Chapter 5:

Clair woke up screaming in the middle of the night. I jumped up straight in my bed and started looking around. On the defense, ready to kill. I grab my knife, fling it open and jump down to the floor from my bed. When I didn't see anyone, I rushed to Clair's side, already knowing what's wrong.

I sat on the bed beside her and asked. "Clair what's wrong? Are you ok? It's a nightmare isn't it."

She sat straight up, heaving as if afraid. From the look on her face, I'm right. "I'm ok, I'm ok."

I hugged her tight to make her feel safe. "I'm here, I'm here." I say trying to calm while she cries. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and rub up and down, soothing her.

"Octavia, I'm so glad we are out of that town. My father is always so mean to me. He scares me." Clair said, clutching my tanktop crying.

"It's ok Clair. I'm here. I won't let him come around, I swear." I hugged her tightly on her bed. "You don't ever have to see him again."

"Everytime something doesn't go his way...." She trailed off.

I saw red because I know exactly what she is talking about. "You don't have to talk about it. You're like my sister. All you have to do is tell me and I'll solve the problem."

"I should have talked sooner, but I need to know please." She cries harder into my shoulder.

"Ok, go ahead, talk to me." I said rubbing her shoulder again.

"His belt hurts. Hurts so bad! Some of the hits don't heal right. My legs hurt sometimes." She leans back. "Sometimes so bad that it's hard to walk, I cover up and pretend it doesn't hurt."

"OH Clair, why haven't you told anyone before now?" I asked. "I noticed the days you just weren't around, or you dressed differently than normal, but I never knew." I'm starting to get really mad. I want to go back and claw his eyes out with my bare hands for what he did to Clair.

"Last time I told someone so I could get help...." She hiccupped and continued with a scared and sad look in her blue eyes. "He raped me." She started crying again.

"Shooo, it's ok, I got you, it won't happen again. I promise. I'll make sure he never lays a hand on you again. I'll protect you." And that's an oath. I love Clair like a sister.

"I don't understand why my mother would leave me in a situation like that. She left when I was 8. No call. No letter. Nothing." She looked up at me again. "How can someone leave their child in a home like that? How can anyone be this cruel their child?"

"I don't know Clair," I said with a sigh. "I don't know" what Clair doesn't realize is. If I ever see that man again he's dead. I'll kill him. I won't feel any remorse. She cried a little while longer. After a while she fell asleep on my shoulder. I laid her back in her bed, and tucked her in, I leaned back and got under her blanket, with the oath still on my mind, I drifted back off to sleep. He will die.

*********

The next morning. I woke up still in Clair's bed. I look around and Clair is fully dressed with breakfast and coffee. Looks like ham and cheese omlets. Yum.

Hercules lay at the foot of the bed eating. He looks so happy right now, tail wagging. Like, in his head, he's on a doggy vacation, or something.

I look at Clair. She still looks somewhat upset, but mostly it's covered up. She's wearing a pair of jeggings and a short sleeve shirt. Her hair is down. I'm thinking of going with the same look.

"Are you feeling ok?" I asked her.

"Hmm" She looked at me funny. "Yea I'm fine." She said, then smiled. She looked down at her feet with a beet red face.

"It's ok Clair. It never happened." The minute those words left my mouth she grinned the biggest, happiest, most beautiful smile I ever seen. That washed the rest of the negativity right outta her.

I giggled. "Alright let's eat." I smiled. "We got a house to find."

I got up, we ate and talked about what she's seen so far in the town. We discuss what kind of location we are going to live in. Hopefully we can come to a conclusion together.

We both agreed to start going out for our run in the morning time. We changed it to around dawn, instead of at the end of the day. So that she can run with us. She's scared to get caught out in the dark.

After we get done eating, we get ready to head out. That's when we started our search for our new house, for our new lives.

**********

"So if we are going to stay up here at the top of this hill, then I have a request." She said, smiling.

I look at her with just as big a grin as her. "What's that?"

"I'm not sharing with hercules." She said laughing when he huffed in the back seat. We both burst into hysterical laughter.

