Predator | 3

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the rewritten version of the third chapter. You don't have to read this again if you already did some time ago, however, you HAVE to read the next chapter. I'll try to post chapter 4 as soon as possible.

Sleep didn't help much to ease the throbbing pain in April's back and with all the wolves howling into the endless night.

She was surprised that she was even able to get some rest, though her body was still tired and seeking, needing- craving, some rest.

The constant ringing of her phone was just another nuisance. From all the shit that she endured the past weeks, this one day, she decided, was the worst.

By far.

April ripped the bed covers violently over her head and mouth, muffling a scream of frustration and tiredness under the thick, flower reeking sheet.

Her mind turned and spun around, trying to decide whether to pick up her goddamn phone up or not. With a blurry vision she glanced towards her phone and saw the name of her mother brightly shining on the display.

Wonderful.

Her mother didn't even seem to think about hanging up, April figured when her phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing all over again like there was no end.

Her hand shot up, grabbing the phone from her nightstand. "What, mother, what?" She hissed into her phone with her croaky morning voice threatening to break.

April shielded her eyes from the sun that streaming freely on her face, burning her eyes that were still adjusting to the morning sun.

"April?" She asked in a voice that April recognized as disbelief or wonder. Surprise, even. "Why did you not pick up your phone? Do you know how many times I had to phone?" She scolded.

"I have picked up now, haven't I?" She asked dryly.

April couldn't keep her mouth from sighing. At least, she thought, she could keep her naughty mouth from cussing at her lovely mother.

The last thing she needed right now was her mothers scolding. She didn't miss the accusing undertone in her dear mothers voice.

As if she thought that April purposely didn't pick up. As if she knew, that her lovely daughter avoided her at all costs.

April yanked herself up from the bed and settled on a chair in front of the mirror, her phone still glued on her right ear. Her attention though was elsewhere.

It was anything but difficult to figure out that her mother was keeping uttering angrily about her daughters so called foolishness.

After all the endless and pointless discussions with her parents- especially her lovely mother- she finally realized that it was wiser to not bother listening to her mother.

It would only make her blood boil, like always when anger kicked in all too soon.

It wasn't exactly necessary to even register her mother's words. She knew all too well what this discussion was about.

Her mind however snapped back to the shrill voice of hers when her mother kept chanting her name all over again.

April, April, April.

"April, are you listening?" Her mother asked with her voice raised extremely. She should already be used to it, to the shrill voice of her mother, yet she still cringed visibly when she screamed into her ear over the phone.

"Yes," she muttered under her breath, barely audible. She could hear her father on the background, speaking to her mother in the gruff voice of his. Gruff, from all the smoking.

"April, you can not just leave, going to god knows where like a simple tramp," she hissed. "You have responsibilities which you can not attend if you are far away from your home!" Not far enough.

Fuck the responsibilities. They weren't mine to take care of in the beginning.

"Look, Eric is waiting for me. I need to go."

"Eric? April, let me speak to him--" April hung up, not allowing her mother to finish her sentence. It wasn't like she was clueless about what her mother wanted to say.

Her mother and Eric haven't had spoken for so long. For years. There was no reason to start now.

Besides, Eric had other intentions than speaking to their parents again. Staying in contact with them was hard enough, but avoiding them was even harder.

With their useless attempts to get into contact with their only son and oldest child, it was easy to lose a sane mind. It was a nuisance.

She knew too well that her mother was going to order her to let her parents speak to their son, Eric. Even willing to beg, like she did the last few times. She couldn't help but snicker at her mothers attempt.

Pathetic.

Downstairs, Eric was preparing breakfast. How surprising, she thought as she took in the unusual sight of her brother lifting a finger to prepare breakfast. A sight she would love to get used to.

"Didn't know you knew how to use a toaster," April mocked teasingly.

"You don't know many things, it seems." He shoved the plate with a tuna toast to her "I don't understand how you can eat those." He pointed with his finger and pulled a disgusted face. "They reek like shit," he continued.

"They do not." She took a bite. "Guess who called me minutes ago," she muttered under her breath as she took another bite.

His jaw twitched. There was no need to tell him who, he already knew. The thought of them angered him like wild. "What did they want?" His voice sounded strained- he tried to keep his anger at bay.

"Dunno," April muttered carefully. She knew too well that their parents were a sore topic for him. "I didn't listen. But they wanted to speak to you."

She glanced at her brother from the corner of her eyes. His face was masked with a blank expression but April could easily see through the fake mask and recognize the anger hidden beneath it.

"April," Eric began slowly. "You didn't give them my number, did you?" He asked her in a dangerously low voice.

