Fight By My Side

Five years ago....

My parents were dead and gone, but I couldn't move on. The moon pendant that they had given me felt heavier and heavier every day. What was the point in moving forward when the cement blocks of the past were tied to your feet? Besides, it had only been a week ago. Their bodies were taken away and I never got a chance to say goodbye to their graves.

They had probably been burned anyways. No respect for the dead.

Currently I was in the fields, sitting in a patch of wilted grass by an abandoned house. The woods my family used to walk in was about a half mile behind us, just east. The creaky door of the house faced west, towards the setting sun.

I had never felt more alone in my life. No one should ever feel like this.

This abandoned house was now my home. It would be open to anyone who ever felt like I did or needed shelter. That was my promise. At least the house and I had something in common. We were both alone.

For the seventh day in a row, I let the tears roll down my cheeks, dripping onto the ground as a salute to sadness.

Three months later....

So far, no one had made it out through the fields to the house. I was so alone in the Sanctuary. My general diet consisted of stale bread, water that came from a sink, and sadness. I had found a secret trap door in the corner. The house must've been built right after the Shifters were proclaimed "evil and must be destroyed". The room was fairly nice and had some pretty advanced lighting systems. It even had electricity and water running through it! All it was missing was the AC. Extra food was stored in a second secret room. I had no clue why the old owners needed a second room, but oh well. I didn't eat much of the extra food, but nibbled through some if I needed.

It was a surprisingly furnished room. There was a couch and a TV. The kitchen had bar stools at the island and the fridge, but there wasn't much else. Two bedrooms stood in the back and the other two rooms were empty storage rooms. Nothing to bad. If I had some help, I could scavenge the extra furniture upstairs and move it into the empty rooms to make it guest bedrooms.

Despite the luck I had struck with the old house, I was so alone it hurt every day. No one to talk to, no one to help me through this. Three months and I still had vivid nightmares of the blood running hot on the driveway. No one was to help me through this.

Banishing the thoughts of lonesomeness, I walked quietly to the squeaky front door. Outside, the weather reflected my mood. It was a downpour outside. However much I wished to Shift to a wolf and run around in the beautiful rain, I didn't have the hope to do it. Ever since their deaths, I hadn't Shifted. I was too depressed to Shift.

Maybe if I tilted my head up, I could drown myself. Just like turkeys did on the occasion. They weren't the brightest birds.

Lightning flash, illuminating two figures running up the path. I ducked behind the wall, quickly locking the door. Even through the rain and the lack of Shifting I had done, I could smell the tinge of feathers and fur. Were they with the Gift? The two figures rushed up to the door, drenched wet. I could see just a little bit of them as they shivered in the could. If they were Guardians, I couldn't let them in. Hands banged at the door.

"Please, let us in!" A voice begged. They called for someone to let them in. Eventually, I had to let them in or keep them out to freeze to death.

In the moment, I unlocked the door and threw it open, glancing behind them and ushering the two boys in. They thanked me and dropped to the floor, exhausted and soaked. I told them to wait and ran to get towels. A moment later, I draped two fluffy towels around their shoulders.

One who was about my height with soaked but curly, long, brown hair and a nose piercing looked at me gratefully between cold shivers. The other man had darker hair and was taller. I could tell they were brothers.

"You're Shifters, aren't you?" I asked suddenly. Shut up, mouth. What are you doing?!

Oh my gosh, Wynter! You can't just ask people if they're Shifters!

The two boys glanced at each other, a silent conversation passing between them. After a moment of scared silence and intermediate booms of thunder, the light brown haired boy nodded.

"I'm a Shifter as well. My name is Wynter, and this is the Shadow's Sanctuary." I gestured to them, smiling for the first time in three months. Would they stay or leave? I was just glad to have someone to talk to!

"I'm Vic Fuentes, and this is my younger brother Mike." Vic introduced with a shiver.

"Please, do you think we could stay here for a little while?" The Mike asked. I nodded and escorted them down the trap door, neither words or glances passed between us. They gratefully jumped on the couch and sat down. I passed over blankets to them to wrap up in. They threw off their shirts and quickly ducked into the warm cloth sheets.

"Here, I'll get you some dry clothes." I offered and went to a cabinet in the hallway. In there was spare clothes I had gathered from the bedroom upstairs. Vic and Mike looked at me thankfully. I exchanged the clothes for the towels and looked away as they changed, busying myself with rearranging something random. When I looked back, both boys were still a flutter with the cold. The one with light brown eyes, Vic, tried to dry off his hair, his limp arms flailing about uselessly. I laughed a little and stole the towel away from him, rubbing his hair for him. The poor boys were exhausted!

"Here, I'll get that. You two just relax." I told them. The dark bags under their eyes told me that they wouldn't complain. Gently wrapping a faded light green towel around my hand, I first rubbed down Mike's tangled hair and then Vic's. Vic seemed to purr with pleasure.

"There's two beds in the back room on the right. You can sleep there if you want." I offered. It was true, there were currently two beds. One of them was mine, but I didn't care. I could sleep on the couch for a night. Maybe they wouldn't hear my night terrors if I was out here.

