused look, "But if your father is dead, then how did you know his real name, and how did he tell you?"

I look at Hope, and we exchange knowing glances. I then turn back to Hayley, and say, "I can see dead people."

I Can See Dead People

"What?" Hayley asks.

"Not all the time," Hope says.

"Just in my dreams," I add after. Hayley looks just as confused, as she was before. So I explain, "When I was little, I died for 6 minutes, and then brought back, but I guess it was long enough for me to reach peace, and I've had an anchor there since then." Hayley still looks at me weirdly. "So time to time in my dreams, I go there. It's usually when my parents need to tell me something, or when someone I'm close to dies or when someone they're close to dies. I think it's so I can or my friends can be at peace with the person's death. I don't know, it's weird I know."

Hayley just nods her head slowly, "Weird's one word for it."

Hope and I laugh, "Well I think that's why both Hope and I became friends, because we are both weird."

Hope looks over to me with her mouth wide open pretending to be offended, "Me, weird, never." I smile, and I turn to see Hayley smiling too. My new found family doesn't seem so bad.

Hope you are enjoying the book so far, and thank you for 500 reads!

-Care