My Possessive Werewolf Mate (Who Is Also My Step-Brother…) Lieblingsmensch

“Lieblingsmensch” – Namika

🎵 Pack ich dich ein, wir sind dann mal raus / Hallo Lieblingsmensch / Ein Riesenkompliment dafür, dass du mich so gut kennst / Bei dir kann ich ich sein, verträumt und verrückt sein 🎵

“Alaric und Paul, sind Sie freiwillig und bereiten Herzens gekommen, um miteinander die Ehe einzugehen?” the priest asked.

Right before him stood Dad and Alaric, smiling widely at one another and holding each others’ hands. They both wore matching black tuxedos with navy blue ties. Dad had even woken up extra early to ask Emilia for help with getting his hair done so that it would look nice. She’d put so much gel in it that not a single strand flew out of place during the outside wedding ceremony.

It’d been such a shock and everything was happening at lightening speed.

I’d woken up in Alaric’s van last night, having been driven home by him from the train station. Once we’d arrived at Dad’s place, the two grown ups had sat me and Emilia down to explain the good news: that they were getting married… the next day. I didn’t really know how to take the news, I mean, Mom and Dad hadn’t been together for a couple years. I wasn’t one of those kids who were holding onto hope that their parents would eventually get back together, I knew that was a lost cause. Therefore, I was happy that Dad was happy, and I truly did think that Alaric was a good guy.

That being said, I had to swallow down the sadness that seemed to engulf me into a suffocating stranglehold.

I feel stupid and selfish for thinking this, but I know for a fact that now that Dad and Alaric will be a legal couple, that Dad will spend even less time with me now. He’s completely smitten with his new man, which isn’t bad, per se. However, I just know deep down that I probably won’t get to have anymore of those special days when it was just him and me. My heart ached for me, but it was also happy for him. It was a very bittersweet emotion.

Emilia was happy about it because it gave her an excuse to wear one of the many expensive dresses that she’d bought in Frankfurt. She always has the gift of looking on the bright side.

The wedding was a really tiny one, and it was mainly filled with guests on Alaric’s side. I suppose that made sense since they were already in Bedburg to begin with, so they hadn’t needed to travel large distances. Luckily, my dad’s older sister, Aunt Lena, had managed to make the drive all the way from her place in Trier for it. She’s really nice and the picture of the “Fun Aunt”, who is always down to shit talk with me and Emilia.

The ceremony was an outdoor one in Alaric’s massive backyard. All of Alaric’s friends who lived in the tightly knit community of his must’ve been working overtime to get everything all set up. There were long benches for all of the guests to sit on, arranged just like they would have been had we been at a church. A long strip of white fabric had been expertly cut to act as a walkway for the new couple to meet at a beautifully decorated altar. The altar itself was handcrafted out of some dark-stained wood that was then covered in white flowers. Overall, it had a sort of rustic feeling to it, which complimented Alaric’s lumberjack aesthetic.

I stood on Dad’s side of the altar, acting as his best man. Alaric’s friend, Lukas, had somehow managed to find me my own tux to wear, along with a blue tie that was the same exact color as Dad’s. I really don’t know who decided that tuxedos needed to be so constricting, because mine was so uncomfortable. I could barely move my arms in it, forcing me to stand at attention like a soldier. And Sofia had been nice enough to do my tie for me since I don’t know how tie one, but she did it a little too tight, so I was practically gasping for air as I stood next to Dad.

Emilia stood on my other side, dressed up in a bubblegum pink dress that didn’t reach her knees (much to Dad’s dismay). She had her hair styled up into a fancy bun, and whenever she saw a camera being pointed our way, she put one hand on her hip and slightly turned to the side, mimicking a pose that was ripped straight out of a magazine. Even as we stood up at the altar, she posed during the vows, earning an eye roll from one of Alaric’s friends. They’re probably just jealous.

Next to Alaric was his best man: Dominik.

The angry guy looked just as annoyed as always, his lips a thin line on his face while his eyes stared daggers at me. He also wore a black tux, but the jacket was a little snug on him, and it strained to cover the entirely of his muscular bulk. He’d decided to forego the navy blue tie, instead opting to leave the top two buttons of his white shirt undone. Dominik had even taken the time to shave off his peach fuzz too, leaving his squared jaw smooth. Dare I say, the guy looked kind of handsome as he stood on the opposite side of the altar than me. But he also radiated such an intense anger, that it made the whole scene kind of awkward. What the hell’s his problem… again?

