Cara
AS EXPECTED, the door was unlocked. In fact he had left it half way open as if he was expecting somebody, probably me. I went right in. The house was cold. Dad must have left a window open overnight.
I heard someone talking ... shouting.
" As I have told you before, she has been missing for nearly 18 hours...don't you think I would have called her by now if she had it...yes, I filed the fucking report," the shouting was coming from the kitchen. " Yesterday in the evening at around six thirty..."
Going into the kitchen I found my father standing by the counter, a landline in his hand. He had a look of worry mixed in with annoyance on his face …with a hint of desperation.
All this time I was 'missing' I had never really thought about what effect it would have on my father. As I stood there watching him on the phone - with the police probably - , I remember just how much he loved and cared about me.
I should go missing more often.
He didn't see me till I spoke." Dad..."
The phone slipped off his hand with the person on the other side of the call still talking, landing on the kitchen counter. Dad stared at me as if I were not real, just a mirage.
"Cara?" I smiled at him in response. Wasting no time he ran to me and hugged me tightly, making sure I was real and not a phantom of his imagination. "Oh my God..."
Dad was never really an emotional person but I saw tears in his eyes as he looked at me.
He scanned me up and down then hugged me again. "Where have you been? I have been worried sick...I went to search for you but I didn't find you....Oh God...I should have just told you about the letter and..."
"Dad. I'm fine." We stood there for nearly ten minutes, with him hugging me warmly. I felt sad that I put him through all that. As far as I could tell from the bags under his that were so thick they formed little hammocks, he had not slept all night.
He made me sit on the couch and explain what happened and why I was in different clothing.All I wanted to talk about was the letter and why he had been lying to me for all these years.
"...I passed out in the woods but was rescued and woke up in someone's house. They called a doctor and fed me. There. Nothing too bad happened" I left out the part about the wolves.
"Now you have to tell me the truth. You can't keep lying to me. I am eighteen years old and I deserve to know the truth," I told him sternly. I had never been so stern with him. He was usually the stern one.
He pursed his lips and moved to sit next to me on the couch. He was tense. It was clear.
"Your mother loved you, Cara. She still does very much. But something happened. Something that changed her. It changed her in many ways...ways we didn't understand. But it put us in danger. It puts you in danger. She had to leave." I listen, my heart breaking with each word he uttered.
He continued," Cara, she didn't want to... but she had to leave, for your sake. With the help of a few others... she went to the only place where she could get help...in greenland. Now she's in Europe. "
"What was wrong with her? Before, you said she was sick."
"This was not something treatable but it wasn't fatal...Not at all. Cara...all I can tell you is that she wants to see you. I kept that for you to protect you. My job is to protect you, Cara."
"Protect me by lying to me. That is not how you protect someone, dad."
"I know. I didn't know what else to do...if you'd like, I can tell her you want to see her..." I saw the sincerity in his eyes.
"I'd like that very much. But not right now"
I decided to trust in him. After all, he was my dad and he had been there when she wasn't. He had been both parents to me for many years, filling the void my mother had left and that was nothing I could never repay.
Things were good now...but the issue remained unresolved.
I still had no idea what happened years ago that caused my mother to leave like that but for now I knew enough and just had to trust in the future to give the other half of the answers.
Half answers were ok. For now.
***
Careful not to hit anything behind me, I parked my car in my usual spot. Still I had not found the student's parking lot but no one was parking there so it would have to do for now.
As I walked up the stairs leading up to the school's main entrance, I saw Alice. She was casually leaning on the wall with a blank expression on her face.
"Hey," I greeted.
" Where were you yesterday?" That was the first thing she said.
"Long story. I'll tell you later. For now, we have a homeroom."
After homeroom Alice wanted to hear my excuse but we had to go to the History class. A.P History was the furthest class from where we were so we had to hurry if we were gonna make it. Or else we'd be caught by the tadie sweep and end up in detention.
We are early enough. Everyone was still laughing around. Connor was sitting on a desk talking to his friends with a football in his hands. Typical of jocks.
"Cara! You're here! I didn't see you yesterday...we'll talk about your punishment for skipping school later...anyway. I have been wanting t-" he trailed off staring at the direction of the door. He pushed me to sit down and I knew the teacher had walked in.
