Banes

by Tara Brown

  His face went hard. He parked in her driveway turning his bright blue eyes on her, "Aims Blake is evil. I'm pretty sure he beats your sister. She had bruises all over her arms last time I saw her and she seemed really skinny and weird, like shy and unsure of herself. Anyway they live in Boston now. They just moved. He's going to MIT."

  Aimee rolled her eyes, "Shane I know you hate him and I have to admit I'm not a fan anymore. Not since that night but lets be honest it's Blake. He's a giant nerd not beating my sister. Alise is probably on drugs and he's probably trying to help her." She sighed, "Maybe Boston will be good for her. MIT huh. Wow talk about a dream come true for him."

  She looked at the house and cringed as she opened the door. She hopped out feeling over dressed in her skinny jeans and high-heeled boots and cashmere sweater. Her dad would be suspicious of her clothes.

  Shane bounded the stairs to the front door like he was family, she smiled knowing he was. She was more than grateful for the attention and care he had given her father over the past year and a half.

  He opened the door without knocking making her feel like the outsider at her own home.

  Her father sat in the living room watching TV on a huge big screen TV. She looked at it curiously. He was watching the nature channel, at least that hadn’t changed.

  "Look who is feeling like her old self and able to finally leave the medical center?"

  Her father turned to see her. Tears poured from his eyes as he leapt off the couch, "Aimee. Oh my sweet Aimee. You're okay? What are you wearing?" He held her hands making her nervous. She looked at Shane who smiled and nodded at her. She kept her hands in check. She looked at her fathers face sickened by how thin he'd gotten but also how old.

  "Daddy." She whispered gripping his weathered skin.

  He pulled her in gripping her tightly sobbing.

  She felt the tears streaming down her face as she nestled into his thin frame smelling his old worn sweater.

  His muscles trembled with the sobbing as he gripped her too tight but her new body didn’t flinch under the strain and pressure.

  She glanced at Shane and mouthed, "Thank you."

  He nodded fighting the tears sitting in his eyes.

  Her hands tingled for a half a second but her love for the two men in the room saved her, it was stronger than anything that lived inside of her.

  After her father gained his composure they sat at the bar while he made omelets. Aimee dreaded eating in front of him, she hadn’t gotten the hang of swallowing after going for such an insane amount of time not eating.

  "So anyway when Blake got into MIT he asked Alise to go with him. We are all so proud of him. After everything that’s happened around here everyone is still trying to put the pieces back together." His voice cracked slightly as he whisked the eggs.

  Aimee smiled, "How's Giselle?"

  Her dad smiled, "She is doing amazingly. She is in Seattle now going to journalism school. She wants to be a fashion journalist." He shrugged.

  "I'm glad she's feeling better. That liver transplant was a miracle."

  "Yeah but its taken her as long as its taken you to recover. She was just lucky to be able to do it here, at home."

  Aimee looked at Shane and smiled, "Thank god for small and large miracles. I will have to look her up next time I'm in Seattle."

  "Yes we will. Aimee and I are back together. Not that we were broken up but the distance and the isolation, well you know."

  Her dad looked too excited to speak as he nodded. He just beamed and plated the omelets.

  Shane cleared his throat looking nervous, "So Mr. Mackenzie was tried for murder, rape, assault causing, stalking and a few misdemeanors that were added because of him being a teacher and an adult and Jaime only being seventeen. Anyway it's going to be life with no chance of parole, ever."

  Aimee nodded, "Good. He deserves every second of his punishment. Some of us will never recover from the things he has taken away." Her eyes misted slightly.

  Her father reached for her hand, "I'm so glad you're home Aims. It's too bad you just missed your sister. She would have been excited to see you."

  "Yeah, me too dad."

  "I thought I was going crazy, your letters were the only thing that kept me sane. I couldn’t bear the lack of correspondence between us."

  She looked up abruptly to see Shane wink at her. She paused for a breath, "Oh yeah, well I'm glad. I wasn’t very strong and it took a lot out of me to write those letters."

  "I still read them all, every night."

