Tempest Awakening

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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The dark room turned bright when the light suddenly came on.

“Wake up!”

Someone shook the little girl’s shoulder rather impatiently until she showed a sign that she had woken up from her deep slumber.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes with her stubby fingers before opening them. In the dark, her hazel colored eyes stared at her father, questioningly. Why did he wake her up when it was still dark outside?

“It’s still night time,” she said peevishly and was ready to hit the pillow again, but her father pulled her hand instead. “Why?”

.....

Her protest was drowned in the commotion coming from the outside. The sound of howlings and screamings pierced through the serene night. People cursed so loud while begging for their lives.

“Dad, what is happening?” she opened her eyes wide when she noticed that fire had engulfed this house. They were surrounded by fire.

The little girl saw how the flames danced on the walls as the heat suffocated her, while dark smoke disrupted their vision.

“Dad!” The little girl was now screaming at her father since he didn’t answer her. He was busy dragging her across their living room and kitchen.

Her small feet couldn’t catch up with his, thus her father picked her up without slowing down at all.

Fear coursed through her veins and her heart began beating so fast when her father didn’t answer her question. Her mind wired to the worst thing that could possibly happen to her pack. Her lovely small pack...

The little girl closed her eyes tightly and hugged her father’s neck as he rammed his back against the burning door, covered with flames, before they stepped outside of the house and the cold night wind hit her face, along with the screams and howls. The sound became very clear now.

The little girl whimpered when she glanced at her scalding hand, she blew on her hand, so the pain could subside a little, though she knew that she would heal soon, since she was a shifter, but still, it hurt.

Her father didn’t want to waste even a second and put her down when he slammed his back against the door. He didn’t stop when he dodged his attacker and turned blind eyes to the dying people around him, as he did his best to avoid them. He needed to save his daughter.

“Close your eyes, little one,” her father whispered to her when the gruesome scene entered her vision under the bright moon light.

The little girl obediently closed her eyes, while licking her hand. She hoped it could heal sooner.

Gradually, the screams and the heat subsided until it became a faded background sound behind them. Even so, her father didn’t slow down his pace. The ground beneath him thumped loudly against his barefoot.

And only when silence engulfed them and he was pretty sure that he had created a great distance between him and the slaughtering back at home, did he slow down his pace. He briskly walked through the trees.

“Can I open my eyes now?” she asked. She could feel her father’s heart beating so fast and his breath was labored.

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