Can You Hear Me Now?
They were closer than before – she could tell it. Every inkling of hope was evaporating into thin air before her very eyes; but she refused to surrender so quickly. She had done so much just to get away – she refused to let all her efforts go out in vain. Turning around, the girl watched as dark shadows flitted behind her – weaving in and out of a variety of trees and bushels.
Adrenaline pumping through her veins; her heart was pounding erratically against her chest. She had to get out. She had to –
"Ooof!"
The fall hadn't been as painful as she had expected it to be, but it was still equally traumatizing. Slowly, she heard her pursuer's footfalls come to a halt and circle her collapsed body. The silence hovering around them was appalling, but what was worse was the guttural growl that escaped from the cluster of trees ahead. Blood pressure spiking higher and higher, she pushed herself off the leafy ground and saw that behind her was a huge shadow. Trembling, the girl was about to break for another run until something heavy and furry jumped over her and collided into the growling creature ahead.
With her energy quickly depleting from her system, she tried to make sense of what just happened until a twig snapped behind her. Twirling around, she heard her own, quick intake of breath as her eyes met the sharp glimmer of teeth. Huge, lethal teeth, glowering at her.
The owner of them belonged to a giant wolf. Brown musky eyes adjourned the dark fur that stood on edge. It presumed its growling, but thankfully, the girl had noted, its eyes weren't glaring at her.
"I-is everything okay?" she stumbled between her words, watching the wolf with leery eyes. She didn't know if she could trust it or not, but as long as it wasn't planning on attacking her – she was fine. She could manage. "Well?" she asked again, approaching the humongus beast slowly; she flinched slightly when it barred its teeth at her again.
"I won't hurt you." But you can hurt me.
The girl could clearly hear the invisible logic behind her words and scolded herself for even bothering to muster courage to speak to the dog. What was she doing, talking to a wolf that could easily bit her head off? So far, being an idiot was the only answer she could come up with in her mind.
"My name's Zoe, but my Mum calls me Antonella, my middle name. She says–" Zoe stopped her useless rambling as the wolf's growling grew louder. She tried to tell it to stop, to calm down, but it wouldn't listen to her. In the end, Zoe had covered her ears as the growling increased to an overflowing degree.
"Please." she whimpered, crumbling back to her frightened self. Cradling her knees close to her chest, Zoe began to silently plead for her safety. Staring at the wolf fearfully, she wondered if it could even understand her. The probability of that being true was a zero to a hundred, but still – she felt some remainder of hope stir inside her.
But suddenly, it moved and poised itself to strike; in the end, Zoe thought. It never mattered if it could decipher her language. It had always planned to kill her in the end. Closing her eyes, Zoe caved into this defeated thought and awaited her death. It never came.
Everything was a blur of excitement and worry exchanges. Between the foggy reality of her mind and surroundings, it was hard to translate what was real or fake. But finally, amongst the scalding memory of her recent exploits into the unknown and the buzzing of voices, she finally pulled through the fog encasing her mind and arose from her makeshift bedding – a couch.
"Hey, she's awake!" a boyish tone proclaimed. With it, a teenage boy plopped down on the space her body left on the comfortable furniture. He had dark hair and russet colored skin. His body was trimmed to a lean physique yet wasn't too matured or muscled enough to deem him anything but a few two years older than her.
The buzzing stopped.
Having just been startled back to Earth, Zoe slowly sat up and curled her legs towards her – a simple action to many, but a quirk in her personality that closer acquainted had picked on in the past. She lifted her clouded gaze to try and observe everything around her. Note the word try.
"My name's Seth Clearwater. You must be Zoe, right?" the same boy interrupted her thoughts. Zoe's eyes flashed to him in alarm as he offered her an innocent grin. She nodded her head slowly.
"H– how do you know?" she asked timidly.
Seth's friendly facade faltered for a split second, and before Zoe could observe it, another member of the room invited himself into the conversation. "Your Dad talked, and still does, a lot about you." he said.
Zoe blanched for a mere, short moment as her eyes wheeled around in search of the speaker. As she did this, Seth chuckled and earned himself a blush and a raised eyebrow. "Behind you." he said, and Zoe turned around.
Surely enough, behind her was an old presence that granted with a small adjustment to his current situation, demanded an ancient honor about it. Zoe found herself tensing at the grace of his being. He nodded kindly at her, and somehow, that eased the feelings curling in her stomach. "You look so much like her." he commented softly.
Blinking, Zoe was thrown into confusion. "Excuse m-me?" she mumbled.
Billy chuckled and rolled himself over to a shelf ornamented with pictures. Picking up one dusty frame, he cleaned it before handing it over to her.
Zoe gaped at what the picture revealed. Trying to compose herself, she shakily announced; "This is my mother."
Billy nodded and took the frame back. "Both your mother and father. He's a close friend of mine," he paused. "The one he has long talks with over the phone?" he added as a helpful hint.
A brief silence filled the room as Zoe let this piece of information sink into her brain. Long talks on the phone? Other than her mother, she couldn't recall anyone her father would bother with for such a long time except for..!
"I know," she whispered, her voice barely audible with the small chatter occurring in some other section of the room. "Mr. Black?" she said aloud, looking at him for confirmation. Another wave of softness passed over his face, and she knew she had gotten his name right.
"I..I'm sorry." she suddenly said, causing Seth to let out a spit take from behind her. The guy he was talking to scowled as he grabbed the glass of water from his hand and stormed over to the kitchen, hoping to dry his shirt.
"For what?" Seth whirled around to talk to her, Billy stealing a spot behind him. "I mean," he frowned as he spotted her wide eyes. "You didn't anything bad. Just..sorry," his grin returned to his face. "I'm not used to hearing apologies around this place." he gestured to the group of boys seated at the kitchen table.
