I shuddered and watched the cold creatures stand over my mother and father.

This was it I thought to myself and looked over at Sean, my love for the last 4 years. I looked up at his eyes to block out the screams of my parents. We didn't know what was happening. We didn't know who those evil angels were. But he still looked me straight in my eyes, and whispered I love you before he was pulled away. Everything was happening in blurred movements. I had yet to decide if these creatures were simply inhumanly fast, or if I had just hit my head too hard.

None of it mattered. I felt a teardrop escape my tightly closed eyes and silently scolded myself for being weak, Its time to accept death. I decided, all this within the nanoseconds it took for my lovely trip to LaPush with my mother, father and boyfriend to become a massace at the hands of unknown animals. It only took five seconds for them all to die. It took another 2 to realize that I was still alive, at the unbelievable speed these demons were moving I should be gone by now. I opened my eyes to see a large wolf in the place of the demons, quickly transforming into a naked man. A small gasp was all I had the strength to let out as I closed my eyes and fainted.

LaPush

My eyes opened slowly, the light from the bright sun burning them as my face curled into a smile. I must have slept on the way here, this hotel room is extremely comfy. The room was average size, the door was closed and a large window was at the head of it's twin size bed. It was decorated with an earthy feel, definetly in LaPush, I thought to myself. The rooms décor slightly reminded me of Auntie Naomi, and how she had a piece of our heritage in every corner in her home. That struck me as odd, I wonder if this is a hotel on the rez, strange its decorated like it is.

I turned around on my bed with a grin on my face. Wondering at how to thank Sean for carrying my upstairs, most likely he would insist that he be the one to do it. I felt a breeze enter the room from the window. I looked outside and saw the familiar yet forgotten LaPush landscape. The general store was right across from me, as it had been from Auntie's home. I pulled my arms around myself and shuddered slightly at the thought of the horrible nightmare I vaguely remember, its weird how that happens. Bad nightmares are never remembered right when you wake up, you always recall them after you've been up for a bit. I was so engrossed in recalling the details of my nightmare, I didn't notice the strange clothes I was wearing. Strange because they weren't mine, but so comfortable I didn't really mind. I figured Mama had changed me last night rather than wake me up. I looked at the clock on the counter and saw the time as 2:30 PM. I gasped slightly at myself and turned to run down the stairs and out to the dining hall of this motel. I froze when I opened the door and realized this was Aunties house.

"AUNTIE NAOMI! Mama! Papa! I'm awake!!" I ran down a smile plastered on my face in excitement. "Seth, where are you?"

I was greeted not with the enthusiastic replies I expected, but with complete and utter silence. Refusing to let that disconcert me, I walked into the first floor bathroom, slightly remembering where it was. I entered the bathroom and smiled at my appearance in the mirror. My face had always been unique, my father was from Toulouse, a province in France and my mother was Quileute. Children always used to tease the awkward native American with a French accent growing up, but now my appearance was considered different, or exotic as Sean would say.

I smiled once again at the thought of Sean….sigh he was perfect!! I never understood why such a handsome, beautiful guy would date such a different looking girl like me. My appearance wasn't pretty in my opinion, not in the slightest. I was average, but uninque. My big eyes were inherited from my father, light brown yet constantly changing colour. My smile and hair was from my mother and I had a defined chin I don't know who I inherited from.

Once I became sick of looking at myself and criticizing my features, I brushed and walked outside. As soon as I came outside I noticed my cousin Jared, standing with a bunch of similar looking boys down the street. I called his name and his head jerked back as though I yelled it in his ear. He looked apprehensive at first but then came to me at a jog and scooped me up in his arms. I smiled at him and hugged him back,

"Who gave you permission to get so tall?" I joked with him, I had always been taller than him. I was now 5'8 ½ and hadn't grown in 2 years.

"Well, its not like I've seen you in a while!" He gave me another hug before his weak smile contorted into a more serious expression.

"I'm sorry Nick," I grimaced at his childhood nickname for me. I loved it but I would never admit that to him.

"I'm not that mad I'm shorter than you! Lighten up!" He looked at me puzzled, I realized that wasn't what he meant…

"What is it?" I questioned. "Is everybody alright?"

"You don't remember?" He asked, more to himself than to anybody else.

