3

Ian

Archer walked me home after I picked up my things.

He seemed intent on taking care of me, which at one point I thought was a sweet gesture; however, I could take care of myself. Paul took me by surprise and took advantage of the fact that I was not a violent person. I used to measure my reactions well, as well as my strength. I tended to be a little weaker than the rest, but I made up for it with my intelligence.

Or so I kept telling myself to feel better about myself.

The situation was that I would not let Paul hurt me again; I would have everything prepared so that he would understand that it was no, it was not no.

“Do you live far away?” asked Archer.

“No, a few blocks,” I said calmly. “It's not necessary to drop me off at home.”

“It is,” Archer said. “That man is violent.”

“Well, you proved yourself to be violent,” I said firmly and Archer scowled at me. “You kicked him and didn't give him a chance to even throw a punch at you.”

“I exercised legitimate self-defense toward a co-worker,” Archer replied seriously and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “I'm not violent unless the situation calls for it. I had to do what it took to scare him off or he was going to think he could get away with it.”

Archer was right, but I shouldn't encourage his behaviors.

“You don't have to be violent to defend anyone,” I said rudely. “I'm not a violent guy; I don't like being violent, but I understand that it's necessary at certain times and for that, I thank you. However, you shouldn't have been so hurtful to Paul. I don't know what he might do to you.”

Archer's eyes turned golden and I looked at him in surprise.

“What's wrong with your eyes? They turn a strange color.”

My question made him turn around.

“Nothing,” Archer said immediately. “It's an allergic reaction.”

That sounded like complete bullshit to me.

“When you were fighting with Paul, your eyes turned that color too,” I said insistently.

“It's nothing,” Archer said and looked at me with his green eyes.

I had a funny feeling, so I nodded and frowned.

I quickly got home and he eyed it curiously, so I invited him in.

“Do you want a hot drink?” I asked and Archer smiled before shaking his head.

“No, I'm going home late,” he said calmly.

“Do you live far away?” I asked with a frown.

“I live on the Valtare Reservation, just outside the region,” he said and my eyebrows rose.

The Reservation was the place of the original settlers and ancient indigenous tribes that still remained. I didn't want to be stupid, but Archer didn't look like one of them.

He smiled at my expression.

“My family is native, but there's been a lot of mixing in the bloodline, so in my territory there's everything,” Archer said and I nodded with red cheeks.

“You must live in a very nice place,” I said with embarrassment. “The tribes on the Reservation have fascinating myths and legends.”

Archer's eyes twinkled differently.

“Do you know as much about my culture as they know everything?” Archer asked curiously.

“I'm not that basic,” I said, offended, and that made Archer laugh. “I know what my father knows.”

“Your father knows a lot about the reservation?” asked Archer with a frown.

“My father is a historian,” I said and smiled. “He taught on the reservation before he adopted me. If there's anyone objective about it, it's him, but it's not equal to what a native might know.”

Archer nodded.

“I have to go,” Archer said and I nodded. “But first, can I have your phone number?”

The question surprised me, but I relented and gave it to him. Archer immediately grabbed his phone number, which surprised me a little.

“If you need anything, write me,” Archer said honestly and I smiled.

He left after I came in, into the house, and it was my father who greeted me on the couch in the living room. He looked very tired.

“Is Mom, okay?” I asked him right away.

“Yes, she's asleep just now,” Dad said and I sat down next to him. “How did it go today? You went out and right away it started raining.”

“I got wet in the rain, but I'll survive,” I said teasingly and Dad shook his head in amusement. “The only interesting thing was that a new co-worker came in and he's from the Reserves.”

My father's eyes widened in a gesture of total surprise.

“Are you sure he's from the Reserve?” dad asked incredulously and I nodded.

“Yes, he told me so himself,” I said and Dad frowned. “I have to train him because he'll be replacing Connie.”

“The government assigns slots to needy people from the Reserves,” Dad said calmly, so calmly that it struck me as odd. “But it usually does it with women.”

