There was a thick cold silence that spread through Hathaway Village but specifically, in the Baker house there was a unique but frightening silence. There were four people in the downstairs level of the two-story house. Both the parents of Kennedy Baker and Ezekiel stood nervously not knowing what to make of themselves.
The mother of the lost boy himself felt almost limp to the pain that she was absorbing but in her grief, she sought to the comfort of the one more affected by her son's disappearing act.
To lose a mate in the werewolf community was one of the worse pains anyone could ever feel as their wolves hound in pain and loneliness. Worse yet a seventeen-year-old hormonal female wolf, Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.
Curled up in a mess of sheets Kennedy shook as another sob left her body and tears leaped from her eyes to her white pillows leaving little wet stains. If someone were to walk in right now the only thing they'd see was a mess of brown hair managing to escape the white sheets.
This was pathetic... who cries for two days over a boy who clearly didn't care enough to stick around or fight his own inner demons. she thought to herself, her thoughts for once not being bothered by a pounding headache.
If she could she would slap her self for being this big of a loser. Crying over a boy who couldn't stand up for himself, a boy who ran from his problems.
Part of her thought that she would never lose him, that they were gonna spend the rest of their life together in love and happy. But the other part of her- the seventeen-year-old girl not guarded by the interest of her wolf- almost felt...free.
Ezekiel wasn't the only one who harbored negative thoughts about their relationship. She too wondered if there was more to her than being his mate. Her life hasn't even started yet, but here it was planned one minute to not even being foreseeable.
Somewhere lost within the covers held a letter the boy had written to his sister regarding his disappearance. His sister had given it to Kennedy to give her an idea as to why he left- she took the letter and ever since, for the last two weeks she's been cooped up in her bedroom avoiding everything and everyone that could possibly talk to her.
Dear Elena,
This is lame... I know. You're gonna hate me when you read this. Suddenly I'm no longer gonna be the big strong boy protecting you from a thunderstorm in the forts that we would build together. Suddenly I'll become a coward. A coward who's too scared to face being chained down to one village or one person.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I can't be there for you anymore, that I can't hold you when the storm splashes it's lights and hits us with its booms. I don't know how long I'll be gone if I'm gonna be honest. Also, I have no idea what I'm doing but I know that I have to do something beyond Hathaway heights.
This has to happen.
Who am I? if not the doing of our father?
Who am I? If not what everyone else wants?
Who am I? If not bounded by blood to a village I'm expected to protect?
Part of me feels like you're the only one who's gonna understand. You were the smarter of the both of us.
You know what it's like to feel like you can't breathe.
Truth is, I'm just looking for my fresh air.
There are more letters- this one is just for you to spread the message and that is, I'm not coming back- not anytime soon at least.
You're gonna have to take over alpha training In case I'm not back. You don't deserve this sudden pressure due to my selfish needs but please... take it with confidence. There is no one else I can imagine taking this position and who knows... maybe you'll keep it and take it better than I ever can.
Your heart is kind- merciful and your brain is strategic and definitely holds more information than I ever will despite our age difference.
Be greater. Greater than me.
As for the letters- there's many more of them even a few for you but they'll be given to you on the day that I instructed the holders to give you- all of you.
I love you Elena- I'm sorry.
Ezekiel
Kennedy expected the day she got her letter to be anytime last week but it had yet to show up. Was there even a letter? He clearly didn't care enough to stay. Why would he write her a letter?
The letter left almost everyone confused and most of them in an emotional mess. Everyone but Elena who took her time in getting her mom together from the mess that her brother left. Elena was suddenly this new demanding person that Kennedy has never met. She was confident and had already started alpha training per her brother's advice.
Kennedy was the exact opposite. She had only left her room to eat and that wasn't even regularly. Her wolf was howling in pain and refused to shut up despite everything she did. She even hunted animals and ate them which was something she personally hated... she hated the taste of raw meat when she transformed back to human.
It was safe to say that everyone in the Baker household was worried about her but all were too afraid to step in the room. Her father offered to lead a manhunt into finding Ezekiel but everyone knew he just wanted to beat his ass. "Who does that boy think he is making my baby girl cry like this?"
People walked around eggshells around the girl.. except for one particular boy who hated pity parties.
The door to the downstairs room flung open showing a breathless eighteen-year-old Joshua Bennett burst through it. "Where is she?"
It was a dumb question in hindsight since he already heard about the girl who had locked everyone out of her room for two weeks. He muttered a greeting before making his way up the stairs to the girl's bedroom door. He felt that tense silence that surrounded the room before his hands could land its first few knocks on it.
"Ken? Kennedy? Open the door please..." he begged, this being his fifth time this week trying to get to the girl.
His hands pounded on the door again. "Kennedy! So help me god!"
Part of him tried to sympathize with the girl but the other part couldn't help but see his friend wallow in the pathetic mood of self-pity.
"Kennedy... please. You can't do this to yourself, not over some boy who clearly doesn't deserve it." He pleaded one last time before waiting a few seconds.
He was fully intending on leaving when the doorknob started turning making him emotionally prepare himself for the sight he was about to see.
A slight gasp left his mouth as he saw his friend, eyes bloodshot from crying and decorated with bags. Her nose swollen and red along with her cheeks. Her hair was another story that he refused to even get into right now as her body visibly shook.
"It hurts so much Josh," a thin layer of tears starting to form in her eyes as she let the words come out in a shaky tone.
He immediately grabs her and pulls her against his chest and rocking her back and forth. "I know baby, I know."
Sniffling she wrapped her arms around him letting the tears fall.
"But you are better than this Ken... he doesn't deserve your tears or your thoughts."
An audible sob left her mouth as she started pulling them back into her room and shutting the door.
"I'm broken Joshua... he broke me. Can you believe that!? I've been nothing but amazing to him and he has the audacity to leave me like this? I feel so many things Josh, hatred, anger, pathetic and above all sad." She sobbed her breaths getting heavier.
He pulled back looking down into her eyes. "Don't let him win this. He shouldn't have to live knowing that he had the power to do this to you."
He used his thumbs to wipe away her tears.
"If he wanted to get away he could've just said so! If he wanted space he could have had that! I would have gone galaxies away if that space made him happy Joshua."
If he was gonna be honest, Joshua could've been a lot meaner right now and told her just how pathetic that was. He would have told her that she was too powerful to give that man that much power over her... and then it hit him again. Is this why Ezekiel left?
He sighed decided to be a supportive friend and opted for quoting a line from their favorite show. "Don't let what he wants to eclipse what you need. He's very dreamy, but he's not the sun. You are."
She somehow found it in her heart to chuckle through her sobs. "Cristina Yang? Really? Grey's anatomy Josh?"
He smiled when her chuckles turned into a laugh and revealed her own smile. "There's that smile..."
"You know why Cristina was such a successful character?"
"Hmm?"
"Because she never let a man hold her back, not Burke or Owen. Hell burke left her at their wedding and she grew from it and moved on. You can do that too."
She was silent for a moment. "But that's just how they made her. To be a ruthless emotional power-driven character."
"That's whats a lot of people think, but the truth is- she was strong. She was strong and she knew what she wanted from life. It's not too late for you to figure that out."
She nodded before burying her head in his chest again.
"I guess I got a lot to figure out then, huh?"