I am responsible for changing the course of so many lives, some for good; other's not so much. Yet I wouldn't take it back. I wouldn't go back to before I knew him, before Jacob Black entered my life. I very well may die tonight, and he would be free to go back to his old way of life, where rules were real and legends were sound. Maybe it would be better that way, but I will not give up and am not going down without a fight.
"Look at me."
His voice was pained and I knew that if I looked at him I wouldn't be able to tear myself away. He had that power over me.
"I have to go now Chris." I mutter pulling my hand from his grasp. Against my better judgment I glance up at him. His eyes swallow me up like the ocean, and I forget to breathe.
"You could stay here with me. You don't have to go." He says in that soft voice he only uses when he's trying to persuade me to do something. Little does he know that his eyes are what really influence me. They're like magic. Half the time I can't help but go along with whatever he says. Even now I felt the pull to stay with him, and forget all that my mother and I had planned. I shake my head violently trying to focus on the task at hand. Say Goodbye.
"I will have my phone and laptop. I will write to you all the time. We're best friends. We always will be. Distance doesn't matter." I say slowly, and surely.
He gives me his trademark look. The one that says you're incredibly too cheesy to be friends with me, and yet he still is.
"Can't you at least tell me where you're going? I would visit. I won't even tell Shelby." A small smile plays at his lips. I groaned. I wanted to tell him, I begged my mom to let me, but she's convinced that the less people that know where we are going the better. I agreed, but it didn't make it any less difficult. Especially when the guy I have been in love with since forever is standing in front of me saying he'll visit without his dumb girlfriend tagging along. Not that it mattered; in the end I was always going to be the best friend. No more, no less.
"Phone and Laptop." I repeat, giving him a sad smile in return. He would never know how hard this was for me. He runs his hand through his messy brown hair. In the sun his hair had flecks of red sparkling through it, not that I would ever point that out to him. I was ready for an argument, hoping he would beg me to stay and maybe confess his undying love, but in the end he pulls me into a tight embrace.
"Stay safe." He whispers.
"You too. I miss you already."
I pull away, knowing that the longer I stay the more it will hurt later.
"Don't cry my sweet Annabelle." He says, wiping away the tears that were embarrassingly covering my cheeks.
"Bye Christian. I love you." I say, backing away from him.
"Love you too."
I turn around and run to the car where my mom was waiting patiently. I climb in the front seat and buckle my seatbelt.
"Drive." I say, looking straight ahead. I didn't want to look around at the bright sunny sky or wide-open Texas plains. And I especially didn't want to look back and see Christian disappear into the distance. No. I just wanted to stare straight ahead and go.
"You said this place would be normal Mom." I mumble watching tree after tree after tree pass us by. After three days of driving I was a little more than irritable.
"Forks is perfectly normal. It is a tad smaller and greener then Austin, but you'll get used to it." She says happily.
I couldn't help but glare at her. A tad smaller? A tad greener? It was like we were driving in the middle of a freaking rainforest. And there was maybe a grand total of what? 3,000 people? Compared to 30,000. That's a bit more then a tad smaller. At least it rained here apparently. I liked the rain.
"Look, I know you gave up a lot because of all this. But I really think you will end up liking this place. I came here during the summer when I was a little girl."
"Won't he know to look here then? If you've been here before?" I ask bitterly.
"He never knew about this place. I came here before your grandmother died. I never talked about it." She says thoughtfully.
I look at my mom. She looked almost happy driving around this place. Her blonde hair so unlike mine was kept short and in a bob. She was paler than me, because for some unknown reason she can't tan. If it wasn't for our matching green eyes and broad smiles we wouldn't look related at all. I had to tie my long brown hair back into a ponytail to keep it from blowing everywhere. My mom liked to drive with the windows down.
A loud explosion pulled me from my thoughts. I grabbed a hold of my seat belt as my mom swerved to the side of the road, slamming on the brakes. She gets out and lets out a few choice curse words.
"What happened?" I ask, sliding out of my seat and over to where my mom stood obstinately kicking the now flat tire.
"How should I know? At least we are only about ten minutes away from our destination. Help me with the spare."
"Mom, just let me do it. Remember the last time you tried to put a spare on?" She gave me this awfully innocent look that I inherited from her, "Exactly. You somehow, popped the spare. So just relax and I'll have us fixed in a jiffy."
I went to the back of the car, and began to unload the luggage in order to reach the tire.
"Mother!" I shout staring down at the empty compartment where the spare should have been. I groan, pulling out my cell phone. Amazing. No service. This is fantastic. I looked up into the utter vastness of trees. I don't know how I saw it, or what it even was, but there was a very large something moving behind those trees. And the moment I blinked it was gone.
