by Rua Hasan
But it looked as if things have changed for him since I came into his life. I mean yes, he still acted grumpy and cranky with that big belly of his but I knew deep down he cared about the daughter he never knew he had. I will never forget the scene I saw that day when he read the results. His tears will never leave my mind.
To this day I don’t know why he cried. Were they happy tears or were they sad ones? Were they disappointed tears because he was almost too late to witness my childhood? Unable to see me grow up?
I snapped out of my thoughts when I felt the car come to a stop. I looked out of the window to see the familiar house. I remember I tried to buy my family a new house. I wanted to help but granny refused. She started shouting, telling me how this was her mother’s house and how she’d never betray her by leaving so I just left it to that. It seems as if this house was very important to all of them so I wasn’t going to take it away.
Tyler and I stepped out of the car and walked to the front door. Tyler was shaking the whole time, so I held his hand, assuring him that things were going to be okay.
“Relax,” I whispered as I knocked on the door. Tyler took a deep breath as the door open.
“Everything’s going to be oka―”
“DUCK!” We heard someone yell. Tyler and I ducked just in time to see a vase being thrown over our heads. My eyes widened when I heard the crash from behind and I looked in front to see Andy running pass us right outside the house as Zayn followed behind.
“Run for your lives!” Andy yelled.
“The demon’s awake!” Zayn cried.
“And she’s angry!” They yelled at the same time before rushing around the house and towards the backyard. Tyler’s face went pale as he noticed the old terrifying woman, who was holding a cane, run towards him. It looked as if Tyler was about to pee his pants and make a run for it but Ethan and my father showed up out of nowhere and shoved a pill down her throat. I heard Tyler let out a sigh of relief.
“I thought I was a goner for a min―” Tyler shut his mouth immediately when he noticed Blake marching at us.
“Run,” I whispered, only now noticing the furious look written all over my brother’s face.
“W-what?” he asked, whipping his head to look at me.
“I said run. Can’t you see the look on Blake’s face?” I whispered harshly.
“What look?” Tyler asked, taking a step back as Blake got closer.
“Like he wants to kill.”
And with that Tyler turned around, and ran towards the backyard, screaming the fact that he wanted to live.
“Hey! You get back here and face me like a man!” Blake yelled before running past me.
“Don’t scare him too much! I want him alive! He’s the father of your future nephew or niece!” I yelled at Blake but he paid no attention to me. I then saw Blake take off his shoe and throw it at Tyler’s head before shouting out some curse words.
I rolled my eyes and turned to look back into the house. This was completely normal for me. Blake always treated Tyler like this. Not like it was something big but I couldn’t help but think that it was funny.
Shaking my head, I stepped into the house, ignoring uncle Ethan’s screams and dad’s attempt to calm his mother down before walking over to the kitchen to see Lucas, who I used to call Jerry, cook with Ally by his side.
“Crystal!” Ally yelled running towards me.
I leaned over a bit to hug her now taller frame before ruffling her hair.
“How’s my little angel doing?” I asked.
“Doing much better now that you’re here!” She grinned. I smiled at her before I looked up at my other uncle.
“What’s up with Grandma?” I asked.
“She heard that she was going to become a Great Grandmother and flipped.” Lucas chuckled while shaking his head.
“Say, where’s your boyfriend?” he asked.
I ignored the fact that he used the term boyfriend instead of fiancé and answered his question.
“As usual.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Running away from Blake.”
“Like always,” he muttered.
I was about to say something else when I heard loud footsteps heading towards the kitchen. I turned around and watched as Tyler ran towards me, looking like a deer who was running away from a hungry lion. At first I thought he was going to hide right behind me but he ran passed me and towards the kitchen window. He then opened a drawer quickly and took out a butcher knife.
“Uh…Baby what are you doing?” I asked, concerned.
“Saving my life!” he shouted. “Your brother wants to kill me!” He cried.
I rolled my eyes.
“Tyler, Blake always wants to kill you.” I pointed out.
“Yeah well it seems as if today is the day where his dreams finally come true because I just ran around the whole damn house being chased with a shovel.” He breathed out, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
“Oh come on, you’re exaggerating.” I chuckled. Tyler opened his mouth to speak but shut it immediately when Blake came running in and indeed was carrying a shovel.
“Didn’t I tell you not to lay a finger on my little sister before marriage?” Blake hissed.
“Crystal baby, do something,” Tyler whispered, standing right behind me.
“Blake! Stop! You already scared the living daylights out if him, now look he already has some white hair.”
Blake let out a huff before glaring at Tyler.
“Fine, but I got my eyes on you mister! We’ll be having a talk soon after dinner.” And with that Blake turned around and walked out of the kitchen with the shovel still in his hand.
