CHAPTER ELEVEN:
WEIRD

“Faaitth!” Sophia squealed. “Get your ass down here!”

“Just a second,” I yelled back.

I hummed and brushed my hair but frowned in annoyance as Sophia continued shouting downstairs. What the hell was her deal?

I threw the brush back on my desk and ran downstairs, where Sophia was jumping in joy. What  even happened to this girl?

“Faaiiitttthhh!!!” she ran to me and hugged me tightly.

She pulled back when she realized that she was blocking the way of oxygen to my lungs. At least she cared about me breathing.

“What got you so happy?” I asked with a grin on my face.

The way she acted was adorable. Her straight hair was tied in a messy ponytail that swooshed around as she moved happily. Her red glasses rested a bit low down the bridge of her nose, which she pushed back in place.

She beamed, “Derek is coming to meet me next week!”

“Really!?” I gasped.

“Yes, he's coming here to discuss some Rogue problems with the Alpha, and the main reason is actually to meet me, because we can't stay away from each other anymore.”

Yes, that is actually true. They call each other and talk for hours on the phone. I've only spoken to Derek through the phone once when I had to reassure him that Sophia is well taken care of. Not like she needs it, because she takes more care of me than I take care of her. Derek is a nice person and him and Sophia are both lucky to have each other.

“Alpha Alec,—” she rolled her eyes at the mention of his name. “—said that he can stay here. He'll be here for a week. And in that week, we are going to the beach house!” she jumped up and down, clapping her hands.

“Wow,” was all I could say.

“Yes, I know. But,” she said, glaring at the ground with despise.

I raiser my eyebrow at her sudden change of mood. I crossed my arms over my chest, wondering why this girl was being overly bipolar today.

“What happened, Sophia?” I placed a hand on her shoulder.

“But Alec is going to be there too,” she said, glazing at me apologetically. I felt my heart clinch at the mention of my mate's name.

The moments of the day he rejected me made its way through mind. A teardrop fell down my cheek. Why did it have to hurt every time I thought about him?

It's not like I could turn back time and change everything. I thought it wouldn't hurt as much after the day I beat him, but he just had to save me from those Rogues. I pursed my lips and sighed, but didn't say anything to Sophia. Instead, I just walked to the kitchen to get ourselves something to eat.

°•°•°•°•°•°

My eyes opened and I glazed at the clock. It was ten already. I quickly took a shower and brushed my teeth. I decided to skip dinner and lay back down on my bed.

I stared at the ceiling, with hundreds of thoughts going through my mind. Why would Alec go too? And why was I overreacting like that? Its not that I'm going there. Maybe its just because I heard his name. Yeah, it could be that.

I sighed and turned around, facing the teddy bear I found that day on the doorstep. And that note...

Who could have send that?

Who could be my mortal enemy? Was it something I did two years ago? Gosh, I didn't know that my past would chase me like this.

I still haven't told anyone about the note. I don't want to trouble them with my problems. If I tell Skylar, he'll tell Mark, and that's what I don't want. Mark is going to be all protective and never leave my side. He already has enough problems that those Rogues are causing to deal with, I don't want to add anymore to it.

I have a feeling that my past won't leave me soon. What if I accept Alec's rejection and meet my new mate and what if he leaves me because of my past? Hell no.

I looked at the teddy bear and sniffed it. Well, a human touched it. So, my mortal enemy is a human. I don't remember talking to any human, except for Austin.

I gasped. What if Austin is behind all this? But why would he do this? I didn't do anything wrong to him. We just met a few days ago.

Should I tell Mark about all this? No, I don't want him to worry because of me anymore. I've done enough already.

I sighed and looked closely at the teddy bear, like it would magically tell me who brought him here. The teddy was cute, but still creepy in a way. Something about it doesn't seem right. The entire situation didn't feel right.

The vibration of my phone startled me a bit, making me put the teddy back in the corner of my bed and pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Faith! You okay?” I heard Sophia's concerned voice ask.

I sighed. I know Sophia is concerned about me, but seriously, I don't want her too. She's been an awesome friend in these two months that I've known her and we grew pretty close to each other.

“Yes, I'm fine. And I'm sorry for running away like that. I guess I got emotional. I mean I was overreacting, its not that I'm going with you—”

“But we were planning to take you along with us. But I won't push you, I understand if you don't want to go with us,” she cut me off.

She sounded disappointed. I knew that she doesn't like Alec going with us, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her voice cracked at the end and I knew that she was crying. I bit my bottom lip and stared at the ceiling.

“No, its okay, I'll go with you guys if my parents and Mark have no objection. Well, I'm sure that Mark will allow me to, because he knows Derek very well and he also met him already. And on the other hand, my parents won't be here till tomorrow, so I guess you could come over tomorrow and ask them for me.” I said.

My parents usually don't send me to places they've never been. Since its Derek's beach house, and my parents don't know Derek, I'm sure that they won't send me.

She squealed and I quickly removed the phone from my ear and glared at it. I swear, this girl is going to make me deaf one day. She really needs physical treatment. I rolled my eyes and placed the phone back onto my ear.

“Okay, I'll be there at six and I'll ask your parents about it.”

