At Dawn, in the Forest

The following days Dawn followed a tight and strict schedule for when to eat, what to eat when to take her vitamins and medication, and when to nap and to sleep. Harper monitored her daily, often while following the young woman around. Every time Dawn stepped outside for a walk or a climb in a tree she would be denied. Either she had to stop walking after twenty minutes or she couldn’t climb the said tree.

On the seventh day, she had reached her breaking point. Dawn couldn’t handle being monitored all day every day. So on that morning of the seventh day, she got an hour earlier out of bed than recommended. She wanted to go on a morning stroll without somebody hovering over her shoulder.

Seconds, minutes, and then over an hour went by and Dawn was still on her stroll, distracted by the trees, plants, bugs, and birds. She finally had settled on a high place in a pine tree where she could overlook a large part of the woods.

Everything was peaceful until Dawn could hear screaming in the distance. Angry screams. Her panic and anxiety made her alert. She made herself smaller on the tree, making sure that from every direction you couldn’t notice her. Then Dawn could see her brother Finn, screaming for her. “Dawn! Dawn, this is not funny! Dawn!”

Slowly she looked around the tree trunk.

“For fuck sake, Dawn! Get out of that tree!”

Once she was with her feet on the ground, Finn kept going. “The fuck were you doing in that tree? You know you are not allowed to do that kind of exercise! You might break your fucking spine! And running off like that again, do you know how worried we were?! Mom was crying all over again, and Dad was extremely panicked! You can’t do this, Dawn. It's childish! If you have a problem you have to say it, not run away from it. Are you even listening?!”

Dawn was listening but didn’t know what to say. She wanted them to know that what they were doing to her was choking her, they had a too-tight grip on her and they needed to let her go a little. She wanted them to know because she didn’t know how to say this.

“I wouldn’t listen if I was being talked to like that,” Dawn could hear Max say in the distance. He was standing in the tree line, waiting for them.

“Stay out of this. This is none of your business!”

“Oh, but it is, Finn. It is since I rescued your sister,” Max spit, emphasizing the ‘I’. Max didn’t give Finn space to interject as he continued, “Dawn, Alpha Mateo is looking for you. He is in his office,” He said softly.

Dawn made her way inside without thinking twice to respond to Finn. She didn’t want to see him any longer. As she made her way into the house she bumped into Elias. She tried to pass him, to ignore him, but he opened his mouth. “Why are you always causing problems?”

“What?” Dawn couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Mom and Dad are sad because you are causing problems.”

“And why don’t you keep your nose out of other people’s fucking business?” Who was this kid to comment on her behavior? He didn’t know a thing about what was going on, so how did he dare to open his mouth and give a piece of his mind?

“Hey! Dawn, not cool. He is just a kid. You can’t talk to him like that,” Caspian came from the stairs. “But he can talk like that to me?”

Caspian walked up to them and gently pushed Elias away and told him to find Finn. “He is a kid he doesn’t understand that was inappropriate.”

“Well, tell him.”

“I will, but you still can’t talk to him like that.”

Dawn sighed, and muttered, “Whatever.” And made her way upstairs. Once upstairs she opened the door to the office after being given permission. In there were all the Alphas and Harper.

Rue made a loud gasp and threw her hands around her. “I thought you were gone again, don’t scare us like that ever again. You hear me, Dawn. Please, never again,” She let go of her daughter and looked her in the eye. “You hear me, Dawn?” She repeated.

Dawn just nodded her head. Looking over her mother’s shoulder she could see her father. He looked drained of energy. She did feel sorry, but only for him. Her mother looked the same as ever, and her brother had been mean. But her dad, he looked devastated. As Rue move away from her Boaz made his way to Dawn. He hugged her gently and spoke softly. “Please, don’t scare me like that again, little monkey.”

“Sorry, Dad.”

“Come, honey, I bet our sons were terrified as well,” Rue dragged her mate out of the office until it was just Harper, Larisa, and Mateo.

“We need to talk, Dawn,” Mateo said.

“How about you sit down, dear,” Larisa offered the chair in front of the desk.

Dawn tried to make herself comfortable on the chair, with not much luck, however. She knew this talk wouldn’t be good for her.

Mateo sighed. “Look, Dawn. You can’t behave like this. Not as long as you are in our pack.” Larisa put her hand on her mate’s shoulder. “I can’t have my men and women searching for you all the time while they also have to protect to border against people like Dr. Willow.”

Dawn’s hands clenched into tight fists.

“And we have told you before, if you want to go somewhere you need to tell us and one of us will accompany you. Is that so hard to do?”

It was. Dawn looked away from Mateo and sighed. Anger bubbling up. A burning feeling started in her chest. She tried hard to not spur her angry fire at them. She tried to keep herself calm.

“Dawn, I need a response.”

She couldn’t. She needed a minute. A minute that wouldn’t make her blow up in front of them.

“I don’t deserve this disrespect-”

“Yes!” Dawn tried to take a deep breath. But it didn’t work. She stood up and walked behind the chair. “Yes, it is hard to do!” Again she tried to take another deep breath, but it didn’t help her calm down. The three of them raised their brows in surprise, not expecting this kind of reaction.

“I am sick of being told what to do all the damn fucking time! I am told what to eat, what to wear (they often thought she wasn’t dressed warm or cold enough for that day), when to sleep, when to walk, and for how long and I can’t be even alone. The whole damn time there is someone following me around like I am some prisoner or worse criminal!

“Sometimes I get sick of the meals because my stomach can’t handle the food, but you make me eat otherwise I can’t leave the table and I am stuck there-”

“Dawn, you should have told me-” Harper tried to intervene.

“And I am constantly screamed at when I want some space for myself! But I can’t! Every damn time I am dragged into the group to ‘socialize’ but every time I am with your family or with mine, I feel left out! But I am sorry! I am sorry!”

It was only after her rant she noticed the shock on their faces. Dawn didn’t understand why and then she noticed something wet on her cheek. Her hand went up to investigate. Did she just cry? Fuck.

And she couldn’t stop.

“Oh, Dawn…” Larisa started.

Dawn didn’t want to stay in that office. “I am sorry, okay?” Mateo nodded his head and she took that as a sign to leave.

Downstairs, her family was waiting for her. “Dawn, you have to apologize to your brother,” Rue started. Without a second thought, she went back upstairs to her room. She couldn’t deal with that right then.

All she wanted was to be left alone, was that so hard to deal with?