The only light on was the lamp near the couch. I could hear Ben’s snores as I walked down the hall to my old room in the back of the house. I looked in on him, and he looked frail in the moonlight coming through his bedroom window. The bed leaned a little to one side, a reminder of the times I’d slept in his bed as a kid and shifted to the beast.
As I showered, a memory came back to me of when I was nine or so—we had no way of knowing what my real age was, so we just guessed at it—I’d had a nightmare and knocked on Uncle Ben’s door. He’d allowed me to sleep with him. Before morning I’d shifted into beast form and ended up pushing him off the bed, since I took up almost all the space. He’d been none too pleased.
I chuckled as I lay down in my old bed. The sheets were the same ones I’d used when I was still living here. It was comforting. I waited for sleep to take me, feeling all my cares and worries slip away.
It was good to be home.
* * * *