Suddenly my nightmare became a lot more real and I saw it all play out in front of me.. I shook my head of the silly thoughts… Monsters don't exist.

"Jared, don't mess with me like that! Are mom and dad okay? How about Auntie? Wheres Sean?" His face grew graver with every question and my questions grew more frantic.

"Nick, you have to remember, come on Nicole. Please." His eyes pleaded with me to remember and my nightmare flashed once again before my eyes.

"Jared your acting as though there are monsters on the loose!!!" I joked, rather than bring up my nightmare. "Take me to where ma is." I demanded, my hands shaking with anger at these games he was playing.

"Nick, the monsters are real." I fell to my knees. Jared grabbed me as his friends came running over to see where those screams were coming from. It wasn't until they arrived that I realized I was the one who was screaming.

"Jared I swear to hell if you don't take me to ma know you're gonna regret it! How dare you use my nightmare as a funny little game for yourself." He didn't look away ashamed as I thought he would when I called his bluff. Instead he forced me into a hug with him, tears flowing from his eyes. No, Jared would never lie to me. Hes my best friend. It's a joke is what it is.

"Those monsters are real. They kill humans all the time. We're truly sorry for your loss" Jareds friend started to speak, but all I could hear were the first words he spoke. 'the monsters are real' kept replaying in my head as I hung on to my cousin for dear life.

"SEAN! Where is he! Please tell me he's okay Jared. Jared please." My pleading eyes met Jareds, I could barely make out his stiffened form shake his head to the side through my tears. At that I lost myself to my tears and I have no idea how long Jared held me, keeping me together. At least, together as I could be.

I don't know why it was so easy for me to believe, about the cold ones I mean. Any normal person would have insisted it was a dream. I wanted to, god knows I wanted to; but Jared was my best friend growing up, we had even kept in touch when I moved around the world. He would never lie to me. Those next few weeks, it was decided that Auntie would adopt me, Jared became my brother and I mourned for my lost family members.

It was summertime so we didn't have to worry about school, I doubt I would have gone. I broke out of my reverie and turned to the clock by my bed. Midnight. It was officially fourth week and 3rd day after their death. I needed food. I walked downstairs to the kitchen and helped myself to some ice cream. Not the healthiest, but it would help. At about 12:46 AM Jared came walking down the stairs, his stomach growling with obvious hunger. I smiled to myself, I fought the urge to say something to him but held back. I had been this way since I cryed myself silly in the middle of the street. I felt it was an insult to enjoy myself after they died.

"Hungry?" Jared asked, an obvious attempt to make conversation with me. Jared had tried so hard to be there for me these last few weeks. He really was my brother in every aspect.

"I'm sorry Jared." I said, shocking myself. Before those words left my mouth I was only contemplating speaking in normal conversations with people. My mouth made the decision for me, "I know I've been a complete butt to you and Auntie." His face looked calm, willing to listen. So I took advantage and continued, not knowing if I would have the nerve to share how I felt again. "I was afraid that enjoying life would be an insult to them" A single tear dropped down my cheek. "Wow, you must think I'm so weak, I can't even say their names. Hows that for pathetic." I scowled at myself. Jared kept that calm look on his face for what seemed like forever but was only two minutes. He finally spoke after giving me a hug.

"Lil sis" He loved his new nick for me "You know me and mom love you to death! We're here for you as long as you need us. And if you died would you want your loved ones refusing to be happy?" He thought hard before he continued. "I mean, really loving somebody is wanting them to be happy even if that's without you there." I smiled at him.

"Which book did you get that line out of?" I teased. "Thank you for everything Jared. That night we spent hours talking about LaPush, Jared's friends, the neighborhood; everything I should have gotten to know about by now. We fell asleep in the living room around 5 am sometime during a heated discussion about France; Jared always made fun of it as I made fun of the States. We both began drifting off to sleep and I heard Jared mutter "Good to have you back Nick" I weakly kicked his legs off my side of the carpet before drifting into a carefree and happy sleep.

We were awaken the next morning at the lovely hour of 9:00 AM, by a cheerful Auntie who seemed to sense I was beginning to heal. Jared merely rolled onto the couch and continued sleeping there. I decided to take a walk around the place that would be my new home and rushed upstairs to take a shower.

