Page 159 of Drown My Sorrow

The tears come silently, rolling down my cheek, ripping open old wounds and reminding me that I am alone. Always alone.

PresentDay

I remember seeing Kelly all over the newspaper. Local hero, golden surfer, amazing Alpha.

I do not like being on the cover. I stare down at my face on the tablet screen and purse my lips while my heart thumps hard in my chest. I’m on the edge of a panic attack, I can feel it.

They have at least a half decent picture of me. I’m staring sadly across the crowd below, looking untouchable in the gold dress.

But then, there’s another closeup of the edge of the scar on my face, one of my cane, and another of my pack.

And one other photo that makes me feel sick. I haven’t seen this photo in years. I run my finger over it, and I can hear the roar of the water again. My ears ring with the sound of people screaming, trying to be heard over the sound of the floods’ roar.

I’m standing on the edge of the water, my head wet and tangled. I look like a ghost. They used it for a while to talk about the victims of the flood, but then, like with all things, people stopping caring.

The newsletter paints a gloriously offensive image of me. Much like the old stories, but, this time, they go into depth, interviewing the people my father’s business screwed. Speaking to some of my mother’s old neighbours. They get some really good fodder from Gwen’s cronies again.

I am disabled, and I use it as a manipulation to get what I want. A con-woman who preys upon tourists using my fake psychic abilities. A whore just like my mother who caught the pack with my exceptional skills in bed that I learned from my years turning tricks.

I snort a laugh. I was never ashamed of my mother or what she had to do to survive. She kept us fed and housed, and the way they make it sound is so sordid. I was ashamed of how she treated me and even more what I was to her; someone who trapped her.

Kelly snatches the tablet away from me and talks coldly into the phone. “She is not manipulating us. There is nothing wrong with Aspyn. Ah, I see, so you have an issue with people with disabilities? You apparently do because you’re allowing these slanderous accusations to be printed. Her mother is her own person, and what she did to survive has NOTHING to do with my omega.”

Ryn puts a hand on Kelly’s arm, but he snatches himself away from her and paces to the chair closest to me and flops down in it.

“Just because she was injured as a child does not mean she’s a gold digger. It doesn’t mean she’s useless-”

I hear the next words.She claims to be psychic, Kelly.

“I DON’T CARE! Prove she isn’t!” he growls with a terrifying rage.

I shift my weight, wishing I was anywhere else.

“Have you told your mother she can’t have children?” Lia asks.

Kelly whirls, narrowing his eyes. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Lia holds up her hands and backs off, back into the arms of her pack.

Ezy stomps into the room, followed by the other packs.

“It’s all over the news. It’s everywhere.”

“She is my omega, and nothing is going to change that!” Kelly thunders.

“And that’s exactly our point!” The person on the phone shouts back. “Kelly, you are besotted with an omega who can’t give you children, who claims to be a psychic. Her mother was a whore. She’s an orphan now with no family and no money. Hell, she can’t even walk properly. Her father ruined hundreds of families' livelihoods. How do you expect to present this to the board and win any kind of vote? You’ve been gone too long, we don’t know you, and we don’t trust her.”

“This isn’t up for vote.”

“If you want this company to succeed, it needs to be.” The person snaps back.

I stand up in the silence and limp from the room.

I can hear Kelly raging, but he doesn't come after me. None of my pack does. The people that do surprise me.

Erin, Bailey, and Ryann find me in the library.

“Are you giving up?” Erin asks calmly.

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