It was still the same substitute as last time. And just like last time, all the girls were disappointed.
***
After classes, there were lacrosse try-outs. Since I was absent the previous day, Alice did not get the chance to teach me the works as she had promised. Now I was going in completely unprepared. I was lucky if the ball didn't hit me right in the face. Thank God for helmets.
"Next!" The coach's rough voice rang through my ears, startling me. He then blew his whistle loud enough to cause a ringing in my ears.
Shit, I'm next.
Tightening my grip on the short-stick, I prepared to throw the ball. This was an essential part of try-outs. Thirty percent; showing up, Thirty percent; throwing , twenty percent; Goalkeeping , ten percent; running and ten percent; not pissing off Coach Dunly.
With a deep breath, I gathered all my force and swung the stick at a good angle, catapulting the ball across ten feet distance between me and goalie. It went right past him, hitting the net with strong force.
"A beautiful hit from..." Coach Dunly paused trying to remember my name, "Matthews. Next!"
I moved out of the way, allowing the girl behind me to take the shot. Sadly, she didn't have as much luck.
The rest of the try-outs went fine. I like to do ok. Alice even clapped and cheered for me from the bleachers. She was very supportive and had become a good friend even after only three days.
***
The radio was blasting DJ Snake's Taki Taki as I drove up the driveway and into the garage.
It was already six o'clock. Try-outs had taken longer than I expected. Coach Dunly had insisted that we all remain behind till the very end. Something about 'moving as a team' . Now I just wanted to get home, change and play Fortnite on my PlayStation till midnight.
The car came to a halt. I grabbed my keys, phone and bag. I
As I went up the steps to the front porch, I was surprised to see someone staring by the door, staring right at me, someone I never expected to see again.
"Ivan?"
Hey my lovelies, thank you for giving this story a chance. I really hope you're enjoying it and I promise to be faster with the update. My laptop had a problem so I couldn't update but now I'm back. I love you all.
CaraIvan stood tall at my doorstep, staring right at me, his expression unreadable."Ivan? What are you doing here?" I asked, proceeding towards him. I can't say a part of me wasn't happy that he was here. Admittedly, I was elated to see him again. Question is, how the hell did he know my address? Perhaps Jasper told him.I was standing a few feet away from him, his large form between me and the door.He spoke huskily, his voice like a drug, addictive and intoxicating, " I came to apologise for not being able to bring you home yesterday." That seriously could not have been his reason for coming all this way."I don't believe you. You came all this way...just for that?" He visibly stiffened. I knew then that that was not his only reason for coming. Maybe he wants his hoodie back."I-I wanted to see you again...to see if you were feeling better." He moved out of the way as I pulled out the house keys from my bag. Fumbling with the keys,I searched for the right key then opened the door.
Cara"I only wanted to watch this one because it's the longest in the series and I wanted to spend as much time with you as possible, "he admitted rather bluntly.His gaze was hot on me. My body was burning up. Everything was hot, the air, him, my body. All on fire. I was afraid my cheeks would soon burst into flames."I like you, Cara and I am certainly not letting you go. Ever. " He said it emphasising on the ever. Unknowingly, my body quivered with what I could only identify as delight. The way he talked, the dominance in his voice, it drove me wild.Ivan's now darkened orbs shimmered. They sparked with an emotion I couldn't pinpoint."..."I was at a loss for words, completely speechless. My mouth was wide agape. Maybe he would close it with his. My mind toyed with the insane idea of kissing him then dismissed it quickly before I acted.Surely I had no common sense around this man. He drove wild with emotion. Emotions I had never felt."Do not worry..." he spoke again. In a careful
Cara I choked on air. Of all the things I expected her to tell me this was the most unexpected. I thought she would say something like ' you will live a short life', it would make sense considering the fact that I eat vegetables as much as dogs do. I now found this whole palm reading thing ridiculous. "I don't lie. It's true, Cara. Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos have wound your thread with another's." Clotho? Lachesis? Atropos? I remembered the names from my Greek mythology phase. For weeks I had only dressed in Chitons. Dad had called it the worst month of his life. He had had to go all over town to buy me chitons that were appropriate enough for school. It was right after my mom left so he did basically anything I wanted. Those were truly the days. Clotho...the fates? "The fates?" I asked the crazy woman sitting across from me. I had to bite my tongue in order to hold in a laugh. "Yes. You find this unbelievable. I understand. You have been raised so mundanely, lived such a mund
