Predator | 5

April threw her jacket on the couch. The effects of a cold where slowly kicking in. Her throat and her head were slowly but surely beginning to ache. Strolling around through the city in the cold was a very bad moment for sight-seeing.

She should have left her brother and the bartender in the living room and spend the day in the bedroom instead of roaming through the city in the rain.

The last thing she needed was getting ill during during her time apart from all the responsibilities, parents and well- life in general life.

April tiredly waltzed into the kitchen and found Eric leaning against one of the kitchen's counter. He was pouring himself a drink into a glass and didn't notice April's presence until she began to speak.

"You've been away?" She asked once she noticed that he had different clothes on. His sweatpants and the blue shirt he had once on, was now replaced by a pair of grey jeans and a white shirt.

"Hm? Oh, I was out," Eric replied shortly, avoiding further details.

April frowned briefly, before speaking. "With that red-haired bartender friend of yours?" She spat.

"He's not a friend, but yes, with him."

A sigh found it's way past her lips as she looked around the living room, searching for the red-haired bartender. She was afraid of him strolling around the corner unexpectedly.

"He's not here anymore," Eric informed her when he appeared from the corner.

He strolled past her and plumped into one of his bright couches with a heavy sigh falling from his lips. "Left just minutes before you arrived." His voice sounded tired and strained.

Until now, April didn't notice how tired looking his state actually was. She watched the deep frown in between his dark blonde eyebrows- something he always had when he was stressing over something. But over what he was stressing so much she didn't know.

April nodded slowly, before speaking. "Good," she muttered under her breath and took a seat on the small space beside her brother. "Care to explain?"

"What exactly do you want me to explain to you?"

"Dunno," she shrugged. "How about you start with your friend."

"He's not my friend, April. Besides, Shawn isn't a bad guy. What he did was for a good reason, trust me."

April had to suppress an eye roll. She didn't want to hear excuses like he was saving her ass. The bartender already came up with this and even then she was too suspicious to believe the words coming out from his mouth.

But she chose to ignore it. Soon, she would've been leaving for home anyway. She wouldn't be seeing him again anytime soon, she was sure of it.

"So that's really his name? Shawn?" April asked and laughed bitterly. She almost forgot his name, but even more surprising was that he actually didn't lie about his name. The last thing she'd expected him to have was a normal and common name. "Very lovely."

"Whatever," he muttered. "Did you make you decisions?" He asked with a more curious expression over his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you planning to stay here or leave for home?"

April run her hand through her dark brown hair and sighed. In all honesty, the thought didn't even enter her mind. Not even for a second. Her mind always seemed to be elsewhere.

She felt guilty in some way. She knew her brother was already convinced she would be staying. The last thing April wanted to do was to falsely raise his hopes.

It would sadden him to no end if she would decide to leave him alone. After all, she was the only family he had. The only family he wanted in his life. Their parents didn't count.

"No, I didn't," she spoke in a low voice and saw hurt flashing in Eric's eyes. "But I will think about it. I promise."

She didn't only promise it to her brother Eric, but to herself as well.

"I don't want to force you or anything. The decision rests entirely in your hand. But I would advise you to think about it carefully. Don't be stupid and make a decision you'll be regretting after," Eric warned her with a low tone of voice.

April already knew what her brother was thinking. He was thinking that choosing their parents over him would be the wrong decision he was warning her about.

Even after not seeing him for years, she still knew her brother all too well to know what was going on in his mind.

She leaned her head back on the couch and sighed deeply. She knew too well that this decision, as harmless as it sounded, would be a difficult one to make. It wasn't laying in her nature to make decisions for herself.

All her life the decisions were made for her rather than deciding for herself. That was the kind of life she'd grown used to, sadly. Apart from that, it was also the slight feeling of fear that was silently nagging in the back of her mind. The fear of the new.

April was truly not one who could make decisions so lightly. She found it rather daring and being daring was something she wasn't.

It was just something she hadn't in her blood, in her nature. And being daring was the one thing she had to be for this one decision.

* * * * *

April randomly kicked stones with her shoes, while walking with her brother along the pathway. The sun outside was slowly dimming and it was become colder.

Wet leaves were lowly crumbling under her sneakers and she'd to be careful not to slip under the slippery leaves

For one moment, she wondered if her parents missed her. It was a very childish thinking, in her opinion, but she couldn't help it. She just had to wonder what they were doing hundreds of miles away in her home town. And somehow, she felt ashamed for her own behavior. Her parents did wrong, but so did she.

"You have to work tomorrow?" April asked out of nowhere.

April was afraid of being alone at Eric's apartment. Besides Shawn, she didn't know any of the people living in this town and spending some time with the bartender was out of question.

She had no other choice than sit around and wait for her brother to return. A heavy groan fell from her lips.

"Yeah, why? Do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

"Plans?" She almost laughed at his question. "I'm here for, like four days. What kind of plans could I possibly have?" Other than sitting around and doing nothing, she thought.

