Silver Seren/Aftershocks

Moar info: Silver Seren.

Aftershocks by ~silver-seren

Chapter 2: Aftershocks By Silver Seren

The police didn’t show up for a few hours after I called them, though they did show up with nearly everyone in the station. At the time, I deluded myself in thinking that this was so important that they all felt that they had to come. Since then I’ve seen that they were probably just bored and this was the most interesting thing that had happened for a long time. No one said the police were always the good guys.

An ambulance also showed up with the police cars, its lights flashing through the windows. The people there helped me out to it, but I didn’t notice at all. My gaze was fixed on the ground, ever staring, and nothing could be done to bring me back to consciousness. This state would be constant for me for a few days, unresponsive to any kind of activity around me. Truly, I cannot remember what happened during that time or what I was thinking. Its just a black part in my mind that I am unable to unearth. Maybe its better that way.

One of the interesting things that happened, really the only event I can remember directly after I got into the ambulance, was when they went to bandage up my arm. It was covered in my own blood and the blood of my parents, so nothing could really be seen of the wound. When all of the blood had been wiped away, the paramedics were amazed to find that there was no wound whatsoever, just regular skin. This event would have piqued my interest if I had been thinking straight, but as things were, I totally ignored it. It was the first real sign of what would occur later on, a sign that would have saved me from a lifetime of trouble if I had heeded it. I didn’t.

The time after I came back to myself is still a part of my memory, but they have gone blurry over time. I remember having to talk to the police about what happened. The truth was, as I could see it to be, totally absurd, but I had nothing else to tell them. Of course, they put it down as shock of the event and wrote off everything I said; or they did that at first. With an investigation of the area, they found multiple wolf tracks and hair, proof that I had been telling the truth. Even so, they still didn’t believe the part about the talking wolf. That was far beyond them.

I was only able to gleam a few things on what else had happened and what they found in their investigation. Surprisingly, they weren’t forthcoming on information, no matter how many times I asked them. What I was able to find out was on someone I had totally forgotten. My brother, Derek, was missing. He hadn’t been in the trailer at the time that I found my parents and the police had found drag marks leading into the woods. They held the belief that my brother was still alive somewhere and they started a search. For myself…I hoped he was dead because the alternative was too horrible to think about.

Their search continued, while I was transferred to an adoption center. With my whole family dead and no close relatives to speak of, I was put into the adoption system to find me a new family. Something I remember distinctly, which is funny when I think about it now, was that I was put under the emotionally scarred category. Not too many other kids were in the same character and not too many people wanted kids in that category either, if you want to look at it that way. A month went by…

I still didn’t talk to anyone, though I did respond slightly to other people. My thoughts were completely bent on the events that had transpired and it was only for short periods of time that I came out of these thoughts. A few families came to see me and left just as quickly. Maybe I should have been in the highly scarred category? Heh…that would have told those people more about me. They seemed to think that I had just been neglected or abused, other such nonsense like that. Oh no, I was far beyond that.

So this was how it went…Another month passed and then another. I didn’t hear much from the police, except that they had no results in either their investigation of the crime or the whereabouts of my brother. Slowly, I began to improve in my mental faculties and I could carry on a short, clipped conversation. My responses were usually just single words, but the psychologists were optimistic. Finally, they came…

The Zagros’s…

They were different from the other families that had come to see me before. They seemed…empty…like I was. It turns out that they had lost a son, under circumstances never fully explained to me. With one gone forever and the older far into college, their lives seemed empty to them. It was because of this resonance between us that I acted slightly differently. I would answer their questions, still mono-syllable answers of course, and not ignore them like I did everyone else. Family felt like something obtainable again, after having been left in the dark for so long.

They must have felt the same thing I did, for they quickly accepted the task of taking care of me. Taking the few things I had with me, I went to live with them. This was when I felt the first spark of true happiness appear in my heart. Things did indeed feel like a true family. My memories of my own parents had already seemed to dry up after my time spent in the darkness. Now, they were just painted over, with new memories of my new family.

Maybe that wasn’t the most considerate thing to do, but it was the only way that I could move on with my life. Funny enough, the first time I met their older son, he reminded me exactly like Derek, albeit without some of his more annoying tendencies. He came back to the house pretty much every holiday, wanting to see his parents.

I was slightly nervous the first time I met him, unsure on how he’d react to my presence. I really shouldn’t have worried. He knew that his parents had been looking for adoption and he accepted me wholeheartedly. I could say, if I wanted to be spiteful, that he was much more of a brother than Derek ever was. He always seemed to be there and was caring for me in every manner.

After only a short few months time, I seemed back to normal. My vocabulary was back to its wide-span and I no longer had any frightening nightmares to wake me up at night. Socially, I was able to talk to new people at school. Oh right, I forgot to mention, yeah, I went back to school. It was a bit of a problem for the first few days, though it really helped me a lot more than any of the psychologists ever could.

My life was looking up, or so I thought at the time.

A few more months passed, then a year and then another…I felt normal again. That was the turning point for myself. I felt like I was truly a part of society once more, like I was the person I had been before. That all changed soon enough.

It all happened on my eighteenth birthday. My grades weren’t the greatest, but passable. Enough for me to get into a good enough college, one that would set me truly on the right path for life. My parents decided to have more of a quiet party, instead of one where everyone was invited. Personally, I preferred that. Spending time with them was much better than spending time with kids I didn’t see very often anyhow.

