Ch 6 - Matter of Time

SHAY'S POV

*FLASHBACK*

“Shay! Would you get up already?” my sister jumped up and down on my bed.

“What sorcery is this?” I groaned when I saw the time. It was 02:36 and this freak was as hyper as a four year old on sugar.

“Come on! I want to show you something, but that actually requires you to get up,” she giggled.

“Kay, it’s two in the morning! Can’t this wait?” I whined.

“No! Now come on!” she dragged me out of my bed.

She was dressed in jeans, boots, a thick jacket and a beanie. I decided to copy what she was wearing for my own safety. We tiptoed downstairs before going outside into the chilly air. We didn’t have security at our gate back then, so leaving was easy. We ran down the streets like the lunatics that we are. I always loved being like this with Kay.

I didn’t know where she was taking me since it felt like we’d been walking forever. We finally made it to some woods that looked familiar. I’d never gone into the woods, but we’d driven by them a couple of times, which made me curious as to why she would bring me here. She was about to go into the woods, but I pulled her back.

“Kay, what are you doing?” I whispered.

“Listen to the water Shay,” she smiled. I frowned, but I finally heard it. In the distance, there were crashing waves, or at least that’s what it sounded like.

“Where’s it coming from?” I asked. We didn’t live anywhere near water.

“You have to come and see it,” she stated before taking off into the woods.

I had two choices – I could turn back and go home, or I could run after her. There was obviously no way that I was going to leave her, so I went after her. I could hear her giggling the entire time, which worried me.

I didn’t know what was in these woods.

When I finally caught up with her, she was standing close to the edge of a cliff. The sound was coming from here, and I realized that we were at a waterfall. It was a full moon and the moonlight shone beautifully on everything. I was absolutely entranced by the beauty of it.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” she smiled.

“It’s breathtaking Kay,” I agreed.

“I didn’t even know we had a waterfall close by,” she commented.

I scowled at that. “How did you even find it?”

“I was running away from Pete after a party up the road. I ran into the woods and heard the water and that’s when I found the place. I thought I could bring you here before I go,” she said sadly. Pete was her abusive boyfriend of two years.

“Go? Go where?” I panicked.

“Shay, I love you more than I love myself, and you know that that means a lot in my case. There are things that you don’t understand, but you will understand them soon enough. I’m blessed to have been your guardian for so long, but now is the time for me to leave. I need to go back to my true form, but this isn’t the last time that we’ll be together. I am you, and you are me. I love you so much Shay. Don’t you ever forget that,” she said as glowing tears left her eyes.

Her eyes changed colour and became a fiery red. My eyes widened as her whole body started to glow. I was sure that this would be the end of my sanity. My sister of fifteen years was literally transforming before me. Her clothes shredded to pieces as she transformed into a beautiful white wolf. The wolf was as tall as me as it looked me in the eyes.

“I promise we will be reunited again Shay. Don’t worry about anything. I love you,” I heard her voice before the wolf turned and ran towards the edge.

My senses came back to me then and I screamed as I watched the wolf jump off the cliff. I got up and ran to the edge, but it was nowhere in sight. For the longest time, I stood there numb, until there was a bright light in the water. The light emerged from the water and shot up until it was eye level with me. I was terrified but calm at the same time.

The last thing I expected was for the light to charge for me, disappearing in my chest. I gasped and fell to the ground before the unbelievable happened. My senses heightened beyond normality. I could hear the animals in the distance and the cars going by on the roads miles away. I could see the other end of the forest. I could smell everything in the forest.

I stayed there for hours, not knowing what to do. I finally got up and decided that my parents deserved to know what had happened. I hoped that they would at least understand as I went back home. As I walked there, I happened to pass by a group of people who started pointing at me in horror. This made me run home and when I arrived, that’s when I was introduced to my new eyes.

*****

It’s safe to say that my sister’s disappearance brought a lot of drama and scandal with it. She was popular and loved by all, so it was expected. Some say it was a suicide, while some say that it was a murder; a murder they think I’m responsible for.

