Echo

Something wasn’t right. Anyone with eyes could see that much. The town was in a frenzy over the body that had been found in the woods, well, half of it anyway. Beacon Hills was generally a quiet town, but this recent turn of events had everyone talking.
The police had declared it an “animal attack”, but when they released the poor girl’s name, I nearly threw up.

Laura Hale

Laura was like a sister to me while we were growing up, for I didn’t have siblings. Growing up in a pack made it as if we were actually blood related. She helped me understand just who I truly was. I’ve never known a life outside of the supernatural, but that didn’t make anything better.

I was exceptionally close to Laura’s younger brother, though. Derek and I had both been born into a world that nearly no one knew about. Our pack consisted of both of our families, Derek and I as the youngest. I couldn’t remember a time when Derek wasn’t in my life. Laura used to tease us all the time, telling us that one day, we’d get married and have little baby wolves and start a pack of our own. That was possibly the grossest thing anyone could tell a seven year old girl and an eight year old boy.

Derek had always been there for me. We were pretty much inseparable as children, but as we grew into teenagers, hormones started to kick in tenfold thanks to our werewolf genes. It was always set in stone that we would be together at some point. Our parents pretty much pounded it into our brains like it was something that was common sense. It just was. We didn’t mind. We knew every little thing about each other. We knew each other’s secrets, what we dreamed of in life, where we wanted to go. It seemed like the perfect life, until the unthinkable happened.

Their screams.

I will never forget their screams. The screeches of being burned alive echo through my mind constantly. I can still smell the smoke. It was a smell that would haunt me for as long as I lived.

“Have you seen Derek?” I asked Laura as we walked through the woods. The sun was waning in the sky. She shook her head. I sighed and hung my head as we continued walking. The crisp, autumn air left the trees almost bare of their leaves. My boots crunched over the fallen leaves on the ground. Laura stopped walking and placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from moving forward.

“He’ll come around, Rose. Don’t worry.”

“I hope so.” I continued forward, but jolted to a stop when a sound caught my ears. I spun around to Laura. Her face held sheer horror. I nodded and we both shifted and broke out into a run. We pushed our legs as fast as they could possibly go to get back to the Hale house. I pulled Laura to a stop about a mile away from the house.

“Why can I smell smoke?” Her voice was frantic. It was then that I could hear screams. Blood curdling screams filled the air, along with the smoke as our families were burned alive.
Our legs couldn’t carry us fast enough, even in our were forms. There was an ever-present danger that lurked into my mind and tugged at my soul the closer Laura and I got to the Hale home. The horrifying smell of human flesh was enough to make me gag as I continued running.

As the house came into view, I spotted two black SUVs speeding away from the flaming house, leaving dust in their trails.

“No!” I screamed out. My first instinct was to run into the house, but before I could even make it onto the front porch, I was yanked back roughly.

“You can’t go in there! You’ll never make it out!” Laura yelled from behind me.

“I need to help them!” I wailed and fought against her. A high pitched scream fought its way through the whipping blaze of the fire. Tears were streaming down my face. “I can’t,” My breathing was heavy. “Let them die.”

Smoke billowed out of the bars of the basement windows in thick, black clouds. Laura held onto me as we fell to the ground in a heap.

When the fire department, ambulances and police finally made it to the scene, it took a good hour to subdue the flames. Laura and I watched as stretchers with black body bags get loaded into the ambulances. We had to eventually identify the burned remains of our family members, well, the ones that could be identified. Once person did make it out of the fire alive, though; Laura and Derek’s Uncle Peter. Half of his body and face was severely burned and he was pretty much a vegetable.

It was horrific to see my sister and brothers, all under the age of 12, would never get to see the world, never get to experience life. The thoughts never leave my mind at rest. I picture my family’s faces as they burned alive. The police ruled that it was a mass homicide. All the bodies were found in the basement, locked in like a…a pack of animals left to die.

Derek’s body was never recovered, leaving us to believe that he was still out there somewhere.

He just…left.

He wasn’t in the fire. He wasn’t even in the town anymore. Since that night, since my family –my pack- burned to death, I’ve been a shell of what I once was. No longer was I the serene, vibrant, loyal and loving wolf, but a reserved loner that people gave sympathetic looks to when I did decide to venture into town. It was pathetic, really.

