chapter 14

You know despite my personality - or lack of a personality I didn't really wear black often, which might come as a surprise as usually the lone wolf and anti-social kind of people typically opted to wear dark colors like black and grey to avoid attention.

I wasn't really like that. I wore whatever, whenever just not overly bright. At most I always wore something that had blue in it. That being said, for the party I ended up picking a pair of black jeans, a black sleeveless high-neck top, a blue jacket, and blue boots to match. The blue reminded me of David's eyes. It was comforting. I put the clothes aside and went about my day. It was a Saturday and I had the house all to myself as Uncle Duncan was at work.

Every Saturday and Sunday was the same. Once uncle Duncan left I would get on my laptop and research my family's attack. After the funeral uncle Duncan gave me access to my inheritance. I was supposed to get it at 18. ( this year ), but he gave me it earlier because... My puppy eyes.

I didn't use the money for dresses and other luxuries, instead, I poured the resources to get information, such as the wolf patch on the man's arm shoulder belonged to a mercenary organization called the "Howlings". They were notorious for their brutality but little else was known about them except that there was a power struggle in the organization a year before the attack and they have been dormant ever since. I mentioned the wolf patch during the interrogation but to my surprise, after peeking at the official report that one-time uncle Duncan fell asleep at the dining table I discovered there was no mention of it. I was sure something wasn't right in the department, that's why I couldn't tell uncle Duncan about my investigation. Make no mistake! I do not think and have never once thought that my uncle had anything to do with what happened, but his department is corrupt. I couldn't trust him and I didn't want him to get involved and you he wouldn't approve, I knew for sure after his reaction to me joining NSOA.

Opening my laptop, there was a week's worth of messages from doing my pen-pal of sorts. I still remember the day he first contacted me. I was so lonely, distraught, and in desperate need of someone other than my uncle to unload on that I basically told my entire life story to a complete stranger. I felt so embarrassed and silly afterward. usually, people would just offer an apology for what happened to me. I always wondered why they did that. It wasn't their fault so why were they apologizing? Then they would say things like "You need to let it go" and "Everything will be alright". The people who did that infuriated me. They obviously had no idea how it felt. Who were they to tell me to let go!?

But Dwayne didn't say any of that. In fact, his words caught me off-guard. He talked about how wanting revenge wasn't a bad thing and how I just wanted answers. That I should be more determined to find out what happened to my family. He was the first one to get it. In his next message, there was a lot of information about the 'Howlings' group. More than the police had.

When I asked how and why he had that he said it was a secret but they had hurt him too. I wondered if he had only contacted me because of my connection with the 'Howlings' but before I could ask, he typed that it was just a coincidence. Convenient coincidence it was, but I let it be. I wanted all that information that he had, he was the one who told me about the NSOA. He said it was the best way to get what I needed was by joining them and finding the Head. I believed him. I once asked him why he didn't take revenge himself, with him knowing all that knew. He said he was not physically strong at all. That was a seriously weak excuse.

It didn't take long for me to realize that he was using me, but I did not mind. It was fine because I was using him too. At the end of the day, we held no malicious intent for the other, we both just wanted our revenge. I did the work and he did the research. It was simple.

Back to the present... The message he had sent was about what I should be expecting for the entrance exam at NSOA for both the physical and written exams. Was it cheating? Yes, absolutely, however, no one ever got what they wanted without doing at least one bad thing. I spent the rest of the day practicing for the written exam opting to do the physical tomorrow. My vengeance was so close, I could hardly wait.

Uncle Duncan came back in the evening, he asked me how my day went and I went on on my weekend lying spree. I hated these. I didn't like keeping things from him but at the end of the day, I told myself it was for the best, and it was. I looked up at him, as he quietly ate while reading a police report, we looked like a small family, we were after all. If only so we could keep this comfortable relationship, with him looking like a happy forty-something-year-old and me, his... his daughter? No-no. I was his niece I couldn't forget that. Dave was my dad. David my brother and Uncle Duncan was my uncle...