Baku threw things around. He felt caged and that made him anxious and uncontrollable. Soon he’d be taking his frustration out on his pack.
“I can’t keep hiding out like a rat. We need to get rid of him now! Seth! Why is Cole taking so long! All I did was ask him to kill a family of weak humans, how hard can that be!”
Seth smiled. He was unmoved by Baku’s erratic behavior. “The humans will be back from their vacation tomorrow. They will be dead by the next morning. I thought you would want to kill two birds with one stone, so I set a trap for Ash—” Before he could finish telling his master plan, Baku interrupted him with an air of arrogance and a hint of mockery in his voice.
“Thinking and strategizing is my forte. Let’s face it, it’s not your strongest suit, but there is a first time for everything, continue.”
Seth clenched his jaw and fisted his hands tightly. Baku ignored his frigid
It was dark when Dave pulled the car into his driveway and the moon shone brighter than the streetlights. The vacation seemed so short, but he was more relaxed than he was three weeks ago. He had enjoyed the time he had spent with his family. It showed him exactly how much he loved them and wouldn’t want to be without them. The kids wanted to stay longer, but he had to get back to work. “We are home,” Dave announced to his family. Jayson jumped out of the car, Martha followed suit with Alice in her arms. Merilee had fallen asleep and didn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon. “Honey, wake up we’re home,” Dave whispered as he nudged her gently to wake up, instead she lay flat on her belly in the vacant back seat. She looked so sweet and peaceful, deep in her slumber. But he knew better, Merilee was just pretending so that he could carry her in. There was no other choice but to submit to the little princess, then come back and get the bags. Before he could step out of his car, he heard
Where am I?Lee turned around in a circle on the same spot as she looked around, searching for something familiar but all she could see was fog of a misty early morning. She raised her hands to her face. She could see that. She looked down to the ground. She couldn’t see her feet, but she could feel the solid ground beneath them.Where exactly am I? She wondered, her heartbeat echoing loudly in her ears.Don’t panic. Take deep breathes. She’d barely taken one deep draw in when the fog in front of her began to part. Startled, she took a step back. She looked to her right, then to her left and finally behind her. Thick mist surrounded her, only the front that seemed to be opening up. What was she to do? If she was to leave this unknown place, she had to move and the only path open to her was ahead.Gathering all her courage, Lee took one step into the opening. The fog parted for her. She took another step, and the path opened wider. With each step forward she took, the cloudy mist opene
“Morning.” Ann walked into the kitchen in her pajamas, her short blond hair was in a mess and she was clearly half asleep. She sat down, crossed her arms over the table and put her head down.“Good morning to you too,” Maria responded with a beaming smile on her face. She was in a good mood this morning, like every morning. She was an early bird, the fact that there was only one bathroom in their three-bedroom apartment, was also a motivation. She always woke up early to be the first one to use it. She stood from the table and poured Ann some coffee in her favorite mug.“Where is Lee? She’s going to be late for school…and why are you always so damn cheerful?” Ann grunted back at her. Maria placed the mug in front of her and went back to her bowl of cereal.“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, again. She must be getting dressed.”Ann’s headshot up, she had one of her evil grins on. “Actually, I had the best dream ever!”Maria put her spoon down, leaned back in the chair and l
“You,” she gave him a cut look then sipped at her coffee. “There is a new rule. You are only allowed to eat food that you’ve paid for. Did you pay for this?” She picked up the box and shook it in his face.He stayed quiet but he was fuming. He gave her a look that screamed murder. Ann didn’t flinch. She placed the box back on the floor and went back to her coffee, “Didn’t think so.”“Ann…” he called out her name between clenched teeth.“You didn’t pay for my name either, so don’t say it.” She stayed cool, ready to challenge his comeback.Before Steve could speak, Lee rushed into the room. She was in a hurry to get to her therapist’s office before she headed to school. She could feel the tension in the room; it was all too familiar to her. She looked at Ann’s cool face then at Steve’s heated face, he was glaring at Ann. So far Ann was winning this fight.“I don’t want to know what you are fighting about. I’m going to miss my appointment if I don’t leave now. And I don’t have the time,
Merilee met Maria and Ann at the last group home she was placed in. She was ten then and had been in four different group homes already. She was a loner, never bothered to make friends because she wasn’t sure how long she would stay. Ann and Maria were best friends then, complete opposites of each other.Ann was a sarcastic, cynical, twelve year old. Her druggie mother abandoned her when she was six. She never depended on anyone, got what she wanted through her own efforts. She never cried because she knew it would never solve anything. She was cold and straightforward, if she didn’t like you she made sure you knew it. Her attitude had made it difficult for adoption, but she didn’t care. She had survived in the worst of situations and had learned to be independent. She wasn’t into making friends, but Maria had tugged at her heart.Maria was eleven when she came to Ann’s group home. Her parents had died in a car crash when she was nine. For a whole year, her relatives had passed her ar
Lee pulled the little green golf into the Edgeview high school parking lot. She was lucky to have found a parking space right next to the science building. Her therapy had run a little late and she was now five minutes late for biology, again. Miss Don wouldn’t be too patient with her this time. It was her third strike, and that meant detention or massive mountains of homework because calling her legal guardian, Ann, had proved useless in the past. She rebelled against authority worse than Lee did.On therapy free days, it took her close to five minutes to get to school, but when she did go to therapy it took her half an hour.She ran down the brightly-lit corridor full of student lockers and the red Eagle’s football team banners hung everywhere. She stopped at the glass door and straightened out her ruffled hair. She held her backpack in front of her to cover the large brown coffee stain on the hip of her blue jeans. She had driven to school in a frenzy and spilled the entire cup on
Ann, Maria, and Lee walked into the deli at four for their shift. They had Lee’s inheritance, but they only used it to pay for their tuition, so they went to school in the morning and worked in the afternoon and nights to pay for other expenses, something they had already grown accustomed to.Maria and Ann were in their second year of varsity in Strayer. Lee was glad she was going to graduate soon, she wanted to be with them, feel and look grown up like they did.Steve however, never understood why they insisted on working. He had tried on several occasions to make Lee withdraw a large amount of money and splurge it on a weekend in Vegas. She never budged, Ann and Maria also made sure of it.Trying to explain to him how important it was to save as much as they could was like trying to teach a cow how to milk itself.“I am so exhausted!” Lee whined, as she put her apron on.“We are all tired,” Ann said as Lee walked past her and picked up a tray. Maria was already clearing the tables,
Before Ann could say anything, Maria who was now standing next to Lee spoke in a low angry voice.“First of all, shut up! I’m getting sick and tired of your stupid constant tantrums. We are in public. Did dogs raise you? Have some manners. Second of all, if Lee wasn’t…in like with you, I would have helped Ann throw you out a very long time ago. All you do is reap from our hard work, Lee’s father’s hard work. You are just a leech! For once, be a man and get a bloody job!”All three of them stared at her, shocked. This was a first. Maria had always been very patient even with the most infuriating people. Ann was starting to rub off on her.“Yeah! That goes a hundred times for me. Good job, Maria!” Ann was punching her fist in the air, excited by the new victory. Maria was inches away from the end of her martyrdom.She turned to Lee, her face apologetic, completely ignoring Ann and her cheers. “I’m sorry, but my patience has run out.” She turned and left to serve a couple that had walked