Laura was the last of my pack, and my alpha since the accident. Now she’s gone, too.

+

A few days had passed since the news of Laura’s misfortune spread like wildfire across the news. I visited Peter to break the news to him, but just like every other time Laura and I visited him in the hospital, he was unresponsive. He’s just look straight ahead, out the window with a far off look in his eyes; I knew he could hear me.
The familiar dirt and gravel kicked up around my boots as I walked down the winding road that led me to the Hale house. A slight breeze filtered through the falling leaves of the trees, whirling the cool autumn air around me. My hands were stuffed into the pockets of my jeans and my eyes looked at the nature around me.

Every day.

This walk happened every day.

I don’t know what I was hoping for, if I was hoping for anything at all, but something always made me walk to the Hale house. I’d always walk up the gravel driveway and stand at the foot of the front porch, just staring at the house. Then I’d return home as if this was a normal occurrence. I never knew why they didn’t just tear the demolished house down. It wasn’t fixable and it held the worst memory that would overcloud the good that happened there. I would never remember that house for my first kiss with Derek when we were twelve. I’d never remember it for the times that I’d sneak out and end up on the roof of the porch, looking at the stars with Derek. I wouldn’t remember it for anything other than the furnace that took my family from me.

The house came into view as I made my way up the driveway. Images of what the house used to be flashed in front of my eyes, then quickly vanished. Something was different, though. Something was different with the house. There was a presence surrounding it, leading me to believe that I wasn’t alone.

I hesitated, my foot mid-air, before I eventually made my way up the steps and to the front door. I twisted the handle and pushed the undamaged door open with ease before stepping into the house. Feelings –emotions- overwhelmed me immediately. It felt like the air was being choked out of me with each step I took forward. The house looked so different, yet so familiar since I had last been inside of it years ago. Dust covered every surface. My right hand flew to my mouth as tears sprung to my eyes.

“Why are you here?” The pain in my chest made it hard to even get that simple question out. I took a deep breath, his scent filling my nose, and met his deep green gaze. My face hardened when he didn’t answer. He looked so much older than I remembered. He had grown into a man within these few years. Stubble graced his angled face that seemed to be in a permanent scowl.

“I heard about what happened to Laura.” He simply said.

“I hardly believe that you came back here for your sister.” I said nastily. My voice grew more acidic with each word that was said.

“Excuse me?” He took a few steps forward. His body language showed that he was being defensive, like a cornered animal. I stood my ground and looked up at him.

“I just find it kind of odd that the last time I spoke to you, you were pissed off that Marcus Sheffield asked me out on a date when we were sixteen. That was the last time I ever
heard from you, Derek, so forgive me if I’m a little apprehensive towards your homecoming.” I spat. I could see the anger flaming in his eyes. Within a blink of an eye he had me pinned against a wall, his face mere inches from mine. “You don’t scare me, Derek.”

“You don’t know what I’ve been through.” He spat.

“Then enlighten me.” I said in the same tone. “Because I’d really like to know what made you tuck your tail between your legs and bolt.” There was –at most- half an inch between our seething faces. “I could have been there for you, Derek! I was there to help you through it, but you just left! You didn’t just leave your sister, your uncle and this town behind; you left me, too.” Tears were welling in my eyes and my chest ached. Derek’s cold eyes just stared at me, then his gaze fell to the floor. “You weren’t the only one who lost everything that night, Derek. At least you had your sister. I had nothing. I still have nothing.” The tears finally broke over their invisible barrier as my voice cracked.

“I couldn’t stay here.” His voice was deep and level, but I could see the emotions blazing in his bright, blue eyes. I pushed him away from me. He stumbled back a few steps, surprised that I had even touched him.

“And you couldn’t have told me that?!”

“It’s not that simple.” I threw my hands up in annoyance.

“Of course it’s not. It never is, is it? You abandoned your pack when they needed you the most. You’re a coward, Derek. I’ve had to deal with this alone. Now you just show up out of nowhere.”

“I can’t mourn for my sister?”

“No, you can. But you know what you should have done? You should have been with her while she was still alive. You took for granted the only family you had left in this world,” I started walking towards the front door. “And now she’s gone, and now you know what it feels like to truly have nothing.” I spat the last three words to him before I turned around and headed into the dark night.