Awakening The Storm

WREN

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Six months after Kassidy’s death. . .

Time, what is it again? Is it that thing that keeps going without stopping? That thing that pulls the energy from your body with each passing second until your death?

That’s what it feels like when you’re running. When there are lives on the line.

“Do you know how a labyrinth works, Ana?” I ask.

Her knitted curly head turned in my direction.

“A labyrinth is like a maze, just a bit more complicated. A labyrinth plays tricks on the mind and uses your inner turmoil against you. If you figure out and solve your inner turmoil, then you’ll be able to escape.” She explains.

“But what if I can’t?” I ask warily. Her warm hazel brown eyes bore into mine with unease.

“Then you’ll be trapped here forever...” she says with a gulp.

“In your mind, full of all of your inner demons, fears, and regrets. Hell, since we’re dealing with Stylo he might just use your memories against you in here.” She continues with a humorless chuckle.

My hand gripped hers tighter as we walked down further into the tunnel. Doors were lined up on each side of the wall. Each looked a bit different than the other. Some doors were more worn down than others. Some appeared to be newly installed doors that you’d see in an IKEA.

Except for that one.

At the end of the hall, there was a door that looked worse than all the others there.

The charred wooden door with claw marks and blood dripping off the edges was a fair warning to both of us. But what threw me off the most was that there was a name carved through the middle of the door.

WREN egmmMCALLISTAIR.

Each letter was written in blood, kinda like a shadow of what was lying behind the ominous door. Anais was quiet next to me while she inspected the door with discomfort.

“It’s okay,” I assure her. “I can do this one by myself,” I say walking in front of her. I reach out and grasp her hands in mine.

“I’ve done some pretty fucked up things in my life that no one else had even dreamed of doing. You don’t need to stick around for it,” I tell her and place a kiss on her forehead.

“Wrennie, not everything needs to be done by yourself. We are in this tunnel together and we leave together.” She asserts. There was a slight shake to her words, but her eyes held determination in them.

I open my mouth to reply, but the sound of a door creaking snapped my attention behind me.

My door was slightly ajar, basically calling out for me to go through it.

I look back at Anais who’s silently freaking out. Her eyes are wide as saucers as she peered past me at the door.

I shake my head, catching sight of another hallway to the left of me. Anais catches on to what I’m looking at and looks too.

“I think that’s for you, Annie,” I say turning back to her.

“I think it is too. I’ll do it. You go to face your demons,” she sighs unwinding our conjoined hands. “And I’ll face mine.” She says hugging me. “Good luck.” She wishes me as walks to the other tunneled hallway.

“You too, Anais.” I sighed out and faced my doors. That door was taunting me. Droplets of thick crimson liquid skid down the splinters of the door.

What a pain in the ass.

I sigh again and look to my left, then to the right to examine any other doors. So, I pick the best looking door there was.

The glowing golden door.

I walk to the door and stood there a few feet away from it, just staring at it.

A familiar warmth seeped through the door as it cracked open a bit and let flowing light spill out of the opened space. I smile grabbing onto the golden knob.

The bright light had blinded my eyes as I stepped in.

The sound of laughter filled my ears and sent a sharp pang of pain through my heart.

“Mom, Ben won’t give me back my truck!” A small boy whined with a small smile curving at his lips.

The dark locks, green eyes, and two missing front teeth. The 4′11 height and red flannel on his back.

It was me.

Standing in my living room with the curtains spread wide open. Natural sunlight filtering through the large room.

“Benji, please give your brother back his truck. You boys need to learn how to get along.” The buff man says as he entered the room with a megawatt smile on his young features as he looked at me and Ben with a knowing look in his eyes.

The smaller version of Ben came into view with a red fire truck in his small hands and a mischievous smile on his face.

“But, Wrenji said I could play with it for a while.” He says with a smirk playing at his lips. Dad rolls his eyes and plopped down in his favorite loveseat facing the tv.

“Is this true, Wren?” Dad asks raising a black brow at me.

I shook my head and turned and poked my tongue out at Ben who started to pout. “Then, Ben, shouldn’t you give Wren back his toy truck? You do have your truck right?” Ben gasped and gave him an exasperated look.

“Papa, his truck is better than mine. I wanted a fire truck toy for Christmas but Santa gave me a tow truck.” Ben whines.

“So you’re saying that Santa should come back and take your toys away?” Her warm voice filled the room. My head snapped to her direction as my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as my eyes landed on her.

