Arthur put one foot ahead of the other until she was out of the room. He figures she felt too grown for her age but he loved it. He figured the attitude will help her survive in the human world and for some reason. He felt at peace. He headed downstairs to his room to pick the documents.
Laura was ready in ten and did not think that she should delay the journey any minute longer. Every second made her heart ache even more.
She looked at the clock on her bedside and it as already seven o'clock. She wondered what time she had woken up. Were they in a hurry to dispose her off? Were they really determines to send her away at such an hour?
She walked out of the room and headed down the hallway her head held high. It was how she was taught. As she walked down the stairs she remembered how her mother used to tell that those who had nothing to hide should carry themselves with dignity and pride.
She remembered her home when there were parties. Every birthday of hers had a time when she would walk down the stairs while every eye lay on her beauty and the glamorous esteem she held herself in.
The memories were still fresh and how she missed the moments. Reliving them again but on a sad note made her anger grow even more.
Arthur got out of the room just as Laura had reached the second floor at the hallway leading to their room.
"Come on, let's go," Arthur ushered her down the hallway. Laura craned her neck to look behind him as if looking for someone and when she saw no one, she let out a heavy sigh.
She looked at Arthur's stretched hand and remembered her bruised hand. She placed it behind her back and without speaking walked past him alternating the hand to her front. Arthur withdrew her stretched hand back into his pockets and followed her down the stairs.
Laura reached the first floor and was met with Paula who was coming out of a door on the left side of the house.
"The bags are in the car, sir," she said as he bowed her head at Arthur. Laura was surprised at the gesture . How Arthur was regarded with respect surprised her. Arthur went through the door that Paula had come from as Laura followed behind her not sparing a glance at Paula. She feared her heart will soften. Paula was such an angel and looking at the retrieving back of Laura, she feared more for herself than for the child.
***
Ariana woke up feeling tired. She had slept peacefully and felt a little bit eased up though she felt that she had overslept.
She stretched her hand extending it to Arthur's side but she felt his absence. She shut her eyes hard and opened them again and sat on the bed with a heavy sigh to stare at the clock. It was thirty minutes past seven o'clock.
She figured that it was too early for Arthur to have woken up. The side of the bed was cold and she knew he had woken up very early.
She craned her neck to stretch it a bit and climbed down from the bed as she stretched her whole body again. She made her way to the bathroom since he had to take a bath and prepare herself for the day.
As if with an instinct, she looked over at Arthur's desk which was now neatly arranged. There were no papers on it. She went over to it scrambling through the papers on the desk. She opened the raw one after the other but she could not find what she was looking for.
Laura's certificate.
She ran into her wardrobe and grabbed a robe that she wrapped around her body to cover the short silky night dress beneath it.
She rushed out of the room almost stumbling on the stairs. She walked in a hurry as she held onto the rails sliding her hear through it as she walked past every step.
She paced her eyes around the house but saw no one around and when her eyes sank into the dining table, they darted to Paula who sat on one of the chairs dazed and glaring into an empty space.
To Paula, it was rather an emptiness in her head, or was it her heart?
She was startled by Ariana's call out for her.
"Paula, what happened. You seem lost. I've been calling you out for sometime now," Ariana asked bending over to hold one of the chairs as she stared deep into her as if wanting to read her mind.
Paula sniffed off the tears that were threatening to come out,' it's nothing," she finally uttered not wanting to talk any further. Not about what has been hurting all over every day and even more now that Laura had been with her for a few days.
"Where's my husband?" Ariana asked Paula who was standing to head to the sink. She had not don a single task since she woke up.
"He has gone out with Laura. He said he will be back in a few hours so we should start preparing for..."
"What? He left? With Laura? Oh no!" She cut off Ariana as she paced around the hall her worries coming true now. She didn't know what else to do. She was late and she blamed herself for giving in to sleep.
Her heart was racing. She rushed towards the door but instantly turned back. "For how long have they been gone?" She asked Paula as a deep breath came rushing out of her lungs.
"About ten minutes or so," Paula answered to an Ariana who slipper out if the main door rushing out.
She had to too Arthur from sending Laura away. But how could she? The human world was not far from their territory.
Her wolf growled and she could feel it roll its eyes. She let out a thin laugh and transformed into a wolf. It was much faster that way she thought.
It was what she had to do.