Wovon Sollen Wir Träumen

"Wovon Sollen Wir Träumen" - Frida Gold

🎵 So wie wir sind / Woran können wir glauben? Wo führt das hin? Was kommt und bleibt? / So wie wir sind / Ich fühl mich leer 🎵

Dad and Alaric had taken a day trip to Cologne for a little pre-honeymoon. They had real plans to go to Paris, but they decided to do a short trip during the day since Emilia and I fly back to Canada tomorrow. The day before leaving Germany typically was a sad one, but I cannot honestly say that I'm heartbroken to be going home after this summer.

My clothes were already washed and my suitcase was already all packed up and ready to go. It sat on the floor of my new bedroom, right by the door so that all I had to do was snatch it up in my claws and rush for the front door when the time is right.

Everything so far was a big adjustment, and everything was changing so quickly. I now had a step-father and a step-brother, and everything was just different. I didn't know how to process any of it, and whenever I made an attempt, I just got a headache. Therefore, I figured that there was really nothing left for me to do but go home to Canada where at least there was an established flow.

I clearly wasn't wanted here.

And I'd be lonely again, but in Canada instead. Hooray...

Since Dad and Alaric were out, Emilia had been put in charge of watching me. We'd spent most the day sitting on the couch watching TV because Emilia claimed that she didn't feel too well after finishing that whole bottle of champagne that she and Sofia had stolen last night. She ordered a pizza, but most of it went untouched as it sat on the coffee table in front of us.

Upstairs, I could hear the loud thuds of a certain jerk whenever he moved around.

Fresh memories of Dominik's hate-tainted eyes as he called me a nobody and referred to me as sad and lonely played over and over on repeat in my brain. I couldn't help but scowl at how little he'd made me feel, and I tried everything in my power to get over it. I tried to numb my mind with senseless TV, but Dominik's heavy Jurassic Park stomping kept overpowering the volume, which Emilia kept super low because of her bad headache. I'd tried to play my Switch, but I'd left the charger upstairs in my new room, and in order to get to it, I'd have to pass by Dominik's bedroom. I just wasn't in the mood to be close to him in any sense of the word.

Was I being childish? Hell yeah, but I'm nine, so whatever.

I didn't want anything to do with Dominik. All I wanted was to go home to Canada where I wouldn't have to put up with his frowns and mean words ever again... at least until the summertime. Even then, I mean, there are tons of summer clubs that I could join as an excuse not to come back to Germany. It's not like Dad would miss me. Shoot, the dude's not even here during mine and Emilia's last night in the damn country!

Looking out the living room window, I could already see that the nearby forest was getting all dark and spooky, meaning that the sun was already beginning to set. Therefore, in less than twenty-four hours, my salty (but fine) ass will be on a plane out of this place.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I sighed heavily.

From her curled up position on the rocking chair, Emilia cocked her eyebrow at me. "What's wrong with you?" she asked, her voice all scratchy.

"Nothing," I pouted, not wanting to look like a whiney loser in front of my sister. "What's wrong with you?"

Emilia's one of the smartest people I know, and she has a real talent for reading people. "Maxie," she simply said, raising her brow in the way that meant that she didn't believe me.

"It's nothing," I said again.

She narrowed her eyes at me.

"It's nothing!"

She continued to glare at me.

"Fine!" I relented, throwing my hands up in the air in surrender.

I didn't want to tell my sister that I felt all lonely when she ditched me because I know that she'll just come up with a generic excuse as to how I'm younger and don't understand— blah, blah, blah. Plus, about ninety-nine percent of my anger was directed at a certain teenage boy who is quickly becoming my enemy.

"Guys just suck," I muttered, thinking it'd be best to keep it as vague as possible.

"For real," Emilia agreed, her features softening a bit. "Is it...?" She nodded upstairs, and on cue, Dominik's loud thudding footsteps sounded out.

I recoiled out of shock and disgust. Was I that transparent? "What?" I gasped.

She shrugged in response. "I just figured the two of you had a fight or something," she yawned. "I mean, he made it seem like you guys had a blast at the beach..." She narrowed her eyes once more at the end of her sentence. Oops, yeah she's still mad about the whole train incident.

That wasn't what I concentrated on though. "Did he talk to you about it?" I asked her. I hadn't told Emilia or Dad about all that had happened at Nordwestmecklenburg, mainly because I knew that I'd totally messed up by getting on the wrong train. Therefore, they had no clue about what Dominik and I did for the day, or about how he'd left me at the pier, or even about Felix.

