Page 45 of In This Iron Ground
It may not have been true literally, but he felt the bonds of being a creature of the earth nonetheless.
He felt something inside flourish from the iron ground.
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April dragged with it Damien’s fifteenth birthday. He awakened with the dawn and lay in his bed. He stared at the cream ceiling, free of ropes and the sweat of nightmares. He breathed in the air of his room. He listened to the Salgado household wake and stir. He could feel their home around him as if it had a life of its own, personified by the memories created by its occupants. By their warmth and nature. It was a soft cocoon around his body.
The events of his fourteenth birthday cast a long shadow, but Damien could see the light. He could feel it on his skin, almost.
Hope was a dangerous thing, but Damien wasn’t sure he wanted to escape it anymore.
The Salgados were aware his birthday was a sensitive subject, but they were not tentative about their insistence on throwing him a party. They even encouraged him to invite Olive. He knew the invitation was a big deal for a werewolf family, but Damien couldn’t turn the offer down.
When he went downstairs, everybody greeted him with playful happy birthdays. There was no heaviness in their words. At least on the surface, the past had been left behind.
Lallo and Dee ambushed him as soon as he stepped into the kitchen.
“Presents!” Dee exclaimed. Damien carefully took the pictures they held out. The drawings were colourful and filled with the people that stood around him. It was a family picture, and Damien stood amongst the pack.
Damien crouched down and hugged them. They crowded on him, rubbing their heads against his neck and clothes as they had taken to doing lately. Scent marking him.
The others promised their gift-giving would wait until the party. Damien wasn’t sure what he felt more of: anxiety or love.
At school, Olive pushed a package towards him during lunch. Damien looked at it with wide eyes.
“What? Not gonna get something for my best friend?” she teased. Damien’s heart started pounding. She didn’t know about last year. This wasn’t pity. It was real.
“Thanks,” he said quietly. Olive shoved him playfully, but her normally stoic face softened with a grin.
Koko and Hakan sat with them in the cafeteria. Damien almost protested, but he was tired of pretending he didn’t want the things he was desperate for.
Cameron picked them up from school. Olive became strangely polite in his presence, but he could see her melt under Cameron’s cheerful demeanour.
When they reached the Salgado household, Olive whistled under her breath as she looked around.
“Jesus, you hit the foster jackpot, huh?” she whispered at Damien, unknowing of the keen senses that picked up her words. Damien smiled, shrugging.
She had no idea.
Olive reverted back to being tense and formal as they stepped into the house, even if she pretended to be nonchalant. Lallo and Dee seemed wary of her too, but it was hard to remain stiff at the Salgados’.
They did their homework together, even Olive who normally ignored the teacher’s requests. They were served snacks and the work quickly devolved into laughter and ribbing.
Koko and Olive, who hadn’t interacted much despite being in the same year, clicked straightaway. They both had sharp, sarcastic senses of humour they bounced against each other. The three of them went to Koko’s room for a while and looked through Koko’s macabre collection. Olive’s eyes lit up. Damien felt warm at the sight of the people he cared about coming together. Of his wealth being shared.
The party was small but rambunctious. Dee and Lallo had been infected by the celebratory air, and even Lallo was especially excitable. When Damien went downstairs for dinner, the dining room was decorated with balloons and a glittering sign congratulating him for making it to fifteen.
He had to catch his breath for a moment to not drown in the wash of emotions that swelled inside.
After the meal came the presents. Koko and Hakan had each gotten him something small. Mia and Cameron gave as if it were Christmas. Damien barely opened his mouth beyond saying thanks. He concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
They turned off the lights, and Cameron came out of the kitchen with a cake. The air turned to song. Damien sat there, staring ahead, head and chest full.
He stared at the candles as the song ended.
There wasn’t a single realistic thing he could think of wishing for that he didn’t already have.
The swell died down. The dining room and kitchen were cleaned up. Olive was taken home.
