Naia
“What do you mean you don’t have any food?” I ask urgently, sitting cross-legged on the floor. I rented furniture for my new apartment but it won't be here until tomorrow. Until then, I would just have to make do.
At least I have a roof over my head.
“We don’t have any money!” My mother wails. “We can’t even afford instant noodles! You have to help us, baby. We’re starving!”
This doesn’t make any sense. How do my parents not even have a dime to their name? Even in their most dire straits, they always had a few dollars lying around.
“Where did your government assistance check go?” I ask, staring out the window to watch the setting sun. It looks like a glowing disc, bathing everything in its path with a golden glow.
Before I left for college, I made sure to set my parents up with as much assistance as I could. I had been the primary breadwinner with my odd jobs and with that gone, my parents wouldn’t have any money coming in.
My primary goal was to cut them off the second I stepped inside my new dorm room, but I couldn’t leave them without anything to survive on. My conscience wouldn’t allow it.
Even though they’ve treated me terribly and gave me a horrible childhood, they were still my parents and I
I at least wanted to make sure that they had something to live on and feed themselves with. If I could accomplish that, then I could easily cut them off and not be drawn back into their chaotic web.
“We never got that check.”
My eyebrows knit in confusion and I draw my knees to my chest, placing my phone on the ground so I could have it on speaker.
“Mom, that doesn’t make any sense. You get that check once a month and it’s been that way for years. Have you moved recently?”
“You know we haven’t,” my mother retorts.
Do I? I haven’t seen you in years. You could have moved away and not told me, just like I’ve done.
Guilt gnaws at me. Should I have told my parents I moved to Arkansas? What if something happened to me?
There’s a quick inhale and slow exhale. It’s obvious my mom is puffing on a cigarette, which quickly snaps me out of my guilt.
“Are you smoking?”
There’s a pause.
My mouth drops open. “You have no money for food, but you can buy cigarettes?” I ask furiously.
“It’s for my health,” my mom insists. “The doctor said I could have a heart attack if I stop smoking.”
“Oh, bullshit, Mom!” I snap. “How much did those cigarettes cost you? Eight? Twelve dollars? You could have used that for food instead of calling me!”
I rub my temples wearily. Time to get the conversation back on topic. “Where did that government assistance check go, Mom?”
“I told you. We never got it,” my mom responds testily.
I scowl at my phone, pretending it’s my mother. “You’ve been getting that check once a month for the last six years and now you don’t get it? Do you see how that doesn’t make sense?”
“You’re so ungrateful. After everything your father and I have done for you—”
She’s trying to pick a fight with me, which means she doesn’t want to answer my question. I know my mother’s games and it’s not going to work on me.
Not this time.
“If you tell me what happened to that check, I’ll send you one hundred dollars,” I say flatly.
There’s another pause. In the background, I can hear my dad murmur something to my mom but I can’t properly hear him.
Go figure my dad is involved in this attempted shakedown.
“Do you promise?” My mom asks.
I cross my fingers. “Yes. Now tell me what happened to it.”
“Well, you know, the lottery is over a billion dollars right now,” my mom states. “And we just knew we would win, Naia! We had a feeling! It was the same feeling we had when we won all that money when you were younger and—”
Horror engulfs me as I realize what they’ve done. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“Are you telling me you gambled thousands of dollars away on the fucking lottery?”
I try to keep my voice down as it’s echoing in the empty apartment. I don’t need anyone listening into my conversation. While my one neighbor, Shelly, is nice, I have no doubt that she would be salivating if she overheard my fucked up family drama.
“We invested our money into the lottery,” my dad chimes in.
“It’s only an investment if there’s a return!” I
Of all the fucking stupid things my parents have done, this has to be one of the most idiotic.
And I don’t feel sorry for them at all. I’ve done everything in my power to help them and they squander it every single time.
“Well now you know what happened to the money,” my mom says, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. “So, when can we expect that one hundred dollars?”
I scoff at the phone. “Never. Figure this mess out yourself.”
“Naia Alexander! You promised to send us one hundred dollars if we told you what happened to that check!”
