Sins Of The Mother.

Chapter Four- Constipated Gargoyle.

MIRA- FIVE YEARS LATER.

"Oogabooga!" Lolls shouted as she jumped down behind me in the darkness.

Rolling my eyes I kept walking, "Did you really think I didn't see you there, squatting on the roof like some kind of constipated gargoyle?" 

“I did not look constipated..." she grumbled indignantly. "I really thought I had you this time!"

"If you're not with me, then you're in a tree or on a roof, lying in wait." I said distractedly, rummaging through my bag for the book I was returning to the library.

"Still, I made sure I was totally camouflaged this time!” She protested, throwing her gloved hands in the air. “This perfection requires time and effort I don’t think you fully appreciate.” 

Looking up I took stock of what she was wearing and burst out laughing. "Oh Lolls, you suck at espionage but you do crack me up." My best friend was head to toe in a black catsuit, which I'm fairly sure she wore for Halloween last year. A balaclava hid her thick black hair and most of her face; she'd even gone to the trouble of using camo grease to cover the remaining skin round her eyes. I had to give it to her, if she stood in the shadows and could mask her scent, most people would walk right by her. Deciding it was easier to play along than admit that I knew where she was long before I even reached the library, that would just lead to more questions I couldn't answer. I shrugged, saying, "If that stone hadn't fallen off, I probably would have screamed like Kelly when she found that snake in her bathtub."

Whipping her balaclava off she frowned at me, "I don't think you've ever screamed in fright your whole life, Mims." She wasn’t wrong, screaming was loud and drew attention, but the last time I was frightened of anything was five years ago and I’d internalised it like most of my many, many issues. Her face was full of the questions that were getting harder to avoid.  

"Come on 001 and a half, I need to return this book and then we better get home for dinner." I said, opening the doors, Loll's answering snort cutting through the quiet atmosphere of the library. Mrs Fisher, the librarian, looked at us before pursing her lips in frustration, realising that if she told Laura off for being too loud it would just lead to the usual louder 'debate' with her. "Sorry," I mouthed at her. She gave me a kind smile in return and went back to checking the books in front of her.

"Yay, the weekly dinner and a show, can't wait." My step sister's words were dripping with sarcasm. "We should pray for edible food this time."

"Yeah, I think we can both skip the mating lecture next week," I replied drily, causing her to slap her hand over her mouth so Mrs Fisher wouldn't give her any grief. Lolls had a loud laugh. “Not even praying could save us from Elaine’s cooking.” Life had changed a lot in the past five years. When dad came back that night, he’d given me a big hug and apologised for leaving me alone. We went into the frigidly cold house and he told me to pack everything I wanted to take with me because we were going to live with the pack. I passed Aden's room, smirking at the sight of the empty drawers and the bare walls. An hour later I was standing beside the car with Ty as dad packed most of my clothes and all of my books into the trunk, I couldn't resist asking, "Where's mum and Aden gone Dad? Won't they be upset when they come home and find we've left them?"

Dad's voice was flat and cold as his green eyes looked down at me. I could see his wolf, Deacon, fully emerged in them, "Your mum isn't coming back, the selfish bit.. Your mum left us… Left you. She doesn't care about you Mira, she never did. I've tried so hard to protect you from the truth but it's time you accept that the only child she loves is Aden. He's human and you're not." Well... that was blunt. I looked down at the brown and white gravel, avoiding his gaze. "Hey now, don’t be upset, we're better off without her, we'll live with the pack now, with our kind, you’ll see Laura every day. That’s cool, isn’t it?" my face scrunched up as if I was going to cry, looking up and his eyes softened, arms pulling me into his embrace. The deceit and twisted truths spilled so easily from his mouth as he held me close, believing I needed and wanted his comfort, my face pressing up against his jacket. I could feel the lies, I didn't know what was happening but I knew that whatever it was, dad couldn't find out. With that thought, I wrapped my arms around him as far as I could and ducked my head so he wouldn't see my dry eyes or the smile that tugged at my lips.

Just before we drove away, dad doused the front door and set our house on fire, and by morning, he and Elaine both sported fresh marks on their necks, everyone played their role and life went on. 

*****

Elaine had always been nice to me, too nice, especially with everything Lolls told me. Since moving in with her however, her true colours didn't take long to emerge, it only took a couple of weeks for me to realise she was nice to me because she wanted my dad, and because I kept Laura busy. Unless dad was busy with his duties or training Laura and I, the pair of them couldn't keep their hands off each other, so gross. We'd started out having dinner together as a 'family' every night, but they would start drinking witch brew and forget we existed. Soon enough Elaine stopped pretending she gave a damn about being a family, all she cared about was dad and now she had him, she didn't need me. 
Family dinners became weekly and even then only because dad insisted on it. Elaine would stomp about, muttering about having to cook, wearing skin tight clothes and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She made no secret of the fact that she hated taking care of us whenever dad wasn't around. Most of the time the food was inedible, which was a relief, it meant dinner was over faster. It was a lot easier to have an appetite when you weren't watching your respective parents pawing at each other in front of you. Now and again we scored a takeaway but it wasn’t very often so we learned to eat a big lunch at school or fill up on snacks from the pack house before coming home.

I'd never actually lived with dad, at most he would only be home once or twice a week so to have him there every day was eye opening to say the least. He’d make sure he spent some time with me now and again but now that mum was gone and we were 'a proper family' as he was fond of saying, he’d taken off the mask. Sure, he still called me Sweetpea and occasionally took me for milkshakes, I’d make Laura come with us, not wanting to be alone with him, worried I'd slip up. Elaine might have been a crappy parent, but at least she kept his focus on her and off of me, most of the time. As long as I got good grades and excelled in the training dad gave Laura and I, being Sweetpea was easy, he didn't look as closely at me anymore. He'd won already, he no longer needed to put the effort into keeping me blindly happy and isolated from the humans we had lived with. In his eyes I was the trophy he could display and look at victoriously while I gathered dust until I was of use to him. 

It wasn't all bad though, one of the best things in my rapidly changed world was my Lolls. We were inseparable. As our parents' neglect grew, the bond between the two of us fused ever tighter together. Her goofy, exuberance countered my somewhat serious nature. She forced me to lighten up and have fun while I in turn tempered her crazier ideas and calmed her explosive temper... most of the time.