Flames and Starlight

Later that night, Ruben tossed and turned, unable to get his mind to stop racing. He’d been tired all day, only got an hour of sleep at Peter’s apartment, and barely kept his eyes open on his way back to his house. Now that he had the chance to sleep, he couldn’t.

He looked over at Laura, who was sleeping peacefully next to him. She’d crashed as soon as they got in the bedroom.

An hour later he still couldn’t fall asleep. He gave a silent growl of frustration and gave up. He quietly got out of bed, trying not to wake Laura, and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

He walked outside to his back porch. He sat down on the steps and gazed out at the full moon. He thought over the events of the day and for some reason, his parents came to mind.

His parents had died when he was a baby so he had no memories of them but he still missed them terribly. He always wondered how someone could miss someone else without ever knowing them but he did. He missed them so much and wanted them to be here.

Mark did a great job raising him and it had only been the two of them since they didn’t have any other family. He loved Mark and appreciated everything he did for him but the hole he had in his heart for his parents had never been filled and it probably would never be filled.

An intense sadness overcame him and it shocked him. He wondered why his mind was filled with such sadness. He felt something trickle down his face and he realized it was tears. He was crying.

He tried to stop but it was no use. They kept coming down like rain pouring. He missed his parents. He wished they were here. He wished he had a mom and dad to talk to, even if it was to argue. He just wanted his parents period.

He knew Laura had a complicated relationship with her parents but there were times when she would rant about them to him that he wanted to tell her to be grateful that at least she had parents. He wanted to tell her that at least she had parents at all, even if they did get into a lot of fights.

He wanted to tell her to go to the family dinner that Saturday. Life was short and precious and he wanted to tell her to not hold grudges, to try to fix things with them.

He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. Things were so overwhelming right now. He didn’t know what to do. He -

A growl from the right had him turning his head only to be struck in the face with a heavy paw. He yelled out as he flew through the air and landed on the ground. The air whooshed from his lungs and pain radiated through his body and he rolled across the ground.

An ear-splitting roar pierced the air and he looked up to see a huge bear with glowing green eyes charging at him. He barely scrambled out of the way in time to avoid the collision.

He shifted into a bear and the other bear was on top of him. He cried out as the bear sank his jaws into his neck. Ruben struggled to fight the other shapeshifter off. It was like the other shifter was possessed and he was overpowering him easily.

Ruben was on the ground as the other bear had him pinned down and was clawing at him and fear coursed through him at the thought of him dying right there and no one would know.

Shouts filled the air and the bear was thrown off of him. Black spots filled his vision and multiplied into complete darkness as the sound of fighting filled the air.