I looked into the mirror for the first time in 4 weeks and surprised myself. My normally full face had grown thin, and my eyes looked dull and sad. I took a shower and quickly fixed my hair. I had never been one for makeup but settled with a little bit of mascara. I put on an old t-shirt and jeans and looked into the mirror again. The life had seemingly returned to my face but all I could do about the new weight was to eat! With that in mind I ran down to the kitchen and made some of my best pancakes. Apparently, as tired as Jared was he couldn't resist the smell of pancakes and was quickly awake to try them. As I gave Jared a 5 large pancakes and syrup I took a good look at my cousin. His boyish face complimented his manlike figure. Although his face looked mature, his features still betrayed his age, he was muscular and tall with a beautiful skin tone that most of my mothers family possessed. It was a gorgeous light brown with a burgundy undertone. Sort of a reddish russet. I envied it and knew my pale brown skin tone wasn't complimentary to anything. I became lost in my thoughts and was soon pulled back into reality when Jared said:

"Oh wow, these are amazing. Can I have some more?". I let out a laugh, he had already finished five pancakes I before I cooked two more. I looked at the batter that was left and realized there would only be 3 more all together. I looked at my cousins adorable face and let him take them.

"Honestly, you need to teach mom how to make these!" His face was excited. Excited by food, how boyish, I grinned wide.

"Seth taught me how to make them" The smile faded from my face as I realized what I was saying. At the same time, Jared froze as he prepared for me to rush out of the room crying. A piece of pancake was stuck to the fork he had stopped eating half-way, I smiled through him a napkin and told him to eat fast.

He looked relieved, hunger, satiated, happy, and excited all at once. My big brother was too much,

"We're going exploring today." Jared looked at me quizzically.

"You do realize don't you, I've only been out this house once? I need a guide!!" I smiled at him and made my way to the door. "Meet me on the porch" I yelled over my back.

I sat outside and took in the beautiful atmosphere of the rez. Nobody was out right now but that would most likely change within the next hour or so. Everything was still the same way it had been before we moved. I remember when we first found out we were moving back to the U.S. I called Jared up that day, we were in the third grade and he had just came home from school.

"Jared! Nous y retournerons!"

"What? MOOOMM shes speaking weird again! Nick, speak English!"

"Je parle normal!! Tu parle comme un americain! C'est bizarre"

"Buthead"

"Tu pue"

"Your werid"

"Tu es petit"

"Too-tall"

"I'm COMING BACK HOME!"

"WHAT?"

The conversation continued as you would expect little kids to carry out a conversation. I was shaken out of my reverie by Jared screaming boo from being me and startling me silly.

"Jared" I warned, in a way I hoped was intimidating.

"Yes'um" He answered, apparently not put off by my intimadiveness

"Tu pue" I grinned, knowing I had him. He hated it when I spoke French.

"Ouais? Et tu es petite" He replied, admittedly shocking me. "I took a few French courses at the high school" He said, smirking as he did.

I smacked him lightly in the stomach as sisters do.

"Hey, you can't go hitting relatives like that. It's not right" I shut him up by giving him a hug.

"I could get used to an older brother" He smiled, I smiled, it was a good mushy moment.

"Where do we start your tour mademoiselle?" Jared asked me, I looked around trying to decide, but a strange mans voice interrupted me before I could answer.

"With you best friends of course." I turned around to see two of the boys Jared was with earlier.

"Embry, good too see somebody keeping Jared on his toes" Embry winked while Jared forced a smile on his face, I shook the hand he held out for me while I waited for Jared beautiful, very beautiful friend to introduce himself. This one was taller than both Jared and Embry, his hair was longer as well, sort of shaggy and unkempt. His eyes were staring into mine in a way that made me uncomfortable, it was as though he was reading into my soul. I turned away and looked up at Jared to see whether this friends intensity was normal. Jared looked from his friend to me with an uncomprehensible look on his face and muttered something that sounded like crap. Embry finally stepped up and ended the awkward silence by introducing me to Jacob. That was his name Jake, nice and simple, I liked it.

I wanted to shake hands with him too, but I hadn't quite figured out what was going on. I just stood there between three ridiculously tall teenage boys who obviously knew something I didn't.