The Rise of an Omega ✓

12.

Confusion clouded Amelia's mind while her eyes read her name over and over again, sure that there was something wrong.

She struggled to catch a breath, momentary concentrating her forces on her legs that were trembling too much to keep her standing. When she steadied herself, she glanced again at the crypt. Her name was still there, this was not a nightmare. Her heartbeat was so strong and fast she was sure even without super senses it could be heard.

She couldn't understand what that meant. They thought she was dead? This question had her with mixed feelings.

Her family - not a lovely one but the only one she had - thought she was dead. It was scary, terrifying even, and a part of her wanted to run home and tell them she was alive.

But there was another part of her - one she wasn't sure how big was - that was relieved.

During all the past week, there was always a thought in the back of Amelia's mind, that her family was looking for her after she disappeared, and it made her uncomfortable. She never liked to bother people, no matter who it was, and to have her mother and siblings looking around for her wasn't something she wanted, much less if her vanishing was somehow connected with the pack - she didn't want anyone speculating that they had kidnapped her or something sinister like that.

But if they thought she was dead, they would stop looking. They would never find her at the pack's house and she would be able to build a new life away from everything she hated about it before.

Then she remembered Ethan's words at the car, "this is the solid end of your old life. And as soon as you are ready, your new life will start with us." She understood now what he meant.

This was the decision Amelia was delaying to do, and right there at the cemetery, right then in front of the crypt with her name on it, she knew she had to do it. Decide between staying with the pack or going back to her family.

It shouldn't be a difficult choice. After all, her family hated what she was, and even though they didn't know about her, they never treated her as an equal. And there was the pack, where she felt safe, and the wolves cared about her.

Amelia thought about the time she has with them. Even with all the good things that come when you live with people who care about you, she couldn't help but remember the feeling that she was an outsider, an intruder in the family.

They tried to make her feel a part of it in the way they knew but they made her feel useless in the process. She knew they didn't intend it, knew all they did was with the best of the intentions, but she couldn't stop herself from feeling like a burden.

And there was her family. A very dysfunctional, distant and cold family. Amelia could not think of anything farther from 'loving' than them. She still remembered the days where she would do anything to please her mother, only to be turned down every time. Old habits are had to die, she supposed.

There was a part of Amelia that was terrified with the option of lying to Naomi. The part that wanted to come back, because if she didn't then everything would be unknown and new things are scary. Known is safe.

She heard a sigh behind her, looking back she saw Ethan. She had forgotten he was there, for God knows how long, waiting for her to say something. She focused on his eyes. They caramel orbs looking at her with such care and affection, it made her remember the books she read at the library. It reminded her about that part where the character finally has love and is in peace. The unknown scared them too, but they faced it with their heads up, and she would do the same.

The books had always been more of a family for Amelia than the people she lived with. They taught her to be who she was, they showed her a world that was worth living, and this alone was enough for her to believe that this was the right decision.

Learn how to live again would not be easy. Live with the fact that she wasn't human like she always thought wouldn't either, but she's got help, and she knew she couldn't have asked for a better new family to do it with.

Amelia felt a determination that clouded her mind for everything else. She wasn't thinking about the imminent threat surrounding her, neither has she thought the fact that by choosing the pack she marked them as a target too. No, all she could think was the weird sense of freedom that came with the decision and the fact that she was now free from her past.

Showing the purest smile she ever did, that made her look years younger, Amelia told Ethan the words she knew he wanted to hear, with her heart feeling light from the truth in them. "I am done here. Let's go home."

And as if sealing her decision, a cold breeze swept through them, making Amelia shiver, almost like a sixth sense alerting her to prepare herself for the aftermath.