“Mom?” The word shook its way from my lips. I stood still in my place behind the doorway. She looked the same.

Her golden honey locks curled to perfection. Her lighter mossy green eyes. Her warm full light pink lips pulled into a beautiful smile. Her lightly tanned skin.

Even her smell was the same. The aroma of honey and apples filled my nose as I tried to keep breathing.

“Margo, when did you slip back in?” Dad asks getting up and wrapping her up in his embrace. He kisses her lips lovingly as smaller Ben and Wren gazed at the beauty their mother had.

What our mother had.

“Just now actually, I had to stop at the grocery store before I came home to my boys.” She explains pulling away from him to look at us.

“Am I not gonna get some sugar from you two?” She asked playfully. Her slight southern accent filling our ears as we both ran up to her at full speed. Her arms were spread wide as we both jumped onto her.

“Hi, Mom!” We both yell. She chuckled and squeezed us tighter as we cling onto her for dear life. Her white flower-covered dress was flowing as she let us go and looked us over.

“How are we doing in school, babies?” She asks us. Each of her hands held one of our cheeks as she looked us in the eyes.

They were so full of life.

I walked up behind both of them and squatted down to their level, taking in each of her gorgeous features.

“I got a smiley face on my math homework, Mama!” Ben says with a laugh. “Wanna see it, Mama?” He excitedly asks her. She nods and smiles even brighter at him as he rushed up the stairs to get his backpack. Her warm green eyes looked at younger me for an answer.

“I got a star sticker on my drawing, Mommy,” I tell her smiling at her as she giggled.

“What did you draw, Wrennie? Was it about a spaceman or a monkey?” She asks poking my stomach tickling me.

Our laughter filled the room as Dad sat back in his loveseat looking at us with so much love in his eyes I wanted to smile my damn self.

The patter of footsteps sounded on the steps as Ben rushed down the steps with mine and his backpacks in his hands with a broad smile on his face.

“I got it, Mama!” His head snapped over to my dad and smiled at him too.

“Wanna see it too, Papa?” Ben asked with a tilt to his small head.

“Sure, Champ, let’s see it.” He chuckled at the boy as he made his way over to Ben and picked him up and placed the giggling boy on top of his shoulder.

“Put me down, Papa!” Ben squealed as dad picked him up and swung him around in his arms. They laughed together and looked so happy together.

Like an actual family.

“I miss this,” I whisper to myself as involuntary tears slide down my face at the happiness this family shared.

The McAllistairs, the happiest family in the universe.

I stand up from looking at the laughing family and walked through the living room and past my mother. I walk into the kitchen.

Everything was the same here.

The red and white checkered curtains hung on the windows. The light brown circular table and chairs. The yellow refrigerator stocked to the brim with yogurt and juice and other foods.

My home.

I stepped in further and looked out the window next to the table. The backyard looked the same too.

Our swing set, build-it-yourself swimming pool.

Toys scattered all over the grass, bikes laying down and a patio table and chairs in the corner.

“Okay, boys, what are we eating for dinner?” Mom asked standing up and pulling me up with her. Dad had Ben perched upon his shoulders, Ben looked like he was having the time of his life. They all were.

“Pizza!” The three announced in unison. Mom turned around with a dark blonde brow raised at the husband.

“You too, Braxton.” She said crossing her arms at the large man with a small smile tugging at her lips.

He shrugged and tilted his head up at Ben.

“What do you say, Champ?” He asked Ben, then his eyes looked over to mine with a smirk on his face. “How about you, Squirt?” He asks turning to me with a wink. I smiled and turned back to my mom.

“All of the men have decided, Mommy. We shall have a pizza.” I said with a nod of finality, arms crossed and a wannabe serious face.

“Oh really?” She raised her brow even further on her face. She rolled her eyes and smiled at us.

“Fine, we’ll have pizza.” She said and we all whooped in victory.

“But,” she raised her finger.

“But what, Mama?” Ben asked with a confused look on his face. I looked confused too at the gorgeous woman.

“You boys will have to help me out with this.” We all whined and groaned as she just giggled and laughed at our reactions.

“Go get the aprons I bought and you all need to wash your hands.” We all tried to stand our ground as she stood with her hands on her hips and her facial expression changed from happy to serious in an instant.

“You will wash your hands, right now!” She snapped as we all, including dad rushed up the stairs to the bathroom.

Now that the room had been cleared it was just me and her now. I knew that she didn’t know that I was here, but a guy could only dream right.

