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SIXTY FOUR;

LUKE CONNELLY [STAND-ALONE CHAPTER]

Luke Connelly felt his hands trembling, and by the time he laid one of the tremors over the other, the one previously still would begin to shake. Biting down his frustration, the teenage boy hissed out before opting on just shoving his hands into his pockets all together, completely dismissing the problem as a whole. Letting out a cough, his head hung low in front of the sink trying to put his thoughts together before he had to go back outside and face his family. The last thing that he needed was to see his mother, the fight that the two of them had only a few hours prior continuing to run through his mind. Once again, it was over an issue involving his younger sister, an argument they seemed to be having on a frequent basis nowadays. Ever since his sister, Sage, turned ten, things began to stir into a never-ending feud between Luke and Mallory Connelly. His father, Hal, found himself at work even when he was not being called in, his desire to get away from the midnight screams infiltrating his hours.

Luke's mother believed that they should be teaching his younger sister how to survive as an altor druid, as if she weren't even considering all of the problems that would arise in that. That was only one of many things that they couldn't agree on. While she was on board with the idea of telling Sage, he wasn't. He knew why Mallory wanted to tell her. She wanted to manipulate her, convince her of things that weren't true. He refused to hand Sage a burden to live with for the rest of her life, and he hoped to God that a generation had been skipped and she would not face the damage that an altor created. The idea of his little sister, the blonde, little light that was sleeping in the room across from him right now, becoming consumed in the darkness that pain created broke him into pieces. The idea of her growing up and having to live the way he had, having to drown in the agony of knowing her friends were in trouble and there would be nothing for her to do about it, it wasn't something he wanted to be alive to see. She wouldn't know. Not until she was older.

And, maybe, there was the possibility of her actually becoming an altor no matter what. Maybe, she would grow up and find herself in a place of total darkness. Luke could not predict her future, just as much as Mallory could not control her youth. The woman was convinced that she was old enough to grow up, that ten was an age to strive in strength and education, but Hal and Luke both disagreed. Hal and Luke knew that Sage was the only hope they had left, that she was the only person they could pray to be good. Luke had to hope to a God that he was gracious enough to understand that she didn't deserve any of it. Had it been a choice, he would take all of his baby sister's pain and cope with it, as well as his own. He would walk through fire, through hell, to assure she was happy, no matter the costs. Their father, just as equally ready.

As he stood there in front of the mirror, he realized that this was his life. He was already losing his mind, the tremors in his hands enough of a symptom, just as much as the vomiting from earlier had been. Luke was going crazy, just as his mother was, just as his sister would eventually. No matter how bright of a heart they had, and no matter how beautiful of a soul they may possess, an altor can not exist without pain. Pain creates insanity, and everyone knew that. He just refused to accept the idea of becoming anything like this mother; the woman that cared more about herself than her children. She was the woman who never attended a single one of his lacrosse games, and a woman who forgot Sage's birthday every other year. She was not a mother, she was just a woman who gave birth to them, and a woman who gave them this inescapable curse that he could never stop no matter how many times he pleaded and cried.

And the worst part of it all was knowing it wasn't her fault either. Even if he wanted to hate his mother for everything that she put them through, he couldn't. Because she had no choice in this life. She had no control over her own thoughts, over her own sanity. Not anymore.

Letting out one last deep breath, his fists tightened in his pockets before he took a hand out to open the bathroom door. He tried to wrap his head around how long he had actually hid in the room. It had to have been hours because he saw that the light to his parents' bedroom was on. Sage's flickered on only a few seconds later. School. Another daily obstacle that Luke had to face, and another thing that was not on a high list of priorities. However, he was forced to go to keep up his grades for lacrosse, all so Coach Finstock didn't beat his ass until his face matched the color of their jerseys. He knew that he wasn't going to make it today, though. He had to stop by the Hale house to talk to Talia about Sage with his parents.

