The Wolf In Me

I heard the front door open and immediately ran to it. I practically flew. When I saw Tyler I felt my heart drop. He looked so sad, heartbroken and hurt. Immediately I ran to him and embraced him. I knew it couldn’t be good. He returned the hug, squeezing me to him, making me feel like he was never going to let go.

We stayed like that for what seemed like eternity. Neither of us moved or talked. We didn’t need to in order to know how the other felt. All that existed was us and our hearts beating together. I wanted the feeling to last forever but unfortunately it couldn’t.

Pulling away Tyler put his hands on my shoulders as if bracing me for what he was about to say. Luckily he was because otherwise I might have fainted. “We have to leave.” I searched his face in hope of some joke or humor. I knew I would find none.

“What?” I asked my voice sounding way calmer than I felt.

“What happened tonight… It made me realize that I don’t want to be like this, but we might be stuck like this forever. We need to learn how to survive because otherwise we’re not going to make it.”

“But Tyler, leaving our home, our friends, your mom?”

“That’s exactly why we have to leave,” he said and I could hear the earnest in his voice. “It’s safer for them if we do. The next time there’s a full moon who knows what will happen.” I knew what he was saying was true, that it was for the best. We couldn’t continue living the way we had.

“If you really don’t want to, we can stay. But whatever happens,” he said pulling me closer to him again, “it’s me and you. Always.” He kissed me in a deep, passionate kiss. As I returned the kiss a couple tears rolled down my cheeks.

“We’ll go,” I said once we pulled away. “It’s-it’s for the best. It’s not what I want to do but for the sake of everyone else we have to.”

“We have an a couple hours to pack our stuff and then meet Jules. Just her, no one else,” he said as I looked ready to protest.

“No one else?” I asked dreading the response I knew I’d hear.

“They’re all dead, Willow. They were killed, all of them.” I gave a strangled cry and clutched at my heart. All those people, dead. “Even Brady. Stefan killed him.”

“Oh my god,” I breathed. “How, what, why?” More tears came to my eyes and some managed to spill over. With a troubled expression Tyler wiped them away with his thumb. I hadn’t liked Brady but that didn’t mean I wanted him dead.

“Let’s pack first. I’ll tell you while we drive to meet Jules.” I nodded my head to shocked and upset to say anything. No wonder Tyler looked the way he did once he returned. I’d imagine my expression would be much worse.

Going to my room I took out the suitcase I used to move some of my stuff here. Taking it out brought back the memory of why I was here and then I knew that Tyler was right. We couldn’t stay. Not until we learned better.

I only threw in what would fit and even then made it light. That’s what Tyler had instructed me to do. It wasn’t meant to be heavy. I double checked to make sure I had everything and then grabbing my suitcase went to meet Tyler downstairs.

As I came down he was putting a letter on the table in the foyer. I could see it was addressed to his mother. A goodbye. I guess we wouldn’t tell anyone where we were going and keep the fact that we are going a secret.

“Come on,” said Tyler pulling me towards the front door. I knew he wasn’t in a rush. He just wanted to get out of here before he either couldn’t leave or started to cry. I knew he was close to it and followed him wordlessly. We were out the door before his mother could stop us.

The next stop Tyler decided to make was the Grill to say goodbye to Matt. I waited in the car to give them time to say goodbye. I couldn’t intrude on their moment. In my stay here I hadn’t gotten close to anyone but Tyler. These goodbyes were his.

On the way Tyler had filled me in on what had happened. My reaction was one of shame, anger, and sadness. I was ashamed of ever having to do that to Elena, of trying to do that. I was angry at Brady and Jules for having lied to us once again. Lately that’s all that seemed to be happening to us. We were always lied to, by everyone.

And I was sad for obvious reasons. I was sad that Elena had to go through that. I was sad that Brady had died, even though he had been somewhat of a monster. I was sad that the others had been killed by another vampire. And I was sad that we were leaving home even if it was for the best.

After five minutes Tyler came back outside. “I want to make one more stop,” he said. I didn’t question or argue as he drove through Mystic Falls to his final destination. We ended up being in front of Caroline’s house.

Silently I stayed in the car as Tyler approached her house. He was about three feet from the door when he stopped. I could read his expression and knew him enough to know that he was thinking about how she hated him. How she didn’t want anything to do with him and wanted him to leave her alone.

So with those thoughts coursing through his mind he backed up into the shadows before finally turning and walking back to me. Silently we drove to meet Jules. We’d leave our car here and go with her. Our car could be traced or picked up. Nobody knew hers or even knew we were with her, other than the vampires.

“You came too?” said Jules as we walked up to her truck.

“Where he goes, I go,” I said simply. Jules nodded her head understanding. Tyler got in and I sat between him and Jules.

“Sorry about Brady and your friends,” said Tyler. “But if we’re going to go with you, no more lies.” I could hear the pain in his voice as he said it.

“No more lies,” agreed Jules. “You’re doing the right thing,” she added, trying to give us each some encouragement.

“I can’t stay here,” agreed Tyler. “Not like this.” Wordlessly Jules started the truck and began to drive away. Away from Mystic Falls and toward a world of unknown.

I leaned my head against Tyler’s shoulder tired from everything today. I felt my eyes start to close and just before I lost consciousness Tyler whispered in my ear, “It’s me and you, always.” And as long as it was, I knew it’d be okay.