“Idiots,” I muttered under my breath and walked out of the kitchen to check up on my father with Tyler following right behind me. I could already tell that this was going to be a very long day.
***
Once dinner was over and Tyler had the talk with almost everyone, coupled with being threatened multiple times (including one where his balls would be sold off on eBay) while being the receiving end of glares, we finally got into the car to drive home. As Tyler was about to drive down the road, I immediately stopped him and asked him to drive in the other direction.
He asked me why many times but I stayed quiet, telling him to just drive us to the nearest flower shop which would be open. After buying some flowers, Tyler asked where we were going once again.
“I want to tell my parents that I’m pregnant and am getting married.” I smiled.
Tyler gave me a confused look.
“But Sam already knows.” Tyler pointed out.
I gave him a pointed look.
His eyes widened a look of realization dawned on his features.
“Oh!” he said before driving to us the graveyard where my parents were. Once we made it there, I gathered all the flowers in my hands and told Tyler to hop out of the car with me.
“Y-you want me to come?” he asked surprised.
“Of course,” I whispered.
Tyler nodded then opened his car door. We both hopped out and walked beside each other in silence, our hands intertwined. Once we made it to my parents’ grave, I sat down on the cold ground and placed the flowers by their headstones. I rubbed my belly as Tyler sat beside me, taking my hand. I pushed back the tears which were threatening to come out as I looked at Tyler. He gave me a sad smile along with a brief nod of encouragement.
“Mom. Dad.” I breathed out. “As you know, Tyler is my boyfriend but we have some great news,” I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling. Tyler pulled me to his chest and kissed my cheek.
“Go on,” he whispered.
“We’re pregnant. I-I mean I’m pregnant but we’re getting married.” I corrected myself as Tyler laughed softly at my mistake.
“And we’re very happy.” I smiled up at Tyler, kissing his lips.
“Very,” he whispered.
I turned my face to look back at my parents’ stones.
“You might not be here with me n
ow, but I know that you’ll always be in my heart. You don’t have to worry about the child. He or she will grow up with an amazing family who will love and care for them no matter what.” I choked as a tear slipped down my cheek. Tyler’s hands made their way up to my face and wiped it away.
“I promise I’ll take care of both you two, and the ones in the future,” he said as he placed his hand on my stomach.
“Mom, dad,” I whispered looking up at the sky.
“I’m finally at peace.”
T H E E N D
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Here is a sample from another story you may enjoy:
Chapter 1
Stella
“Alice!” I yelled.
“I swear to God, if you don’t come out from where you’re hiding, I’m leaving!” I threatened.
Again, I was met with silence.
I swear this girl is crazy; she does this all the time — tells me to go grab something, and when I’m back, she’s gone. Yes, she’s my best friend and is like a sister to me. But come on, let’s face it, she can get distracted pretty easily.
A couple weeks ago, I gave her one thing to do. One thing! And that was to watch over Billy, a six-year-old human that could get a little too excited at times. His parents were out celebrating their seventh year anniversary, and they left him in my care.
I was so busy that day; I had a dance rehearsal at two, and then, had a choir concert at three. Living for so long gives you the advantage to try out new things. Anyway, I had to watch over Billy at two thirty. I was so stressed out to the point where I called Alice to watch over him for one hour. One freakin’ hour!
And you know what I found when I came back? A pile of Billy’s dad’s collection of shoe laces put together to make a piece of art by my not so smart best friend.
And you want to know where Billy was at the time when Alice decided to become an artist and touch things that don’t belong to her? At his grandmother’s house which was five blocks away. That little troublemaker walked all the way there, and when I came back, Alice didn’t know where he was and started to panic.
We looked for him everywhere while I was giving Alice a useless lecture that I wished actually helped. Half an hour passed, and his pissed off parents came home with an annoyed grandmother holding a sleeping Billy.
I swear that day I heard so many “You should know better than this,” and “How could you leave a child alone out on the street?” and also some complaints from Billy’s dad on who touched his collection.
A sound behind a couple of bushes broke me out of my thoughts. I stopped and started to tiptoe to where the sound was coming from. Once I was near it, I bent down, getting ready to attack. I counted to three in my mind, then I jerked up and jumped over the bush.
I landed heavily over Alice eating a bag of chips.
“Oh my gosh. Stella, get off me. You’re too heavy. What did you eat for breakfast? A horse?”
I got off her, ignored her comment, and gave her a pointed look.
“Really, Alice? What on earth are you doing?” I yelled. “You know I’m supposed to be home by four. My parents think I’m at school studying with a couple of vampire friends.”
She gave me a lazy smile while she continued to stuff some potato chips into her mouth.
“Oh, relax. It’s only three thirty. See!” She pointed at her watch.
“And besides, I was hungry. I just went to grab a snack,” she said, pointing at the large supermarket a few blocks away.
I raised one of my eyebrows at her.
“You do realize that I went to grab some sandwiches from the car, and it would have taken only a minute. How on earth did you get there and come back that fast?” I asked.
“There’s something called werewolf speed, my vampire friend. It helps to use it,” she said with a full mouth.
I just slapped my forehead and gave her an annoyed look. “Well, my werewolf friend,”—I threw my hands up, making air quotes—“your stupid watch is broken. It’s four already, and I’m going to get into so much trouble.”
Her eyes widened then she got up from the ground, grabbed, and shook my shoulders.
I gave her a questioning look and tried to stop her from shaking me, but it was no use. She just kept on shaking me.
“What are you doing?” I yelled at her.
“Get up,” she said. “You’ve been sleeping for hours.”
What?
Slowly Alice’s voice started to fade and grew more like my mom’s. I opened my eyes to find my mom shaking me from the front seat while holding a sandwich and a blood bag.
“Hey, sweetie. You’ve been sleeping for hours. Have a bite,” she said while handing me over the sandwich and the blood bag.
I was lying down in the back seat of our car. It’s probably been days since we first landed in America. We were in London before and now traveling to California by car. It was a usual thing for us.
My mother, my father, and I have been traveling ever since I was born. It was normal for us vampires because we stopped aging at the age of twenty and wanted to avoid any unnecessary questions from humans. I’d been everywhere. Just name it. Living for two hundred years became quite boring at times, so traveling helped.
I smiled at my mom while taking a bite from my sandwich, and I crunched my nose when I realized that my dad was singing some Backstreet Boys song while driving. I wasn’t such a big fan of his singing.
My parents were around six hundred years old but looked like they were in their twenties, while I was born in 1816, which made me two hundred years old. I stopped aging one hundred and eighty years ago when I turned twenty.
Usually, when humans asked how we were related, we would say we were siblings because of how we looked. Yeah, I know. Weird.
I took a sip from the blood bag, enjoying the wonderful taste. We didn’t drink blood from humans. We believed they deserve to live as much as we do, so we learned to control ourselves around them. It was not a problem for us. We learned to hide our cravings around them throughout the years.
Besides, we usually drank from rabbits and blood bags. One of my mom’s human friends was a doctor who lived in the Philippines, and she sent us our blood supplies.
“Where are we?” I asked my parents.
My dad looked at the GPS and said, “We’re somewhere in Los Angeles.”
He paused.
“Or is it Orange County?” he said more to himself than to us.
My mom looked at him with an annoyed expression and started to rub her eyes with the palm of her hands.
“Lucas, please don’t tell me we’re lost again.”
He glanced at my mom then looked back at the road and said, “Bella, sweetie, relax. I know what I’m doing.”
Sure.
He said that all the time, and the next thing we knew, we were in China. Don’t ask.
I lay my head on the back of the seat and got comfortable.
This is going to take a while. We’re definitely lost.
My mom always tried to convince my dad to ask for directions, but he always refused, saying that he knew what he was doing.
I couldn’t help but notice that something in the air smelled funny.
It smells like wet dog. Or maybe I’m just imagining things.
I shrugged off the thought when the memory of the dream I just had came into mind. Sadness crept into my heart. I tried not to let it get to me, but the memories overtook my mind. I held back the tears threatening to come out. Thinking of Alice always did this to me.
I took another sip from the blood bag when the car came to a sudden stop. My head was about to hit the front seat, but I was held back by the seat belt.
I heard my dad cursing some colorful words which increased my confusion.
/>
Suddenly, that strange smell I noticed earlier hit me like a brick in the face. It smelled so familiar, but I couldn’t seem to figure it out. I heard my mom gasp. But that was not what caught my attention. It was what she said next.
“Werewolves.”
My eyes widened when I realized what was going on.
Oh, shit. No, this can’t be happening.
I looked at my dad who had a worried expression on.
“Dad, please don’t tell me you led us into a pack.”
He looked at me but said nothing.
So that was why the strange scent smelled so familiar. It was the smell of werewolves. It was similar to Alice’s smell.
My mom was lecturing my dad, saying how reckless he was to lead us into a suicide mission.
Let me tell you that werewolves and vampires didn’t get along. They hated each other, which was the reason why every time Alice and I met, it had to be done in secret. My parents didn’t like the fact that I was hanging out with a werewolf. But that didn’t stop me. I didn’t exactly hate werewolves; it was just I respected anyone who respected me.
The smell got stronger, and my parents got out of the car when a strong voice boomed through the forest.
“You bloodsuckers are trespassing.”
When I got out of the car, I was met with about ten werewolves standing side by side. The guy standing in the middle of the group had power radiating from him; but thankfully, I could guess that he was not the Alpha. I guessed he was the one who was just talking.
Wait. Did he just call us bloodsuckers? That mutt!
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