My older brother came by for the weekend, so that he could celebrate with me as well. He had just finished his bachelor’s degree and was going to head towards his master’s at summer’s end. It was nice of him to do that for me; the kind of support that I really needed. Now…I just wish he had stayed away.

The small little party was fun. There was cake, songs, and we all watched a movie afterwards. Was I happy? That’s a question that you don’t even need to ask.

That night…

Silver eyes gleamed in the moonlight, drifting through the window. Hunger…hunger that can never be satiated. Sound, sound down the hall. Talking…people…food…

I hunger…

I slowly opened my eyes and then squinted them shut again. Sunlight was streaming through the window right on my face. Annoying position of the room, why did they make it that way? Chuckling to myself, I got out of bed and closed the blinds with a snap. Yawning I left my room and headed for the kitchen, expecting to smell the scent of breakfast cooking. My nose drew a blank and I walked into an empty room. Huh? They must have slept in. Eh, it’s Sunday.

With another yawn, I headed back down the hallway towards their rooms, intending to wake them up forcefully. A grin on my face, I stepped into my brother’s room and called out, “Wake up already!”

Time seemed to freeze.

I stood in the doorway, transfixed by what I saw in front of me. No… Scrambling out the doorway, I nearly broke my parent’s door off its hinges in my haste to open it. Once more, I was frozen in place. It can’t be! Why?! In another scrambling motion, I was out the door, grabbing a backpack from my room. Even in the horror that I felt at the moment, my mind was calculating on what need to be done in the situation. I had most definitely changed over the years.

The cops will think I did it. They say that it can’t be a coincidence. I paused in shock…I didn’t do it, did I? I shook my head and focused back on the task at hand. I can deal with the rest later. I need to focus for right now. Grabbing the items that were necessary from the house, including the laptop, some food that would last, and whatever cash that was lying around, I headed out the door.

No real direction unfolded itself before me, so I just picked one and started down the road, my destination unknown to myself. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do or what would happen when the money ran out. Now that the event was over with, I could look back on it and it was then that the tears finally came to me. Tears running down my face, I felt all the agony that I had rid myself of in the past return to me in a single instant.

The pain of losing my parents…twice, was almost too much for me to bear. Even so, I stood against the wave of emotions that assailed me as my steps continued, unaltered by the feelings that were coursing through my body. My eyes stayed locked on the ground, unable to exert the effort to raise them, not even wanting to in the least.

The walking helped. I suppose, having gone through this all once before, it wasn’t so hard to deal with. Still…it wasn’t easy. A few hours passed and I reached the edge of town, the road now leading just…somewhere. I finally looked up, determined to stop being all “doom and gloom”. And, for what seemed the millionth time, I froze.

There was a figure standing at the top of the rise that the road was taking. A figure that seemed familiar, but I was sure that I had never seen him before. The man that stood there had black hair, really dark brown eyes, and black clothes. I edged forward slowly, unsure if he was going to be a threat or not. Then…he spoke…

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it pup?” he said in a voice that I instantly recognized, a voice that had haunted my nightmares. I stepped back, my whole frame shuddering, “N-No…n-not here. W-Why?” I was able to stutter out, still stepping away from him. He matched me step for step and responded almost casually, “Well, it is time. I knew that you would turn eventually. Of course, I didn’t expect it to be this…messy. Some fun you had back there, eh?” His words…his WORDS!

A loud snarl coming from my mouth, I lunged at him and grabbed the front of his shirt, “This is all your fault!” I yelled at him. He just regarded me with a lazy look and grabbed me by the neck, “Listen up, pup, I wasn’t the one that killed them, you were. Live with it. I’ll help you with that.” His hand was clenching around my throat and it was beginning to become hard to breath. Scrabbling at his fingers, I felt my consciousness drifting away. As the darkness spread across my eyes, a vision of my parents, both sets of them, spread came into my mind. My eyes flaring, I knocked his hand away with strength that was unknown to me.

He looked at me, surprised at my power no doubt, and rubbed his hand, “Well now, pup, not such a weakling after all. You’ve exceeded my expectations. Fine then. I’ll let you have your freedom for a time. Always know that you are my property and my blood, now and forever.” With a smirk, he jumped straight up, higher than any Olympic record pole jumper even, and landed on a tree branch overhead. He looked down at me, a smile playing about his lips, “My name is Logan. Remember it…one day, you will worship it.” With a laugh, he was gone.

My anger kept boiling within me. It swelled and swelled of its own accord, until I felt the need to tear something apart, anything at all. I glanced down at my hand and saw patches of fur appearing and I realized what was happening. “No! I will control this!” I said to myself, hugging my arms to my body. “Focus! Focus…” Slowly, the fur stopped appearing and then, even more slowly, began to recede. The moment of danger was passed.

I stayed in that position for over an hour, making sure that I had complete control of myself once again. Then, I stood up, grabbed the things that I had dropped, and continued walking down the road. I would beat him…this was a vow that I made to myself. Never again would he control me like that. I would become stronger and control my own life.

These thoughts went through my mind as I walked. The sun dipped below the horizon and darkness spread across everything…