Chapter 0055
So what was he trying to tell me?
Memories of Lily’s badly beaten and injured body flashed through my mind. Margie told us that Lily fell down the stairs. Given how badly injured she was, I would have expected Margie to get medical treatment for Lily. And that medical treatment would have been sort of thing that was documented in the file. Lily’s file made mention of the rejection, so it was up to date…. but where was the report about her
fall down the stairs?
After I flipped through the medical information and the associated photographs for a second time, I still found nothing. If there was no record, that means a doctor was not called. Why the Goddess would Margie have not called for a doctor after her daughter fell down the stairs?
The fireworks in my head started slowly getting louder.
Wait… That morning. MORNING. I first saw Lily at the waterfall very early that morning.
I checked Lily’s birthdate again, and this time I focused on the birth year. I did some quick math to make
sure I was right, and I was. I saw Lily at the waterfall on the morning of her 20th birthday.
Oh, my Goddess. The fireworks are now blazing high in the sky.
Why had I not thought about this before? Given the timing, I was almost certainly Lily’s first mate. Which
meant that Lily was my first mate. Which also meant that Stephanie was never my destined mate, and
that she was never destined to be my Luna.
How could that be? Was my whole life a lie?
Long-buried questions and memories suddenly flew through my head.
Everyone was so sure that Stephanie and I were mates, including Stephanie and I. But… why were we so sure? One thing I knew for certain was it was not something that originated with Stephanie, me, or either
I
our wolves.
No, the idea that Stephanie and I were mates originated with my mother and Margie. The two of them. told us from an early age that it was “clear” that Stephanie and I were in love. They did not say that once, or twice, but probably 1000 times.
When you are young and impressionable and hear something like that often enough, you begin to believe it. Is that what happened to us?
I
Memories continued to hit me as though I was standing in front of a freight train. I now remembered that every time that I did or said anything that was inconsistent with being in love with Stephanie, my mother
For example, in 8th grade, I wanted to take Lexi Laughlin to the winter dance. After Lexi agreed to go with me, my parents forced me to un-invite her. I had been angry and upset, but I was obedient back then and I agreed. My mother explained that she had “just been talking to Margie” and “they” thought it was better that I go with Stephanie to the dance. My mother said that they had seen how Stephanie and I looked at each other and it was “clear” that we were mates, and it would be unfair to other she-wolves to
get their hopes up.
There were lots of examples of interventions like that. Another example was that my mother and Margie
often told us that we had “so much in common,” but did we really?
Now that I think about it, Stephanie and I actually had very little in common. The things that we thought we had in common were actually things that had been suggested or encouraged by our mothers. For example, I have always hated watching movies; I would much rather be outside doing something.
Yet, somehow my mother convinced me that I loved watching movies with Stephanie. We would do that
together all the time. And yet, I have not watched a movie since the night that Stephanie died.
Back in the present, I heard knocking on my bedroom door. It is my mother and Nick. My mother seems
worried. But it is too late. The fireworks are in full bloom right now.
Memories of that last night with Stephanie come flooding back to me. This time, in slow motion.
I flip back to the medical record that had vaguely stood out to me at the beginning. It was dated the night
before Stephanie died. Lily had been hospitalized with severe injuries. She was released just after
midnight.
I now felt like I could not breathe. I was suffocating.
Lily had been in the hospital with serious injuries the night before Stephanie died. She was released from the hospital shortly after midnight. But Stephanie received a text message from Lily shortly BEFORE midnight asking for help because she had gotten lost after meeting up with a boy in the woods.
We have now reached the grand finale of the fireworks show,
Stephanie did not let me see the text message from Lily that night, and she did not let me come with her.
Lily was at the hospital; she was not lost in the woods needing rescue.
Stephanie lied to me. And Lily… Lily most likely had nothing to do with Stephanie’s death.