The Chronicles of a Lost Member Chapter 3

    I couldn’t see how things could get any worse then, was my dad’s horrific and traumatizing death not enough to destroy my childhood? Well apparently it wasn’t because on that very same day, my tenth birthday, my already shattered childhood’s pieces shattered leaving nothing but dust.

    My mom rocked us both to sleep that night. We were both in her lap lulled to it by the steady back and forth motion and the protective aura about her. I don’t know how many hours we spent sleeping but I remember that it wasn’t long. I remember being woken up by a loud crash of thunder and the noisy patter of rain. My mom was nowhere to be found, I had to look for her even if it were the last thing I did, but was I going to put my sister at risk for this? I looked to her, still sleeping. Though how she slept through the thunder was beyond me. I decided not to wake her “If it’s the last thing I do, It shouldn’t be the last thing SHE does.” To my relief my mother wasn’t far away. She was just sitting at our long dining table head down holding her pointy werewolf ears. I noticed the one closest to me twitch and she looked up.

    “Dracare? What are you doing awake?” She asked me.

    “The thunder woke me, are you sure you’re okay mommy?” I replied.

    “Well child, I suppose now is time I start being honest with you, To tell you the truth I’m no-“ Her other ear twitched and she went dead silent. This put me on edge.

    “Mommy? What are you hearing?”

    She looked to me with frightful eyes and then kneeled down to my level “Dracare, I’m going to have you stand on my soldiers alright?”

    I was confused “What do you mean? What's going on?”

    “I’m going to put you on my soldiers so you can see out one of the higher windows Alright?” Her voice grew very serious. Before I could say anything she hoisted me up and I was literally standing on top of a werewolf’s soldiers. Holding onto me tight she walked over to the front windows of the house. “What do you see Dracare?” Though It was hard to see through the heavy rain I saw a faint orange light moving in a line towards the house. A sudden bolt of lightning illuminated the area and I could make out silhouettes, silhouettes of a score of men, if not more. Another bolt of lightning made me notice several weapons, including pitchforks and torches.

    “I see a bunch of people, and they have weapons… mommy please tell me what's going on, I’m scared.” I replied.

    “Pitchforks and torches? Oh spirits!” My mom then put me down and held my hand tightly. Dragging me along she was running… running faster than I ever deemed possible for a human to run, but then again my mom is not human. With me trying desperately to keep up I barely managed to stay on foot and before I knew it we were back next to the rocking chair.

    “SANDRIA WAKE UP!” My mom screamed shaking my sister rather roughly.

    “Huh?” my sister rubbed her eyes “What's going on-?”

    “No time dear one! We must get to the smithy NOW!” My mom picked Sandria up and wrapped her in her one free arm, now doing the same with me she ran down the stairs. Now I could hear it the angry shouting of many men within the next millisecond they were banging on the front door. I could see all their enraged faces lining our windows. Mom shouldered her way through the kitchen door and ran. With a loud Crash I heard our front door burst open and the sound of many pairs of stomps filled the room behind me.

    “Where’d the bitch go?” One person shouted.

    “Through the other door!” Another replied. Why my mom was taking me to the smithy didn’t know at the time but looking back now… I probably wouldn’t be alive had she not? She shouldered through two more doors in 5 seconds flat and when I opened my eyes (After the first door I closed my eyes out of fear) to see that I was already in dad’s smithy. She put me down, lifted up the carpet next to the smelter, and opened a trap door that happened to be underneath it. She didn’t need to tell me anything, I already knew what to do. I stepped into the trap door and quickly slid down the ladder. Expecting my sister to fallow I stood there at the bottom waiting. To my great dread she didn’t, All I heard was “Sandria get off! You need to head down the ladder!” Fallowed by loud banging and stomping noises. I heard the door splinter and burst as several men burst through. My mother’s last words were, “DRACARE RUN!”… and I did, I ran, I ran as fast as I could and I didn’t look back. To this minute there is not a moment I live where I don’t regret It.

    If this version of me was there at that time none of that would have happened… If I was only braver… I could have at least saved Sandria, if only my dad didn’t get infected none of that would have happened… but as life has taught me, you can’t go dwelling on the ifs. Doing that will only drive a person mad… eventually.