Emilia shook her head. "The guy barely says a word to me, thank God," she said, waving her hand around. "But Maxie, for real, when he and Alaric dropped you off the other night, Dominik acted more excitable than your dumbass. I just assumed you two had a great time together."

I would never have guessed that Dominik had enjoyed Nordwestmecklenburg in a million years. Sure there were a few times when he'd smiled, but for most of the trip, he scowled so much like he was constipated.

"The guy really seems to like you," Emilia added, snatching the remote off the coffee table to change the channel.

I frowned. "He doesn't like me," I muttered. Not wanting to look pathetic (again), I quickly added, "And I don't like him."

My sister hummed. "Yeah, well, he's a bitch with a bad haircut," she said.

That made me giggle, and I could see Emilia smile in return.

We settled on some cheesy rom-com movie that my sister was into way more than I was. I mainly tried to distract myself with the bright colors on the screen to ignore the heavy footsteps upstairs that kept thudding over and over. What, was Dominik pacing or something? He sounded so restless upstairs. It's probably just teenage hormones, an excuse my mom would often use whenever Emilia was being meaner than usual. What was even weirder was that his pacing seemed to increase the darker it got, until he was like a caged animal at the zoo who kept walking by the door for food.

It was annoying, though, that every thud of Dominik's monster feet painfully reminded me of the hurtful things he'd said about me last night, making that pit in my chest feel bigger and colder with every stomp.

The phone began to ring, snapping me out of my self-pity.

"Can you get that?" Emilia muttered, lazily waving at me to answer Alaric's phone.

There was a corded phone on the wall in the kitchen. At first, I gawked at the ancient piece of technology, feeling more like I was in a museum than a house, but as the phone continued to ring, I figured that it might be important.

"Stubbe," I answered as soon as I picked it up, saying Alaric's last name since it was his house and saying one's last name is a common way of answering the phone in Germany.

At first, there was only silence on the other end, followed by deep breathing that reminded me of those serial killers in the scary movies.

"Hallo?" I asked again, about to hang up and leave a note for Alaric telling him that a murderer called and to call them back.

The other person cleared their throat. "Hey there, Pup," a deep voice responded, sounding manly and familiar.

"Felix?" I nearly gasped, surprised that he was calling in the first place. I recognized his voice, but it sounded off a little bit. It was almost rougher. It's hard to explain, but it had some sort of quality to it that it hadn't had the other day.

Plus, to be honest, I'd thought that Felix would just be a nice guy in a lovely memory of an accidental beach trip that was later soured by a hormonal dude with an attitude problem. Then again, Felix had told me that he and Alaric knew each other, so maybe he was trying to reach him.

"Alaric is out right now," I told him, "but I can tell him you called."

"Um, I don't think we need to tell Alaric that I called you," Felix muttered, and I could easily envision his handsome smile that he'd worn the whole time I was with him in Nordwestmecklenburg.

And for some reason, the more I thought about Felix's smile, the less I felt that hole in my chest.

"Wait," I wondered aloud, "you're calling for... me?" I even held a hand up to my chest dramatically.

Felix chuckled. "Yes, Pup, I'm calling for you. Why's that hard to believe?"

I'm not dumb. I know that Felix is a grown-up and that I'm only nine. Even I knew that it was inappropriate to think of him in such a way so as to attract the Polizei; and I knew that Dad wouldn't like it if I thought about what it'd be like if it were Felix I'd danced with last night instead of with Dominik. On the other hand, I couldn't help but smile widely at the idea of Felix calling just to speak to me. That hole in my chest was getting smaller and smaller by the second— it was still there, and it still hurt like a bitch, but Felix made it better... but wait.

"How'd you know to reach me here?" I asked him. I'd only told him that Dad and Alaric had been dating; he couldn't have known that the two of them had rushed into a crazy fast marriage and that we'd moved into Alaric's house.

"Don't worry about it," Felix hurriedly said. "Besides, I know that you're flying back to Canada tomorrow, so I just wanted to talk real quick before you go."

"How'd you know I was leaving tomorrow?" Word must travel fast here or something.

"Umm..." Felix hummed, but then I overheard a muffled voice say something to him. "Pup, I can't stay for long, but I wanted to tell you to have a safe flight. I'm going to be busy for a bit with some... um, work stuff. So we'll just to wait until you return to Germany for us to talk again." His sigh at the end of that statement let me know that he was just as bummed at that thought as I was.

Automatically, the hole in my chest began to widen again.

"But before I go, I need you to promise me something."

