In the early hours of the morning, Spencer Lawson woke to a loud banging from the adjacent room.
"What the hell guys?" she muttered, grabbing the nearest pillow and covering her head. She cursed her hearing abilities, and tried to ignore the sounds coming from the room her parents were in.
"This is cruel and unusual punishment." she groans, sitting up. She jams in a pair of earbuds, and tries drowns out the sounds that are becoming more and more unbearable by the second. Spencer glances at the clock. In glowing red, "5:39 AM" stares back at her.
Lying in her bed, with nothing better to do than stare at the ceiling and wait for her parents' spontaneous carnal activities to end, she wonders if moving was the right decision. Her father, being an ex-SEAL, had always taught her to face her fears and problems head on. So why were they running away from their problems now?
The fight that broke out the week before they finished packing was one for the ages. But the last straw was when Spencer called her father a hypocrite and a coward. If he could have, Evan Lawson would have taken a hickory switch to his daughter's behind. Instead he grounded her for life. But his wife managed to mitigate that sentence to a month.
And now, a month later, her parents were torturing her with a new form of punishment.
"Shit!" Spencer heard her father bark. Literally bark. Thank god he had enough self-control to keep himself from howling. Spencer doesn’t wish to think about the many nights her father’s loud, passionate howls have woken her up.
"Thank whatever god exists, they're done." she thought. Spender removed the earbuds, which had effectively drowned out all other sound, but at the same time had deafened her. She then made a point to loudly walk to the bathroom across the hall. Once inside she heard her mother say something about being quiet next time.
"Next time, oh come on." Spencer thought. She glances at her reflection in the mirror. In the dim morning light, her already black hair completely disappears into the shadows. She pokes at the slightly purple marks under her eyes. She hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in what feels like forever.
"Spencer, are you almost done?" her mother calls from the bedroom.
"Uh, ya." she says quickly. Not eager to see her parents post-coitus, she half-sprints back to her room, and leaps in to bed. Thirty minutes later her mother peeks in to check on her. Spencer pretends to be asleep, partially because she doesn’t want to be bothered. But mostly because, for the past half-hour, her parents have been continuing their escapades in her aunt’s once clean shower. Which Spencer was never setting foot in again if she had a choice.
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The next morning, the awkward tension is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife and spread it on the toast Spencer was unrepentantly eating. Her aunt and uncle come downstairs last, both arm in arm. Spencer gets the sinking feeling she’s surrounded by sexual indiscriminate adults. All the sounds and smells floating around the room, it doesn’t make for a pleasant breakfast.
“So what are your plans for the day?” Elle asked after breaking away from her husband. Jonathan joins Evan at the kitchen counter. The two pass cups of coffee around the room.
“I’m due at the hospital to go over some paperwork with H.R, and Evan was planning to check in with Austin before heading back to Norfolk.” Maggie says.
“What about you Spencer? Any plans?” Elle turned to face her niece.
“Not really.” Spencer shrugs.
“When will you start school?” Elle asks.
“One week. I’d start sooner if Dad wasn’t such a…” Spencer doesn’t bother to finish the sentence, as her mother is giving her a hard look.
“Don’t talk about your father like that Spencer. He’s just worried about your well-being.” Maggie sighed.
“Sure, sure. Does he have a problem with me spending the day wandering the streets by myself? Or should I have a fully armed escort?” Spencer asks sarcastically. Evan grits his teeth and pretends he didn’t hear that last remark.
“You can go out. Just try to stay out of trouble. And if you see anything suspicious call us.” Evan said calmly, contrary to the throbbing vein at the base of his neck.
“Suspicious, right. Because Moon Lake is so suspicious. It’s hardly on the map, what’s the worst that can happen?”
“Alright that’s enough! Spencer, go upstairs!” Evan finally snapped. Spencer does as her father said, a little scared at the sight of his eyes flashing a dangerous color. She flees up the stairs while Maggie tries to calm her husband.
“Evan, relax. She’s just upset about the move.” Maggie assures him.
“Are you sure that’s all she’s upset about?” Evan grumbled.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You know Spencer. She likes danger. Knowing her she’ll end up rock climbing today, or worse”
“Well you are her father.” Maggie smiles weakly. Evan sighed and sat down on one of the kitchen stools. It was true, Spencer had inherited most of her personality from him, while in appearance she looked more like her mother and aunt. She and Evan were both stubborn and hot headed. A volatile combination when you factor in Evan’s military training and the fact that he can turn into an eleven foot tall werewolf (give or take a few inches). As a human, he only stands about 5’11.
“See, this is why we never had kids. Too much work.” Elle says to her husband, only half joking. Jonathan smiles back and kisses her forehead.
“And you can’t put them in a crate at night.” he adds, thinking of their many pets. Weird as it was that the couple had dogs, they preferred to have animals than children. Neither were keen on the idea of raising someone for eighteen years, being eaten out of house and home, and going into debt trying to support them. Though in hindsight, that’s exactly what their three shepherd mixes are doing.
Jonathan’s job at the the Moon Lake fire department didn’t really cover the bills. So he also worked as a mechanic on the side. Elle moved from job to job, as she was going back to school to get her PhD in microbiology. A field that was in high demand, especially in Moon Lake.
The two couples finished their meal and then went their separate ways. Elle and Maggie left together, since the hospital and college were relatively close. Jonathan enjoyed walking to work, and he strode out the door with a smile on his face and energy in his steps. Evan collected his things and prepared to depart. At the last second, he decided to go upstairs and check on Spencer, who had been oddly quiet since being sent to her room.
“Spencer, I’m heading out now.” he calls up the staircase. No answer. It’s not like she couldn’t have heard him. Evan sighed and began to walk up the stairs. Once at the top he saw that one of the bathroom windows was wide open. On a hunch, he checked her room.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to Spencer sneaking out, he was just surprised she was willing to make the jump from the second floor. Then again, he had showed her how to rappel, as he too hard to learn for his SEAL training. And just as he suspected, when he checked his things, his rock-climbing gear was gone. He had promised to take her to Mount St. Helen on their initial trip out. He brought his gear with him, and had had every intention of keeping his promise. Until he got the news that Jeremy managed to escape custody and was probably on his way here.
Still, even in this moment Evan couldn’t help but feel a little proud of his clever daughter. A little too clever for her own good at times, but clever all the same.