Oh yeah, and Lukas stood on Dominik’s other side. He looked okay.

But Dominik, ugh, the guy still put a bad taste in my mouth whenever I thought about Nordwestmecklenburg. It’d initially been an enjoyable trip that had quickly turned to crap thanks to his shenanigans. I’m over it though, and am only about thirteen percent bitter because Emilia had warned me once that staying mad causes wrinkles.

I think Dominik was mad at me too, although I hadn’t done anything wrong. Whenever his yellow eyes would dart towards me, I refused to showcase my gorgeous straight white teeth. Instead, I over exaggerated my frown, and even childishly stuck out my tongue at him.

In response, Dominik’s face grew even redder and he clenched his fists up tightly.

Emilia gave me a nudge. “You’re ruining the pictures,” she hissed under her breath, flipping a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

I sucked my tongue back in, but still tried my best to sneer at the teenager who stood on the other side of the altar.

I could vaguely make out the deep baritones of Alaric and Dad exchanging their vows, which were done in German. I turned them out, trying my best to avoid Dominik’s glare and look anywhere besides his crappy face.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I could feel the heat from Dominik’s glare boring into my skull.

“Meine Damen und Herren, es ist mir eine Freude, Ihnen Herrn und Herrn Stubbe vorzustellen!” the priest happily announced, blissfully unaware of the stare down that the two best men where having.

Dad and Alaric leaned into to kiss one another, and the crowd erupted into cheers and applause… and some members even howled. What the F? Everyone else acted like it was a totally normal noise, but myself, Emilia, Sofia, and Aunt Lena each exchanged confused looks with one another.

Once the ceremony was finished, we took a few pictures. Dad and Alaric happily posed together in front of the altar, looking incredibly in love with each other as they stood arm-in-arm for all to see. It was hard not to be sad when I saw the pure look of love and admiration that Alaric had in his yellow eyes whenever he looked at my dad. Yeah, I can tell he’ll take care of him, so I shouldn’t be feeling all down and blue… but I still did.

Shoot, even if I didn’t have my family around me all the time, it would be neat to have a man look at me the same way Alaric looks at Dad, like he’s a large box of chocolates just for him. Instead, all I got was a weirdo teenager who stares at me while he grinds his teeth.

The photographer, a teenager named Sibylle, directed us on where to stand and how to pose. As she moved, her beautiful red hair flowed in the wind behind her, making her look like she belonged in one of those high-end expensive hair product commercials. She was really pretty, and she seemed to be really close to Dominik for some reason. In between shots, she would sometimes lean over and whisper something into his ear, eliciting a smirk from him or sometimes a genuine response.

Oh I get it. Evidently he is capable of being a regular guy, just not with me.

When it was Dad’s time for a family photo, he stood in the middle with Aunt Lena to his right, and Emilia and me to the left. I saw Sibylle’s eyebrows raise when our eyes met and her nostrils flared, and she turned to look at Dominik who stood beside her.

Dominik tried his best to avoid meeting her gaze, blush forming on his cheeks.

“Wir reden später darüber,” she told him, giving him the up-down before turning to us. “Okay, everyone smile! One, two, three!”

Emilia broke out into her model pose, and I just smiled as widely as I could to show off all of my teeth. The flash from the camera left spots in my eyes, and I rubbed them as people were shuffled around for the next picture.

“Let’s do one with the just the boys,” Sibylle said, a smile audible in her singsongy voice.

“Sibylle…” Dominik warned, but was promptly ignored when she shoved him forward.

My family left me at the altar where we taking photos, only to have Dominik stomp his heavy feet over to where I stood. The decorated altar was behind us, and Dominik and I stood at least a meter apart, trying to keep as much between us as possible. From the side, I could see that Dominik’s face was still cherry red, and he wore his usual frown.

“You can get closer,” Sibylle said, motioning with her hands for Dominik and me to step closer to one another.

I scooted over about one millimeter, shuffling my feet as I did so.

Dad pinched the skin above his nose and shook his head. Alaric just pursed his lips and offered his son an apologetic look… wait, why was he apologizing to him?

“Closer,” Sibylle ordered, her voice flat as she stared into the screen on her camera.