I perked up slightly. "What promise?" I asked. I take promises very seriously, and I make sure to always keep them.

There was a low rumble on the other end, and Felix cleared his throat. "It's the full moon tonight, Pup," Felix stated, a gravelly quality in his deep voice, "so please promise me that you'll stay inside tonight where it's safe, okay?"

Oh, that's it?

"I promise, Felix," I assured my friend. Truth be told, I hadn't planned on going outside at night anyway because I'm not an idiot. Alaric's house is too damn close to the forest, and there was no way I wanted to mauled by a wild animal.

But what did the full moon have to do with me staying safely indoors?

There was another rumble on the other end. "Thank you, Pup," Felix growled... like legitimately growled. Like a dog. "And I promise that as soon as you return to Germany, I'll come get you. Goodnight."

Wow, that's so nice of Felix to offer to take me out on a day trip to the beach when I get back to Germany. What a nice friend... who I'll have to wait a whole year to see.

And the hole was back to its original size before Felix called.

"Goodnight," I frowned.

"I love you," Felix quickly added before hanging up, the dial tone humming in my ear.

I'm sure I'd misheard him. There's no way he'd say that to me. Apparently some people (*cough, Dominik) think I'm just sad and lonely. Hence, I trudged back to the couch and plopped myself down on it to watch the rest of the rom-com with Emilia.

But my mind was never far from Felix who I'd have to wait a long time to see, or from Dominik who kept loudly stomping back and forth upstairs.

"Aww," Emilia sniffled as soon as the credits began to roll for the movie. "That was so cute."

"'Cute'?" I wondered aloud, gesturing at the screen in disbelief. "They didn't even stay together."

My sister shrugged as she stood up off of the chair, stretching her arms up above her head. "That's besides the point, Maxie," she explained. "You can tell they still love each other."

I must've been watching an entirely different movie, because the couple left each other in the end. That was it. There was tons of laughs and drama, and then the girl just up and left! "Really?" I asked, not understanding how to read between the lines apparently.

"It's subtext," my sister yawned, shuffling towards the kitchen. "The girl took one more look back at the guy as she got on the bus."

"...'kay?"

"It means she loves him," she huffed. "Whenever someone is all like, 'I'ma leave!' but they take one last look as they're leaving, they're gonna come back."

Wow, there's a lot about relationships that I do not understand at all. Luckily, my sister has had tons and tons and tons of boyfriends, so she's pretty much the expert. I really should be taking notes on this.

Before I could learn more on the subject, there was a loud knock at the door. It was very insistent, as if whoever was on the other side's life was in immense danger.

Emilia and I looked at one another, confused.

Emilia cleared her throat. "Wer ist es?" she called out to whoever was outside asking who was there.

"Emilia!" I heard Sofia's frantic voice shout out, cracking a bit as she screamed. "You have to open up! Please! It's an emergency!" She beat on the door some more, and I briefly believed that the door would fly off its hinges.

Emilia rushed to the door and unlocked it, swinging it open to reveal a winded Sofia, who looked as if she'd just ran a marathon. Her hair was a little messy, which was way out of the ordinary for her, so I knew that something was definitely up.

Sofia sprinted inside, grabbing my sister's shoulders so she could look her dead in the eye. Her breathing was ragged and she had to pause to try and get some air before speaking.

"A-at the café," Sofia gasped, her face red from panting.

"Yes?" Emilia pressed. "What is it?"

I held my own breath as I waited to hear what was up. Sofia was usually calm and collected, and never looked so frantic before. My nerves were on edge as I strained my ears.

"The cute guy at the café," she breathed, "his brother's there too."

Oh.

Even Emilia's face fell and she looked at her friend with a look that said what was on her mind. She even put her hands on her hips to illustrate her annoyance. "That's it?"

"No!" Sofia cried, shaking her head. "Emilia, I need you to listen to me when I tell you this: It's his twin brother!"

If this were a cartoon, Emilia and Sofia would've left a poof of smoke behind where they'd stood because they ran out the front door that fast as they booked it towards the café.

"Lock the door behind us, Maxie!" Emilia shouted out before disappearing down the road.

Then the house was quiet. Only my annoyed sigh sounded out in Alaric's home, reminding me of the painful fact that I was alone. Well, I guess Dominik is upstairs, but after last night, there's no way I wanted to be anywhere near him. Apparently, I was just a sad, lonely boy to him. Even if it's true, he doesn't have to say it out loud!