It was a good thing that I cleaned everything up this morning and put my clothes in a drawer, along with the rest of my belongings.

"Okay, thank you Wynter." Mike smiled to me sleepily. He pulled Vic to his feet. They stumbled past me our of weariness. Victor stopped near me and patted my shoulder. I smiled at the little gesture.

"You're beautiful, Wynter." Vic mumbled in midst of a yawn. I chuckled lightly. Overhead, the thunder boomed again.

"You're beautiful as well, Vic." I responded. He smiled and trudged behind his brother.

"Stop flirting, Vic!" Mike laughed before both closed the door and went to bed. I took the blanket and cuddled up on the couch. Falling asleep seemed easier tonight.

I was right. They couldn't hear my night terrors as I thrashed around.

Two nights later…

Vic and Mike had stayed, like they said. Not only that, but they agreed to help me drag down more furniture. Today had been long, yet rewarding. Mike had visited an older house down the road that had started to fall apart. Scavenging from there, he picked up two bean bags and a reclining chair. Our little living room was now complete. Vic Fuentes had managed to drag two twin beds down the stairs and into the bed room. We now had a total of six beds. The day before, we cleared out the old storage room and scavenged a few extra pieces of furniture from upstairs to turn it into a total of three guest rooms plus the back room into an infirmary. Mike and Vic had been dedicated to assisting in the process the entire day. Now the guest bed rooms each had a bed in them, the “master” bedroom had two, and everything seemed to be good.

Even though we had the beds, I was content to sleep out on the couch. From all the manual labor today, I basically passed out on the couch with a grin plastered on my lips.

It had all disappeared as the nightmares returned. This time the Guardians were chasing me, trying to kill me like they had with my parents. A gunshot hit my side and I cried out, falling to the ground and gasping from the pain of a dream shot. My arms felt like weights as I attempted to move them.

“Wynter! Wynter!” A Guardian yelled. Someone shook me as my eyes opened up into the real world. Man, I nearly was killed!

Vic stood over me with his hands grasping my shoulders. I gasped for breath. That nightmare seemed so real… I shivered under his touch. Vic looked concerned as he sat near me on the large couch.

“Oh, it’s you Vic.” I sighed.

“Well don’t sound so disappointed.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m actually really glad you woke me up.” I explained. A headache pounded at the back of my head. It would hopefully be gone in a few minutes.

“What was wrong? You cried out. I freaked out thinking Guardians had gotten to you and you weren’t in a bedroom.” He took my hand in his, rubbing circles on the back of my palm with his thumb.

“Oh, just nightmares. They’ve been happening for about three months now.” I shrugged. It was nothing out of the ordinary, it just relived the worst moment of my life each night and was a constant reminder of the pain to be endured the next morning.

“What about?” He questioned softly. I sighed and shook my head. There was no need to throw my burdens on someone else, right?

“Oh nothing much.” I sighed. Vic shook his head and picked me up. I tensed up as he sat me down on his lap and sternly looked at me.

“It’s not ‘nothing’ if it’s been bothering you for three months.” He shook his head at me. For the next hour, he convinced me to talk to him and explain what had been happening. The hour after that, he held me tight against his warm chest as I cried and told him about my parents. Not once did he tell me I was weak or he thought I wasn’t strong. All he did was hold me and rubbed my back until I started to yawn from the stress and lack of sleep.

“That’s awfully tough to go through, Wynter.” Vic finally said. I sniffed a little.

“It’s hard reliving it every night. Seeing them die, it brings back the pain all over again.” I murmured. He lifted me off the couch and held me bridal style.

“I’m guessing we took your bed, didn’t we?” He quietly spoke. I nodded, not caring.

“I don’t care. The couch is just as comfortable.” I yawned again. Vic chuckled and set me down quietly on his bed-well it was my bed but oh well. Did it look like I cared at two in the morning?

“Victor, what are you doing?” I groaned as he laid me down under the covers and crawled under with me. His arm wrapped around my waist, holding me close. I hadn’t felt like loved since my parents died.

“Shhh, Wyn. Just go to sleep.” He smiled into my neck. I felt the cool chill of his breath tickle my shoulder. It was the safest I had felt in a while.

“Victor, I don’t want to have nightmares.” I grimaced, not trusting myself to sleep. His hand traced patterns down my back.

“I’ll protect you from the nightmares.”

“That’s like, every night.”

“Well this will be a regular thing, won’t it?” He chuckled. I couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“Victor, you’re both being adorable and creepy, I hope you know.” I mumbled and felt the sleep wash over me again.

“You love me, don’t deny it.” He muttered thoughtfully.

“Okay, only if I have bad nightmares.” I decided. Victor mumbled something incoherent.

“What if I have the nightmares?” Vic asked me. I snuggled up against his warm arms. He was being the over protective big brother I never had.

“Then you tell me, okay?”

“Sure.” With his final word, I allowed myself to drift off. That night, the pictures were too fuzzy to make out. It was a big score against the terrors in my mind.

Notes

How do you guys like it so far? I haven't heard much from everyone, so I don't know what to think? Like it, dislike it? Ship it, don't ship it? Comments please! Don't be silent readers!

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