Prophecy

I felt my heart tighten, she was suffering. I looked out the window. Why couldn’t we make her feel safe? Why couldn’t I? None of this made sense to me. I saw Jared coming back…and he was carrying her?

I ran outside to reach for her already worried, “What happened?”

“Nothing Sam. She…she fell asleep crying because she hasn’t been resting. She just finally wore herself out.” Jared tried to reassure me. He rolled his eyes as he passed her over to my still waiting arms. She felt so light.

I carried Liz upstairs smiling slightly. She seemed more peaceful then I’ve seen her lately. It felt so right holding her close to me like this. She seemed to even be smiling in her sleep. I laid her down in bed covering her as I brushed her cheek gently. I could feel it in my heart; I was long gone. This breath taking girl was all I wanted now.

I forced myself to leave and not stay with her, heaven knows that may not be the best idea. I closed the door as I walked down, and I couldn’t help b t notice that Jake, Paul, and Lexi were gone. “Where’d Lexi go?”

“They took her grocery shopping like an hour ago.” Quil answered.

“Oh. I guess I was out of it. Liz seems pretty knocked out. What happened?” I asked Jared again curious. He must have made some kind of breakthrough with her right?

“She’s something special alright. Liz is guarded because she wants to protect us. She doesn’t want them being here to put us at risk.” Jared smiled softly. This wasn’t something good for him to be even smiling about…

“She’s afraid we’ll get hurt?” Quil questioned flabbergasted.

“Yes, she feels guilty for what’s happened to her sister and doesn’t want to see anything like that happen to us. She’s genuinely worried for us. She knows that how she’s been acting hasn’t been kind, and she thinks we don’t like her. Liz thinks that even Sam hates her.” Jared explained quietly. He looked down with a sad smile that still seemed out of place in this conversation. My Liz had a big heart, and this had happened to her. How could she think I hated her though…it seemed impossible to comprehend?

I breathed through gritted teeth controlling the rage of emotions inside of me, “None of this is her fault. How can she even think that? I could never hate her…what is she thinking?”

“I told her that too. She just cried, but I can tell she’s strong. She really seems to be a good fit for you Sam. Liz could help you lead the pack once she gets past all this. Both of them are going to need our help getting past this.” Jared answered. I could see now why he was smiling. Seeing that side of her had won him over and I knew I could count on him to protect her if I couldn’t, just like he would protect Kim.

“Do you think they’ll stay?” Quil asked.

“I don’t know.” Jared answered quietly.

These two girls were becoming family and we couldn’t even tell if they would stay. I just sighed pacing slightly as the pack moved around me. Lexi had come back and offered to cook since Liz was still sleeping. My mind felt far away as the clocked ticked hour after hour. I was out on the porch as everyone left. Lexi told us goodnight an hour or so before heading up as well. I stood still watching the night sky. I didn’t turn when I heard soft steps behind me walking slowly out onto the porch.

“Sam, can I talk to you?” Liz asked shyly, her voice barely above a whisper.

I smiled sitting on the porch swing inviting her to sit with me. She stayed quiet thinking as I watched her concentrate. I couldn’t help thinking about how she had blushed this morning. I was curious about what could be on her mid, but after the past few days I didn’t really want to push her.

She took a breath and asked, “Did Jared tell you about this morning?”

“Would you be mad if he did?” I questioned back.

“No I kind of assumed he would. I was just curious.” She was looking out at the night sky now.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked gently.

“She pulled her legs up to her chest holding them, “No, I feel a bit better since I talked to Jared. Plus, I slept all day and feel a lot more rested. Why aren’t you asleep by the way?”

“Umm…I couldn’t sleep really, and I was worried about you…” I admitted watching as she smiled slightly to herself but didn’t look up at me.

We stayed silent for a while, and I didn’t push her to talk more. I wanted her to be comfortable with me. Her small voice broke the silence, “Did you mean it when you said we could stay as long we’d like?”

I tried to contain my smile as our wish was answered, “You only have to leave if you and Lexi want to. We have no objection to you staying with us.”

“Thank you.” She smiled nodding her head as we fell back into silence watching the soft drizzle fall onto the ground.

“What’s your favorite color?” She suddenly asked.

I looked at her oddly for a second thinking how causal this had just turned into, “Blue I guess.”

“You guess?” She asked smiling.

“I never really thought about it, but I guess I like blue better. All the different shades too it doesn’t really matter to me.” I answered shrugging my shoulders.

“Here I thought I was the weird one.” She laughed. I stared at her shocked she just made a joke and at my expense.

“Well, then what’s your favorite color since mine is so weird?” I questioned back laughing softly smiling.

“Hmm… Eminence.” She answered.

“You’re making that up.” I jokingly accused her.

“I’m not. It’s a legit shade of purple.” She replied laughing.

“You’re right. You are the weird one.” I smiled loving hearing her laugh. She hadn’t laughed since she’s been here.

She smiled as we continued talking under the night sky about simple little things. From favorite music to movies, but she didn’t know much of any of them. I knew that this was something I could help share with her. Still, there we stayed on that swing talking until the morning light.