We got out and walked up to the porch of this wonderful house. The seller unlocked the door for us, and we walked in. Clair seemed to have a flirtatious eye for him. We found out his first name is Brian Jackson. He has sandy blonde hair. With chocolate brown eyes. That's all we know about him. He doesn't talk much.

The house is huge, beautiful, and just perfect. The outside is grey with black trim. It looks like it has several rooms in it. We walked into the living room and I'm just in awe. Light brown walls with white furniture. A full size white couch in the living room. With a white matching end table, a recliner, and a loveseat, all white. It opens up into din white grey walls and a black table big enough for 2 families. There is a door way off to one side when I walk in. It opened up to a large open kitchen. Which is big enough for 5 or 6 people. It looks like a small pack meeting house for werewolves to communicate on neutral turfs.

There is a hallway to the side of the living room right beside the couch, which is across from the front door. We walk down it and there are 2 rooms at the end of this hallway. Along with a back door. The walls are white and tried in black.

The bedrooms looked identical. They were huge. The walls were grey, with white carpet. The bed is huge. It's a California king size bed, with a black bed frame, and black match furniture, and white colors. There were 2 doors. One is a huge walk in closet. The other is the bathroom.

The bathroom was huge with a 2 person garden tub and stand up shower big enough for 2, with 2 shower heads too. The toilet is stuffed in the corner out of site with a privacy curtain up. The walls match the bedroom , but the wooden floor is a light brown color. On inspection, the other bathroom, connected to the other bedroom, was the same way.

We went back to the living room. There was another hallway, on the other side of the recliner adjacent to the couch and front door. It looks exactly like the other hallway. We walked down it, and there were 2 more huge rooms that looked identical to the other 2 rooms. With bathrooms the same way, just as big.

"Yea we want it." We say it at exactly the same time. I dug through my purse just to prove my point. The woman got out her receipt book and we signed all the paperwork for it.

"Thank you. You are going to be the proud owner of this house, just a couple papers to fill out. Yall can go ahead and move in if you'd like to." He smiled at us. "Yall do like it right?"

I looked at Clair. I had forgotten he followed us in. "This is our new start." I smile. "I don't care how many times we have to start over. I'll do it again as long as my best friend is here with me." I side hug her. She does the same to me. " I look up at Brian, "we love it."

Clair smiled back at me. Then I looked thoughtful. "Do you wanna sell another house. She has a trailer...." they walked off talking about that. While heading toward Hercules.

I went back outside where Hercules is, and brought him in, to show him his new room. His tail wagging happily, and his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Happily followed me in barking.

Later that night the moving vans got here with our stuff. Like our personal stuff and clothes stuff we had packed and couldn't fit in the car. The guy driving one of them got all angry. "Are you Octavia?"

"Yes sir that's me." I said walking out the door. With Clair on my hills "You got everything from both addresses?"

"Then you must be Clair." He looked at her. "You could have told me he had a gun."

"He had a gun?" Clair looked at him confused.

"And the other house had wolves everywhere!" He took a deep breath looking at me. I could tell he was mad and trying to hold it in. "I can understand though now, why you ladies had to leave the area. Yall should be more careful about what and who comes in."

"Yea maybe you're right." I said with an attitude. It's none of his business. "Can we get this over with?" I asked slinking back when I noticed his friend eyeballing me.

Something is off about that one. I said to myself. I sense something I just can't figure out what. Something about him is definitely giving me a bad vibe.

They start unloading everything. I keep watching the one from a distance. He still gives me a bad vibe. I wish they would hurry up and get done.

About 15 minutes later they were done putting everything in the house. After they leave, I sit on the couch with Clair beside me and Hercules on the floor at my feet. He's been moping around. We are watching television, well they are I'm lost in my thoughts.

I miss Damon, and I know Hercules does too. I see it. I know that's why he has been moping all day. Whining and not really picking up his pace, or being happy about anything.

I hate seeing him this upset. I feel his pain, I miss him too buddy. I thought to myself. I actually feel tears falling down my face for this wolf. I don't understand it, I surely don't know how to question it, and I definitely don't know anyone to ask. What is going on with me?