I worried I had chosen the wrong path. My klutzy brain was even more scattered than usual, not to mention the fact I'd been going about a million miles per hour last time I was her… - NO! I couldn't think about that, not now, I was in bad enough shape as it was, the gap in my chest bursting at the seams I tried so hard to stitch together, like a wound that just wouldn't heal. I laughed for a moment in my head; Carlisle had been a doctor, and a great one at that. Typical, my dumb brain just couldn't stay away from him, dancing on the edges of insanity. Of course if I had wanted to not think about… him, I wouldn't be stumbling around in the middle of the freaking forest. Why had I thought this was going to be a good idea, to go visit the place he'd taken me, our place. Why had I thought this wouldn't bring up so many heartbreaking memories that I just wanted to lay down and die, to throw the towel in and call it good, because let's face it it's not like my life's really going anywhere. With my luck I'll be patient zero in the zombie apocalypse or the person who accidentally gets crushed under the opening hatch of an invading alien army.
"Ouch!" I instinctively yelped as I poked my finger on some spiky bush branches while gripping them mid-trip. Little drops of warm red blood oozed out of my finger and as I sucked on what was sure to yet another scar I thought wasn't that just typical and didn't it all seem to come back to my stupid delicious smelling blood. I mean I didn't think it smelled that great. Sure I try and stay healthy as can be, if that has anything to do with the taste of blood, but volume wise I'd be a pretty tiny snack for a hungry predator. Now which way was I supposed to go now? At that point I didn't even know which way I'd come from given the numerous falls and stumbles and turn-arounds. It was getting late and Charlie would be worried if I came home very late, of course he did have "hunting" duty that night which gave me some time. Time was it that a wildcat or bear on the loose meant a rogue vampire on the loose but nowadays it was probably just a wildcat or bear on the loose. The exciting days of people getting ripped open by bloodthirsty vamps were over. Not that I'm complaining, because I was usually the first on the menu for those bloodthirsty vamps, but there were other perks back in those days.
I felt a sharp jolt pierce my abdomen. I'd though too hard on the subject, indulged in my memories too much and now I was going to pay the price in pain and sorrow and tears. But first I really needed to find my way out of the forest. As much as seeing it would probably hurt me I really needed that beautiful meadow right about then. There was a gap in the trees just up ahead and I tried to remember what the entrance to the meadow had looked like, but it was in vain. I'd just have to wander in that direction and hope to high heavens that I was going in the right direction. There were always stories of lost hikers in Forks, but they were usually out of towners, city people who didn't know which way was up when it came to nature. You would have thought that by then I would have learned not to go wandering off like that, but there's me getting myself into who knows how much kind of trouble.
A rogue tree branch smacked me in the face and as I pushed it aside I sighed in relief blinking in the sun of the meadow. Then I gasped as my eyes adjusted to the brightness.