Dominik heavily sighed, but still shot out his arm, yanking me roughly into him. I nearly stumbled over my feet, falling into him. Luckily, the guy managed to catch me. The way I’d landed against him made it look like I was totally leaning into him, especially with my hand placed over his chest. He held a secured arm around my waist to help balance me, pulling me in even closer to his body.

“Perfect!” Sibylle cheered, and a bright flash flickered.

Spots blurred my vision once more as I struggled to stand up on my own two feet. “Um, danke,” I mumbled to Dominik as I pushed him away from me. It was difficult at first since he didn’t relax his hold until Alaric cleared his throat.

I couldn’t see him clearly, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that the teen had turned away from me as he muttered, “O-of course.”

As I walked away for the next group to take their pictures, I overheard Aunt Lena gushing to some other guest. “So cute…”

Everything else went on without a hitch while moving on to the reception, which was also in the backyard. Like the dinner party we’d been invited to the other night, the backyard was immaculately decorated. The long table in the center was back, and mountains of delicious looking food was being placed on it. Strings of golden lights were hung up, lighting up the area as the sun began to set in the background. There was a large space left empty where some of the couples danced to the music that was blasting out of the speakers that were situated closer to the house for electricity.

I sat at the table, watching as Dad and Alaric danced to some slow song, their arms lovingly wrapped around each other. Alaric was much taller than Dad, so my father had to reach up really high with his arms to wrap them around his new husband’s shoulders.

As the two of them danced, what I’d felt in the pit of my stomach earlier was confirmed. My summers with Dad were now changed forever. Whereas the two of us would spend loads of time together, exploring the German countryside or adventuring in new, foreign cities, he would now be doing all of that with Alaric. Lately, the two of them had been attached to hip like conjoined twins, and I’d been largely ignored, which sucked. And now that they’re married, it’ll just keep happening more and more now.

I couldn’t help but frown as I took a bite of cake, my disappointment still written all over my face even as I tasted the sugary goodness.

Aunt Lena, who sat next to me, sighed heavily and checked her phone. “You know,” she mused, “I spent a long ass time doing my hair, and not a single guy has shown any interest here. Is it me?”

I shook my head. “I think most of them are married,” I pointed out, noticing how most of the guests were paired up with another person. Dang, it must be nice to have someone by their side all the time like that.

Shoot, even Dominik had someone.

He and his friend, Sibylle, were talking to each other across the grass. Dominik was red in the faced while Sibylle animatedly threw her hands up in the air as she spoke, obviously talking about something that was important. The two of them froze, both of them darting their yellow eyes towards me, and I had to divert my own gaze to make it look like I just totally hadn’t been staring.

I ate another bite of cake, finding little solace in the fact that I’d managed to snag one of the frosting roses. It did next to nothing to fill the pit in my gut.

When I looked back up, Dominik was still staring at me, and even though he was across the large backyard with a lot of other people standing in between us, I could feel the heat radiating off my forehead from his laser-like eyes.

Aunt Lena shrugged. “Sure, sure,” she muttered. “I mean, they can still at least look…”

Emilia and Sofia were sitting on the either side of the table, trying to hide the bottle of champagne that they thought no one had seen them swipe.

“What about him?” Sofia asked, pointing towards one of the guys who was standing by the grill to get another bratwurst.

Emilia toyed with a strand of hair as she pursed her glossy lips. “Nope,” she hummed. “His haircut looks like a mullet.”

“Well, I’m going to take off,” Aunt Lena said as she stood up. “On my drive here, I stopped at the corner store, and the worker gave me the look, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I admitted.

“You’ll learn one day,” she shrugged, tousling my hair a bit. “Love you guys!” She walked off, disappearing around the house, and after a little bit of time, I could see the lights of her car as she drove off.

Oh, well I never was too close to my aunt just because of the distance. Obviously I love her and it was nice to see her, but the sadness I felt at her departure was most likely due to having one less person here with me. At least that’s what I told myself.

“We should probably go too,” Sofia said, standing up and nodding down at her bag that was all clunky thanks to the bottle in there.

“You’re right,” Emilia agreed, shooting out of her seat so quickly that the chair fell to the ground behind her.

I looked around the table, beyond disappointed when I realized that I was the only left at the section we were at, leaving me all by myself.

“Hey, can I come?” I asked the girls as they began to walk off.

Sofia shook her head and waved me off.