This moment, April decided, was the moment where her choice of words would decide whether Eric's mind would snap or not.

"Of course not. What do you think?" She frowned at her brother.

She was sick of having her parents at the age of twenty-one still being glued on her ass. The least she could do was to prevent her brother from serious trouble. And their mother, of course.

"Good," Eric muttered in response. April didn't miss the angry undertone in his voice. It seemed that even years weren't enough to bury past events. Impossible to forget.

"You still look tired," he remarked after brief moments of silence.

April groaned. "Didn't you hear the damn wolves the whole night?" She questioned. "They howled the whole night. Nonstop." She bit angrily into her tuna toast.

He chuckled.

"What?" April asked with an irritated frown.

"Sorry," he muttered under silent laughs. "I forgot that you aren't used to this. The wolf population is pretty high in this area. Everyone here is already used to it, they even think of them as a kind of mascot," he explained as he leaned against the windowsill in the kitchen, with a brief glance towards the barely visible sight of the forest.

"But I thought wolves don't leave the forest," she frowned.

"The wolves here aren't afraid of humans." A chuckle fell from his lips, amused and circled his finger around the rim of his mug. "They are used to humans, as we are used to the wolves. Simple." He shrugged.

"Great. Just great." She cursed and continued as she saw her brother rising his thick eyebrows in a questioning way. "You know I don't like animals. Especially dogs." April spoke.

She never liked dogs. April didn't want to admit it, but to her, dogs were kind of scary.

"Wolves," he corrected. "There is a slight, but significant difference between those two species. You will be okay, even as a cat lover." Eric tried to reassure her.

"That's for me to decide," she muttered silently into her glass of juice.

* * * * *

April leaned against the outside wall of the apartment, taking a deep breath of the fresh air and cold air. Her lips were frozen already, despite the fact that she hadn't even been standing outside for too long. Five minutes, maybe.

She deleted all messages she got from her parents from her phone and glanced up at the darkening sky, wondering if she could allow herself to be selfish for once. Just for once.

Or maybe it wasn't because of her kind nature that didn't allow her to be selfish, not even for a split second. Maybe, she was just .. weak.

A weak girl who couldn't live on her own. Someone who was just born to follow orders. Her head throbbed at the thought.

To be weak and pathetic was the last thing she wanted to be. But she didn't want to be like her mother, either.

She snapped from her thoughts once she heard the heavy glass door beside her frame creak open, her brother stepping out with nothing covered than his white shirt.

Despite wearing a thick jacket herself, the chill made her body shivering like wild. She couldn't believe her brother obviously didn't care much about his health.

"I've wondered where you were," he said as he leaned his back against the apartment wall. "Needed time to clear your head?" He asked and April nodded.

"Let's go in, I'm freezing to death right now. And you'll be sick by tomorrow," she remarked as she lightly tugged at the hem of Eric's shirt.

A chuckle fell from his lips. "I've made dinner."

April arched her eyebrows in utter disbelieve. "You?" She laughed. "What did you make? Sandwiches?" She scoffed.

"Rice and chicken," he answered annoyed.

"When did you learn how to cook?"

"Living on your own forces you to grow up faster than you think," he answered as he served April a plate of rice and chicken.

Carefully, doubting the cooking skills of her brother, she took a very small bite of the chicken and was positively surprised.

"Hey, it's not bad. It's actually quite good," she truthfully said, chewing on the chicken.

"Told you," he spoke, satisfied that he could prove her wrong.

The rest of the dinner was silent, until the bell erupted through the apartment's walls. Eric and April shared a look, both thinking the same question- who's ringing?

April, though, cringed when she realized that it could be her parents, dragging her back to the place she hated to call home.

But then again, would they really? Would they really drive all the way here only to drag her back? She chuckled at the stupid question. No, they wouldn't. Not now and certainly not in thousands of years.

"Do you expect any visitors today?" April asked nervously as she watched Eric whipping his mouth with his napkin. His eyes were cold and distant.

"No," he answered simply. Without uttering another word, he raised from the chair and walked away from the kitchen to the door. April sighed and began to clean the dinning table and placing the plates into the sink.

When Eric didn't return after some long moments, she decided to follow after him. April waltzed past the living room, faint voices of her brother and another male person reaching her ears.

"Eric?" She called. The faint voices stopped. "Whose there?" She asked as she approached the door, inwardly hoping and begging it weren't her parents.

When she got full sight of the person in front of the door, she sighed heavily in pure relieve that it weren't them.

However, when realization slowly hit her like a ton of bricks, her heart began to sped up once again. In pure disbelieve her eyes widened almost instinctively when she saw a smug smile forming on the person's face.

"YOU!"

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