CaraI WAS PRACTICALLY FLYING through the living room trying to tidy up the place. It was almost five o'clock. Ivan was going to be here in a few minutes. He had been coming over at exactly five o'clock for the past week and a half except for the weekend.I always looked forward to his visits.I don't know how I had managed to turn the living room upside. Gathering up my strength, I pushed the couch back to where it's supposed to be and dragged the table back to the middle of the room. It's a wonder how the house had become such a mess in the one hour I had been home from school.Everything seemed fine now.Just as the hour hand of my father's hideous grandfather clock (I hadn't yet found a way to get rid of it) struck five, there was a knock at the door. Straightening up, I made sure I looked fine and untied my hair and ran my fingers through it a little to forgive it a little bounce. I wanted to look good for Ivan.I opened the door. There he was. I could not help but smile. It was
Xolem Ignim - The fire of the sun.Locum Sacrum - Sacred place.The Old Language is very close to Latin and is actually one of the sources of some Latin words, in the book that is. JasperIvan twisted around. He was fast and graceful both at the same time. Surprise flickered across the young warrior's face as the Alpha's foot connected with his face.I winced at the sound.That must have really hurt.The 'warrior' should have known better than to challenge a beast like Ivan.The impact of the kick sent the young one staggering into a tree. At what point had they left the centre of the field? That's what happens when you try to fight Ivan, at some point you think you're here only to find that you are elsewhere.Lucky enough for the boy, Ivan did not maim him. Usually those who spar with the beast were left in a bad state, taking long to heal. That's how Volk fights, hard, tirelessly and mercilessly. There was no beast as strong as Volk. Thankfully for the rest of us, they had all...die
CaraI boredly tapped my pen against my notebook waiting for the history teacher to arrive. His arrival did not matter. My mind was not there anyway. Yep, Cara's presence in the classroom was merely physical. Her mind was very far away.My thoughts were consumed by what happened just the day before, less than twenty four hours before. The woods. The chase...The kiss.It had happened as suddenly as death. Suddenly his lips were mine and mine were on his. Suddenly he was pressed against me, every inch of my body against his and it felt good.I remembered the warmth of his body, the gentleness of his lips and his hold on me. He had wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me up so that I settled on his thighs as he was in a kneeling position.It had been so spontaneous...so unexpected. That may have been what made it so passionate. It caused me to realise just how much I wanted him, how much I needed him. Because at that moment I didn't want him to ever let me go."Earth to Matthews...
Cara"Thanks for driving me. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up," I said gratefully. Connor had come to the rescue. When my car broke down I had expected that I would be stuck at school for hours, until my dad picked me up.Thankfully, Connor showed up, accessed the problem with my car and offered me a ride home. I obviously accepted seeing as I had no other option plus he was my neighbour which meant no inconvenience on his part.He averted his eyes from the road and asked me how I was."I am fine. What about you?" It was a bit difficult having a conversation with Connor. I didn't know him much, we barely even spoke. In spite of him being my neighbour and classmate, we lived two completely different lives."Things are...fine," he responded. There was hesitance in his tone but I ignored it. It was not any of my business. I just hoped he'd be alright. "Anyway...I hope you are going for the trip...you know, the one to Rome."The trip. There was a history trip my
CaraNot even the loud sound of the knife hitting against the chopping block could faze me as my mind focussed on one thought alone. Why did Ivan just leave like that?"Careful with that, sweetheart , "warned Dad, staring at the way my hands were speedily chopping the carrots." Show a little mercy on those carrots, this is not the French Revolution .""Haha. Kevin Hart, everybody," I mocked but the joke was on me because he then went on and on about his college days and how he had done a bit of stand up comedy."They had stand up in the sixteen hundreds?" I asked. Of course my father was not that old, no one is, I only liked to make jokes about how aged he was. The jokes did not matter to him, in his opinion he aged like fine wine.My fun with Dad had not ; however, gotten my head off my worries. I had many, one of which was my car but the one that I was thinking about at the moment was Ivan's leaving.He had been angry before he left. He was angry at Connor and for reasons I did not