“Not now, Maxie,” Emilia said, looking over shoulder as she spoke to me. “Enjoy the reception.”

“Alright,” I mumbled, frowning even more when I was finally all alone, literally.

Wow, this really sucks. I’m all by myself at my father’s wedding with no one around. Dad was with his new husband, but I couldn’t really be mad at him for hanging out with his man during their wedding. My aunt had left because she got a look… I still don’t know what that means. And then Emilia and Sofia completely ditched me, probably to go drink the champagne together. I wouldn’t drink it, but I could be the lookout for them! It would’ve just been nice to have been included.

It would’ve been nice to just have someone.

I sighed and propped my elbow up onto the table to rest my head as I watched everyone dance. Couples were arm in arm with other as they swayed to the slow songs playing, and even friends mingled with each other as they happily chatted and just enjoyed the time they spent with other.

Summer was coming to an end, and I could tell that because the temperature was starting to drop. The cool breeze blew over the party, and I shivered in my seat at the table, wrapping my arms around myself in a pathetic attempt to stay warm. Anyways, with summer almost being over, that meant that I’d be going home soon.

Shoot, I mean, really soon because my flight is the day after tomorrow.

And what hurts is that, I don’t really know how I feel about that. I feel like a whiney kid for complaining about feeling lonely so much this summer, but damn! Summer used to be my favorite time of the year because I’d gotten to spend so much time with my family, and I’d loved every single second of it. Now, though, I don’t know. There’s a tiny part of me that’s looking forward to going home.

A small piece of me can’t wait to go back to Canada where I won’t be such an afterthought.

Sighing heavily, I began to trace little designs in my cake’s frosting with my fork.

“Why are you sitting here by yourself?” Dominik asked, snapping me out of my mopey daze.

I looked up at him as he took the seat next to me. He’d ditched his tux jacket somewhere, just chilling in his tight white button down shirt, acting as if the chilly wind wasn’t bothering him a single bit.

“Everyone else left,” I muttered, unable to hide the disappointment in my voice.

Dominik’s frown came back, and he lifted his hand, hovering it above my shoulder before it dropped back to his side. He turned to look out over at the dancing crowd, and he tensed up when his eyes landed on a group of guys around his age.

About three of them stood together, each one with a matching set of yellow eyes (I’m starting to feel left out with my green eyes). They were talking among themselves, and every so often, they’d look over towards us and snicker.

A low rumble sounded out from Dominik and he bared his large teeth in frustration. He looked so pissed off that the large vein on his forehead even popped out.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, reaching up with my tiny hand to place it on his broad shoulder. At the exact moment my fingers grazed him, he jerked back and immediately stopped growling, his shoulders actually falling slightly as if he relaxed by a minor percent.

Dominik turned his head to stare me down, his yellow eyes wide as they studied at my hand that was on him. “You just grounded me…” he mused, his voice a little shaky.

“Huh?”

“Oh, uh, n-nothing!” Dominik coughed, trying hard not to look me in the eye. Ugh, of course something else weird is happening with him. Will it never end?

“Right,” I mumbled, finishing off the last bite of my cake before standing. “I’m gonna go find my sister then. Have a nice evening.”

Dominik shot up from his seat as soon as I began to leave. “Wait! You’re going to walk off, at night?” he pressed. “Where did she go?”

I shrugged. “Inside?” It was safe to assume that she was indoors since she’s said before that she doesn’t possess a single nature-loving bone in her body. Plus, when we’d came here earlier, Dad had told us that we’d be staying at Alaric’s house. And not just for tonight, but like, legit, some of Alaric’s buddies had actually rented a truck and moved in all of our stuff. Granted, we didn’t have much stuff to begin with, and all my belongings could fit in a suitcase since the rest was back in Canada, it was eery how fast everything was changing.

As I walked, the grass underneath my feet crunched and I could hear Dominik’s booming footsteps not too far behind me. We rounded the corner of the house and I looked all around, but I couldn’t see Emilia or Sofia. Instead, on the other side of the house, it was completely dead since the rest of the wedding guests were in the backyard.

The music was loud enough to where I could still hear it, and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” began to play. Oh great, another slow love song for me to not dance with anyone to. Weddings suck. If I ever get married, I want a courthouse wedding. All I have to do is convince Chris Evans that he wants the same because he’s going to be my husband. He just doesn’t know it yet.

