Wolf pack

Day in, Day out: In another Mind

Days came in, days went out. This was starting to feel like home.
There was another spare bedroom, but 2 beds and 9 people didn't add up.
Anu and Cleo took the master, Anya and Jynx took the spare.
Fay happily slept on the rug in the living room. Nate and Lokan took a couch each.
An air mattress was easy to inflate and place for Melody and Nimera.
No one was picky, all were just happy to have a place to stay.
After exploring it a few times, Melody had learned the layout well enough. She couldn't help but think of Kayla's fortress in the woods. There too was a large building where she made temporary housing. While the circumstances of her stay there weren't exactly that of a guest, she did start to feel at home there.
Here the owner was not a vampire. Well, unless Anu counted as one.
She smiled as she thought of his fangs. He could pass.
The days were starting to blur, nothing very significant happened. But she didn't mind. It was peaceful.
It was home.

A loose routine was formed. In the morning they took turns preparing breakfast. As the pack ate, plans were made for the day. After, they were carried out. Some days were spent simply for entertainment. Others were full of work and chores. Melody's favorite though, were the simple days she could spent time with Nate. Things were settling enough, she even brought back "storytime."
It was a tradition back when Nate first met her, disguised as "Goliath" the dog. It was a time she would share her memories with him, and together they could work through them. No matter what happened in the day, she could rely on that short time they would have with each other every night.
It was simple, it was peaceful.

In another mind, was another story.
Nimera hadn't considered how hard this transition would be. Parker, her friend, was one person she could open up to. She would remember their times talking, laughing or simply keeping company. Parker helped her through her fears- always reminding her that she was beautiful and it would be okay.
She had felt that leaving the lelevillian behind would be simply like saying goodbye to a neighbor. It wasn't like that, not like that at all.
She looked around to find herself surrounded by wolves like her. All could relate to her in some way. Even Melody, a human, could connect.
Why then did she feel so alone?
Nimera took a deep sigh, feeling those force fields around her moving with the motion. Though they were invisible and undetected by all other pack members, they were nearly all Nimera could see. It was like looking through a foggy cloud. Her own thoughts and fears were trapped inside and there was no getting out of them.
She went through the motions, letting herself be dragged along everywhere they went. With these shields, no one would know. No one could know.
Going through the motions could only get her so far, because, all at once, he appeared.
There, an invader, sitting like a ghost right in front of her.
When Anu brought the scientist in she could barely contain the walls. Those thoughts swirled brighter and she felt anger swell up inside of her. Anger, fear, frustration-the source of all those feelings sat there, blindly staring into space as his imagination went wild. Jynx had the man trapped in his own mind. It was terrifying.
They asked her if she would heal him. She couldn't. She just couldn't do it! All those memories swarmed her.
She knew in that moment that either she could let this control her and let those emotions destroy-or she could forgive him and move on.
She thought, perhaps, this would take much of that swirling cloud away.
So, she healed him.
This took the scientist away from her, she let them see her memories. She thought-perhaps, if they saw they could know and she could finally be open with them.
Yet, the memory faded, they looked at her sadly but then everything moved on.
There was more to this than the scientist.
The scientist was only part.
Her mind was broken out of her thoughts only a moment as Fay asked her to play Go-fish. Part of her really wanted to. She wanted to make a friend and somehow break out of this loneliness. But if she did.. what would they see? They would see everything. Every thought, emotion and fear could come out and perhaps they would see she is not as strong as they thought.
So, she sighed and declined. Fay thankfully seemed to understand. She looked at her a moment- only a short time with a flicker of understanding. Fay understood enough to let her be, and assured her that she was not upset by enthusiastically playing the game anyway.
She needed to get out of this fog!
"These thoughts are not good." She thought, "I need to figure this out."
So, she sat there on the bed. She felt another force field go up. She was invisible. Safe.
There she picked though her thoughts.
"What is wrong with me? Why can't I snap out of it?" She groaned in frustration. "It feels like I am asleep, but I'm not! I need to snap out of it!" Yet, even these extreme thoughts faded away into that swirling pool that left her numb. The thoughts came again, screaming. Yet, on the outside she was calm. She was composed. She appeared in control and serene as ever.
She stared at Fay, hoping somehow that she could see through the forcefield. She was too scared to take it down on her own. She needed a rescue!
But how? How would anyone help her if she kept herself invisible all the time?
Nimera found herself growling. "Curse these walls!" She clenched her teeth, wishing they would shatter. They didn't.
It was her defense, a natural response that she felt she could not control. For her walls to come down, she needed to feel safe.
But how could she feel safe?
"There is no one to talk to." She frowned again in frustration. There were more people to talk to now that ever before-but no one she felt comfortable talking with!
These thoughts swirled and she took multiple deep breathes. "It is okay" She told herself. "It is just a thought. These are just thoughts. I am safe. I am okay."
She looked out again, watching Fay make another match. Energy emanated from her. Nimera stretched a hand forward, hoping somehow that she could reach through these walls. But she was trapped again by that forcefield. there was no breaking out.
She sighed, pulling back. She needed to break these walls. But she didn't know how.