That didn't seem to go according to plan when his parents' bedroom door opened. Luke prepared himself for his mother, only to come up empty of her presence when it was just his father standing there at the door frame. Just by the look on Hal Connelly's face, his son could see that something was clearly wrong. With a clenched jaw and an apprehensive mind, the teenage boy slowly walked over until he was standing in front of the man, nimble fingers staying in fists as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"What happened?"

He knew that look his father was giving him. It was the same look that he had when he came home from work to tell everyone that he lost a patient that day, and the same look that was given any time their mother proved to be a disappointment in her children's' lives. Luke was very familiar to it and could only assume that the latter was the reason for the contort. He hadn't gone to work last night.

Hal hesitated, glancing down at his hands. "Your mother left a few hours ago. She said she started having hallucinations again, and she didn't want to hurt you or Sage. I tried to reason with her, but she grabbed the keys before I could even explain to her that it's worse for her to be in that place than with us."

"Good," Luke deadpanned, his jaw still clenched tightly. The reaction that he gave made his father's head shoot up, eyebrows raised high. "Dad, you and I both know she was unstable. She's been unstable for the last few months. We've been making sure Sage stayed away from her ever since the hallucinations started. Don't tell me that you honestly think her going back to Eichen House wasn't a good idea. She has a problem, and she's going to end up killing someone just because of what she sees."

"You know she can't control them," Hal explained, letting out a sigh while his eyes darted to the right to make sure that Sage had yet to come out of her room.

The teenage boy scoffed, his crossed arms unlacing so that he could show his father his trembling hands. "Yeah. I know that she can't control them, Dad. I know damn well that she didn't choose to be an altor, but that doesn't mean she has to drag all of us down with her. I don't know how long it'll be before the hallucinations start for me, and I'm not looking forward to it. I mean, hell, Carrie and I can barely have a conversation without her thinking I'm going to go into cardiac arrest or something. I can't keep living like this. I can't keep breathing like this. I can't wake up every single day and be scared that I'm going to see someone I love die right in front of me. I can't wake up every day and hope to god I don't hurt my baby sister or my girlfriend. I can't, Dad."

"I'm sorry," Hal Connelly whispered, trying to push through all of the pain he had knowing his son was going through so much and there was nothing that he could do to help him; he didn't know. He didn't have to walk around in public, fearing that someone in his pack would hurt themselves and he would feel it, as well. Hal never had to live with that fear, but his wife and children did. They always would.

"I know you are," Luke said, placing his hands back into his pockets. "That still doesn't change what I am, and what Sage is going to be. It doesn't change the fact that Mom doesn't care that we're going through the same thing she is, and there's no way to stop the suffering besides death. She hasn't guided me. She hasn't taught me anything about how to survive this because she gave up. I'm not giving up like her because I'm not ready to die, Dad. I'm going to be seventeen soon, and I have this girl that I love so much that it hurts, and I'm absolutely terrified that I'm going to screw up what we have and break her heart. I'm absolutely terrified that I'm going to hear Sage scream in pain one day because someone like Derek Hale broke his arm. I'm terrified that I'm losing myself. I'm terrified that I'm losing everything, but I didn't run away to Eichen House. I'm here. I'm still here. I'm still fighting."

Hal tried to ignore his stinging eyes, nodding before clearing his throat. "I don't think you're losing yourself, Luke. Everyone knows who you are and how much you have accomplished. You won regionals for your school, you were there to help raise your little sister, you were there for your pack when they were in trouble, and for Carrie on full moons. You are everything a father looks for in a son. All of us are your identity, Lucas, and as long as you decide you want to keep us in your life, there is nothing you can lose in life that is greater than love."

Luke watched his father, staring at the man in front of him. Hal Connelly was honestly a man too good for this world, in every possible way. "We'll get through this, no matter when or if she comes back. You know that I can take care of Sage if you have late nights at the hospital. Carrie can help babysit, and you know Melissa or the Sheriff will help out when we're both busy. She can come to practices too. It's not like she'll mind. Coach loves her. We'll get through this, with or without Mom. We always do."