I plopped down onto the couch, feeling my funk starting to take over me all over again for the thousandth time this summer. Wow, I really can't wait for this summer to be over. I was just grateful that tomorrow morning, I'll be heading to the airport to go home. I seriously doubted that my loneliness would be cured there, but at least it wouldn't be so in my face.

The credits to the romance movie were still playing on the TV, and it gave me a sort of idea for whenever I finally get to have that special someone in my life who will never allow me to feel alone. A sad idea, yes, but an idea nonetheless.

I quickly dashed upstairs to grab something before heading back downstairs where the slow love song played on the TV along with the movie credits.

I sat my teddy bear with the Luxembourg flag on its chest that I'd gotten from... well, Luxembourg, duh. Anyways, I propped the stuffed animal up onto the cushion next to mine, and then I folded my hands onto my lap innocently.

The bear silently gazed forward with its black beady eyes.

"Um," I muttered, playfully running my hand through my hair as I mentally replayed scenes from the romance movie, "I really had a great time on our date, Chris Evans."

The bear sat there in quiet, but I pretended that he responded with gleeful agreement, totally complimenting my figure too.

"Oh definitely," I smiled back, shyly tucking my face downward for a moment, imagining that I was blushing modestly at my pretend date's words.

The bear sat there.

"Oh?" I perked up slightly. "What's that, Chris Evans? You want a kiss?" I dramatically gasped and even brought my hand up to my chest in shock over such a forward request. "Well, I dunno, I don't usually do this on the first date."

The bear stared blankly ahead.

Playfully, I bit down on my lower lip before finally nodding. "Okay," I finally breathed. "For you."

I grabbed a tight hold of the teddy bear with both hands, bringing it closer to me. Mimicking what I've seen on TV plenty of times, I puckered out my lips and slowly closed my eyes (only weirdos kiss with their eyes open, I've heard). My lips pressed against the fuzz of the bear, and I just pretended that my date was older and hadn't shaved. Some stray fibers of the brown fuzz from the bear stuck to the thick chapstick that I'd globbed onto my lips, making me grimace a little bit. But hey, it was supposed to be my first kiss with Chris Evans, so it was perfect in my book.

"What are you doing?" Dominik's deep and severely judgmental voice echoed out from the staircase.

I dropped the teddy bear to the ground and couldn't resist letting out a shriek of terror over having my "date" interrupted by my step-brother. Dominik had his arms crossed in front of himself as he stalked forward, looking as if he were trying not to laugh as he glared at me with his creepy yellow eyes. However, I did notice for a split second that his gaze darted towards the bear I'd just kissed, and he looked like he snarled at it. I must've imagined that though.

Other than his smirk, he wore a black knit cap on his head. It was pulled down so far that it covered up his ears.

"Nothing!" I hurriedly sputtered, wiping the leftover fuzz off my lips. "What are you doing?"

"I'm watching you make out with ein Teddybär," he stated, his voice sounding a little deeper and more growl-y than normal. Perhaps he was getting sick? I mean, there was something a bit off about him (besides the usual, I mean). Granted it was pretty dark in the house, and he steered clear of the lit lamp in the living room, I could've sworn that Dominik's canine teeth were a bit bigger. It wasn't like he was wearing fake Halloween teeth, but it was definitely noticeable enough for me to see them. That, and the yellow color of his eyes seemed to stand out a lot, sort of like they were glowing in the dark house.

I need to ask Alaric where he buys his lightbulbs because they make eyes glow, and even I have to admit that's cool.

Despite that, I've never wanted to spontaneously combust more than I did now. Not only did Dominik see me making out with a teddy bear, but he already thought so little of me. He must really think I'm sad and pathetic even more now. I can never show my face around Germany ever again.

"Mind your beeswax!" I snapped as I snatched the bear off the floor and stood up, readying myself to stomp off to my bedroom. I made sure to slam my feet down on every step to emphasize my anger with the teenage dirtbag, even being extra dramatic with a large roll of my eyes.

Louder footsteps tailed behind me and I flinched when a strong hand wrapped around my upper arm. I was skinny enough to where Dominik's fingers were able to fully grasp around me, which even I had to admit was kinda cool, nearly snapping me out of my funk. "Wait up," he said.

"What for?" I huffed.

The guy knitted his thick caterpillar-like eyebrows for a moment and clicked his tongue. "Um," he stalled, "you are not going to learn with a stuffed toy." He gestured at my teddy bear that was in my clutches, shooting it another sneer. Okay, so maybe he wasn't a fan of my bear that I'd named Chris Evans.