The golden light from the strings in the backyard barely reached the front, leaving a faint glow that basked everything in an orangish hue. Dominik’s pale skin seemed to glow in the colored light, making the guy look as if he were carved out of solid gold. The way the moonlight hit his yellow eyes made them appear luminous, which was sort of cool to look at if I’m being honest. And the clear weather offered a beautiful view of the starry sky, which stood out at attention behind the guy’s face.

From our position, when I looked up at him, the nearly full moon was directly behind him, creating a glowing halo effect around his head. The numerous, richly colored stars twinkled in the sky all around him— but it was his eyes that shined the brightest.

As I looked up at the golden boy in the moonlight, I was shocked to see that Dominik was staring back down at me too. His face was smooth, a stunned expression written all over it. His jaw fell but he quickly closed his mouth, and for the billionth time since we’d met, blush began to form on his face.

“You know,” he mumbled, looking down at his feet, “it is a wedding after all. And sometimes at weddings, people dance, so… you know, maybe if you’d like to…”

I had no idea what he was trying to ask. I just continued to stare up blankly at him as the 80’s song played in the background.

Dominik’s blush deepened to shades unknown, until he growled. “Come here,” he grunted, reaching out with both of his hands.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, yanking me into him. I was so close that I accidentally stepped onto his shoes with both of my feet, but he wouldn’t loosen his grip for me to take a step back. Instead, he tightened his hold on me, our fronts flatly pressed together. His arms were snaked around me, and I couldn’t resist wrapping mine around him too.

Slowly, Dominik began to sway us back and forth to the beat of “Time After Time”, and he shuffled his feet a little bit, thereby moving mine in tandem as I stood on him.

I’d tried to copy how my dad had looked when he’d danced with Alaric, by putting my arms up around Dominic’s shoulders. However, the guy was way too tall for me to do that, so it wound up looking like we were just hugging each other. Dominik was so warm and his chest was surprisingly cuddly, like a giant teddy bear. I pulled myself in closer to him, and in response, he tightened his grip and I felt a rumble bellow out from him. However, unlike the usual angry ones he’d uttered, this one sounded pleased. His heartbeat thudded loudly in his chest, and I could even feel his grab a fistful of my shirt in his hands, keeping me close to him.

In that moment, as Dominik and I danced under the moonlight in the front yard, I felt something odd inside of me.

All day, I’d been annoyingly mopey over the fact that everything was changing and people were leaving me behind in the dust as they moved on with their lives. I’d felt the painful loneliness of having Dad and Emilia treat me as a second option, preferring to be with other people than with me. And it had hurt, a lot. It was as if a pit had formed in my chest, and it was also part black hole, and it grew in intensity as the days went by, sucking in all of my energy.

But as I danced in Dominik’s arms… I don’t know the word for how I felt.

That dark, black hole was gone though. I couldn’t feel it anymore in his hold. I also couldn’t feel the pain in my chest from having Dad leave me behind, nor could I feel the hurt I felt every time my sister ditched me like I was a nuisance to be around. And I couldn’t feel the fear of having Mom leave us alone with Kyle, and I couldn’t feel the anger I’d felt when Mom and Dad had split. No, I couldn’t feel any of those negative emotions.

Best of all, I couldn’t feel that loneliness that has been plaguing me recently.

My brain struggled to connect the dots as to what I was feeling in this time, in Dominik’s arms. It was warm, it was nice, it was soft, it was happy, it was safe— it was home.

I leaned in closer to the guy, my cheek pressed against his chest. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“For what?” Dominik asked, his deep voice also light and airy.

“It’s just that this is nice,” I mumbled. “So, thank you.”

His chest did that little happy rumble again. “Of course, mein Hase,” he breathed.

I craned my neck to look up at him, seeing that he was already looking down at me with his eyes still wide. A small, hopeful smile was on his face, his canine teeth poking out of his lips as he grinned. When he noticed me looking, he blushed and patted my head back to his chest so we could dance some more.

We just relaxed in each other’s hold, swaying gently to the music playing in the backyard, keeping the same pace and position no matter what song came on. Whether it was a slow song, electro-pop, or rock, it didn’t matter because Dominik and I still held onto one another like our lives depended on it.

“Hase?” Dominik finally asked, his voice strained.

“Hmm?” I responded, feeling so relaxed in his hold that I thought I’d fall asleep pretty soon. It was just so comfy and I’ve never felt more warm.

