Also known as: ELA HAS BACK SWEAT.
Also also known as: I SHOULD BE WORKING ON SCHOLARSHIP ESSAYS, BUT HERE YA GO.
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Nodin and I had decided that it would be best to show our mysterious messages to the leaders.
However, they had all shrugged them off and continued to carry on with their own activities.
Akira shooed us away with claims of being too busy to even look at the messages. Sebastian seemed interested, but couldn’t figure out what I could possibly mean--and honestly, with the way he had been looking these past few weeks, I wasn‘t eager to stick around until he did. And naturally, Karin was busy worrying over her vampire boyfriend. Griffin was also interested, but after looking at my phone he merely said, “I believe you have been, as they say, ‘punk’d.’” His face distorted at the realization of the slang he had just used, and he walked away, shaking his head.
Gee, thanks, Spike.
The two of us sighed. Well, I’m not sure what Nodin’s actual reaction was under that mask. It looked like a sigh, I think…
Our eyes met, and we both silently agreed that something was indeed wrong. It seemed I finally had a true ally in the club, and I could feel my insides beaming at the thought.
Whoa now, El, don’t get knocked over by a feather quite yet.
After this brief period of excitement, things died down once again for several weeks. Christmas was coming, and many of the members were rushing around trying to get presents for the other members. Each day, packages filled the bottom of the tree that had made its way into our living room. I was a little p*ssed off about the tree---they had removed my favorite chair in order to make room for it and now I was forced to the library when I wanted to read.
Why would the members want to buy presents for each other, anyway? Christmas cheer was just some lie to make people feel better about their lives and go waste money on worthless gifts to give someone who probably will hate it anyway. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d had a “Merry Christmas.” Eric and Regina had only ever bought me socks--They claimed it was “practical.” Tommy gave me a candy cane during one year when we were still together, but I ended up stabbing myself in the tongue so hard with it that I couldn’t eat for two days. After that, all my Christmases were spent alone, keeping a lookout for scraps from the large dinners that everyone seemed to indulge in that day or snagging something from a shelter if I got lucky.
So, needless to say, I wasn’t exactly the epitome of holiday spirit.
I sighed as I stared out the kitchen window, cup of hot chocolate in hand. It was Christmas Eve. Even through the cover created by the trees over the mansion and the darkness of the night, I could see white snowflakes drifting gently towards the ground. Some of the other members enthusiastically rushed to the windows, exclaiming hopes of a white Christmas. I decided that I wasn’t going to be the one to break it to them that it was forty degrees outside.
I tugged at the neck of my sweater. Somehow, Violett and Kateri had conned me into wearing one in order to “get the full effect.” I looked down and frowned at the giant, currently upside-down Christmas tree splayed across my torso. So. Damn. Tacky. Not only was it tacky, but it was making my claustrophobia kick in in full force. There were no slits in the back of the fabric for my wings to protrude through, and I could feel the feathery appendages matting to my flesh from the ever-wonderful back sweat that comes with wearing sweaters.
A few members entered the kitchen to grab some mugs of their own. I caught a glance of a few cartons of eggnog being carried towards the living room. Alcoholic? God, I hoped so. That was the only thing that would get me through this night.
I gulped down the rest of my hot chocolate and joined the rest of the club in the living room. I took a seat on the couch between Nodin and Alice and wiggled around until comfortable.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas was playing on the TV, and many of the members had their eyes glued to the screen. I mentally groaned. That song wasn’t even playing, but I could already hear it getting stuck in my head.
You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch…
I hunched over and stuck my face into a pillow.
“Um, are you all right?” I heard Alice ask, her voice tinged with confusion and concern.
I kept my head shoved into the pillow but raised my arm and gave a thumbs up. “Super,” I replied. “I just can’t stand this movie.”
“The Grinch is a Christmas classic!” I heard Violett protest from across the room.
“Uh, I mean that I can’t stand it because the Grinch is just a horrible man…thing--seriously though, what is he?--But, I mean, who tries to ruin Christmas like that? I just can‘t even watch it without having all of these emotions burning me up inside.” I lied, hoping that the muffling from the pillow would prevent the sarcastic tone from being noticeable.
