Chapter 23 - Silver- This Wretched Place

Where had the summer gone? I raised my head above the tall grass to sniff around. I tried to ignore the bitter wind biting into my nose and snout, but found it useless, with the wind whipping around I couldn't get a scent. I turned my single eye, to glare at the overcast skies above. I thought back to my home on the river, before I lost my sister, my eye, and my pack to my damn brother. Back before the wind was cold.
Finding no prey available, I trotted back to the looming house and padded up the steps. I glanced over to the barren forrest, the leaves had fallen weeks ago, and their dry brown carcasses fluttered in the noreaster that whipped through my fur. I nudged open the door and went inside, the still lack of wind seemed eerie, as it often did these days.
I lay down in my favorite spot in front of the fire, it had to be stoked constantly. The cold could become wicked and biting even indoors now. Kaidok, apparently exauhsted, was in a shallow sleep on the bloodstained couch. The appirition that seemed to visit nightly deprived him of sleep more now than ever. And I was starting to suspect that it wasn't a product of his mind. Things were happening that I could not explain. Every so often, a chair would move, almost little enough that you might think you imagined it, then again, this time as plain as day. Books would topple from the shelves of the large room up the stairs. And more than once, after wandering off, Skylar would be found, mesmerized, staring into space. As if lulled into a trance by something beyond our grasp.
I looked again at the young male, A gaping hole in his pants showed the scar on his thigh, it seemed that the wound must have been to the bone. The twine that had been used to sew him up had grown into the skin, becoming a part of him. (My own wound had healed well, though I resented the loss of my eye.) He had become sullen lateley, as well as irritable (he became easily anoyed with everythig, Skylar especially.). It was hard to think he wasn't responsible for some of the tensions here.
Kai seemed a bit moody, and he temper flared occasionally. And I admit I might not have helped these situations. Kosita, it seemed, was the only one able to keep her composure.
The fire crackled and I shut my eyes, I thought I felt a hand on my back, but I wasn't about to look now.

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