‘Maybe I had a reason for going to the hospital that night, didn’t you ever think of that?’
I scoff, ‘And you couldn’t have said that to me yesterday?’
He shakes his head, ‘ I couldn’t even think straight yesterday.’
My voice shakes, ‘Whatever. Keep up the lies Max because I’m done trying to understand you. You’ve had so many chances to talk to me about the truth but you didn’t even try once. There’s something that you’re not telling us and for whatever reason that might be, you’ve already lost me as a friend.’ I gather my things and walk away until Sam stands too, ‘Why would you say that your mum works there when she doesn’t? Just tell us that.’
‘Not you too Sam,’ He looks hurt, ‘But what did I expect? You’re obviously gonna stick up for your friend.’
‘Then prove us wrong! Here’s your chance to rectify yourself.’
Max just stares at her without saying anything.
‘Well?’
He just ignores her, causing Sam to shake her head in regret, ‘I honestly thought you were better than, but it’s obvious that you’re not the person I thought you were.’ She grabs her bag and walks with me through the exit of the cafeteria.
We walk in silence to her car when realisation dawns on Sam, ‘Why were you at Ryder’s house this weekend anyway?’
Now’s not the right time to mention what happened to Terry and the pictures taken of me. It would only make her worry about what’s out there. I’ll keep what happened to Terry and the pictures a secret. For now.
‘We were just hanging out, that’s all.’
‘So, you weren’t with Max this weekend.’
‘No, I wasn't.’
She nods to herself, ‘So it can only be one other person.’
I wonder how she’ll react when she figures it out.
‘You dirty little wolf, you gave up your v-card to Ryder King didn’t you?’ She doesn’t look surprised at all.
‘Don’t say it like that.’ I wait for her to unlock the car.
Sam grins, ‘But you did though! And you wanna know something? That night I caught you kissing Ryder in my bedroom, I wondered how long it would take until you two hooked up.’
I roll my eyes, ‘Sam, open the door.’
She unlocks the door and murmurs, ‘I wish that a wolf found me attractive enough to sleep with me,’ She sighs in disappointment, ‘What is happening to the world?’
When I arrive at my home, I call in sick at work and take out today’s homework. I take out the book Mr. Edmund gave for us today and start reading. The story centers around a father and his complicated relationship with his troubled teenaged boy.
From the very first page, I’m engrossed by the story that I don’t hear the phone ringing. I leave the book on the coffee table and hastily walk to the phone.
I pick it up but silence is met on the other end, ‘Hello?’ I ask.
There’s only silence, ‘Hello?’ I repeat.
The sound of my mother’s voice speaks, ‘You need to come to the hospital honey.’
I frown even though she can’t see me, ‘Is everything okay?’
‘I need you to come here right now!’
Why does she sound like she’s on the verge of crying?
‘Mum? What’s wrong?’ My voice starts to shake with worry.
She sniffs again, ‘It’s Sam honey.’
I hear my heart beating in my throat and I feel as though I might throw up.
‘Is she okay?’
‘She’s been attacked….and it’s not looking good.’
And that’s when the tears start to fall.
Chapter 23
I push through the hospital doors with only one thing on my mind - finding Sam. When I reach the reception area, there’s not a single word I can utter but her name.
The receptionist looks at me worryingly, ‘Young lady? Are you alright?’
‘....Sam..’ I repeat over and over.
Everyone stares at me in pity, probably wondering what the hell is wrong with me. No one would understand the shit I’ve been through this week.
My mother soon finds me, pulls me into her chest and that’s when the tears start to fall again. We hold each other for a few minutes.
I break away from her, with a look of desperation in my eyes. I need to see Sam with my own eyes and maybe then I’ll be able to speak.
She leads me through the hospital to where they’re keeping her when unexpectedly, I see Ryder, Kellan, Bane and Silver standing outside her door wearing expressionless looks on their faces.
‘What are you all doing here?’ I don’t understand why they’re here.
Ryder answers me straight away, ‘We found her lying on the floor, next to her car.’
‘And that’s enough of a reason for you all to be here?’ I look at each of them individually.
My mother grabs ahold of my hand, ‘Honey, they brought Sam in, without their help, God knows what would’ve happened to her.’
There’s nothing anyone can say to make me feel any better at this point. After losing Terry, a person I cared about, It’s made me realise that anything can happen when you least expect it, and I don’t want to lose somebody else.
‘None of you cared about her, so please just leave.’ I pass the four of them and enter the room Sam is being held in, there’s nothing I want more than to just see and hear her breathe.
She lies motionless in the curtained cubicle with only the sounds of the machines encompassing around the room. My mother said to me on the phone that she’s suffered a severe blow to the head, resulting in a fractured skull, bruising and bleeding within the brain. She also told me that Sam has a few broken ribs from the attack.
I walk and stand beside her and reach with my hand to hold hers. With her eyes closed and her chest rising and falling ever so slowly, I can finally feel assured that she’s alive.
The door opens and in walks my mother, she comes to stand beside me.
‘If it wasn’t for them Alice, she could’ve died.’ She whispers to me.
I can only look at Sam, ‘Mum, don’t say things like that.’
She turns to me, ‘I’m sorry honey, but those people out there have a right to be here.’
‘They don’t care about Sam like I do.’
My mothers holds my hand, ‘They brought her here, that shows to me that they care.’
I consider her words, ‘Then they were at the right place at the right time.’
‘She’s lucky, I’ll tell you that, ’ She sighs and shakes her head, ‘But why would someone want to hurt her like this?’
I shrug, ‘I don’t know.’
‘Well whatever the reason, she didn’t deserve it.’
The two of us just look at Sam in silence. We’re both probably wondering the same thing, who could’ve done something like this and why?
‘Did you call her parents?’ I ask.
My mother nods, ‘They left just before you came, they said something about leaving and coming back with a few things that Sam might need because she’ll be here for awhile.’
‘How long?’
‘I wish I could tell you honey but I honestly have no idea. We’ll see how long when she wakes up.’ She goes to walk out of the room when she stops, ‘Oh that reminds me, when her parents came here, they asked if you could drive her car from the school back to their house.’
I frown, ‘From the school? But she brought me home in her car, why would she go back to school?’
My mum shrugs, ‘Maybe she forgot something. I’m going to grab my coat, so why don’t you say goodbye to Sam for now and we’ll get her car together.’
I lean over Sam, brush her hair away from her forehead and kiss her, ‘I wish I didn’t have to go but I’ll come and see you tomorrow. I love you, Sam.’
Just as I turn away from her, Ryder stands just inside the room with his hands in his pockets.
‘What are you still doing here? I thought I told you to leave.’ I cross my arms over
my chest.
‘I wasn’t going to leave without asking if you were okay first.’
‘I’m obviously not okay Ryder! I could’ve lost Sam tonight, I can’t lose somebody else.’
He moves to stand in front of me, ‘I know, I’m sorry, that was a stupid question to ask you.’ He reaches for my hand and holds it, ‘Is there anything I can do?’
There is something that I’ve been meaning to ask Ryder, but with everything that’s happened, I’ve never found the right time to ask him, ‘I wanna know why you never cared about either of us before I was bitten, because the moment you started getting involved in my life, was when everything changed.’
‘Alice, just because I wasn’t involved in your life doesn’t mean that I didn’t care about you.’
‘Yes but if I hadn’t have been bitten, you probably wouldn’t even be standing here, right?’
He looks away from me, ‘Probably not.’ He lets go of my hand.
I nod in dismay, ‘You’re unbelievable you know that?’
He looks at me and frowns, ‘What do you want me to say, Alice?’
‘I want you to say that you didn’t care about me when I was a human!?’
‘Alice..’
‘You didn’t, did you? The moment you started caring for me was when it turned out that I was an Alpha too.’
He cups my cheek, ‘That’s not true, I always kept my distance from you. That Monday at school when I could sense another wolf, it finally gave me an excuse to interact with you. The bite is a gift, it gives you the ability to hear and smell things that no ordinary person can. Who wouldn’t want that?’
I remove his hold on my cheek, ‘I don’t want it and I never will want it either.’
‘You can join our pack and we’ll all teach you how to embrace this new side of you.’
‘I don’t to be in your pack or anyone else’s! Don’t you get that!? I just want to live my life like a normal person, and if that turns my wolf feral then so be it.’
He shakes his head, ‘You don’t know what you’re saying, I know you’re hurting because of Sam and Terry, but that shouldn’t make you say things like that. You’re not thinking clearly.’
I shake my head, ‘You don’t know what I’m thinking right now.’
‘Enlighten me then. Maybe then I can understand what it is you’re trying to tell me.’
‘Okay then, why has it taken this long to find one murderer? You’ve had all this time to find whoever killed Mr.Daniels and Terry and you still haven’t found whose done it.’
‘Are you trying to say that it’s my fault that Sam got attacked?’
‘I’m saying that it’s partially your fault.’
He looks at me in anger, ‘How?’
I groan in frustration, ‘You’re a wolf for god’s sakes! You said yourself that you’ve been to every crime scene of where the murders took place and yet you can’t find a trace. If I knew on how to use my abilities, I wouldn’t sleep until the murderer was found.’
He’s silent for a few seconds, ‘I’m just gonna assume that you’re only saying that cause you’re upset.’
‘No Ryder, I’m saying it because you’re an Alpha, so maybe you should start acting like one,’ I nudge past him, through the corridor and out the hospital doors where my mother waits for me in the car.
Chapter 24
The drive to the school takes about twenty minutes. The silence in the car gives me the time to think to myself about the last couple of days. I think about the day Terry’s body was found and almost losing Sam tonight and I honestly believe that this day couldn’t possibly get any worse.
When we get to the school, the car stops just outside the entrance, ‘I won’t be long.’ I unbuckle the seatbelt and open the door.
‘Sam’s mum told me that her keys might be in her locker considering they weren’t found anywhere near the car.’
I nod in understanding, ‘Okay.’
‘Do you want me to wait for you here?’
She’s most likely really tired from work so I shake my head, ‘No, it’s okay, go home and rest.’
‘I’ll see you at home.’ She waves and shortly leaves.
I wave back, walk up the steps and into the school. The doors are surprisingly still open at this hour, maybe a few teachers are still here doing last minute preparations for tomorrow.
I walk leisurely down the corridors and eventually arrive at Sam’s locker. I grab onto the lock and enter Sam’s combination code into it and the latch easily opens. The day we became best friends was also the day me and Sam gave each other’s combination code. The reason why we did this was that if we needed anything from each other’s lockers, we could always help ourselves.
I look inside Sam’s locker in search for her keys but come up empty handed. I check again to make sure that they’re there but her keys are nowhere to be found. I close the locker and turn to leave when I see what appears to be a single light ignited in a classroom.
With light footsteps, I draw nearer to the classroom and open the door when I notice that this classroom is familiar.
Who could be here at this hour?
I jerk in surprise when a voice brings me to attention.
‘Looking for these?’ Sitting in his chair holding a chain of keys on the end of his finger is Mr. Edmund.
I peer at the keys he holds, ‘Are those….Sam’s keys?’
‘Indeed,’ He sighs, ‘Kids these days….so irresponsible.’
I frown, confused on why he has her keys, ‘Why do you have her keys?’
‘They merely came into my reach,’ He twirls the keys around his fingers and stands, ‘I presume that you’re here to collect them?’
‘That’s right…’
He stands in front of me and gives me the keys, ‘How is Sam?’ Even though he’s asking about her, he looks as though he doesn’t care at all.’
I snarl, ‘She’s unconscious sir, whoever hit her,hit her pretty hard.’
He turns his back on me, ‘How awful, you must be worried for your friend.’
‘You have no idea, this week hasn’t been the best of weeks.’
He looks back at me with a malicious grin, ‘That I can understand.’
With the keys in my hand, I turn to leave when he calls my name.
‘Yes?’
‘Tell me Alice, how do you manage to live life without your father in it?’
What the..?
‘Excuse me?’
‘I’ve read your records and I was quite surprised by it, we have something in common you and I?’
‘We do…?’
He points to himself, ‘I too haven’t met someone who should’ve been a part of my life, but wasn’t.’
Why is he talking with me about this?
‘Have you never met your father too?’
‘No, my son actually, I haven’t seen him nineteen years.’ He sits down at his desk and takes a book from a drawer, I notice it’s the book we were given today in class.
He has a son!?
‘Did you have a chance to read this book Alice?’
I shake my head, shock still registering in my brain, ‘I read the first couple of chapters and it seems like a very interesting story.’
He looks at the cover in fascination, ‘This book is one of my favourites.’ He turns the book over in his hands and stares at the cover, ‘You see, this story is about a man who fell in love with this woman from overseas. The man spent months in that country and eventually fell in love with it. One day at a nearby cafe, he noticed this beautiful woman sitting alone reading a book, and kept asking himself while he was looking at the woman if he had the courage to approach her and talk to her. As he was doing that, the woman unexpectedly turned his way and smiled at him and he felt that was enough of a reason to go to her.’ He puts the book down and stares at me, ‘They were inseparable after that, spent days and nights together and even talked about having a future together, but she knew one day he would have to leave and go back to his country
. When that day came, she surprised him by saying that she would leave with him and they left together. Years went by, they got married and even talked about having children with each other. They tried and tried until they were gifted with a beautiful baby boy.’ He clears his throat. ‘But things started to fall apart after that for the man and woman, and they started to drift apart. To cut a long a story short, she fell in love with another man, who already had a wife and a child. A beautiful baby girl. The father of the girl ran away with the man’s wife taking along her son with them. The man never saw his son again and the father never saw his daughter again.’
‘Do you know what happens next in the book?’
He sighs, ‘That I do not, I’ve never read this book before.’ He picks up the book and throws it in the bin placed next to the desk.
What..?
‘Then what were you just talking about?’ I have no idea what’s going on.
‘I was telling you about my life story, sad isn’t it?’ He stares intensely at me.
I look around, avoiding eye contact with him, ‘I don’t know what you want me to do with this new information.’
He shrugs, ‘Do with it what you will.’
There’s one thing I am curious about though. If Mr. Edmund was the man with the son, who was the man with the daughter?
‘Ask me the question you want answered, Alice.’
I look back at him, he grins at me, ‘Who was the man with the daughter.’
He chuckles, ‘Can you really not guess? Surely you know the answer to that.’
Why do I feel like it’s related to me?
He nods, ‘Your father fell in love with my wife and he left you to raise my son.’ He emphasizes the ‘my.’
I hear my heart beating in my throat, ‘No..’
‘Yes yes yes!’ He slams the desk with every ‘yes’, ‘Did you ever wonder where he was all these years? He’s been overseas raising my son like his own, but can you imagine how happy I was when I learned that the man who took the woman I loved away from me had a daughter, In this school.’
My eyes start to water, ‘I’ve got nothing to do with this. I hate my father for leaving me and my mother.’
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