I assumed from the lack of response that it was indeed an acceptable answer.
I sat up long enough to enjoy a nice glass of eggnog. And another one. And another one. By this point I was truly banking on the eggnog having alcohol because there was just too much f*cking cheer in this room. Why did we let so many peppy members join, anyway?
Soon, Akira crossed over in front of the TV and turned it off. Some of the members complained, but the werewolf club leader cut them off with one of her world-famous glares. “We can keep watching the movie—” Insert cheers here, “—but I thought you might want to open presents instead. It is Christmas.”
And so, the club members began to exchange presents. Naturally, the couples did most of the giving, acting sickeningly sweet as they bashfully handed packages to each other. Some of the members had done solo gifts, though, having a present for everyone.
When questioned about gifts from myself, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Sorry. I must’ve missed the memo about presents.”
I suppose that I should have been happy. This was the first Christmas I had ever had with so many people. It wasn’t forced--everyone seemed to be having a good time without much persuasion. There was no fear, no running, no scrounging. I was warm, I was fed, I had shelter.
But why did I still feel so miserable?
Suddenly, the sound of the front door being shoved open resonated throughout the room, and most of the club instinctively sprung up from their seats. In dashed a tall, masculine figure with a smaller, more familiar one trailing behind.
And then I noticed the dark red hair.
The facial structure.
The way his green eyes lit up when he located me in the crowd.
Could it be…?
The man ran over to me, locking me in a strong hug. A spark of familiarity from the contact ignited, and I automatically stiffened. How…? A million memories erupted in my head.
Tommy pulled back from the embrace, his gaze a mixture of melancholy, happiness, and despair. “You need to get out of here,” he whispered, firmly grabbing my shoulders.
He turned to face the rest of the club. “You all need to get out of here. The sooner, the better.”
Akira suddenly appeared. “Excuse me, but who the hell do you think you are? You break into my house, assault one of my friends, and then ask me to leave? I don’t think so.” Tommy tried to protest, but Akira grabbed him by the ear like a scolding mother, and dragged him out into the hallway. Griffin trailed behind, and I could hear bickering between the werewolf and the redhead. I heard the slamming of a closet door, some yelling and banging, and Griffin and Akira soon calmly returned.
While all of these events transpired, I stood there, dumbfounded. My mind was unable to form a single coherent thought. Several of the members had locked their gazes on me, and I could feel my cheeks beginning to burn.
The extremely awkward silence was broken by a sudden “Hey,” and everyone turned to see none other than Ash leaning against the doorframe, still disguised as a boy. Although her tone was friendly, something about her expression displayed a sort of… fear in seeing the club again. Or maybe not quite fear, but confusion?
“You’re alive?” Akira asked. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Ah, yeah. I came with that guy.” The nymph gestured towards the closet. “He said he knew Ela.” Oh, lawdy. Here we go. Wait… Ash knew my brother? How in the world had this happened?” I made eye contact with Ash as a way of demanding an explanation later.
Akira turned to face me. “Is that true?”
I struggled to find my words. Sure, it was true. But I hadn’t seen Tommy in years. Hell, after he abandoned me, I had tried to forget about him. It was Akira’s own damn fault that I had begun to think of him again. She was the one who had told me that he was on the tracker. She told me that she could help me find him. After thinking for a few seconds more, I decided to tell the truth.
“He’s my brother,” I forced out. “But I haven’t seen him in a long time, so I don’t know why he decided to show up and f*ck everything over now.” I added hastily.
More awkward silence.
Griffin coughed. “As of now, he is neutralized. He should not be a problem until tomorrow morning. Then we can uncover the truth in his arrival. For now, we should continue to enjoy the spirit of Christmas, and in doing so, we should welcome back Ash.”
Neutralized? Da f*ck had they done to him?
Somehow, the party returned to normal, and more gifts were exchanged. Griffin had gotten Akira some sort of charm bracelet that kind of made me want to throw up because of how meaningful and romantic it was.