“Tomorrow’s the night of the full moon and…” His voice trailed off.

It’s funny, Felix had pointed out that the full moon was coming, too. Who knew that astronomy was so big in Germany? “Yeah?” I pressed.

Dominik cleared his throat. “It’s just that, well… in the past, I never really had to worry about it, but now—”

The sound of leaves and dead grass crunching sounded out, and that familiar group of teenage boys made a reappearance, and once they saw me and Dominik together, the tallest of the three snorted and whispered something to his friends, who then laughed.

Dominik growled, retracting his arms from me and taking a large step away as if I were a hot plate and I’d burned him.

It was hard to ignore the sense of cold that crashed over me as soon as I wasn’t in Dominik’s arms. Plus, that annoying pit of sadness in the middle of my chest seemed to be forming again, but at a much faster pace.

One of the guys fake sneezed, uttering, “Schwuchtel!” The other two broke out into hysterics.

“Um, bless you,” I told him, unsure what he’d just said.

“Who’s your little friend?” one of the guys asked Dominik, wearing a taunting grin that only served to make Dominik growl again.

Dominik looked over at me, and there was something in his eyes that made me wince. For a brief second, he knitted his eyebrows together as he looked at me, and his angry features fell. However, when one of the guys laughed again, it all returned tenfold. Dominik’s face broke out into a sneer of pure, unadulterated disgust.

“He’s nobody,” Dominik spat, storming his way back towards the backyard. As he passed the group, he roughly bumped into the tallest one, making him stumble back a little.

“‘Nobody’?” I repeated under my breath, feeling like an icicle had stabbed right through my chest, my throat growing painfully dry.

His back to me, Dominik froze.

“Didn’t look like he was a nobody,” one of the guys muttered, crossing his arms as he smirked.

“Ja, we just watched the two of you dancing together,” the third chuckled. “Ich wusste nicht, dass wir eine zukünftige weibliche Leitwolf haben.“

I could clearly see Dominik’s broad back muscles tense up, and he turned to stare down the group angrily. Such fury was in his eyes, and he bared his sharp teeth like a rabid dog would, making the three other teenagers cower back a little.

“He’s nobody,” he snarled. “He’s my dad’s husband’s kid, and I was only hanging out with him because he looked so sad and lonely. That’s it!”

Quicksand. That was the only word I seemed to be able to think of as soon as Dominik’s hate-filled speech hit my ears. It felt like I was sinking down deep into a pitch black hole that had no way for me to climb out of it. It was cold and dark down there, and it was so lonely that I felt suffocated. It was so deep and so far down, that I was all alone down there with nobody to help me out of it.

Of course I’ve had Dad, Mom, and Emilia each blow me off before in the past. But now, for some reason that I couldn’t explain, it stung worse. Dominik’s words cut through me like a knife; and yeah, it was stupid of me think of us as friends or anything even remotely close to that. I mean, thinking back to yesterday, he’d totally ditched me at the pier in Nordwestmecklenburg. Therefore, it made sense that he’d leave me like everyone else. Although, again, I don’t know why this one felt worse.

Dominik somehow hurt me more than anyone ever could.

The three guys each turned their faces towards me in unison. The one on the far left actually gave me a look of genuine pity, going so far as to shake his head solemnly at me. The other two both tried to hold in their laughter over how sad and pathetic I apparently looked.

I hadn’t even realized I’d begun crying until one of the guys pointed at my face and laughed.

“The baby’s crying!” he laughed loudly.

Dominik quickly spun back around, his eyebrows knitted together and his sneer falling from his face. Speaking of his face, it looked… broken.

“Max…” he barely whispered.

I didn’t want to hear what more he has to say. I turned around and sprinted as fast as my suit would allow me to. I hurried inside Alaric’s crappy house that I was now forced to live in, and slammed the door shut. As I hurried up the stairs to my new bedroom, it sounded like the neighbor’s dogs were getting into a fight because the sounds of growls and yelps echoed out from outside.

My new bedroom was the first door on the right, and I tried not to look down towards the end of the hallway where a certain jerk’s room was.

I dashed inside my room and even dragged one of the heavy boxes in front of the door so that no one could enter. Flinging my puny body onto the mattress of the bed that was positioned right below the window, I clung onto my pillow and sobbed into it for the rest of the night.