“I know that you’re here, baby.” She whispered. I was taken back by it at first and went out of the entranceway to see if any of us had cane down the stairs yet.

We were still upstairs thoroughly cleaning our hands. I walked back in to see her staring right into my eyes.

“Mom?” I choked. A single tear slid down my face as she walked even closer to me. I flinched back as one of her hands went to touch me.

“This can’t be real.” I stepped back a bit. A look of hurt filled her eyes as she looked at me.

“I know that you don’t exactly believe that this is happening, but it is, Wrenji baby.” She smiled sadly at me.

“H-how?” I stepped forward, my hand reaching out to hold onto her.

“This was the only way I could speak to you. This type of labyrinth could use memories, and since I’m dead and in this memory I can be here.” She explained.

Another tear left my eye as the lump in my throat kept building up. I couldn’t believe it. She was here in front of me.

“Why couldn’t I see you when I died?” The question rolled out.

Pain washed over her as I mentioned it to her.

“That damn bastard has my soul tethered to Earth. I was able to see everything my sweet boys were doing, how much they’ve been through, how they’ve grown.” Her warm palm caressed my cheek.

My eyes closed on their own and I leaned into her touch.

“I failed you, Mama. I’m so sorry.” I cried and croaked. A tear fell from her eye as she looked at me.

“Nonsense, I failed you, my son. I failed all three of my boys. Braxton is not the same man he used to be since I left but what he’s been doing to you boys is unacceptable. I know it was terrible for you but I’d rather my boys survive than be dead. I raised my boys strong, not weak, am I right, Wrenjamin?” Her voice was stern as both of her soft, warm hands grabbed my face.

“Yes, Mama.” I cleared my throat and stood taller.

“So then why in the hell are you stuck in a cage while your mate, brother, and friends are in trouble darlin’? They need you to get back in there and kick some ass, if not for them, for me. I want to see my baby triumph. I am so proud of you both, and tell Ben thank you for keeping an eye on you. I love you both and I hope that you and your father get everything back on track.” She said.

“Why should I do anything with him, he tortured Ben and me both. I was turned into a demon because of him, Mama. I don’t owe him anything-“She cut me off me with a slap on my cheek.

“No, you don’t owe him anything if he did it out of hatred. He doesn’t blame either of you boys for my death. And if let me finish I could tell you that he put you, boys, through hell because he was given an ultimatum by that worthless piece of shit Styloneus.” She growled out.

“Styloneus? Who’s that?” I ask her.

She gave me a dumbfounded look.

“He is the man that has been screwing y’all up. He’s the one who killed me, hurt your mate, and killed her father. He is the one who killed you and your mate and the reason why she isn’t in the place she needs to be.” She ranted.

“But why is he calling himself Stylo. I know that name from somewhere but I thought it was his.” I was really confused now.

“Wren, that man is using the name of his son. His son used to be friends with all of your kids. All of you were the best of friends once upon a time. Until he and that vampire boy were killed about two years ago.” She tells me.

“Vampire boy? Do you mean Noah? He’s the only vampire that’s died recently. And how do you know all of this stuff?” I ask her. She laughs and takes my hand and guides us to the table.

“Yes, I mean him. Do you mean to tell me that you don’t remember him?” I nod and she looks even more confused than I do.

“I don’t see why because all of you kids hung out here and at the cliff together. You two boys were friends with the Grayson twins, the Vampire boys, and the Witch kids. Hell, ya even hung out with the Alpha’s daughter. I loved it when Diane, Mary Anne, and Carolina would come over. We’d chat all day about the men and the kids like it was nothin’.” She sighed dreamily at the memories.

“What happened after that?” I rested my interwoven fingers beneath my chin and listened in.

“Well, you kids would run about and just do kid stuff. I would always be out with the girls, even that stuck up Luna of theirs came along sometimes. It was truly the happiest moments of my life as I saw your laughing faces running and skipping around with each other. It hurts my heart that you all grew apart as you got older. But hey, that happened all the time.” She smiled at me and waved it off.

“What happened to Stylo’s wife and son? She must’ve been around right?” She nodded her head and leaned back in her chair.

“She died during birth. Styloneus raised a fine boy, yes he did. But not finer than mine.” Her smile was bright as she stared at me.

“I love you, Wren. Remember that.” She reached over the table and held my hand in hers.

“I love you too,” I tell her with a small smile of my own. Another question filled my mind as her warm hand was in mine. “How?” I demand.

“How what, darlin’?” She asked.

“How did you die, Ma?”

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