With no end in sight, I decided to “retire early” and head upstairs. I had been getting weird glances all from other members all night, and I was finally fed up. Plus with the other creatures swarming around Ash, and I knew that there was no way I was going to get to speak with her tonight. I caught a glance of her has I walked towards the stairs and noticed that she looked pretty distraught, like there was something she wanted to say, but the other members were hounding her with questions of what she had been up to since leaving the club.
After I reached my room, I closed my door and plopped down on my bed. I tore the Christmas sweater from my body, allowing my wings to unfurl slightly in the space of my room. I exhaled.
What was going on? It all had to be connected, right? The mysterious texts, Nodin’s message, the strange behavior of some of the other members, the silence of Xenogenesis Labs, the sudden reappearance of my brother. I felt as if I were missing an important key that would solve all of these problems.
I grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand and checked it. No messages. I snorted. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I hadn’t received a single text message from the mysterious sender since that day. I had tried to contact them, but they answered neither text nor call.
Maybe today would be my lucky day? I fumbled with the keypad on the phone. Help? I sat the phone back down on the nightstand and waited. After several minutes, I sighed and fell backwards onto my pillow. I was stupid for thinking that I would actually get an answer.
I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling for I’m not even sure how long. Still no response. I listened for a moment and soon realized that the downstairs chatter had ceased. Thinking of Tommy’s warning and demanding answers, I got up from my bed and stealthily maneuvered downstairs.
I walked over to the closet where Akira and Griffin had put Tommy. I frowned as I thought about him being trapped inside. Imagine what would happen if he came out… Unless his temper had improved over the years, it wouldn’t be good.
I touched my hand to the door. Sitting on the other side was my brother. Ten year old me would have been ecstatic to see the redheaded boy. To have him ruffle my hair or to scold me for scraping my knee on the sidewalk. To talk to at night when I couldn’t sleep.
But I wasn’t ten anymore. This was seventeen year old me. This was the girl who had done much worse than scrape her knee. The girl who stole. The girl who lied. The girl who had gone through so much crap just to be alive today, no thanks to the boy that the ten year old version of herself admired.
As I dropped my hand, it ran along the door, causing my fingernails to lightly scratch the surface.
“Who’s there?” Tommy’s voice was muffled from behind the door.
I cursed under my breath and turned to leave.
“Ela?”
I halted, fearing that any sudden movement would alert him to my presence.
“Hey, listen, El. You’ll believe me, right? I’m your brother, after all,” he spoke quickly, urgently. “The cl--”
“Why should I listen to you?” I snapped, interrupting the man on the other side of the door, all thoughts of his message gone. “You left me.”
“… What are you talking about?” His voice sounded genuinely puzzled. How could he act so innocent? How could he forget what he had done?
“You know damn well what I’m talking about. We were in Chicago…” I trailed off, feeling all the emotions towards my brother that I had suppressed over the years coming up to the surface.
“Ela, I’ve never even been to Chicago.”
I frowned. “You’re bluffing.”
“Do I sound like I’m bluffing?” He paused with a sigh. “I haven’t seen you in almost eleven years, and this is what I get?”
Eleven years? Tommy had never been good at math, but even that was stretching it.
“What the hell do you mean, ‘eleven years?’” I demanded.
“You--” the redhead made a set of incoherent noises. “Never mind, we’ll talk about this later! Right now it would just be great if you could let me out of this closet and take me to that Akira woman. We’re all in danger the longer we just sit here!”
He was avoiding the subject. Granted, I was a bit curious as to what he meant about the club being in danger, but at the current moment I was too consumed by rage to think about asking. I groaned and walked away, Tommy yelling after me the whole way upstairs.
“Thanks for ruining Christmas.” I muttered quietly as I reentered my room.
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For some reason I just imagine Ela trying to squeeze in on the couch as the most awkward/uncomfortable thing ever for everyone involved. ahahaha
ALSO. COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET. GET IT? GET IT? Ba-dum-tiss. It’s funny because he’s gay. /shot
I am sorry if this is terrible because I haven’t written anything fiction-related in a while. D:
