The Unwanted

My life isn’t what I expected it to be. The only person to ever truly love me died when I was six years old. That was thirteen years ago. I was forced to live with my biological father and stepmother because that was all I had left concerning my family. My mother always told me it was just her and I against the world because that was all we would need to survive this cruel place.

So how am I supposed to survive this place now? You would think that my father would love me but no he hated my guts and I don’t even know the story behind the reasoning for it. All I know is that he regrets having anything to do with my mother all those years ago and not being able to deny me being his.

Somehow my mother was able to have a DNA test done that proved he was my father and was able to give me his last name without his permission when I was born. He also took another DNA test when I moved in with him and that just pissed him off more when the results were the same as the first.

At nineteen I am stuck with a family who hates me, abused me, and degrades me. I’m hoping to leave this awful place when I graduate this school year but that’s seven months away.

It’s a cold November night. The stars are winking in the sky and the moon is at its fullest. Here I am laying in the meadow now full of dying wildflowers at the edge of the lake wishing my life was a tad bit different. I see a shooting star fly across the sky and close my eyes tight. Mentally I whisper my wish to the gods above.

“I wish I had someone to love, protect, and cherish me. To treat me with respect and view me as their equal.”

When I finish my wish I hear a twig break from behind me. Jumping I get into a defensive position and I scan the area looking for a threat around me. Not seeing anything I gather my things and head towards my car. While walking I hear another twig then something growling low and dangerous. Stopping in my tracks I scan the area again.

“Hello?” The growl gets a little louder.

“Whose out here?” Nothing but silence is the answer I get. Shaking my head I rush to my car and jump in and lock my car doors immediately. I make sure everything I brought with me is still in my car before I turn it on. When I start to back out of the parking spot my headlights flood the path I took and I see glowing blue eyes low to the ground staring straight at me and I scream! I punch the gas and whip the car around and haul ass out of there.

I hurried home at frantic speeds. I was surprised I made it all the way home without getting pulled over. I basically ran inside and slammed the door shut, bolting all the locks. I winced when I realized what I just did, not thinking about my safety from a true monster.

“Who the hell do you think you are slamming my doors like that?!” Yelled my father.

For all tense and purposes my dad is a generous, loving man. One who holds the utmost respect of everyone in this stupid town. But his true self is nothing but a rotten abusive monster. And to top it off he does it all sober. He wouldn’t be caught dead drinking or taking any kind of drugs while in the position of power he had. You see my dad is the mayor of our sweet little southern town. That’s why I can’t just move out while I’m still in high school. It would look very bad for him if I moved out at such a young age without the cause being me going off to college. My father was born and raised in New Darlin’, North Carolina so everyone and I mean everyone knows and adores him. Jason Smith is everyone’s hero but to me he is my worst nightmare.

“Answer me bitch!”

“Sorry sir, I didn’t mean to. I was spooked outside and didn’t realize I slammed the door until it was too late.”

I had my head bowed as I was always taught to do in his presence. Since I was basically looking at the floor I didn’t see his fist until it struck me in the temple causing my head to bounce off the hard oak door. The combined hits blackened my vision and made everything blurry.

“Jason? Dear, what’s wrong?” My stepmother’s shrill voice made my head throb a tad bit more.

“Nothing baby, just my stupid daughter forgetting her manners once again.”

“Of course!” She rolled her eyes then stepped toward me.

In a cruel mocking voice she uttered, “I don’t know why your mother decided to keep you. You’re nothing but a disappointment and stupid as a doornail. You should have more respect for your father and I. We didn’t have to take you in and give you everything you have now. We could send you off and no one would blink twice about you being gone.” Then she backhanded me with her huge ass diamond ring splitting my lip open.

“Anna, why don’t you go make sure dinner is ready while I take care of her?”

She smirked at me before turning toward my father and kissed him, making me want to gag. “Yes dear.” She walked off without giving me a second thought.

“I wished I killed your mother when she told me she was pregnant with you and wasn’t getting rid of you. If I would have known that she would have died 6 years later I could have saved myself time and money doing it myself instead of her illness.”

I winced at that low blow. Before I could utter another word he grabbed my hair and yanked me toward the stairs. I fell over my feet causing him to almost pull my hair out by the roots. I whimpered from the pain.

“Shut your mouth bitch! No one cares about you.” He continued to drag me up the stairs more than likely bruising my ribs again. When we finally made it to the landing he slung me into the wall. My head bounced off the door frame and onto the floor.

“Please dad. I’m sorry.” I sobbed out.

He kicked me hard in my already sore ribs. “I told you to never call me that unless we were in the public eye!” He screamed causing spit to fly in my face.

For the next five minutes he beat and kicked me until I was sure I had a few broken bones and could barely move. Every time I try to draw in a breath it feels like my chest is on fire.

