Awakening

Chapter 16

"Come on, guys!" Emily screamed as she walked ahead of Rose, Max and Simon towards the house. After a few steps she decided that they were too slow and she turned around to briefly address them. "I'll go ahead while you unload and get everything opened up." And then she was off, leaving them behind.

It was a public holiday and Emily had convinced Rose the only way to properly spend a day off was at her parents' lake house. Rose thought it was very ironic that Emily loved going there so much, seeing she hated being outdoors so much. She had relayed this to Emily, who promptly told her it wasn't the same thing.

"The lake house is fun. It's relaxing. It's nothing like camping or sports." she insisted.

To be honest Emily didn't have to work too hard to convince Rose. She loved being anywhere outdoors after all. And she finally got to get rid of those horrible crutches, so she could enjoy the day fully. Of course, after they had agreed to go, Emily decided that Simon should come too. Apparently they had to "bond" with each other if they're going to be chaperoning together. Then she ran into Max at the grocery store and promptly invited him along too. According to her she wanted to make sure he really was nice like Rose said, and not some psycho.

"Wow, she sure can move." Max said while staring after Emily.

Simon gave a short laugh. "You think that's fast. You should see her when she hears about a shoe sale."

Rose nodded solemnly. "Those poor shop assistants..."

Max's brow furrowed. "What happened to the shop assistants?"

"We don't talk about it. No one wants to relive that horror." Simon said as a shiver went down his spine.

Rose grabbed a few bags and started walking on the gravel pathway to the house. "We better catch up soon or else there will be another horror story to tell at Christmas"

The men nodded and grabbed the rest of the bags and followed Rose into the house.

Rose stepped inside and took a deep breath. She loved the smell of the wood walls. The air was cleaner and there were no city sounds assaulting her ears. It wasn't a huge house, but it was cozy. Through the front door was a comfy living space from where you could see the kitchen in the back. On the right a big staircase led to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

She walked to the kitchen and put the bag on the counter, before starting to unpack them. There was enough food to feed an army. But they were four people after all and two of them were men. Add two lycans to the mix and you'd need enough food for an army.

Simon and Max walked in carrying the rest of the bags. Emily came through the backdoor into the kitchen.

"Simon, could you please come out and help me? The power's off and I can't find the problem."

Rose noticed only then that the house was darker than usual.

"Yeah, sure." he said, putting the bags down, before heading out with Emily.

Max looked over the food on the counter. "Are you sure we have enough?"

She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "Are you that worried you'll go hungry?" she joked.

"I'm a lycan, what do you think? I'm not a very nice person when I'm hungry, you know."

Rose turned to him and pouted. "Poor thing. Lucky for you I had your metabolism in mind when I went shopping." She pointed to some of the items. "See? Meat, meat and more meat."

He grinned. "All this for me? Ahh, you really do care."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't get too excited. Some of that is for me."