  She felt sick thinking she had truly gone a year and half without even contacting him once to tell him she was okay. Her heart swelled thinking about how much she loved Shane. He wrote her father under the guise that they came from her to keep the man alive.

  Chapter Ten- Angst and Bushwhacking Can Never be Friends

  Ari

  She looked out the window at the gray weather feeling like the old her was slipping away further and further as if lost in the fog that seemed to constantly hover around the house. She didn’t know what to do with herself but she was scared of staying in the same place. She needed some heat and some sweat and to run the energy off. Her legs twitched with the need to move and the new Ari twitched with the need to feel some pain. The piercings and tattoos and cuts in her skin had come from a need. Ari didn’t completely get it but she understood what it was like to feel chaos taking her somewhere and the burn in her legs and lungs was the only thing that stopped her from getting lost in it.

  She slipped on some runners she had picked out on a shopping trip with Aimee and some shorts. In the cold rainy weather she knew she should pick track pants or jogging pants but she wanted to feel the cold against her skin. She slipped on a running bra and a t-shirt. She walked down the stairs quietly and out the front door.

  The cold air hit her like a wall. Instantly her skin was burning from the cold. It was extreme like the desert just the wrong kind of extreme. She walked to the edge of the house and then pushed herself off into the woods. She ran along the path Lydia had told her about that circled the lake for several miles. Her muscles burned and ached from the lack of running but new Ari loved the pain. She seemed to be contented by the agony she was putting them through. Ari left the trail even though she knew she shouldn’t and ran into the woods. The ground became uneven and her weakened leg muscles struggled with the logs she hopped over and the branches she ducked under. Dead brown leaves smacked her face weakly as they were barely attached to the branches.

  Her vision blurred, her lungs screamed from lack of air and her head pounded but she pushed herself further. She was determined to feel it, the explosion of endorphins she used to get. Her sprint had turned to a jog and she was just about to let go. She knew if she stopped she would fall. New Ari tingled in delight imagining the pain of falling in the forest, the sticks stabbing her and branches cutting her skin. Ari shoved her back behind the curtain she had started to build in her mind to separate them. She never let her legs quit.

  Off to her left she heard a branch brake. Her heart stopped for a second as she looked around her. The forest had swallowed her. She no longer saw the lake, she no longer could see the extremely high rooftop of the mansion. She couldn’t see anything or hear anyone. Another branch broke and she stopped. Her head spun. She looked up at the gray sky letting her legs crumple beneath her.

  She heaved struggling for breath. Tears formed in her eyes as the endorphins seemed to be lost to her. She couldn’t feel a runners high but instead a massive frustration and let down. She panted heaving and shaking looking around her as another branch broke. Her eyes darted around the forest shaking and trembling but her vision wouldn’t focus. The control she had gained over her body was gone, she no longer was an elite athlete, she no longer was the girl in the diner. She wasn’t old Ari or New Ari, she was somewhere in between, lost.

  She watched as a dark shape moved just beyond her sight. She blinked still huffing and puffing but the dark shape was still there. It go
t larger as it neared her. At first she tried backing up but her leg muscles were cramping in sweet blissful agony forcing her to look around herself for a weapon. She grabbed a sharp stick beside her and held it up still trying to clear her eyes and recognize the shape.

  Instead of recognizing it she screamed as it drew closer. The shape was a beast, a wolf but huge. She thought about the timber wolves she had learned about in school and wondered if they could grow as large as the one she was seeing. It was covered in dark fur with a huge wolf face but instead of looking fierce and growling at her it seemed to be panting and tilting its head in curiosity. Its long tongue hung from the side of its face like a dogs would. She held the shaking branch up threateningly at it but it crept closer wagging its huge bushy tail. She noticed the green eyes first. They were like emeralds compared to the dark shaggy fur. The huge wolf walked crushing the branches making loud snapping sounds fill the forest, it seemed to be comfortable with her.