April heard him chuckling.

She watched him for brief moments, before thinking aloud. "I can't imagine you in your police uniform," she finally spoke. It always had surprised her when Eric told her he worked as an police officer.

Never in thousand years she would have imagined her older brother being a man of law. It was just unrealistic, almost funny, even.

He always used to be the one who broke the rules instead of following them. He was the one who always started a fight instead of ending one. He'd always been a known troublemaker.

Eric laughed next to her. He knew what she was thinking right now and it amused him utterly. He just nodded his head silently and kept walking with her aimlessly through the area.

From the corner of her eyes she watched her brothers body stiffen. His posture changed in a matter of seconds until he stopped walking and stood stock-stiff next to April.

"Something wrong?" She asked, concern laying thick in the tone of her voice.

He shook his head. After long moments of silence he finally spoke. "No," he mumbled. "It's getting cold. Let's get back home."

Just seconds after he said that, a breeze of cold wind hit April against the skin of her neck. She shivered and rubbed her hands against her arms, but it wasn't helping much. God, she hated winter.

"You're right. It's really getting cold."

* * * * *

April's body instantly relaxed when she entered Eric's apartment with him following behind. Warm air wrapped around her frozen body and a sigh of relief fell from April's lips. The chills of the cold outside were becoming almost unbearable.

Seconds after she heard heavy raindrops crushing against the windows of the apartment. For once, she thought and chuckled to herself, luck was on her side.

Eric excused himself for a heated discussion over the phone. She didn't know with whom he was talking or what he was talking about, but she knew whatever it was, was the reason that he was stressing about.

She could tell, by the hard expression that was laying over his face. For the second time that day, his posture was stiff and tensed.

April figured that maybe it was something work related. She was sure of it. He was a police officer after all and April could imagine that it was a job that he couldn't take lightly.

It didn't take long until the heated conversation over the phone was finally put to an end. Eric strolled into the living room and plumped into the seat in front of April.

Just like earlier this day, he leaned his head against the couch and closed his eyes. She could hear him sighing tiredly.

Moments like this always remembered her at the days back at home, when Eric was still living with her and their parents under the same roof.

He used to be always this tired. And the reason for him being like this was always the same. She had hoped that at least here, it would be different.

"What was the call about? Work?" April finally asked when she couldn't keep her curiosity under control.

She knew it had to be something serious. Her brother always had a sense of patience, but once it was thinning it wouldn't take much to make him finally snap.

One wrong push and he would finally explode. It was a bright contrast to the easy going personality of his.

Another sigh fell from his lips. "Yeah," he murmured.

"Is Shawn a police officer, too?" She asked. It was highly possible that he was. Although, she couldn't really expect him to be one. Her brother was one too and she still found it quite odd.

"Yeah, he is. What made you ask?"

"I'd already figured that it is the only possible way for you to be friends. Can't think of another way you two can possibly met each other. He clearly doesn't seem to be one of the people you would spend your time with," she explained her thoughts.

He laughed loudly before speaking again. "Like I said before, Shawn and I aren't exactly friends." He explained. "Besides, I already told you he isn't a bad guy."

"Whatever. I don't like him," she spoke dryly without any hint of emotion.

"Really? Didn't notice your dislike towards him at all," Eric said sarcastically and chuckled.

"Very funny," she answered dryly. "So Shawn is also working with you tomorrow?"

"Yes. Didn't know you are so obsessed with him and with what he does." He cocked an eyebrow at her and all her questions.

"I'm not. It's just odd. He is involved in bar fight's at nights, but is a cop at days. It's even more unrealistic than you being a cop."

"Well, he never was involved in the fight, right?" Eric asked rhetorically.

"Well, no, not really," she replied after some moments of replaying the memories in her mind. He really wasn't involved, as far as she witnessed the scene at Rutherford's pub.

"See? He's an officer, you were right. He kept the men under his watch and when the situation got a bit out of control, he locked you up to keep you safe," he explained slowly.

"I do admit tough that he should've had told you what he was doing, but in the end all that matters is that he did help you out," he reasoned.

April kept silent for long moments, listening to the heavy raindrops that started to crash against the windows before nodding in agreement. It was a plausible and logical explanation, she had to admit that to herself.

He was right.

In a very odd way, Shawn actually did help her. But she didn't deny that he scared the shit out of her by his actions.

The least he could've done was to tell her what he was about to do instead of intimidating her and forcefully dragging her into the staff room.

She sighed and was about to speak again, but her stomach unexpected twisted when she heard howls erupting through the night. The dread kicked in too quick for her liking.

For the second time while being in the new town, she got that uneasy feeling that came along with the wolves outside that were running freely.

__________

Vote&Comment! I hope this chapter is long enough. In the next few chapters April's boring time in the new town will finally come to an end. Next update: Wednesday or Thursday. I have to plan the next chapter carefully.

Thanks for reading! xx