The Wild

-16- Brotherly Hate

Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved.

At one point I became too paranoid to share an empty bed, and the constant gazing of Bennet's eyes on mine lasted until I rolled to the far side of my bed and patted my now empty spot. He didn't seem to mind the ruffled covers, because he crawled right on over and still neither one of us could sleep. Or even think about sleeping.

"You think they can hear us?" I whispered quietly. The darkness in the room cast a deep blue gloom over his face, and I could feel the pure white light of the moon on my back.

He stayed silent for a long while. His plump, chapped lips were parted slightly, and his eyes gave off a dull red hue on the whites. Eventually he closed his eyes and adjusted his hands underneath his head. "I can hear them."

He could probably hear my heart beat, too, I thought to myself just as I felt my chest seize up. He was honing his hearing, and the thought swept a chill through me. The man responsible for this new Bennet was on the other side of that wall, and I hoped it was for the better. It was getting more and more difficult to believe that, though.

"Lily," he murmured gently, drawing my eyes back to his. "Are you afraid of them?"

"Yes," I said without hesitation. I'd never want to admit being fearful of my enemy, but tossing werewolves into the mix made everything more complicated.

A strained look came on his face, and his wide eyes drooped as if the sorrow inside was dragging his entire face down. "What about me?"

"Of course not!" I nearly yelled, but thought better of it and lowered my voice. "Why would you even say that?"

"It's just-" he halted, looking no less relieved from what I'd said. "It's just... What if they could really help me? I feel so... on edge. It's like I'm standing inside a ring of embers and if I step anywhere I'll burn myself."

"You are not in a ring of embers, Bennet," I insisted quietly, my own voice was fearful of being wrong. "There aren't any embers. You won't catch on fire--your dad can help you."

He gave me a nervous look, as if warning me to keep that bit of information to myself even if we were all alone in this motel bedroom. "I haven't felt right ever since... I don't know. The day we skipped town."

"You're just new to it, I'm positive." I turned away then to stare up at the ceiling and avoid his gaze that made me feel like I kicked him.

The silence was brooding and urged all ears to listen, to search for a single sound among the loneliness Bennet and I felt. It felt like a wave had cast us away from our family and took us to a long lost island where no amount of calling into the wind would help save us. A deep sigh gave way from Bennet's heavy form. He shuffled in the bed and by that point each of us knew that sleeping was out of the question.

And so we waited for morning to come, but instead found the howling outside by the lake. Stranded on this island of despair, Bennet and I were unfortunate enough to have encountered the native beasts in their elements. Neither one of us were prepared to play their game.

The only way to win was to give them what they wanted, because we couldn't stick ourselves onto trees branches for long to avoid their snapping jaws below. So in the darkness of the motel room, Bennet and I spoke in hushed whispers about the limitations of what we could offer. There had to be a way out of this that would leave both Bennet and I in one piece and preferably without confessions of love involved.