  "Hey buddy are you someone's pet?" She asked out loud as if it would make the situation better. The wolf tilted its head to the other side walking directly to her. It pressed its chest directly on the shaking branch she held. She felt the pressure of it pressing itself against the branch. It didn’t seem to want to eat her. She dropped the branch reaching out with her trembling hand. She hesitated for a moment before letting her fingers brush against its dark chest fur. Its hot breath filled the air around her making more mist against the cool breeze.

  In the quiet drizzling forest she sat freezing in her shorts and t-shirt petting the fur of a huge timber wolf. She looked around for the owner knowing it was definitely a tamed pet.

  The green eyes bore down on her as if reading her. She reached with her second hand rubbing its muzzle. It bent down licking her. She let it rub its face against hers. She laughed.

  "Want to help me get home?" She asked petting it, "Huh do ya boy?" She scratched behind its ears and kissed the side of its face. She looked around as the wolf stood over her. She grabbed at the tree beside her but her weakened legs couldn’t push herself up. The wolf put its head in front of her again but more forcefully.

  "You want me to grab you?" She felt weird talking to the giant animal but she felt weirder not talking to it the way it just seemed to invade her personal space. She liked animals, she'd always wanted a dog but her uncle had been against it. She volunteered all throughout high school at the local animal shelter just so she could be with animals. They always made her feel calm. She grabbed onto its neck and let the giant animal pull her to her wobbly legs. It pushed itself against her to hold her steady. It was large enough she was pretty sure she could ride it but she settled for it leading her. She was still dizzy and tripped a lot but the wolf caught her with its huge body, always keeping her standing and moving. She shivered against the cold air but the heat coming off the wolf made her feel a bit better.

  New Ari was contented inside, almost purring from the pain and suffering she had endured. She realized she would have given up on the running miles back that she had let the want for pain in New Ari drive her to hurt herself beyond what she would normally do.

  Ari limped alongside the wolf feeling desperately lost and hopeless until she finally saw the peaks of the house in the distance. She rubbed the wolfs face and ears, "Good boy. That’s a good boy."

  It rubbed against her bare legs with its muzzle, nuzzling her. She could feel the force of the strength inside of the wolf. It barely moved and nearly set her flying across the forest. She sighed when she saw the path. Suddenly the wolf was gone. Her foot touched the path and it was running as fast as it could away from her toward the house. She stumbled with nothing to help her.

  "Stupid weak body."

  "Ari." She looked up to see a man she didn’t know. He was jogging toward her, "Ari I'm Ben, Lydia sent me looking for you. She said you were in trouble missy and that you'd better let me help you or else. She said you went for a run."

  He was gorgeous, her insides warmed at just seeing him running toward her in a t-shirt and jeans. She melted a little bit. She stopped walking altogether letting him come to her. Lydia had sent him, she must have heard her thoughts and panic.

  Ben was tall, very tall and strong looking. He reminded her of Lucas immediately. His face was more handsome and his smile was electrifying. His emerald green eyes looked familiar but she knew she didn’t know him.

  He stood in front of her looking her over, "So you're Ari?" He looked at her tattoos running down her arms and up her neck and smirked, "You look like a lotta trouble Ari."

  She would have smiled but she couldn’t. Her legs hurt so much that one more step was too much. She tried it but fell. He caught her before she could take the step. He smelled familiar, he smelled like the wolf that had helped her, same earthy scent. She laughed imagining him as a wolf.

  He picked her up and carried her close to his chest, "You're freezing Ari."

  She whispered, "I like it when you say my name," and passed out.

  Chapter Eleven- The Runaway

  Ari

  She could hear talking, "She met young master Ben, I'd say she has a hard time pickin which one she likes better huh. I's always liked Master Lucas better myself yup."

  "Hush Annabelle. She's waking up now. Fetch her some hot cocoa."

  "Yes Miss Lydia."

  Ari opened her eyes seeing the firelight in her bedroom room flickering off Lydia's worried face.

  Lydia bent over speaking in a low irate tone, "You ever scare the hell out of me like that again Missy and I will lock you away in a tower until your hair grows long enough its your only means of escape. You hear me?"

  She nodded at the feisty older woman's livid face, "Sorry Lydia." She whispered. She felt like her old self again.