We muttered our goodbyes and I hung up. I threw my phone back under my pillow and stared at the ceiling.

What will happen when I meet Alec again?

Suddenly there was a knock on my door, making me jump. “Faayy, are you still awake?” I heard Ashley's cute voice.

I ran to the door and opened it. I kneeled down, so I was the same length as Ashley and cupped her scared face. She was shivering and sweating. I quickly picked her up and slammed the door shut. I rested her on the bed and lay down next to her, her anxiety not calming down.

I pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arms around her. She sobbed on my shoulder and I whispered sweet words into her ear.

“Ashley, sweetheart, what happened?” I rubbed circles around her back.

She has never been this scared before. She released a small cry before asking in a low voice,

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Yes, sure, honey. You can sleep with me tonight. Why are you crying?” I asked worried.

“I had a bad dream,” she said sobbing and started shaking again. This is the first time Ashley has gotten a bad dream.

I cupped her cheek and made her look at me, “Hey, look at me.” Her beautiful blue eyes met mine and she cried harder. “Want to talk about it? You actually have to talk about it, otherwise it will scare you even more.”

She looked at me and rested her head on my shoulder again. I wrapped my arms around her again and calmed her down a bit. But she was still shivering a bit.

“I saw a boy... And he was killing you and after... After that he even tore my teddy bear... I saw him with another teddy in his hands... But I never saw that one before,” she said between sobs.

I continued rubbing her back, showing her, making her feel that I was right there. I knew there was more to her dream, otherwise she wouldn't be crying this violently, but she told as much as her five year old self could.

“Ashley, honey, I'm right here, see? Nothing happened to me. I'm perfectly fine. That was just a bad dream,” I said in a soft voice, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Her innocent eyes darted up to mine and she examined my face, to catch any trail of lying, but she didn't. She hugged me tightly and kissed my ear. “Please don't ever leave me, Faayy.”

“Don't worry honey, I won't,” I assured her, kissing her shoulder.

Ashley sat on the bed, looked at me, and kissed my cheek again. She looked around and suddenly her gaze dropped at the teddy bear I found on the doorstep, and her eyes grew wide. It seemed like her eyes would pop out anytime.

She started shaking again, “That's the teddy bear Faayy, get it out!” she yelped.

I quickly took the teddy and threw it under the bed. “No, there isn't any here,” I acted calm, but the excessive beating of my heart just convinced me that now even I was freaking out.

She calmed down instantly and snuggled closer to me, sobbing herself to sleep.

------

I opened my eyes, only to find Ashley snuggled up to my side, with my arm wrapped around her. I kissed her forehead and took my time to admire her beauty.

Her beautiful brown hair, her chubby cheeks that were still a bit red from all that crying last night. I have to tell someone about all this. Will I be able to handle everything myself?

The door of my room opened, revealing a Mark, with his messy hair, pointing to all the directions that exist. “You there, baby sis?” he asked, taking a step inside the room.

“Yeah, I'm here.”

He sighed in relief and walked over to me. He sat at the edge of the bed, next me and look at both, Ashley and I.

He rested his hand on Ashley's cheek and kissed her forehead. He looked at me and smiled. “What happened yesterday?”

“I don't know, she came in and asked to sleep here. She was already shaking and after that she told me she had bad dream and she was talking about her dream, and started shaking even more,” I explained. And I could tell that he was just as confused as I was.

“This would be her first bad dream ever. What did she tell you about her dream?” he asked.

“She told me that she saw a guy killing me and that he ripped the teddy I gave her to shreds. She didn't tell me what she saw exactly,” I shrugged.

I didn't want to tell him the other part yet.

He frowned and looked at Ashley and then back at me. I could tell he was trying to take everything in.

“Don't worry, everything will be fine. See I'm perfectly alright.” I motioned to myself.

He cupped my cheeks and looked at me straight into my eyes, “Fine, but please take care of yourself, even though I'm here, and if anything ever seems wrong, please tell me.”

I nodded.

Should I tell Mark about the teddy?

Before I could open my mouth and tell Mark anything, Ashley stirred a bit and popped open her beautiful eyes.

Mark and I smiled at her. “Well, hello there, my princess.” Mark waved at her.

She giggled a bit and waved back, “Well, hello there my knight in shining armour.” she said kissing his cheek, making all of us laugh.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

“Good morning, Faayy.” she hugged me tightly, giggling. She also kissed my cheek and sat down again next to me on the bed.

“Well ladies, you guys shower up, I'll go make breakfast. And don't forget, Mom and Dad are coming today at five, so be ready.” he pointed at us. We nodded and turned to each other.

“Well, you take off your clothes, and I'll go get your clothes, okay?” she nodded and I gave her one last kiss on her cheek, before getting out of the room.

I entered Ashley's room and the smell of her sweet perfume hit my nose. I smiled to myself and walked over to her cupboard. I grabbed her clothes and made my way to my room again.

I helped Ashley wear her clothes after her shower and then took a shower myself. After that I lead Ashley in the kitchen so she can have her breakfast.

After breakfast we spent the day together and at night, Mom and Dad arrived. I wanted to tell them everything, but I couldn't gather the courage to.

Why do I even have to doubt myself? Why can't I just stay out of trouble for once?