Chapter 106

I wake up to the sound of hushed voices and... snarling? Sunlight is streaming on my face and I slowly blink open my eyes… man I had a wild dream last night.

I remember it vividly which is a little odd as I rarely ever remember my dreams much less in such detail, I shake my head and open my eyes, gasping at the sight in front of me.

Someone has their arms wrapped around me and my legs are tangled up with theirs… Virgil?

Anyway that constant snarling sound is coming from the person behind me and everyone else is standing on the other side of my bed, huddled behind Dale who looks... pissed off?

"What the hell is going on here?" I ask in confusion, trying to sit up but Virgil doesn't let me.

"Virgil, let me go." I say coldly and he does, I scramble away from him turning around to look at him.

"Oh no!"  I moan, wrapping a hand around my middle.

Virgil is lying on my bed with the same bandages I remember wrapping around him in my crazy dream, his eyes are a mellow gold now but his fangs - fangs??!! Sharp teeth are pressing down on his lower lip. 

"I-It wa-was r-real?" I mumble in shock.

He closes his eyes briefly, something akin to pain flashing in his gold eyes, he just stares at me quietly and that's enough of an answer for me.

I whip my head around to the others, my mom, Shana and Mae are huddled behind Dale who has an identical gold shade blazing in his eyes.

I go lightheaded again, the room spinning around me.

Was Dale the same thing? And everyone knew??!!

"He's going over!" My mom yells and Virgil reaches out to grab me but I shake my head to dispel the fogginess and jump off the bed.

"Don't touch me." I warn him darkly and he flinches backwards, dropping his head in his hands.

I'm sitting on the ground with my hands flat on the ground behind me supporting my weight, my heart thumping hard.

"You're a wolf person too?" I ask Dale shakily and a collective gasp comes from the people standing beside him.

His eyes light up again, his canines growing longer. "He saw you?! I should fucking kill you." He growls to Virgil but Shana and Mae hold on to him before he can take a step forward.

I move back a bit. "Oh wow." I mutter blankly. "My whole life has been a lie." I continue in that bland tone.

"Hayden…" Dale takes a step towards me but I scramble backwards all the way to the other side of the room, grabbing my hair dryer as a weapon.

"Stay away from me." I say, my voice breaking.

"Baby." My mom steps forward but I just wave the hair dryer threateningly. "S-Stay aw-away…" I choke on tears, my vision blurring.

"Oh my God." I gasp, slapping a hand over my open mouth, I feel like throwing up. "I-I ca-can't b-believe…" I trail off again, not knowing what to say.

What was there to say? That everyone I love has been lying to me for what? Five years, ten years? My whole life?

"Hayden…" My mom tries to say but I don't even glance at her, I need to get away, I look around the room for an escape route but there's no way I can get past all of them, they're closer to the door so I'd get caught if I tried to make a run for it.

I still need to get away, I think desperately, my eyes darting around, my hands shaking so hard that I nearly drop the hair dryer on my toes.

I look behind me and I move quickly, darting inside the bathroom and locking up the door.

I collapse against the closed door, the hair dryer slipping out of my hand.

I slide down, clutching my chest, it's getting so hard to breathe and my eyes are blurring up again.

There's screaming in my head or is it coming from me? The guilt in everyone's eyes is branded into the inside of my eyelids and I see it just as clearly as I see the truth.

A sob rips painfully out my mouth and I wrap my arms around myself.

...my world is falling apart...

...I'm falling apart...

Was that all I was to Virgil? A pet? To keep in a gilded cage? He couldn't possibly love me, no wonder he never put it in words, I've just been the stupid one all along and I wasn't about to listen to any bullshit about protecting me.

Dale's case is even worse, he could tell me he loved me but he didn't think to tell me the truth, the sobs even out now, low sounds filled with pain, betrayal and sadness…

Everyone else knows too, even Mae that just moved in, it goes to show how little they think of me.

I didn't even want to think what they were, I didn't care actually, they could be supernatural creatures for all I cared but that didn't matter, it didn't change who they were or what they were to me but deceiving me like this, lying so blatantly, that was what hurt.

"Virgil, get the fuck away from that door." Dale's voice rings out and I scramble away from the door, going to hide in the shower stall.

Virgil sounds like he's being ripped to shreds. "I can't just stand here and listen to him crying, it's killing me."

I place both of my hands over my ears, not wanting to listen to them again.

I know I would have to confront them soon but now I just want to stay in my mental bubble where it is safe and there are no lies.

The pain hits again and I crumble to the ground, pulling my knees closer to myself so I could hide my face and the tears start afresh, I don't stop them. 

Maybe if I cry hard enough, the aching pain deep in my heart would go away or I could cry hard enough to lose all feeling.