“Take your weak ass into your room. Clean yourself up and I don’t want to see nor hear anything out of you for the rest of the night. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.” I gasped out.

Slowly I dragged myself up the wall until I was standing. My knees nearly buckled at the intense pain that was coursing through my body. I used the wall to support myself as I slowly made my way to my bedroom. Thankfully I had an en-suite bathroom but unfortunately I had to go up more stairs because they hated me so much they put me in the attic.

It was torture going up those stairs but I finally made it to my room and softly shut and locked my door. Then I moved a chair under the door knob just in case he wanted to beat me more he wouldn’t be able to get in. I grabbed my baggiest sweatpants and hoodie then limped to the bathroom. I avoided looking in the mirror because I just couldn’t face myself yet so I turned the shower on as hot as it would go. I stripped down while the water heated up and winced when I saw bruises already along my ribs.

“Damn it.” I broke a rib. How the hell am I supposed to go to work tomorrow with a broken rib? Shaking my head I pulled out my extensive first aid kit so it would be ready once I got out of the shower. Steam was rolling through the room by the time I was done. I threw in a mint vapor shower bomb then got in. It hurt like hell but the hot water washed away some of the tension in my body. I noticed there was a lot of blood mixing with the water. Too much blood to just be a busted lip. Great, I’m more than likely going to look like death tomorrow. To be honest death would be a relief compared to this life I’m living now.

I spend about thirty minutes washing my hair and body so I don’t use up all the hot water but long enough to get all the blood off of me. Once that’s done I gingerly dry off, careful not to hurt myself further. When that’s done I slip on my underwear and sweatpants then dig into my first aid kit for my wraps. I take a leather strap I have stashed in my kit and bite down on it so I don’t scream. Once that is in place I tightly wrap my ribs up as tight as possible gritting my teeth so tight I’m sure there’s teeth marks in the strap now. When I finish that I blow out the breath I was holding and slip my hoodie on. I try to run a brush through my hair but give up and through it into a messy bun. Before I leave the bathroom I brush my teeth and put my first aid kit back up.

Finally I make my way to my bed and lay down. I start crying at how hopeless I feel. I just want to leave this place. I turn my tv on and flip through Netflix until I find ‘Vampire Diaries’. Yes I have a tv and Netflix. I used my own money to get myself nice things here and there but I mostly save every penny. About thirty minutes have passed and I still couldn’t fall asleep so I go to the bathroom and take an aspirin and use the bathroom. I grab a soda out of my hidden mini fridge and then lay back down. I decided to turn off all the lights and tv to see if that would help also.

I was just falling into a deep sleep when I heard tapping on my window and a small growl. I could barely hold my eyes open when I peeked towards the sound. I’m not sure if I actually saw anything or not because I passed out but I do know I dreamed of those glowing blue eyes watching over me all night. At one point I saw a beautiful smokey gray wolf with a white spot over its right eye licking everywhere I was hurt.

I jolted awake when I heard banging downstairs. It took me a few minutes to catch my bearings. I kind of felt hungover and dizzy from the sudden wake up. I reached for my phone and noticed I didn’t feel any intense pain like I normally do when I’ve been beaten. How odd? Shaking my head of the thought I looked to see it was 4:30 in morning. I could go back to sleep if I wanted to because for one it was Saturday and second I wasn’t needed at work until nine. I heard another bang and decided to get up and just get my day started.

I walked over to my closet to grab my last clean work uniform when I noticed that my window was open. I know for a fact I had it closed last night. I walk towards it and look out towards the woods behind our house and gasp when I notice the same glowing blue eyes staring straight at me.

“What the hell?” I whisper as I reach up to shut the window again. As I was doing that I heard a howl. The sound hit me straight in the heart and made me tear up. It was a low, saddened howl like an animal in emotional pain. “I get it buddy. I get it.” I looked at those blue eyes for a second longer than locked my window and went about my business. Once I was done showering and about to get dressed I took a chance to look at the damage in the mirror. I nearly fell when I noticed I was completely healed. My lip wasn’t swollen or split. There weren’t any bruises anywhere on my body. I poked my ribs and there wasn’t any pain anywhere.

“How is this possible?” Then my dream hit me like a freight train. The wolf licked all these places. Now they are healed. Could it not have been a dream?

Shaking my head I grabbed all my dirty clothes and walked back into my bathroom and threw them in the washing machine. One of the perks of being hated so much my dad decided I didn’t need to be downstairs more than just to get in and out the house and to get food to eat so he had a washer and dryer installed up here for me. Most of the time I get to eat at work so I don’t really bother them that much so it all works out.

By the time that’s all said and done it’s 5:30 a.m. I decided to just leave and go into work early. The boss won’t mind. I might try to convince him to let me start working all day Saturday and Sundays from now on.

