House of Wolves
Evasion
Gerard’s P.O.V.
I woke up late in the daytime. It was 3:00 p.m. and I was tired as hell. I rolled over and was startled to see Chloe asleep next to me. Then I remembered the night before.
“I feel bad for Mikey…I can’t even imagine what it’d be like if I had to turn someone I loved so much…”
“Yeah…” I mumbled softly to myself. “I couldn’t imagine…”
“He actually told me that he wanted to let her go.”
“He knows he can’t right? Gabriel would surely slaughter her.” I asked, becoming very worried, though I had no idea why.
“Yeah…at least I think he does…I just hope he doesn’t do anything irrational…” Chloe yawned, lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling. We lay there for a little while, I was thinking about my brother, and how it would be if I had to turn the one I love. God knows what Chloe was thinking about. I laughed softly to myself and turned to ask Chloe a question, when I saw that she was fast asleep. She looked so relaxed, not tense and on edge like she usually did. She was breathing softly, her mouth twitching every couple seconds. I didn’t want to stop looking at her…I suddenly felt nauseous, no, not nauseous…it was something else…something I hadn’t felt for a long, long time. I sort of started playing with her hair. The light from the candles illuminated the golden strands and their color shown through my pale fingers. I closed my eyes for one second, just to listen to her breathe, and I was out like a light.
I looked at Chloe and smiled. No doubt she was having some crazy dream. We used to talk about our dreams all the time. Hers were always the weirdest and the most interesting. I had the urge to wake her up just to hear her voice and stare into her big blue eyes, but I didn’t have the heart to take her from sleep and bring her back into this world, back into reality. If there was one thing I knew, she was happy when she was asleep. She’d voiced to me many times before how if she could just sleep all the time, she would. And all I really wanted was for her to be happy.
I was watching her sleep again, feeling a bit odd about it, like I was invading her personal space or something, when I started to feel this weird sensation. Like, something bad was happening that I didn’t know about. I started at Chloe, thinking the strange vibes were coming from her, but they weren’t. Something wasn’t right. I got out of bed and went out into the cellar. Sid was in his cage, sleeping soundly. The candles on the walls were all there, the room was still and nothing was weird about it, nothing had changed. I went back into the bedroom, into the bathroom, and checked out the scene, but all was well there too. I became very frustrated with the whole situation, and began to think that I was just being paranoid. But I couldn’t help but feel something wasn’t right.
“Gerard?” I went back into my bedroom. Chloe was rubbing her eyes and stretching. She looked up at me, the flames from the candles dancing in her bright blue eyes. “What’s wrong?” I had almost forgotten about the odd feeling, too busy getting lost in her eyes, but it all came back. I wondered if I should even faze her with it, just let her be happy for as long as possible, but I decided that she would figure out something was wrong eventually, and hiding it from her wasn’t exactly a smart idea.
“Uhhh…I just…feel like something’s not right…I’m not sure what it is…do you feel it?” I asked her. She looked at me, first like I was crazy, then like I was really onto something.
“You mean like…there’s almost that feeling in the air?” I nodded. She looked around the room, wide-eyed. “I dunno…you’re right though…” She got up and motioned for me to follow her. We went out and up the cellar stairs, Chloe being sure to say good morning to Sid. We checked the main living room, the kitchen, the various hallways; we checked every floor of the house. We checked Tater’s room; she was still there, and immediately started screaming at us the minute we walked through her door. We checked Jen and Bob’s room, the only odd thing there was that they both had their clothes on. We searched Frank’s old room, which we both couldn’t help but shed a tear in. We checked Ray’s room, and Chloe’s room. And then we got to Mikey’s room.
Mikey was lying on his bed, fully awake, staring bug-eyed at the ceiling. His eyes were red and puffy, like he’d been crying. “Hey, Mikes.” I said as friendly as I could, while Chloe looked around his room. “How are you holding up?” He didn’t answer me. He just stared at the ceiling as fresh tears rolled down his face. “Look, I know you’re mad because we’re making Sorrow stay here, but it’d be much worse if she left, y’know? Gabriel would slaughter her, don’t you think its better this way?” Still, he said nothing, only started to cry harder and harder by the second. I sort of hugged him, and told him things would be okay. And then he spoke.
“Okay? OKAY?! That’s what you said when we found our Grandma dead, Gerard! That’s what you said when we were turned into violent killing demons, Gerard! That’s what you said when I failed my initiation trial and was beaten over and over by Gabriel, Gerard! And you know what? It hasn’t gotten better, okay, its been going downhill from the FIRST TIME YOU SAID IT!!!!” He was screaming at me, spit flying everywhere, saying my name with hatred and revulsion. I had no idea why he was so angry with me, but you know what? He had a full right to be angry. He was the youngest, turned too damn early, and my lying to him hadn’t helped. I nodded slowly.
“I know…I know it’s been hard, Mikey…but what else am I supposed to say, huh? It got you through those times right? I love you, okay, and I wouldn’t want to lie to you…but…I’m sorry, okay?” I said, at a total loss for words. Mikey nodded and cried into my chest. I had a weird Deja Vous of Mikey crying after Grandma was killed. I looked back at Chloe who was just as shocked as I was. Mikey had never yelled like that at anyone before.
“Look, I’m gonna go see if Sorrow’s okay, alright?” Chloe said, heading towards the door.
“Alright, I guess I’ll come-”
“You can’t.” Mikey said, pulling back and facing away from us, his expression darkening severely. We stared at him, puzzled.
“And why not?” Chloe said, stepping back into the room and casting a suspicious glance in his direction.
“She’s not there.” Silence.
“And where is she?” Chloe asked, though I think we both knew exactly what was coming next. Mikey pointed forward, at the wall.