“That would explain why the rush to get him trained,” I said as I thought about Rob's words. “Better tell me why you look like you're going to faint.”

Dad sighed and pulled out a hospital receipt from under the cushion next to him. I looked at it carefully and frowned.

“The insurance is hiding behind the fact that we've used more than the policy limit,” Dad said and clenched his hands. “Cancer treatment isn't cheap, let alone your mother's, which has been so long. Let's just say that now I have to think of ways on how to pay the differences.”

“We'll pay for it together, Dad,” I said with determination and my father smiled sadly.

Dad cupped my face affectionately and gave me a gentle pat, a symbol of our trust.

“Ian, you need to focus on you, on your life. It's not your responsibility to take care of us,” Dad said and I looked at him indignantly. “Don't take this the wrong way, but this is a problem that I as the head of this family must take on. I have a little savings left that we can use. I just have to find a job that will make up for retirement and we'll be fine.”

“Dad, I understand your position, but I'm your son and it's my mom who is sick,” I said earnestly. “Helping you is the least I can do for you. I won't make a lot of money as a librarian, but I'll make enough to help you with some expenses.”

“You already did a lot by moving back in with us after you became independent,” Dad said sheepishly.

“No, I did what I needed to do to help, so get some rest right now,” I told my dad and he nodded.

I went to check on mom and she was asleep and comfortable, while the devices that monitored her heart activity beeped at a steady rhythm. I sighed sadly because my mother was a cheerful woman and cancer had dulled her dull glow completely.

I just wish she wasn't suffering so much.

I clenched my hands and wiped away my tears.

I focused on helping to clean and tidy everything up. Brenda, my mother's caregiver, was an overly helpful woman, but she couldn't do everything, so after doing housework and feeding my parents, I went to sleep exhausted.

In the middle of the night, I woke up in the middle of a forest, the same forest I used to dream about as a teenager and that I stopped seeing when I started a sleep treatment. I got up to explore it as I did every time I dreamed of this place. The forest was already familiar to me, even though I knew I had never seen it in my life, so I walked straight to the cabin near the river.

The problem was that as I walked, my body felt different and heavier, and my senses were on full alert. I could smell things that I had not perceived before, as well as hear noises from the bowels of the forest itself.

It was in this way, with my hearing sharpened, that I realized immediately that someone was following me, so I turned to look in all directions.

I had a bad feeling, so I ran to the cabin to hide. That's how I heard a loud growl that preceded a powerful howl. Terror flooded my body and I accelerated my run to the river. The problem was that I felt something big running behind me and suddenly a huge black wolf with golden eyes cut me off.

The beast began to growl loudly and that immediately paralyzed me.

I thought of something and remembered that some predatory beasts might not be aggressive if you were docile. I pushed my luck and prayed that a wild wolf wouldn't slaughter me right away, so I crouched down with the intention that it would either leave or I would throw myself into the river.

The wolf kept growling, but it came closer and then started sniffing loudly near me. I closed my eyes, fearing for my life, until I felt an affectionate lick on my face. 

I was surprised, then I smiled and started petting that huge beast.

“Do you want honey?” I asked fearfully and the wolf began seeking my hands to sniff them; that's how I ended up scratching his ear. “You like that?”

The wolf purred like a feline and I laughed.

Then I heard some movement behind me and the wolf moved away to start growling at the trees, which alerted me.

“Let's go to the cabin,” I said confidently.

I took the wolf to the cabin and when I entered, I realized that the cabin had completely changed. I understood that it was an abandoned place, dusty, and different from the warm place I used to shelter in.

I frowned when I saw a black notebook in the middle of the room. I picked it up and when I opened it, I saw an infinity drawn with red paint. I saw the wolf sitting on his buttocks, waiting for something. That struck me as suspicious, but I didn't think anything of it until I touched the symbol.

I felt power and a rude growl in the back of my mind that made me groan in pain. 

So strong was the pain that I opened my eyes and sat up in my bed, realizing it was just another dream to keep in my memory.