My blush took over my face and I tried to yank my arm out of his hold, but he was much stronger than me. "Whatever," I countered. "I bet you have a stuffed animal that you practice on, too!" Figuring that he wasn't going to let me out of his clutches, I leaned forward with all of my might and burst into his bedroom... and I must've been super strong because it felt as if Dominik was light as a feather and not putting up much a fight. Go me!

As soon as I was in Dominik's room, I frantically turned my head around like it was on a swivel in search of a stuffed animal that I could use as ammo against him— then who'd be the sad one? I'd expected his room to look like a torture chamber or have some dead animals in it. Sure, his room was pretty messy, but wasn't True Crime messy. He left a lot of his dirty clothes all over the ground. His bed wasn't made, leaving the blankets in a bundled stack that was partially on the mattress and slumping down onto the floor; and an opened bag of bacon flavored Tuc crackers was on the only pillow. Across from the bed was a long dresser that had a TV and a PS5 on it. The TV was turned on, showing off his paused game where his character had just died (wow, get good, Bro). There was a black sheet draped over the curtain rod, totally blacking out the light from the full moon.

What was even worse was that I couldn't find a stuffed animal anywhere, proving me wrong and thereby making me the weird one in the house. Damn, that sucks.

My teddy bear fell from my grasp out of utter disappointment, and I slumped my shoulders. "Oh," I muttered, unable to look at Dominik in the eye because I knew for a fact that he was probably smirking.

"So, do you see any stuffed animal?" Dominik asked, that shit-eating grin painfully audible in his deeper voice.

"...no," I huffed, frowning.

I heard Dominik deeply sigh before I felt his rough fingers graze my chin, turning my face towards his. "I'll buy you some, and you can keep them in here," he said.

My eyes widened and I looked up at him in wonder. Why on earth would Dominik want to buy me more stuffed animals— not that I was complaining. I actually love them and have tons of them laid out on my bed back home. They're really nice to snuggle up to at night. Not only that, but why would Dominik want to keep them in his room? This dude is missing a lot more than a few screws, for real. I studied his face, looking for some sort of sign that he was joking, but the guy only stared back down at me, his yellow eyes big and filled with some sort of emotion that I couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Just promise not to kiss them all," he finally added, the left side of his mouth pulling upwards to form a smug smirk.

That son of—!

I scowled and pulled away from the jerk. "I was just practicing for when I go on a date!" I finally admitted, clenching my teeth in irritation and embarrassment.

There was an odd rumbling noise that came from Dominik's direction, but there was no way it could've been him. It'd sounded more like a dog than an angsty teen. His kung-fu grip returned to my upper arms, both of them this time, as he pulled me in closer to him. His smirk morphed into a full on snarl of disgust and he narrowed his yellow eyes at me, making me gulp.

"Date?" he nearly barked. "When? With who?"

My personality unfortunately got in the way, and I found myself stating matter-of-factly, "I think you mean, 'With whom?'"

Apparently Dominik actually did growl earlier, because he did it again. For real, the dude actually growled like a rabid dog. He bared his teeth which looked all huge and menacing, like a monster's! And his whole body seemed to vibrate with power, his grasp on me tightening. It wasn't anywhere near painful, but it was forceful enough to let me know that I needed to stop being a brat.

"With whom?" he sneered through clenched teeth, officially fed up with my bullshit.

"No one!" I blurted.

Dominik immediately tensed down and looked back at me, confused. "What?"

Darn it, this jerk is really going to make me tell him my whole life story. I huffed and clenched my small fists in irritation. "I just wanted to practice my first kiss so that I won't suck ass whenever it actually happens," I blurted, saying it so quickly that I prayed he wouldn't understand me.

"You haven't had your first kiss yet?" Dominik interrogated me, all traces of his earlier anger gone from his deep voice. Oh, of course that's what he picked up on. Great, now he probably thinks I'm even more sad and lonely! I really just want to go play in traffic.

"No," I spat, blushing even harder than I had before. And it wasn't for a lack of trying. Apparently people weren't lining up to kiss me for some reason. I mean, maybe when I get older there'll be waves of interested men, but right now, damn, it's dead.

Maybe Felix?

Dominik finally relaxed his grip on me, but still kept me within his clutches. "Well," he practically hummed, his eyes darting to the side to avoid making direct contact with mine, "I haven't either."

"I can't imagine why—"

"May I have it?" Dominik blurted, jolting me out of my attitude and making me wince.