I quickly and quietly walked down the stairs to leave. I made it all the way to the door before I was stopped by Anna.

“Where are you going this early?”

I turned around with my gaze on the floor, “To work. I was going to see if they could use the help this morning. Something woke me up and I couldn’t go back to sleep and I figured it would be best to go to work earlier than possibly make anyone angry by staying here doing nothing ma’am.” I held my breath hoping I didn’t piss her off with the truth.

“Go ahead. What time do you get off today?”

“Supposed to be four this afternoon ma’am. But I will text or call Mrs.Jones if I stay for the dinner rush as well.” Mrs. Jones was their maid/house manager. I always had to contact her if I needed to let my dad or Anna know anything.

“Very well. Do try to stay after. We have guests tonight and don’t want your presence to distract us tonight.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She turned around and walked away without another word and I hurried out the door before I could be stopped again. By the time I made it to work it was 6:30. I got out of my car and walked to the back of the diner. My boss was sitting outside smoking like normal.

“Hey Mr. Ward.”

He looked up and narrowed his eyes at me. “Haven Grace. What are you doing here this early?”

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He huffed out a breath. “Could I possibly start working all shifts on Saturdays and Sundays Mr. Ward? You don’t have to pay me as much on the new shifts. I could just take the tips for those and just start my normal pay hours on my normal start time.”

He shook his head at me and waved me away. “Go clock in Haven. We’ll talk tonight after closing.”

I ran up to him and hugged him. “Thank you. “ I ran inside before he could make a fuss. The old man hated when I got sentimental about him. I clocked in and got my apron, order pad and pen. Then I ducked inside the kitchen for a second.

“Haven what on earth.”

“Hey Bobby. Could you make a waffle or pancake for me and set it aside?”

“Sure thing baby.” Bobby was old enough to be my grandpa and dotted on me ever since I was little and started coming here to get away for a little while. Him, Mr. Ward, and Mrs. Ward were the only three who knew what went on in my life and tried to make up for it by showing me love and helping me keep busy when I needed a break from home.

“Thanks Bobby.” I walk out and see Hope coming to the front.

“Where do you need me?”

“Thank God! Can you clear off the tables right fast and then we’ll split the sections up when you’re done?”

I smiled and nodded my head at her. I grabbed the tube box and my cleaning supplies and started to clean up the tables. They were really busy this morning so I knew I more than likely looked like a chicken with its head cut off trying to help keep up with everything. It took me about fifteen minutes to get all the tables clean and the dishes put in the dishwasher.

“Thanks Haven. You can take the front half and I’ll get the back half. Sounds good?”

“Yes ma’am.”

The diner was set up with about seven tables in front along with the ten bar seating and the back half had five tables with seven spots at the bar. It was a good size diner and was the best place to get a good messy cheeseburger during lunch time.

My half was already taken care of right now so I went ahead and tidied up after everyone and collected Hope’s tips and put them in her jar underneath the counter. I don’t believe in collecting tips from those I didn’t wait on as soon as they entered the diner. The bell rang over the door singling out a new customer.

“Choose any spot you want. We got enough in the front and back.” I called as I grabbed my pad and pen again. When I looked up I saw three tall muscular guys walking to the end booth in my section. I plastered on a smile and walked over with three menus.

“Welcome to Wards’ Diner. I’m Haven and I’ll be your waitress this morning. What can I get you to drink while you decide on what you want to eat?” I haven’t looked at the guys yet because I was placing the menus down and getting ready to write their order down. No one spoke so I looked up.

“Need a second on the drinks?”

They just stared at me and I looked at them each slowly. The two on my right looked like twins with longish brown hair and brown eyes. Same facial structure and everything. When I turned to look at the guy on my left my breath hitched. This guy had the same bright eyes as the wolf in my dream and whatever was outside my window this morning. I shook my head and looked back down. I couldn’t look at him anymore so I couldn’t tell you anything else about him. backed up a step. “I’ll give y’all a couple of minutes and be right back.” I was trembling for some weird reason.

“Who are those hotties?” Hope whispered to me when I got to the coffee pot. I slapped her arm and laughed.

“I don’t know. Want to trade that table with me please?” She looked at me like I was crazy but nodded her head. I shot her a smile and then started topping off people’s coffee. I made my rounds and cleared off tables. When I made it back to the counter Hope stopped me.

“Blue eyes has been watching you the whole time and seems kind of pissed you traded him off.”

“It’s fine. I’m sure they’re just passing through. Plus I don’t think him or his buddies would like it too much to be wearing everything they ordered. I was shaking too bad to do anything around them.”

Hope laughed and shook her head. I just smiled at her and turned around.

“Ugh!” I ran right into a wall but I don’t remember a wall being there.

“Haven! Are you alright?”