Hal couldn't be prouder of his son, a smile stretching across his face as the two of them crossed the unwavering seas of doubt. Now, they just had to figure out how they were going to get everything together from that point on. He wasn't worried, not when he had Luke and Sage as his children. Granted, the little blonde in her room could be a stubborn one at times, but there were always ways around it. Hal knew his daughter from the inside-out, whether she liked it or not, just like how he knew his son and could see that being an altor was tearing him apart. As a father, there is nothing more agonizing than watching someone he raised and helped create slowly lose his purpose for living, and that meant he had to try to stop those diseased thoughts before he lost his son the way he lost his wife.

"Alright," Hal said, clapping his hands together. "You want to make sure she's up or am I taking the bullet for you?"

Luke looked wearily at the bedroom door, knowing how terrifying a tired Sage was. "If I do it today, she's all yours tomorrow."

"Deal," the man agreed, going to move down the hallway to the kitchen. "We're supposed to be at the Hale's at nine, so I'll meet you there. There's money on the counter if you need it. I have to run by the hospital first to check in with Melissa about a patient we had last night—guy got electrocuted trying to plug in his television in that storm last night. Oh, and when you drop her off at school, make sure that she has a jacket. She always forgets it and turns into a little tornado when her hair gets wet walking to my car after school."

Luke pursed his lips, sighing before nodding despite knowing he was going to forget. Just in case he actually did forget, or if she did, he made sure that he grabbed a hold of his leather jacket that was hanging on the banister of the stairs, moving it around his shoulders. It would practically suffocate her small frame, but as long as the two didn't have to hear her talk about how the rain messed up her hair, she would survive. At that time, he hadn't realized that it would be the last time he wore his leather jacket, the last time he drove his little sister to school in the morning, and the last time he and his father would argue about who would be the one to wake up Sage.

The only thing that Luke did know was that, an hour later as he pulled into the elementary school Sage went to, he handed her his leather jacket and laughed at the face of disgust she gave it, acting as if it were the worst article of clothing to exist on the body of a ten year old. Six years later, though, the blonde would find that it was her security wrapped tightly around her shoulders, and that she never realized how critical that jacket had been to who she was until she no longer had it. So, Luke Connelly watched as his little sister made her way into the school alongside her two best friends, Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski, never once knowing that it would be the very last time he saw the only light he ever knew. He didn't know that it was the last time he would jokingly say that he loved his little sister, and that it would be the last time he honked the horn three times to signal the long-time tradition they had every morning before school.

He didn't know that all of the suffering he went through would soon be over, and that everything he prayed wouldn't happen to his baby sister would eventually come true. He didn't know that, seven years later, Sage Connelly would be developing the same thoughts of insanity, and no matter how little he knew, there was nothing that could have prevented the smoke that suffocated his lungs thirty seven minutes after he left his sister at the school. There was nothing that would have prevented the pain he felt in his final moments, knowing that his little sister was going to grow up thinking that their mother had been in the fire, too. There was nothing that would have prevented Luke Connelly's demise, not even how much love he had for his family and how much love they had for him.

He was still smoke and still a gravestone on his little sister's list of losses.

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Author's Note:

Sorry to disappoint that this wasn't an actual chapter of the story. This was just a brief intermission since I haven't updated in forever, and I loved this excerpt too much not to show the world. Hopefully, you all enjoyed this little preview into Luke and Hal Connelly. They are and always will be two of my favorite characters, and I hate that we never get to see any actual evidence of their character personalities, just words from other people. Let me know if you guys want any more stand-alone chapters like this, and I promise I'm working on an update for the next chapter. I just hate what I know I'm going to have to write next, and I'm not entirely prepared for it. Thank you all for your loyalty and consistent dedication to this story and these characters. I have all of the love in the world for you.