  "I think you might be right about seeing Elsie though. The not so good Ari is actually trying to kill you both."

  Ari shook her head, "No she wants to save the orphans. She doesn’t want me, uh us dead."

  She watched Lydia's face tighten, "We leave in an hour. When you're warmed up."

  "Who is Ben?"

  Her eyes gleamed with humor, "Lucas's brother, older brother. He's been in New York and Boston working."

  "Thanks for sending him. Was that his pet wolf?"

  Lydia chuckled, "I never sent him, he found you himself and yes, I guess it is his wolf."

  Ari smiled remembering the animal helping her, "He's lucky, wish I had a wolf."

  Lydia burst out laughing, "I think you’ve got a couple Ari the question is what ever will you do with them." She laughed walking out of the room.

  Ari frowned, "Old woman is losing her mind."

  Ari walked down the stairs limping slightly. Her muscles seemed to be mending quickly. She felt herself brighten seeing Lydia standing waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs with Ben.

  He watched her as if waiting to be certain she made it down the stairs.

  "Hey can I see your wolf Ben?" She asked softly as she left the last stair.

  He smiled looking confused, "Uh sure."

  "Lydia and I are going to see some voodoo lady but when we get back? I used to work at a shelter, I love animals. I was so amazed how tame he was when he was helping me out of the woods."

  Lydia laughed, "Honey the wolf…"

  Ben interrupted her, "Yeah it's no problem. I would be more than happy to let you pet him."

  "BENJAMIN."

  Ari frowned at Lydia shouting at him making him flinch.

  "Ari we need to get going." Lydia frowned again at the two of them talking. Ari felt like she was missing a huge piece of the puzzle.

  Ben smiled at Ari, "Well when you get back just let me know."

  "Okay great. I can't wait to see him. If I hadn’t been so tired and injured it would have been fun going through the woods with him."

  He nodded blushing, "Maybe we'll just stay in the yard though hey?"

  She laughed, "I'm so sorry. Sometimes uh I don’t choose the best options for myself. I didn’t mean t
o make you carry me all the way back. I used to run marathons and do iron man competitions. I've grown soft I guess."

  "Well let's go." Lydia grabbed her arm and dragged her from the house. She looked back at Ben smiling still.

  "What about Lucas?" Lydia asked her as they got into Lydia's old car.

  Ari frowned, "What do you mean?"

  "You and Lucas have something Ari don’t try to deny it."

  Ari shrugged, "I don’t know. I can't be with him until I fix what's wrong with me." She felt a little sick about how she'd flirted with his brother.

  "Well you might want to keep your pants on until then."

  Ari shot a look at Lydia, "What?"

  "I saw you flirting with Ben. He's a handsome young man and he's a good person, I'd hate for him to get the wrong idea."

  She blushed, "Lydia it isn’t like that. He saved me, I was being polite. I like wolves he has one. I feel like I can trust him."

  "Well it wasn’t too long ago Lucas saved you and that earned him a tongue lashing."

  Ari thought about it and nodded, something about Lucas scared her but in a way that made her feel like she couldn’t trust herself with him. She sensed Ben was a player just from being around him, like a jock in high school. She knew she would never love someone like that, she was safe from him and that mean safe with him.

  "Well Lucas was mean to me when he saved me, Ben was sweet. Lucas makes me crazy. He's so brooding and full of angst. Ben is cheerful and kind. He seems easy to be around. God what's with me and all the saving? I'm lame."

  Lydia put a hand on hers, "No dear you're getting used to your powers. It's very common. The first year is the hardest. We don’t even know if you're immortal or if you have other gifts. I think I know what you are between the intensity of your power but also the fact you heal quickly but the final tests will be complete shortly. That run should have you in bed still and you're barely limping."

  Ari smirked, "Muscle memory."

  Lydia rolled her eyes.

  "Why are the tests taking so long Lydia?"

  She shrugged, "Well its not like there is any one like you to compare to. You're different, different takes a while. I'm glad your with us though, when you leave for Roses I will miss you."