“Gone.”
Jackpot.
I woke up late in the daytime. It was 3:00 p.m. and I was tired as hell. I rolled over and was startled to see Chloe asleep next to me. Then I remembered the night before.
“I feel bad for Mikey…I can’t even imagine what it’d be like if I had to turn someone I loved so much…”
“Yeah…” I mumbled softly to myself. “I couldn’t imagine…”
“He actually told me that he wanted to let her go.”
“He knows he can’t right? Gabriel would surely slaughter her.” I asked, becoming very worried, though I had no idea why.
“Yeah…at least I think he does…I just hope he doesn’t do anything irrational…” Chloe yawned, lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling. We lay there for a little while, I was thinking about my brother, and how it would be if I had to turn the one I love. God knows what Chloe was thinking about. I laughed softly to myself and turned to ask Chloe a question, when I saw that she was fast asleep. She looked so relaxed, not tense and on edge like she usually did. She was breathing softly, her mouth twitching every couple seconds. I didn’t want to stop looking at her…I suddenly felt nauseous, no, not nauseous…it was something else…something I hadn’t felt for a long, long time. I sort of started playing with her hair. The light from the candles illuminated the golden strands and their color shown through my pale fingers. I closed my eyes for one second, just to listen to her breathe, and I was out like a light.
I looked at Chloe and smiled. No doubt she was having some crazy dream. We used to talk about our dreams all the time. Hers were always the weirdest and the most interesting. I had the urge to wake her up just to hear her voice and stare into her big blue eyes, but I didn’t have the heart to take her from sleep and bring her back into this world, back into reality. If there was one thing I knew, she was happy when she was asleep. She’d voiced to me many times before how if she could just sleep all the time, she would. And all I really wanted was for her to be happy.
I was watching her sleep again, feeling a bit odd about it, like I was invading her personal space or something, when I started to feel this weird sensation. Like, something bad was happening that I didn’t know about. I started at Chloe, thinking the strange vibes were coming from her, but they weren’t. Something wasn’t right. I got out of bed and went out into the cellar. Sid was in his cage, sleeping soundly. The candles on the walls were all there, the room was still and nothing was weird about it, nothing had changed. I went back into the bedroom, into the bathroom, and checked out the scene, but all was well there too. I became very frustrated with the whole situation, and began to think that I was just being paranoid. But I couldn’t help but feel something wasn’t right.
“Gerard?” I went back into my bedroom. Chloe was rubbing her eyes and stretching. She looked up at me, the flames from the candles dancing in her bright blue eyes. “What’s wrong?” I had almost forgotten about the odd feeling, too busy getting lost in her eyes, but it all came back. I wondered if I should even faze her with it, just let her be happy for as long as possible, but I decided that she would figure out something was wrong eventually, and hiding it from her wasn’t exactly a smart idea.
“Uhhh…I just…feel like something’s not right…I’m not sure what it is…do you feel it?” I asked her. She looked at me, first like I was crazy, then like I was really onto something.
“You mean like…there’s almost that feeling in the air?” I nodded. She looked around the room, wide-eyed. “I dunno…you’re right though…” She got up and motioned for me to follow her. We went out and up the cellar stairs, Chloe being sure to say good morning to Sid. We checked the main living room, the kitchen, the various hallways; we checked every floor of the house. We checked Tater’s room; she was still there, and immediately started screaming at us the minute we walked through her door. We checked Jen and Bob’s room, the only odd thing there was that they both had their clothes on. We searched Frank’s old room, which we both couldn’t help but shed a tear in. We checked Ray’s room, and Chloe’s room. And then we got to Mikey’s room.
Mikey was lying on his bed, fully awake, staring bug-eyed at the ceiling. His eyes were red and puffy, like he’d been crying. “Hey, Mikes.” I said as friendly as I could, while Chloe looked around his room. “How are you holding up?” He didn’t answer me. He just stared at the ceiling as fresh tears rolled down his face. “Look, I know you’re mad because we’re making Sorrow stay here, but it’d be much worse if she left, y’know? Gabriel would slaughter her, don’t you think its better this way?” Still, he said nothing, only started to cry harder and harder by the second. I sort of hugged him, and told him things would be okay. And then he spoke.
“Okay? OKAY?! That’s what you said when we found our Grandma dead, Gerard! That’s what you said when we were turned into violent killing demons, Gerard! That’s what you said when I failed my initiation trial and was beaten over and over by Gabriel, Gerard! And you know what? It hasn’t gotten better, okay, its been going downhill from the FIRST TIME YOU SAID IT!!!!” He was screaming at me, spit flying everywhere, saying my name with hatred and revulsion. I had no idea why he was so angry with me, but you know what? He had a full right to be angry. He was the youngest, turned too damn early, and my lying to him hadn’t helped. I nodded slowly.
“I know…I know it’s been hard, Mikey…but what else am I supposed to say, huh? It got you through those times right? I love you, okay, and I wouldn’t want to lie to you…but…I’m sorry, okay?” I said, at a total loss for words. Mikey nodded and cried into my chest. I had a weird Deja Vous of Mikey crying after Grandma was killed. I looked back at Chloe who was just as shocked as I was. Mikey had never yelled like that at anyone before.
“Look, I’m gonna go see if Sorrow’s okay, alright?” Chloe said, heading towards the door.
“Alright, I guess I’ll come-”
“You can’t.” Mikey said, pulling back and facing away from us, his expression darkening severely. We stared at him, puzzled.
“And why not?” Chloe said, stepping back into the room and casting a suspicious glance in his direction.
“She’s not there.” Silence.
“And where is she?” Chloe asked, though I think we both knew exactly what was coming next. Mikey pointed forward, at the wall.
“Gone.”
Jackpot.