From Eden.

To most people, moving can be a good or bad experience. It could either mean that the destination you're heading towards is going to lead you a wealthier life, or it could mean that you were forcefully taken away from what you once knew as a normal and happy life. To most people, moving is seen as a blessing, a way to run away from their problems and to start anew wherever they end up. That wasn’t the case for me.

As an adolescent youth, I saw this move as a disaster. I was being ripped away from the place I had called home for all of my seventeen years like a vegetable being ripped from a garden before it was ripe. My siblings felt the same, our parents were making us leave behind everything we held near and dear. I remember when the man who raised me, Jacob, came home on that day, a huge grin spread across his face. He began to talk of things mentioning a promotion, and he said the word “California” a few times. The woman who raised me, Christina, cheered for joy and happily jumped from the dark blue couch placed in the middle of our living room to wrap her tiny arms around Jacob’s neck, congratulating her husband on what happened. My siblings, Laura and Henry, looked at their biological parents with fallen faces. I’m sure we all shared a look of confusion, not sure on how to take the news.

“Well, aren't you happy, guys?” Jacob asked, his grin seeming to take up his entire face. I nodded, and gave him the best smile I could muster. Laura and Henry just stared at their feet, the soberest of looks sat on their faces.

“Come on you guys, cheer up!” Christina said, clapping her hands in excitement. She moved from Jacob’s side over to her biological kids and kissed them each on the top of the head. I knew there wouldn’t be any kisses or kind gestures for me.

My adoptive parents - Christina and Jacob Baybrook claimed they found me on their doorstep on the morning of September twenty-eighth, wrapped up in an army coat. I still had my umbilical cord attached. They are the only parents I’ve ever known, and I honestly don’t think I’d like to meet the people who put me on their doorstep in the chilliness of September weather in Minnesota.

I suppose I was one of the lucky ones. Instead of Christina and Jacob turning me over to be a ward of the state, they went and officially adopted me. I went from being a newborn baby found on a doorstep to Delilah Faye Baybrook. Within a year, Christina fell pregnant with their first biological child, my sister Laura. Three years later came Jacob’s pride and joy, his only son, Henry. And ever since then, I slowly stopped getting the hugs, the kisses, the “I love you”’s, everything. My parents lights began to dim on me and shine on my younger siblings. But I guess that happens with every family dynamic. The oldest gets ignored while the youngest seemed to be favored by the parents. In my case, it was more prominent seeing I was of no biological ties to Christina and Jacob. It just said on a piece of paper they were my parents.

I don't think that Christina and Jacob intended to ignore me, I had known from a young age that I didn’t belong with the Baybrook clan. It wasn’t just the physical aspects that set me apart, it was the emotional and mental ones too. It was soon after Laura and I started school that I began to see the physical differences in us. Laura had her mother’s mahogany colored hair and her father’s steel grey eyes. Henry inherited Jacob’s eye color as well, their irises sparkled with life, while I questioned why my hair was as pale as sunlight and why my eyes were the color of emeralds, even if they were a bit dull at times.

At the age of thirteen, Christina and Jacob, having the best of intentions, sat me down and told me that I was adopted. I had shrugged it off nonchalantly, even though their expressions were sincere and they were trying to break it to me easily, they couldn’t hide their shocked faces when I told them that I knew and continued on with my activity.

Nothing has ever been the same between us since.

While Jacob and Christina did their best to treat me fairly, sometimes they forgot to do so. I was envious of Laura and Henry. They knew who their parents were, they knew what they were. Because in the Baybrook family, there was a secret. It wasn't a terribly huge secret, but a secret nonetheless.

We were Lycans, commonly known as Werewolves.
Well, most of us, anyway.

Christina and Jacob had speculated that I had some sort of Were or Shifter in me, but it was hard to tell. I never Turned on the full moon like how Jacob did. Along with not Turning on every full moon, whatever else I was, it slowed my growth. Most Weres mature faster physically than their actual age. I looked like my age, but Laura, who was sixteen, looked like she was approaching her early to mid-twenties - another reason to be envious of her. But her and Henry’s mental age was their own, while it had been proven time and time again that I had a higher intelligence than my siblings.

“My promotion means that I’m getting transferred.” Jacob stated. “And they’re going to pay our entire moving fees so we can get settled in as soon as possible.”

“Where are we moving to?” Laura inquired.

“Some town called Huntington Beach, it’s in California.”

Christina, once again, was not able to contain herself and engulfed Jacob in another hug. A groan of protest came from where Laura and Henry were sitting. The last thing any of us wanted was to be separated from the only home we had ever known. Being used to the cold winters and the snow, I dreaded that I was going to have to leave that for hot, beach clad, bikini wearing, orange bodies, white haired California. I hated the thought of it, and I knew that I would never, no matter how hard I tried, fit in.

“Will there be people like us?” Asked Henry, a worrying expression flashed across his face. His thoughts were projecting and I could hear them loud and clear. He was worried about being the only Were in school, and having to explain to any friends he might make why he wasn’t in school the day after the full moon.

“We're moving to a Supernatural community,” Jacob answered, “Weres, Shifters, Werepanthers, Witches, even Faeries,” Jacob beamed, he was proud of himself for scoring this opportunity for his family.

“Will there be Fangers there?”

“Henry Jacob Baybrook!” Christina shrieked, “you know we don't use that word in this household!” She scolded. Henry looked down at his shoes, his cheeks turning red.
“Fangers” was a derogatory nickname for Vampires, the only species that was looked down upon in the Supernatural world. Werewolves considered them their natural enemy, just of how different they were. Weres are warm-blooded and hunt once a month. Weres can survive on Human food and only a few Weres get blood drunk enough to actually do any damage. Vampires on the other hand, were cold hearted creatures who killed for the high of it. They were evil and for as long as I could remember, the Weres and Vamps were at odds with something or another. We didn't bother them and they didn't bother us, it was as simple as that. Vampires were the reason why the Fae population was depleting so rapidly; a vampire could drain a faery dry and would be able to walk in the sunlight. It had only been three years ago - 1996, to be exact, when I was fourteen, Vampires “came out of the coffin” and the world knew about Supernaturals. Communities like the one we would be moving to had been set up all over the world, due to the hate crimes that Supernaturals had been victims of.

“When are we leaving?” Christina asked, clasping her hands together and smiling at Jacob, an excited gleam in her eyes.

“Whenever we're ready, I suppose.” Jacob shrugged.

I have never seen a woman pack that quickly.

Notes

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