Again, I searched his face for a sign that he was joking, because he clearly was. However, again, his poker face was really good because he seemed to be one-hundred percent honest. His eyebrows had finally relaxed and were actually upwards a bit, almost as if he were pleading, but I knew that was impossible. This was some sort of strange prank that maybe Emilia put him up to. What a bitch.

"You're weird," I muttered with a grimace, miraculously managing to break free from his awkward hold so that I could go back to my bedroom. I made sure to slam the door shut behind me to emphasize just how fed up I was with him.

I do not understand Dominik, not even a little bit!

When I break everything down into bite-sized pieces, the dude was a roller coaster of emotions. When I'd first met him at the dinner party, Dominik had looked as if he'd wanted to straight up murder me, no joke. The way his yellow eyes had pierced straight through my soul had made me a little apprehensive of him. I wasn't scared of him, per se, but I definitely would've turned around had I seen him approaching me on the street. He'd just stared at me, unblinking. Weird.

Then he'd accepted Dad's offer to join me and Emilia to Frankfurt (thanks Dad), despite how anti-social he'd seemed to be. There's nothing wrong with asocial people, in my opinion. Some people like attention and like to be around others, hence, it'd make perfect since that there's people on the opposite side of the spectrum. That being said, Dominik one-hundred percent came off as one of those people who would give his right nut to be as far away from humans as possible. Therefore, I had absolutely no idea why he'd agreed to come to Frankfurt with me and Emilia. Weird.

However, I'd thrown a wrench into my sister's fantastic European shopping trip plans by getting on the wrong train, completely by accident! For some reason, Dominik had taken it upon himself to quite literally jump onto the wrong train with me. To this day, I still couldn't figure out why the guy would go out of his way to "rescue" me by leaping onto the train. Any normal person would've just went about their day if some kid they'd known for less than twenty-four hours had ACCIDENTALLY gotten onto the wrong train. But no, Dominik had taken it upon himself to get on the train with me. Weird.

When Dominik and I had gotten to Nordwestmecklenburg, he'd tried to act all nice and caring. I'd fallen for it at first, believing that he was actually a nice guy. That was until he'd ditched me at the pier; but that had wound up with me meeting Felix. And holy crap, Felix turned out to be my knight in shining armor. Not only was he hot, but he'd also bought me a whole ass box of chocolates... that Dominik had thrown into the trash, after he'd punched Felix in the face for some reason. That had sort of solidified the wedge that had begun to be driven between me and Dominik because I'd finally started to realize that something was off about him. And of course, because why not, Dominik had acted like his psycho behavior was my fault! Weird.

And then at Dad and Alaric's wedding, Dominik and I had tried our best to avoid one another. Truth be told, it wasn't the world's worst idea because, although I'd been cursed with a sinking feeling of loneliness, at least I wasn't getting a headache from a certain jerk's annoying attitude. But then Dominik had, for some totally unknown reason that I'll probably never ever learn, danced with me. I'll only ever admit this under the threat of execution: I hadn't hated dancing with Dominik. Unfortunately, the asshole had ruined everything when he'd decided to show his true colors and reveal that he's really a big jerk deep down inside! Why'd he dance with me if he'd really just hated me all along? Weird.

My suitcase was all packed and ready to go, and I honestly couldn't wait until I was back home in Canada, with thousands of kilometers separating me and a certain jerk of a step-brother I now had.

I sprawled out onto my bed, basking in the bright light from the full moon. It really was big in the nighttime sky, and its light was so bright that the sun might as well have been up.

My chest hurt, that annoying large pit quickly tearing its way through my organs, shredding them into little bits and pieces as if they were made of paper. It hurt, and my eyes stung the more I thought about the terrifying reality that was quickly dawning on me at a horrifying pace:

That I'm all alone.

Dad has Alaric, Emilia has Sofia, Mom has Kyle, and Dominik has himself (which he's happy about). That leaves me with nobody. A nobody with nobody.

I just continued to lie down on my sad little bed as I felt sorry for myself, fearing that this sickly loneliness will never go away, that I'll always feel this way for the rest of my life. Smothered in sadness and loneliness, it wasn't long until I finally drifted off to sleep...

Zzz...

There was a quiet squeaking of the bedroom door, followed by little pitter patters of feet. The sound grew closer and closer until a soft warmness cradled my cheek, and I unconsciously leaned into it, stuck in that realm between sleep and reality.

"Please don't go. Please."

I fell back deeper into sleep, feeling a comforting warmth on my forehead.

"Gute Nacht mein Hase."

Zzz...

"Ich liebe dich."