Mom, I Am Exhausted
[RINZLER]
"Alpha, beta. Stop shouting. He will wake up."
"Imagine two packs with dead alphas." Beta Tetra said with disbelief in his voice.
"Stop saying that, fear thee mouth." Savannah prolonged the term thee.
"Hey, respect your uncle." Alpha Aspen mumbled.
Savannah mocked, "uncle who."
"Uncle Tetra." Both the alpha and his beta answered.
Their voices were barely a whisper yet Rinzler heard them inside his eardrums, resonating as drums. Although he needed his calm beautiful sleep, he couldn't get himself to tell them to hush, the teasing in Beta Tetra's tone didn't go amiss, he could picture his father smiling and Savannah's annoying look, treating the two men as if they were not the beta and the alpha.
Oh, how he has missed his family's bicker. They were like that when luna was alive, full of life, sweet, and living harmoniously together with an intent of making each other annoyed by their bickering.
The bickering continued… and then, silence!
**********
Luna Ulrika spoke, "son, come to me."
"Mom, I am exhausted," Rinzler replied hazily.
Opening her arms wider, she bent, inviting Rinzler to come to her, "my sweet child, I am sorry I left you all alone. Mom is here now."
"Mom, I am tired of everything. Life has thrown me lots of shit..."
"Hey, I do not accept such prude language from you."
Smiling, Rinzler walked to her speaking lowly, "mom, I am sorry. I have failed. Your teachings, your love, your passion, our family values. Now, even Savannah isn't happy at all." Rinzler paused.
He looked around, and he was appeased. The environment was calming, the trees were swinging, and some birds were chirping at the waterfall not far away. Mama really knew the exact place he needed to rest at.
He focused on her, "mom, this place is beautiful, I will rest with you. Later, let us go together and speak with Savannah, I have failed her. I hope when she sees you, she will pardon me."
Luna Ulrika nodded when Rinzler stopped in front of her, "come, rest your head on mama's shoulder."
"Thank you, mom. Do you think Sav will forgive me?"
"Of course, dummy. Now."
"I have missed you, mom."
He lowered himself to the ground mumbling, "Savannah hates me."
When their arms met, Luna Ulrika started shaking him, "look at me young man, your sister will never hate you, okay?"
"You don't know about it mom, but okay, Let me rest now."
Luna Ulrika pushed him at arm's length, "let us talk a little bit, apart from Savannah, what is worrying you, son?"
"I want to..." His voice trailed off.
"No. Rinzler honey, wake up, let us talk first." Luna Ulrika shook him harder.
********
"Wake up. Rinzler damn it. Wake up."
"Mom, I want to rest, just for a minute," Rinzler answered.
"No, mom isn't here, it is me your sister, wake up you asshole, what do you mean mom..."
Alpha Aspen interjected, "don't talk to your brother like..."
"Dad, are you for real? You are worried about language when he is going to shock? Where are Tetra and the damn doctor." Rinzler heard Savannah yelling.
He didn't like their voices at all. They should leave him alone. How can they destroy his happy moment with his mother? "Go away, Savannah."
"Rude to order me with your eyes closed, don't you think so?" She paused. And then there were movements around the room as if someone was trying to fight with their seats. It was Savannah moving Alpha Aspen away. She returned and screamed, "wake your ass up."
"Oh, for heavens' sake, do you always have to be this loud?" Rinzler whined as he opened his eyes slowly. Seeing Savannah hovering above him, he shut his eyes. He felt something cold and soft below his eyes and another rough and hot above his eyebrows.
It bothered him, so, he opened his eyes slowly and was shocked to find four pairs of eyes staring down at him. It was a hot towel above his eyebrows and Savannah's fingers below his eyes. He moved deeper into the mattress, "enough, you guys are suffocating me."
"Yes, speaking of suffocating, are you planning on dying due to suffocation? Because if yes, let me know so I would prepare a great way of suffocating you, you asshole." Savannah ranted.
"Savannah." Everyone in the room screamed.
"Son, how are you feeling?" Alpha Aspen asked.
"Dad, you should be in bed." He uncovered himself and stopped halfway when someone in the room yelled, "Alpha is naked."
