MY AQUATIC MATE
When someone feels the warmth of a fire, it's referred to as wrath. When they are consumed by the flames, it becomes hate, but when they are reduced to ashes by the fire, it's called revenge. They made me experience the warmth, the burning, and ultimately, the ashes. However, like a phoenix, I intend to rise from the ashes they left me in.
To this day, I can't stay in one place for more than three months because of them. My life feels aimless; I'm merely existing as long as my heart keeps beating, even though I wish every day that I could just die. I despise them for filling my life with anger.
Our destinies are shaped by the environment we grow up in, and our first storyteller is our mother. This makes me ponder my own fate every day. Is the life I'm living truly the one I should be leading? I may never find the answers, but I can always wonder. What I do know is that I am writing my own fate. I may not be able to change the past, but I can at least shape my future.
Even though I was a rogue, I didn't live like one; I wasn't cruel or savage like others. I created a small, simple life for myself. It wasn't easy, as we had to fight to survive, but it was better than turning into savages. I was still young, yet I was many things: a lone wolf, an unwanted child, a sister, a best friend, and most importantly, a mother to my adorable little brother, Phoenix.
He was my everything. If it weren't for him, I would have long ago ended my life. He was my motivation. When I felt like crying in the streets with no one to hear me, when I considered surrendering to despair, his smile gave me strength. His eyes filled me with hope, and his laughter brought me immense joy. He was my pride. Besides the hatred they showed me, Phoenix was the best thing they ever gave me.
We had just moved to a new place, one I was uncertain about, but it was only for three months. Today was our first day of school. Phoenix had been pestering me about enrolling, and since it was my last year of high school, I figured I might as well give it a shot.
Waking him up was easy; I taught him not to be a heavy sleeper because you never know what could happen. However, leaving the house to go to a place he was excited about proved to be a challenge. We were outside, and I was waiting for him to get in the car, but he was reluctant to say goodbye to Jenny and Gill, his fish friends.
"Phoenix, you've been saying goodbye for ten minutes!" I called out.
"Just one more minute," he replied, and I sighed.
"Phoenix, I'm asking nicely, can you please get in the car?" He chose to stay silent.
Okay, he wanted me to be the bad guy. I froze the water in the fish tank.
He turned to me with a frown. "I thought I told you not to show off your powers in front of me?"
"I thought I told you to get in the car," I shot back. He scoffed and finally climbed in.
"I thought I told you to get in the car," he mocked as he climbed in. He plugged in his earphones, probably because I'm a bit of a chatterbox; once I start talking, it's hard for me to stop, so the earphones were his way of silencing me.
"Seriously?" I rolled my eyes, hoping he might reconsider.
"Absolutely necessary!" he replied, looking away. How dull.
The ride to school was uneventful, but I couldn't shake my anxiety about the future. I was happy that he was in a good mood, but I worried about how he would interact with others. He was shy, and people were so different from me; they wouldn't treat him the way I did, and he wasn't accustomed to them.
I had spent my entire life shielding him from this harsh world, and letting him go to school felt like I was about to stop protecting him. I glanced over at him; he was still lost in his music. I reminisced about our shared memories. My brother always lived as if there was no tomorrow, not caring about the consequences, he just lived.
I wondered if he would be able to navigate the harsh realities that society would impose on him, that he might feel like an unwanted child with no worth.
As if sensing my concerns, he shook my arm.
"Chubby cheeks, I'll be fine." I scoffed at his confidence. How could he be so sure? I knew the world; he didn't.
I parked outside the school gates. "Listen, I need you to promise me something: don’t let anyone put you down." I said seriously, but he just laughed at me.
"I promise," he said between laughs.
"Pinky promise?" He kept a serious expression.
"I promise, sister. I won't let you down."
"You better, or I'm going to kick your ass," I said as we drove through the school gates.
"Angelique, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but something bad is about to happen," my wolf warned.
"Not now, Angela; I feel it too," I replied. She can be annoying sometimes, but honestly, I sensed something terrible was coming, and I wasn't quite prepared for it.
"I'm so happy I think my heart is making little hearts," Phoenix exclaimed. He's always talking, yet he claims I'm the one who can't stop chatting.
"Yeah, I can totally relate," I replied flatly.
"Are you really that boring? You've never been to school, so how can you relate?" I shrugged.
"I didn't know what to say, chubby cheeks," I teased, and he shot me a glare.
He hates it when I call him that, even though he uses it for me without complaint.
We were just a few steps from entering the school building when we heard a car crash. We turned to look.
Forget what I just said.
Actually, a car...
No! A Porsche hit my car. Fury and rage surged through me; all kinds of emotions were flooding my body.
I worked so hard to pay for that car.
I was seething with anger. I wanted to hurt someone.
