❝ i was at your funeral. i dealt with dad beating me almost to death because i wasn’t as good as you. I WORE YOUR DOG TAGS. i still do. ❞ anger is lacing his tone, fingertips dipping under the neck of his shirt, finger wrapping around the chain to pull it out, lets it drop against his chest. it feels too real, realer than any of his dreams have been.
❝ … i mourned you. ❞ he can’t breathe, his chest is burning with nerves & sadness is coming off in waves from his form. each breath he sucks in feels like he’s breathing in acid. he doesn’t understand what he’s saying, he’s not listening properly, too caught up in his own thoughts to question what his brother means.
his brother is here. camden lahey is here. camden lahey is here.
❝ you some shifter ? is that what this is ? ❞ eyes flash yellow, glowing & full of anger. his control hasn’t been the best since allison died & if someones trying to get to him, it’s working. it’s weird, he looks like camden, he sounds like camden, he smells —- off but still like his brother. this isn’t real. this isn’t real. ❝ i’ll rip your throat out with my claws & i won’t fucking hesitate, i don’t care if my eyes turn blue. ❞
it’s almost as if he could breathe himself. to see the shine of the aluminum against his brother’s chest. eyes can see as clear as day ; it’s as if time stopped, if only for a moment. ( he wasn’t gone. he wasn’t gone. ) he was here / right here. a family, they could have been. one by one, ripped at it’s very seams. the father, the mother, the son. leaving issac all alone. if he could feel, he would be in this moment.
❝ breathe, issac. please. ❞ nothing he says will make sense ; nothing will be comprehended unless he breathes. let the wolf take over if need be, but breathe. the mind needed to be calm. to lose control is to reject the truth / to reject what is right in front of him. camden cannot & will not let that happen. not while he can help it.
steps are taken forward, he has to move. move before it’s too late. he has to prove himself ; prove that he’s here. that he was real. issac lived by the moon, but he was of the shadows. movement so fluid and unclear, as if he was floating in midair. it didn’t take long for him to reach his brother, hands upon his shoulders. grounding him, keeping him in control.
❝ i’m a wraith. a ghost for lack of a better word. fuck, issac. i’m right here. listen to me. i’m here because of you. only you. ❞