I’ve had to live with the horror of that day for two years, without even having any answers to my never ending questions. It took a while for me to finally accept that no-one had the answers I was looking for, and that I would forever remain clueless.

When I told my parents what had happened, my mother instantly blamed me for Kay’s death, and that’s how it’s been since. She stopped talking to me and shut me out. I very quickly accepted that I wasn’t going to ever get my mother back, as heartbreaking as that was.

My dad, on the other hand, was a different story. He didn’t think that I killed my sister, but he’d insisted that I was lying for a while. After having to repeat the same story to him for the tenth time, he started to believe me.

He asked me to show him my eyes, and just like Pixie, his first reaction to them was that they’re beautiful. I at least know that he doesn’t blame me for my sister’s death, and that he believes the events of the day.

I looked to Pixie once I was done telling her the story, and she was crying silently. I couldn’t blame her since Kay was one off her closest friends. Kay and I were from different social sides, so she had her own best friend – Tiffany.

The very same Tiffany that Jeff cheated with.

Everyone seemed to change after my sister’s death. Pete is in jail for murder. He became angry at everything and everyone and one day, he took it too far, killing one of his friends. Tiffany became the resident whore, while Pixie became the popular girl. I was shunned and very quickly learned to deal with the fact that I would never again be accepted in this place.

“When was the last time you visited her grave?” Pixie suddenly asked. That took me aback.

“I haven’t been since the funeral,” I admitted.

“Let’s go now,” she smiled.

For the first time in two years, the idea didn’t sound so bad. While they didn’t have a body to bury, they did buy her a stand and a tombstone. We got up and left my room in search of my dad. I know for a fact that it was the same situation with him and that he hadn’t been to the grave either. I found him staring at a picture of Kay and I. We were six and it’s his favourite picture of us.

“We’re going to see her,” I whispered. He looked up and when he saw my red eyes, he must’ve figured out who I was talking about.

“It’s about time,” he nodded as he got up, grabbing his keys.

We met Pixie downstairs and the three of us headed out for the second time that day. This time round, we were quiet the whole way there. We stopped at a florist and picked up a bouquet of daisies and a bouquet of pink roses – Kay’s favourite flowers. We then headed to the graveyard.

I never expected to actually ever come back here.

The place was silent as we walked in. I could still remember the way to her grave as we headed there. I was surprised to find it well-groomed.

“I come here every Wednesday, so I kept up with it. I was so mad at Kay for leaving us, and at you for shutting me out. I spent hours coming here, just to sit and remember the good old days when it was just the four of us – you, Kay, Tiff and I. Those were happier days and I wanted those days back badly. I was sitting here one day and I was visited by Kay’s spirit, or at least that’s what I think it was. She told me that you would tell me everything when you were ready to, and that I would believe you because I could see and hear her talking to me. She told me that you had nothing to do with her leaving, so I believe everything you’ve told me, even though I still don’t understand her disappearance myself,” Pixie informed me. I was stunned into silence.

“Hello baby girl,” my dad broke the silence. The three of us looked at the grave:

‘Kay Sally Montgomery. A daughter. A sister. A friend. We will forever miss you.’

The fresh tears made their way to my eyes. I had cried so much that I didn’t think I could still cry this much. I missed her. She was my other half, and she just left me. I keep waiting for this day when we’re going to be reunited, but after two years, I’ve honestly given up.

“Hey sis,” I whispered. A warm breeze travelled around us, and I could feel her there.

“We love and miss you so much baby girl. We hope you’re watching over your mother because we’ve lost her. We’ve lost you both, but we’re not giving up on you. You promised your sister that you would come back, and we’re going to hold you to that,” my dad smiled.

There was another warm breeze and I knew that she was definitely with us, and that perhaps the time for us to be reunited was much closer than I expected.

It was all a matter of time.