The Elemental Luna's Awakening

Chapter 4 - Tea Time

Rhiannon

Dub and I stopped once we got to Gram's back yard, both of us breathing heavily. We turned to face the woods, waiting for our new-found enemy to emerge.

Gram was in her garden while her weimaraner, Amar, was lying on the back porch of her small cabin. They both raised their heads to look at Dub and I, as if we had gone completely crazy.

"My word, Rhi, what on earth are you doing?! Are you trying to give your favorite Grandma a heart attack!?" she put her hands on her hips, tilting her head down to look at me above her glasses.

I glanced at her quickly, and back towards the woods, close to hyperventilating now thanks to my erratic breathing. "There was a wolf chasing us! A large grey one with red eyes! Since when are there wolves in this area?!?" I choked the words out in between my gasps for air.

Gram dropped her hands and quickly exited her garden, coming over to Dub and I. She put one hand on Dub's neck, the other on my leg, and looked up at me with a soft smile. "Rhi dear, you must have been seeing things. Why don't you get off of Dub, go cool him down, and get settled for your stay. I'll make you some tea to help settle your nerves."

Gram's voice was calm and in control, like usual. Everything about her seemed to settle tense situations. I looked down at her and nodded, knowing she had to be right.

-

I was drinking my tea at Gram's kitchen table as she was sipping her coffee across from me. "So, Rhi. Why don't you tell me everything? It's been a while since we've seen each other, so I want to be caught up on your life."

I took a deep breath to gather myself. "I'm doing good in school, everyone there is still being a jerk. Catherine seems to be losing her mind more and more as time goes on. I'm going to start working for the Joans' when I get back." I stopped, not finishing everything that I had started saying.

"Well, that was a short story. The Joans' are good people, I've known them for a while." Gram paused briefly before smiling at me, and I knew she was going to mention a sensitive subject. "What about your anxiety?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

I sighed as a tight smile formed on my face. "I'm able to keep better control of it than I used to. It's worse at home, inside that house and with Catherine, than anywhere else. This is the only place I feel at peace, here, with you. Can I tell you something weird?"

"Of course! I love a good mystery." She replied with a grin on her face and sparkle in her grey eyes.

I let out a small breath of air. "If I'm outside and I start feeling really anxious, I smell this place."

"What?" Gram whispered out as she squinted her eyes, as if that would help her hear me better.

"Here, Gram. I smell this place. It's my favorite smell. It's like standing outside, surrounded by lavender and lemon balm after it just got done raining. It's relaxing and awakening at the same time. It calms my soul."

Gram was quiet for a little bit, just staring at me. Her face was void of expression. I could tell she was deep in thought, but she gave no clue as to what about.

"Rhi, hunny, what exactly is it that you feel in that house that sets off your panic attacks?" Gram is the only one I've ever been open to about myself. But I never really thought about my issues. I just tried to control them the best that I could.

"Well .... " I paused, trying to think of the right words. "I guess a mixture of things. Claustrophobic and suffocated because of everything Catherine hoards and how she hounds me. Anger ..... I just feel angry inside. What usually sends me over the edge is when I try so hard to keep everything together and taken care of, and yet it seems like everything just falls apart around me. I don't feel like I belong there, Gram, and it makes me feel like a failure in life. Like I'm a piece of the wrong puzzle being forced into where I don't belong."

She slowly nodded her head. "And that's when you hurt yourself?"

"Yeah, I guess. I just, I don't know. I freak out. I hyperventilate and the fear of passing out takes over. I guess that's when I do it. It's an uncontrollable urge." I've never been this open with her before, and I didn't know if my attempts to explain things made any sense.

"Ok, we'll work on some things while you're here. How about that?" Gram placed her hand on top of mine before she continued on. "I think there's some things we need to discuss. But for now, tell me about this wolf you supposedly saw!" She sat up straighter, eagerly awaiting the story, and I told her about my entire day until the time Dub and I came to a stop at the back of her cabin.

"What. Do. You. Mean. You. Shot. It." She enunciated each word and it sounded more like a demand than a question, her eyes were almost as wide as her glasses.

"It was with a rubber bullet, Gram! Besides, I'm pretty sure all I did was piss it off." I defended my actions while I furrowed my brows, remembering how I heard paws running behind us, knowing it couldn't have been injured badly.

"Rhiannon Nicole Brink! You should NOT have shot it!" Great, she used my middle name. I'm in trouble now.

"Wait, Gram, I thought that you said I must have been seeing things?!? Are you now saying there are fu.cking wolves in these woods?!?" Oh sh.it. Fu.ck. She's going to be so ....

"RHIANNON!" she yelled, her voice echoing inside me. "That is NO way for a young lady to talk!"

..... mad. Ah, sh.it ..... Gram was now standing with her hands on her hips again, staring at me with tightly squinted eyes. I lowered my head and sulked in my chair, knowing I fu.cked up. I mean, messed up ..... "I'm sorry, Gram. I didn't mean any disrespect."

Gram sighed. "Just don't make a habit of it. We need to work on that mouth of yours." She turned back towards the kitchen. "Let me get you another cup of tea. I really think you need it. I'm going to turn on some music, too. It's the next best thing to nature to calm the nerves."

I smiled and couldn't help but be a smart ass. "Let me guess, Fleetwood Mac?"

"Don't you judge your dear Grandmother's taste in music!" She snipped back over her shoulder with a grin.

My name was in respect to Fleetwood Mac. Rhiannon for obvious reasons, Nicole for Stevie Nicks. I actually liked my name, especially because I knew Gram helped pick it, so I wasn't going to complain.

When Gram came back she handed me my cup of tea, and then refilled her own coffee. I took a large sip, letting the warm liquid relax me. I broke the silence first. "So. About the wolves. Are you saying that they're in this area? In all these years, I've never once seen nor heard them."

There was another pause in our conversation as we held eye contact. I took another large sip of my tea before Gram continued. "Rhi", she paused briefly, "What I'm saying is that there's a lot of things on these lands that you may not know about."

"A lot? Gram, what exactly do you mean by that?" I held her gaze again and raised an eyebrow questionably.

Silence, again, so I took another large sip of tea.

"Well, Rhi. Like wolves for starters". Gram said in a nonchalant manner, like it was completely normal conversation.

"How can I NOT know about wolves being here?!?" I was shocked, what exactly was she saying?!?

Another pause between us as I finished my tea.

"Rhi, I said there's a lot you don't know and things that we need to discuss." Was she saying that she always knew these dangerous animals were in the woods, yet she let me play in them when I was younger by myself?

I felt like my head was spinning. Or maybe it was the room. I couldn't tell. "I've been comin ... ta .... here .... fer ..... ears ...." What the fu.ck was wrong with me?!?

I looked up at Gram. She had a soft smile on her lips, but her grey eyes looked sad. Then I looked down at the empty cup of tea in my hands. "That sneaky ol' ....." I thought to myself as I looked back up to Gram, not knowing what exactly to call her at that moment without guilt. Witch. It rhymed with the actual word I was thinking.

My eyes got heavy as my sight blurred like my words. Gram was the last thing I saw as my eyes finally lost their fight and closed. My head fell down to the table, but oddly they didn't collide. Something broke the fall, something warm and tingly on my forehead. Then nothing .....