A Luna's Revenge

They will pay - 9 years ago

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9 years ago

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I sat quietly on my usual spot, the swing on the far-left side of the jungle gym, as I allowed my shoes to skim the dirt as I longingly listened to the sound of laughter as children played in the park around me. I missed mother. I missed how her beautiful voice sounded when she laughed. I missed being tickled by her. I missed everything about my momma. I was asked to always stay in sight of the shop so the old man knew I was safe. The old man, Noah as I heard people call him, had promised to help me find mother. After that day when I ran into his shop, he took pity on me and invited me to stay with him so he could look after me. He was a good man, not like the one who scared me and hurt my momma. I want to save her from that place, that horrible, small, dark and stinky place. If I closed my eyes, I could still remember every single detail of our room, along with the view through the gap between the cupboard doors I frequently his behind. Before wriggling free from the blanket, I could only dream of the things I now see around me every day. I still have so many questions to ask, like how come more birds didn’t fall from the ski, or what made the rain pour down on a sunny day, and the wind blow? And why… if there are so many people all around, why didn’t they come looking for us? 

Suddenly I felt someone shove my off the swing, I fell to the ground so unexpectedly that I didn’t have time to try and stop myself from landing face first in the dirt.

“What a loser,” the boy laughed from behind me. He always picked on me first, even though the whole group took turns to make fun of me. The kids in our community didn’t like me, I was the half breed daughter from some unknown shewolf. The old man said that the boy who shoved me was the son of our Alpha, and would one day be our Alpha in his father’s place. Perhaps he was using me to show his friends how strong he was. He was much taller than his friends, but I wasn’t scared of him and even when they hurt me, I refused to let them see me cry. Be brave for me, I heard mother’s voice in my head.

“Get lost half breed!” his friend spat as he kicked dirt in my face. My eyes burned so badly, I tried to wipe away the dirt but failed. I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry.

“Aww, did we hurt your feelings little rat?” the mocking voice of the only girl in their group, chided close to me, “well, well, well, what do we have here… she picked up the folded piece of paper next to me.”

“What is that Annabella?” came the voice of our future Alpha.

“It looks like a map? Don’t you think, Damian?” she replied, sounding confused.

“Why would a miserable thing like her have a map? George, come check this out!” he called his friend over.

“Are you on a treasure hunt? For Easter Eggs maybe?” he burst out in laughter.

“A dirty old map is the closest she would ever come to being rich,” Damian said coldly in disgust. That dirty old map could lead me to something way more valuable than any treasure, it could lead me to my momma. The old man marked places we already searched, and places we should look into, in order to keep track of our search

“Hey! Get away from her! Scram!” The old man shouted, running towards me to pick me up from the dirt.

“I’m bored of this anyway,” Annabella said, as she tore my map into unrecognizable shreds in front of me. My heart started pounding and my eyes became blurry as tears welled up, threatening to spill over. I ran to meet the old man half way, hiding my face in his shirt so they wouldn’t see me cry. Tears ran uncontrollably down my face the moment I reached him.

“Phoenix, we are going to have to do something about all the bullying,” he said as I let go of him. He was a strong man, old and grey but still very agile. He was the Gamma to the previous Alpha, and he was known to be a great warrior and tracker, two things I wished I had been. 

“What? How?” I asked hopefully, tucking a lost strand of my bright red hair behind my ear.

“It won’t be easy… and it will take a lot of work. Are you willing to listen and do as I say?” he said with his eyebrows raised at me, his hands grasped on either side of my shoulders as he looked into my eyes.

“I am going to teach you some moves kiddo,” he mussed my hair, I wrinkled my nose in response, ducking out of his reach.

“Will these moves help me to hurt Damian, Annabella and George?” I asked softly?

“yes, and no…”

“What does that mean?”

“It means… You will be able to protect yourself, and inflict harm if need be. But… and this is a big but… You should not and will not start any trouble. You are only allowed to end a fight or escape one,” he clarified sternly.

“I hate them,” I said looking down at my feet, “they should pay for always being mean!” my emotions made my voice screech. 

“That, little Phoenix, is up to the Moon. Goddess will either right their wrongs, or sort them out in some way. I have seen it time and time again.”  He patted my back to signal the end of the conversation, something I was very familiar with after spending two years under his roof. I will make them pay,I promised myself. To hell with the Moon, she has never helped me before.