Rejected

Chapter 31 - Amos and Ariana

No matter how painful the memories are to remember, Amos is trying his best not to look vulnerable in front of the very monster's who took the last of his family away from him. And he is determined to let them know the kind of monsters like them destroyed his once normal and happy life.

He could see something changed in the way Xander's eyes looked at him now. Pity, sympathy, he doesn't care, he didn't need any, never will, specially if it's from him.

"My mother kept running." He started again. "My father has always been the strong one, that night however, those monsters forced her to be strong so she could keep her children alive. But those monsters just wouldn't let us go. We barely even got away before we heard those wolves running after us. At that point I knew, as young as I was, that my father is gone."

Amos stopped for a little to make sure that Xander is looking at him.

"You're lucky." He told Xander. "To grow up, with a father by your side. Do you know how it felt for a child like me to realize that my father had to die so that we could live? Do you know the feeling of fear of knowing that his sacrifice will mean nothing because we will soon die too?"

"My mother had to choose. We all die? Or she dies so she could give her children the life her husband always wanted them to have. She took the latter."

Amos pressed his forehead into the cold metal bars. He could feel his skin heating up. He wanted to sit down, but he refused to look weak.

"My mother saw a cave, put me and Ariana there, covered us with bushes and vines as best as she could then took Ariana's hands. 'Take care of your brother' she said. Then she's gone. I didn't even see her leave. She went to lead those monsters away from us. Ariana hugged me as tight as she could, she put her hands over my mouth to keep me quiet. The last thing I heard from my mother, was her dying scream, as those monsters tore her apart. I could feel my sister shaking, I could hear her sobbing, but she was trying so hard not to make a sound. She was so young, and in one night, both our survival was put in her hand."

Amos once again lifted his eyes to looked at Xander before continuing. "That night will forever be fresh in my mind. Sitting right there, with my sister's arms around me, scared that those monsters will come find us and then kill us too. They never did. But the nightmares didn't end there. It barely just begun."

= 0 =

Xander had never imagined this kind of tragedy hunted Ariana's dream at night. She never showed it. Before she rejected him, Ariana has always been kind you'd think she led such a happy life that it radiated off of her. Only now did Xander realize how much he never knew her. How much she tried to hide from him and from everyone else around her. He never knew how lonely she truly was behind her smiling mask.

Looking at the eyes of her younger brother, he knew there was more coming, after all, one would wonder how she and Amos had survived after that night as young as they were back then.

When Amos spoke again, Xander almost thought that he didn't have to listen to any of it. But he needed to know, why all those werewolves that Amos killed had to die, why Belle is now lying on a bed, fighting for her life. So, he listened.

"Ariana and I became orphans overnight. After that we found ourselves in an orphanage. A few months later I got adopted, I didn't want to go and leave Ariana alone but she talked to me and promised me that one day, she'll come find me. I held on to that promise and left, I looked back at Ariana standing by the door of the orphanage watching me get taken away. There were no tears in her eyes, there was instead, a promise. She wanted me to live a normal life with a normal family. When I was old enough, I left my adoptive family and lived on my own. We grew apart, never forgetting that one promise, I waited for her to find me. And she did. A letter arrived at my doorstep with her name on it. I don't know how she knew where I was, I didn't care. I held on to that letter, because in it, is the dream that she and I can finally be together again. But she said it's not yet time for us to meet, she said on that letter that she's trying to build a home I could come back to."

Xander could see Amos visibly shaking, he's not just reminiscing the memories, but he could also feel the emotions he felt on that moment in the past.

"We only kept in touch thru letters." Amos continued with no one trying to stop or interrupt. "I tried so hard to convince her, over and over, that I didn't care how poor we were going to be as long as we were together. But she just wouldn't listen. So, I kept on waiting, until finally, one day, almost ten years ago, she said we can live together. In her letter she sounded so happy."

Amos looked at Xander, hatred more evident now than ever before?

"Did you know what she said?" he asked.

Xander didn't, but he had an idea. Amos said it was ten years ago. That much time had past since the day he lost everything. But instead of responding to Amos who he knows is taunting him, he remained silent.

"She said she met someone." Amos continued not waiting for Xander. "Someone amazing. Someone who will help her build a family I will be welcomed in. Someone she could trust. Someone she could love. Someone...named Xander."

There was bitterness in Amos's voice as he pronounces every single word from Ariana's letter. Xander always thought that he wanted to have a family with Ariana, he hoped Ariana did too. Now he knows.

Amos could see emotion swirling in the Alpha's eyes. Somehow, he knows that Ariana had never fully trusted him, but he never expected that Xander knows next to nothing about his sister. So, he knows to continue...

"Ariana once again told me to wait. Just a little bit more, she said. So, I did. But one night instead of a letter, I received a call. And at that moment, when I heard the voice on the other line that it was her."

Every single person in that basement could feel anger radiating off of Amos. Even Kai, who has been standing right behind him, choosing to remain silent all thru out the time his friend has been spilling out his past.

"It was Ariana." Amos continued, they could all see his hands shaking, they could hear the metal bars clanking off its hinges. "But her voice, it wasn't what you would expect to hear after all those happy letters she sent me. I could hear her crying, and once again I was gripped with the fear that I felt that night when we lost our parent's. After all, that was the last time I saw her cry. That night was the second time I felt my whole world crumble, the memory of the last time I spoke with the only family I had left, is still as fresh on my mind as the night I lost my parents.

She only once told me about you on her letters. Because she wrote your name full of hope. That night, I remembered your name, but I knew, that whoever you were, the man behind that name will forever steal the hopes of me seeing my sister, ever again.