Dark Twin Moon - The Awakening

Chapter 23:

It was the worst night Kayleb had ever had - including the night he slept with his brother's blood all over his clothes. It was different this time. If one or both boys die, the blame lies solely with him and not with a driver who has lost control of his vehicle.

But the sleep itself wasn't the worst part of that painful night. It was the dreams - that will surely haunt him for some time - that made his night so uncomfortable. He was tossed between flames and big fights between werewolves. But strangely enough, not only the wolves were there, but many others too. Kayleb was very surprised by this sight, considering that vampires and most other non-humans on this continent are not allowed to leave the capital. Only werewolves, lycans, and humans are allowed to live elsewhere.

But he could not see who was fighting or why they were doing it, neither inside nor around the blazing inferno.

Disturbingly, between all the fighting, he could see two children: Luke on one side and James - who was a year older than Luke - on the other.

They stared at each other in horror for a full minute. As Luke reached out his hand for the older boy, he was pulled away by someone Kayleb couldn't fully see. Most faces were blurred. It gave him the impression that it wasn't just a dream.

It happened over and over again, like a loop.

He tried his best to memorize as much as possible. Alternating between the two boys' dreams or memories, whatever they were, sometimes different events while others were the same. It made him quickly realize that memorizing wouldn't be that easy. He tried anyway.

Until he suddenly awoke from his sleep. Beads of sweat covered his forehead. It looked like he had trained for hours. But it wasn't just his forehead that was soaked; His whole body screamed for a shower.

"Are you all right?"

The sudden voice startled Kayleb so much that he jumped out of his chair. His head snapped towards the door where his little brother was standing, thankfully not directly in the room, as he already seemed to know the rules.

The older one had to take a deep breath after this experience. "Yes, of course," he murmured through clenched teeth directed at his little brother. "Why are you here?" He tried to ask casually, but it came out sounding strange.

Ian cocked his head and looked at his brother for a moment too long before realizing he didn't know. "You were screaming something I couldn't understand. I tried to ignore it as best I could, but then you yelled his name," he mumbled lowly, averting his eyes. "You were screaming our brother's name, and I had to see if you were okay.

This was the first time Ian had mentioned their brother's death, much to his older brother's displeasure.

At that moment, Kayleb realized he was the only one who couldn't get over the thought of his death. Of course, he knew it happened, but he never tried to say it out loud because that would make it real.

Before Kayleb could get mad at him, Ian gave him a tight hug, which didn't last long but was enough to make both brothers feel better.

Just as barely the first sunlight shone through the window, to Kayleb's left, he pushed his brother back into the waiting room. Suddenly, he slammed the door shut so firmly that the house and even the ground beneath shook.

Ian was mad at his brother because it came out of nowhere for him. He rolled his eyes pissed off, clicked his tongue dismissively, and turned to walk away before he said or did anything stupid. As he turned away from the door that had been slammed in his face, his gaze wandered to the small window. There, he saw a ray of sunlight falling straight through the glass onto the wooden floor, slowly filling the room with daylight. As he realized what had happened, his stomach filled with utter shame.