5 - It Can Always Get Worse

~Emilia’s Point of View~

“Oh … my GODDESS EMMY! OH MY GODDESS! It was insane, I just can’t even, I can’t begin to describe it, just totally fucking nuts,” Natalie said, rambling a mile a minute and throwing herself around in the front seat.

Her friend who was driving giggled and was hanging on Natalie’s every word, since she was still a pup and hadn’t yet experienced shifting.

“Yeah but like watch the road okay,” I said, as I watched her friend almost hit a parked car.

The next ten minutes I just sat in the back seat, sometimes covering my ears. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was crawl in bed. I finally opened my eyes when the car came to a stop and I was quickly drawn to the police car in my driveway, along with two others.

“What the hell is going on,” Natalie said, jumping out of the car.

I jumped out of the car as well, and recognized my aunt’s car next to the police cruiser. 

“Oh! Girls! We’ve been looking for you for hours, it’s nearly 3am,” aunt Renee said, running from the front door.

“Yeah my phone died. Oh my goddess did mom call the cops on us? Look, I had my first shift! This was the BEST night of my life! I feel so alive, so amazing,” Natalie said, rambling on a mile a minute.

A female police officer came to my side and before I knew it, she was hugging me. I didn’t know what to do, so I hugged her back. My aunt Renee was my dad’s sister, and we didn’t spend a lot of time with them. My dad was never happy that she married a human instead of a shifter. The male of the relationship had to be a shifter in order for the children to inherit the gene so she also in effect severed her line.

“You girls are okay then,” the officer said.

A male officer came out of the house, along with two of my cousins that I never see.

“What are YOU guys doing here,” Natalie said, in a rather snobbish and rude way that made me snicker. 

“You mean you don’t know,” my cousin Meredith said, equally as snobby.

“You hush, go wait in the car, NOW,” aunt Renee said, snapping at her daughter.

“Why don’t you girls come inside,” the female officer said, pushing me toward the door.

We walked into the living room and my eyes immediately went to the TV that was on. 

“As you can see from the wreckage there was no chance for the passengers of the minivan, they were crushed on impact. The driver of the stolen pick-up got out, fled on foot and is still at large. Police believe alcohol and a high rate of speed were factors. Any witnesses are urged to come down to the precinct,” the reporter said. 

The camera pulled back to reveal a navy blue minivan, what was barely left of it. My legs gave out and I began to fall but the officer caught me, and dragged me to the couch.

“Turn it off,” aunt Renee snapped at her husband who was in the recliner.

“No fucking way,” Natalie said, dropping next to me.

I blindly fumbled around for her hand and found it, she gripped mine hard.

My mouth hung open, but I was simply unable to form words. 

“Was she … going to the airport or coming from it,” Natalie said, very slowly.

My eyes immediately went to my aunt, who shook her head. 

“I’m sorry girls, it was both of them,” she said, kneeling in front of us. 

Natalie gripped my hand with both of hers and I couldn’t look at her. If I did, I would lose it. 

“They didn’t suffer,” the female officer said, kneeling next to Renee.

For the next hour or so everything was a blur. People were talking, but I couldn’t hear a thing. I did make out that Renee said she would stay a few days so we could be at home. I had the feeling she was going to make us move soon and the very thought of leaving simply paralyzed me.

I laid in bed the rest of that night, staring at the treehouse through my window. I begged the Goddess to make this a dream, to turn back time. It couldn’t be real. At some point Natalie came in and got in bed with me, and I turned into her, laying my head on her chest.

“I’m not going to let them split us up,” she said, out of nowhere.

I sat up abruptly and gaped at her.

“Is that even … something that might happen,” I questioned.

“Well now that I’ve shifted I’m technically an adult. They could send me off to school or something, I’ve heard of it happening. You know they’re humans basically, Renee lives as a human. They’re not going to want to deal with us having … special needs,” she said, annoyed. 

“Is there really no one else we can go live with,” I said, trying to think. I sat up and pulled my knees into my chin.

“I don’t think so. I remember hearing mom say once it was in their wills that we live with Renee if something happened,” she said, rolling to her side and propping herself on her elbow.

“What about our house, all of their things,” I said, finally feeling like I was going to cry. 

Natalie quickly moved toward me and pulled me to her chest. 

“We’re not giving all this up, this house is all we’ve ever known,” she said, choking up. 

With that I lost it and began sobbing. My eyes quickly went to the wall by my closet, where my dad had been marking my height my whole life. Then to the pile of folded clothes in the laundry basket next to it. They couldn’t really be gone, they just couldn’t. Literally everywhere I looked, I saw my parents.

“Well at least dad was smart enough to get us our own checking accounts, college funds. At least we’ll have that money and Renee can’t get her grubby hands on it,” Natalie said, mostly talking to herself.

“You really think she would steal from us,” I said, taken aback. 

“We can only trust each other from now on Em, I mean it. Dad never fully trusted humans, and we can’t either. We have to look out for ourselves now, it’s you and me against the world,” she said, holding my face. 

Mommy won’t see my first shift. Daddy won’t get to meet my mate and interrogate him. This can’t be real, it just can’t be.