I laugh harshly. “Oops. Guess I broke that promise. You should know what that’s like, don’t you?”
“You little—”
“Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!” I say in a sing-song voice before ending the call.
Tears well in my eyes and I furiously swipe them away. Don’t cry, Naia. They’re not worth it.
But it’s hard not to cry. Time after time, I’ve been let down by my parents. They’re the ones who were supposed to protect me.
I hate that whenever I find even a scintilla of happiness, my parents are right there to bring me back down. It’s like they have a radar for it.
There’s too much pent-up energy inside of me and it’s longing for a release. I glance out the window again to gauge how much daylight I have left.
Shelly and Hank told me to not go out after dark, but evening isn’t nighttime and I need to get a run in to get rid of the tension.
I pull out my workout clothes and put them on, making sure to yank out my sleeping bag too. It’ll have to do until I get my furniture tomorrow and I can go to the store to get some sheets for the bed.
Heading outside, I’m startled by how people greet me as I walk by. Remembering my manners, I stammer out a ‘hello’ before anyone can assume that I’m rude.
The culture in the south is so different from New York. Hell, it’s even different from Ohio. Everyone is just so damn friendly here.
Now that the sun has gone down, cooler air has come in and banished the oppressive humidity. My hair is relieved.
Reece Point is surprisingly peaceful looking at dusk. A fountain babbles nearby and birds chirp as I run toward a sign indicating that I’m entering Hazel Park.
That sounds familiar.
Cole mentioned this was a great park to wander through.
Veering right, I spy a sign up ahead that indicates the bike path is a three mile loop.
Excellent. That should definitely get my mind off my parents.
I focus on my breathing and the slap of my feet as I move deeper into the trail. Trees surround me, enveloping me in darkness. A mosquito buzzes at my ear and I wave it away, grimacing.
Ugh. I’m going to be covered in bug bites by the end of this.
At the one and a half mile mark, I’m already getting winded. The bike trail was a lot steeper than I thought. I’m used to running the concrete jungle of Manhattan, not the hilly fields of Reece Point.
Slowing down to a walk, I dab my wet face with my shirt, sucking in as much air as possible.
Goddamn, I’m so out of shape.
Just as I’m ready to turn around and head back, male voices catch my attention.
Fear licks up my spine as I remember Hank and Shelly’s warnings.
Fuck. Why was I so stupid?
“What the fuck are you doing here?” a low, male voice growls.
A familiar male voice.
Wait. Is that. . . Cole?
“Doing whatever I want,” a younger male voice drawls. “I’m surprised you’re on patrol. Aren’t you too old for grunt work?”
Patrol? What are they even talking about?
Cole scoffs. “Such big talk from a little pup. Maybe once your balls drop, you’ll understand why I’m out here.”
I fight back a snort as I don’t want Cole and this strange guy to know I’m here.
“What are you doing here, River?” Cole snarls.
“I told you. Whatever I want.”
“That is not a fucking answer and if you know what’s good for you—”
“You’ll do what, exactly?” The man named River questions. Although I can’t see his face, it’s clear from his body language that he’s mocking Cole.
He’s either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.
“Last I remember, I don’t answer to you anymore. So, I don’t think I have to give you a goddamn answer as to what I’m doing here.”
What happens next doesn’t make any sense. One moment, Cole is several feet away from River. The next moment, he’s holding River by his neck, River’s feet dangling in the air.
It isn’t humanly possible for someone to move that fast.
I bite back a scream and rip my phone out of my pocket to dial the police. Cole is about to kill someone and I’m witnessing it.
Holy fuck.
Just as I finish dialing the emergency number, a flash of light breaks me from my concentration.
But what I see ahead of me makes my knees sway in horror.
Two huge wolves stand where River and Cole were. Their fur is standing straight up and their jaws are open in snarls, showing off their gleaming, sharp, white teeth. The larger of the two wolves races toward the smaller one.
Adrenaline courses through me as every instinct in me is screaming to get out now.
And this time, I’m going to listen.
Before I can rush away, there’s an almighty crash and I look up to see the larger wolf slam into the smaller one, causing the wolf to fly through the air toward me.
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