"Pepper." Alpha Rinzler's eyes opened completely wide.
"Shoot, if I had known nakedness would wake you, I would have undressed you completely and invited the pack to watch," Savannah said as she pushed Pepper out of the room.
Rubbing his forehead, he looked around the room, and when his eyes landed on the map at the corner of the room, he pushed his uncle's hand on his forehead. "Son, you scared us shitless." Beta Tetra said, his voice showing indeed they were scared.
"You are the one to speak, we sent you to bring a doctor and you returned hours late. Without the damn doctor but with a cook." Savannah said as he pushed a wet towel onto Rinzler's forehead.
"Stop," Rinzler said and pushed away her hand. "What do you mean hours? Savannah, I asked you to wake me up in thirty minutes." He looked beneath him, and when he saw he had shorts on, he threw the sheet off and tried to stand. Beta Tetra jumped on the bed, making Rinzler roll his eyes. "Uncle, really?"
"Sit." Alpha Aspen spoke as he tried to stand too. Savannah shot to her feet and helped their dad to stand. They all sat on Rinzler's bed and gazed at each other silently, sadness on their faces.
Two minutes later, Rinzler staggered to the bathroom, ignoring Beta Tetra's caring voice asking if he needed help. After relieving himself, he returned to his bedroom, "hey, this has been nice but I have to go. What time is it?"
"Thirty minutes past four." Beta Tetra said, earning a groan from Savannah.
"Oh, not bad," Rinzler said and went to his wardrobe. "May I ask, did the lake suddenly cover our pack? Darkness is looming all over us."
"No, the lake is still where you left it. It is dawn." Savannah whispered to him.
"Wait, what? Dawn? Dawn like dawn? You mean the dawn of a new day?" He panicked.
"Yes, now sit. Tell me, why were you calling mom?" Savannah pushed him slowly onto the bed.
"I ... don't know." Rinzler took his wristwatch from the table beside his bed, and indeed it was dawn. Did he die?
"Are you sick?" Beta Tetra inquired.
Rinzler pulled his lower lips with his thumb and index finger, he wanted to scream at everyone for not waking him. He only needed thirty minutes to rest and not the whole night.
"This is the second time you have fainted, or so I have heard." Alpha Aspen said calmly.
Scoffing, Savannah stared at their dad, "what do you mean or so you have heard, you were here when I brought him in my arms breathing heavily like a tractor."
Beta Tetra chuckled and covered it with a fake cough, "did something happen at the Fishers' Pack?"
"No. And thank you for caring." He sighed, "I need to make a call."
"No phone, Rinzler. Savannah said that day you were late for our meeting because you fainted. No one in our family has fainting issues, why are you suddenly fainting? And did you meet mom? By any chance, were you ready to cross over to the other side of the world?" Alpha Aspen rubbed his face in frustration.
Both Savannah and Beta Tetra nodded in agreement, they too had the same question to ask Rinzler.
Rinzler pinched his chapped lips. Swallowing, he gazed at them. Do they know I am dying? He pondered. As the thought hit him, his face got whiter. With dark circles under his eyes and wrinkles on his forehead, Rinzler was the definition of death at the moment.
Clearing his throat, he took his father's hand to his, if they continued staring at him the way they were, he would end up telling them the truth and that was the least of what he needed to do.
"I am okay," Rinzler assured them with a voice he thought sounded confident. He wished Savannah was screaming at him like earlier, this was uncomfortable.
Unknowingly, he was trembling and when Savannah pulled him to her, he noticed his shaking legs, he jumped, "it is cold, I need to shower."
"Ridiculous." Savannah huffed and brought him a trenchcoat.
"I guess it is water sickness."
"You were born in the lake, near the lake, and by the lake." Beta Tetra said and chuckled. "I am being poetic there."
"Beta Tetra, please bring a nurse or a doctor to check on Rinzler." Savannah dismissed him, she could see he wasn't serious with the intensity of everything happening around him, as always.
Beta Tetra nodded and left.
"That is your uncle and your beta, Savannah. You better apologize later, I never taught you to be this rude." Alpha Aspen reprimanded. "Now, Rinzler, what is going on?"