Star

I woke early the next morning, the one after I had experienced so much in the halls of the house. I started on my new daily routine of showering, brushing my teeth, brushing my hair, and getting dressed. This feeling of being clean and properly dressed everyday was amazing. It was something that I never wanted to go without ever again.

Feeling clean and refreshed I decided to leave the room and head down to breakfast. The entire walk from my room on the fifth floor down to the dining room on the first floor I felt like something was off. Something was different.

I couldn't pinpoint what it was. I couldn't tell if I was seeing something differently or if I was smelling something different. But whatever it was, I could tell that something was different about the house today than it had been the last couple times I had come down here.

But what could it have been?

This was going to drive me nuts. I swear that I could sense something different, but I just couldn't figure it out. So the entire time that I was walking down the beautifully decorated hallway to the stairs, down the elegant stairs to the first floor, down the hall to the dining room I was thinking about this different feeling, this newness that I couldn't figure out.

I had been so lost in thought that I didn't pay attention when I first went into the dining room. I just had my head down like I was used to doing and was going to go to the same spot I had sat in the last few times.

I'm sure you can imagine, then, what kind of shock I had when I heard the sound of two sharp intakes of breath like some people were either scared, shocked, or surprised. I looked up at the sound and froze.

I thought for sure I was seeing ghosts. That there were two ghosts standing in the Alpha's pack house. There was no way I was truly seeing what I thought I was seeing.

Did my family track down my cousins and kill them because I had escaped? Were these their ghosts that had come here to check up on me before they departed and left for the afterlife? What was I truly seeing here?

"Astraia, my little star." I saw my cousin Bailey smile, tears of joy and happiness filling his eyes.

"Starry!" Reed called out in his chipper voice.

The two of them held their arms out toward me like they were expecting a hug, like they were really there.

"We've missed you so much, Star." Bailey was speaking again. His voice seemed so real, so close to me as they took a few steps toward me.

"B-B-Bailey? R-R-Reed?" I spoked their names as if they were questions, wondering if they were really there.

"It's us, Little Star, we're here. Goddess, but you've gotten so much older now." Bailey's words were filled with love and sadness but also joy. He couldn't stop smiling even as the tears started to stream down his face.

"We love you, Starry, we love you so much. And we're sorry we left you."

"Y-yo-you're here? You're really here?" I had to ask, to make sure that I wasn't seeing things.

"They're really here." Chay smiled at me from across the room. "I told you we would find them.

"Bailey!" I felt the tears begin then, the tears I hadn't even known that I had been holding back this whole time. "Reed!"

After saying their names one last time I started running toward them, my arms held out just like theirs. The running was made more difficult with the brace that I put on again after my shower. The bones were healing, but Doc hadn't said I could leave it off yet. But I didn't care, I would run as awkwardly and as goofily as I had to just so I could get to them.

"Star."

"Starry." They called out to me when I reached them.

I wrapped one arm around each of them, around their necks, holding them close to me. They in turn wrapped their arms around me, their long, strong arms making me feel safe and secure just like they had done when I was still young.

"I missed you." I cried as I began to sob into the space between their shoulders. "I missed you so much."

"I'm sorry." Bailey cried, his face pressed against my right shoulder.

"Forgive us, Starry, please. We're so sorry." Reed added, his voice muffled against my left shoulder.

"We wanted to come back for you, we wanted to help you." Bailey was continuing, fluidly following his brother when he spoke.

"We wanted to take you away with us when we left, but we couldn't get to you." Reed was crying now, sobbing into my neck and shoulder like he was finally letting out years worth of emotions.

We stayed like that for a long time. The three of us holding each other close and crying not so silently into each other's shoulders. They were there to catch my tears and I was there to catch theirs. For once I was able to be there for them, to provide them with some semblance of support.

After several minutes, the exact number of which I was not quite sure of, we finally separated. I saw joy filled smiles and loving eyes looking back at me from two familiar faces. They seemed to be so overjoyed to see me, but they had no idea how happy I was to finally see them again.

"How did you get here? When?"

"Artem came to see us last night, and we just got here a little bit before you came into the room. Goddess but I am glad to see you." Reed was staring at me like he couldn't quite believe his eyes.

"You're all grown up now, Little Star. I can't believe it." Bailey was grinning so much that it looked like his face should hurt, but he wasn't stopping.

"Hello." There was a timid female voice that interrupted our reunion. I jerked, surprised by the sound.

"Oh, sorry Ella." Bailey grinned as he pulled away from me, Reed followed suit.

The two of them, my long lost cousins, were each holding an arm out toward the female who had interrupted us, beckoning her closer.

"Star, we never got to introduce you to Ella before we left." Bailey was smiling as he looked from the girl then to me and back again.

"Starry, this is our little sister, Ella. She was too young to come see you when you were younger, but we took her with us when we left."

"She's known about you the whole time, and she wanted to save you as much as we did." My cousins were telling me that this was their sister, the one they had told me about years ago. I had always wanted to meet her, but they hadn't said much about her at the time.

"Hello Star." She smiled sweetly at me. "I'm Ella, and I am so glad to meet you."

"Hi Ella." I grinned. I was getting another family member that was probably going to treat me nicely. This was looking like it was going to be one of the best days of my life. I was so happy and overjoyed.