Zoe laughed along with him, before shying away when the victims of his statement turned around to glare at them. "Are they angry?" she asked, holding Seth's gaze for a second before hurriedly searching for something else to look at.
Seth shook his head and glanced at the clock. "Hey Gramps, it's getting late. Should I, or should I not..?" he cast a glance towards Zoe before Billy sighed and nodded his head.
"Just don't leave until he's there. I'll call him myself if you don't return in ten minutes." he said, leaving his sentence a puzzle to those bystanders; Zoe was an example as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Seth smiled and jumped off the couch. Pivoting on his foot, he struck a hand out for Zoe to take while he jabbed his other thumb towards the door. "It's time for me to take you back home, missy." he said.
Zoe bit her lip and contemplated on whether or not it would be safe for just the two of them to go out alone. There were still those terrifying creatures out there, and – Zoe shook her head and willed theses thoughts to leave her alone. She was being dumb. That was it. Plus paranoid, but...
"Thank you." she said taking his, (surprisingly), very, warm hand.
He grinned at her, but this time, it was more wild than his previous grins. It had an animal-like side to it, as if he was a dog. But before Zoe could make this connection to the shadows that had been chasing her earlier, a new person sauntered into the room.
"Don't thank him yet," he said, tossing his jacket carelessly to the side. The guy was stocky in build, and as he leaned in to her ear, Zoe could easily depict the cockiness overflowing from him. "He's known to be pretty annoying, if you ask me." he whispered.
Although, as quietly as he said it, Seth appeared to have picked it up with a laugh. "Aw, come on Quil," he tugged on Zoe's arm. "I'm honestly not that bad as he says. Sure, I've been called hyper, annoying, optimistic, chatty," he paused and looked up at her. "I'm not helping my case, am I?"
Zoe found herself softly smiling at him and shook her head. "If it helps, you don't seem as bad as, well, you say," she pulled her arm back and turned to look at Billy. "Thank you for helping me this much." she said.
Billy tipped his hat towards her. "You should watch yourself, Zoe. If your dad ever found out," he chuckled as he spotted at her paling at such an idea. "Well, he won't. You're welcome here anytime." he assured.
Again, Zoe nodded at him thankfully before she let Seth escort her out of the house. Entering an under developed driveway, Zoe found that the temperature around them had gotten cooler than before. She didn't let this observation show as she kept her voice to herself.
"So how do you like Washington so far?" Seth conversed.
Zoe sneaked a look over him and saw that he was only wearing a sleeveless sweatshirt and khaki shorts. Isn't he cold? She thought, rubbing her arms. "It's been nice," she stared at the dark path ahead of them and unconsciously gravitated closer to Seth; the heat radiating from him made everything else bearable. "H-how did you guys find me?" she quietly asked.
In the back of her mind, Zoe wondered if Seth would lash out at her with an arrogant remark, and in return, was surprised when he merely smiled at her; "Me and the other guys know this whole reservation like the back of out hands. Quil," he stuck a thumb towards the direction of the house. "Found you after your dad visited Billy. He really talks a lot about you. Daddy's girl, I guess?" he answered.
Zoe shook her head; "Mommy's."
"Wouldn't have guessed it," chuckled Seth. "Wanna hear a story?" he offered.
Shrugging, Zoe stuffed her hands into her jean pockets and nodded for him to continue.
"It's about these really slick vampires and cool wolves," Seth began enthusiastically. His dark eyes shone in the midst of the darkening sky as if he was recalling the story as a memory. "Both are pretty awesome," he said. "But between you and me –" he leaned into her ear. "I think the vampires are just a little bit cooler. Don't tell any of the guys I said that though." he warned her.
Zoe smiled and made a motion to "zip" her lips. Seth laughed.
"Well anyway, there were these bunch of vampires and wolves. They didn't get along with each other because of history and they thought the other stunk a lot. They refused to work and get along together, but that was until..." and with that, Seth had launched himself into a full novella concerning a treaty about the two fictional races.
In the midst of his story-telling, Zoe admittedly found herself being pulled into it deeper and deeper. She didn't know if it was by the way he told it, (for he spoke with so much gusto and energy), or if it was because he made it sound so real. Either way, as he continued on and on, diving into other stories that related to the vampires' mutual dislike with the wolves, she found herself lost in his words.
"..and then there was this really, really cool one. He could – oh," Seth finally stopped as he looked around them. Having been too immersed with his tales, Zoe did not understand why he stopped and wanted to urge him to continue. "You're home." he laughed, stopping her from questioning him.
Zoe closed her mouth and looked around. Indeed, she was home. Or well, was at her temporary home. She didn't originate from Washington, but her father did. And he had rented a house for themselves during their stay there. She turned to Seth and beamed, her timidness long gone.
"That was a really nice story, Seth." she commented, bounding up the pathway to her house. Seth was only a few paces behind her as he let out modest statements, saying that he couldn't be credited with all of the details.
Zoe shrugged and dug in her pocket, searching for her spare key. "Still," she pursued. She wanted Seth to know how well-liked his story was. "You were the one telling it. In your own words. You deserve some credit at least." She frowned as her key seemed to be nowhere.
Seth watched her struggle before beckoning up at a window on the second floor. It belonged to her room, and she had left a crack of it open. "Forgot your key? I'm sure I can give you a lift up there." he suggested.
Zoe looked up to see where he was pointing at. Shaking her head, she dismissed that idea. "Can't," she said. "We'll never be able to fully open it. Plus, I don't think you can carry me." she added.
"You can't be that heavy." he said.
"And the window?" Zoe asked quizzically.
Seth's grin returned as he climbed up a nearby tree with ease and crawled over to a branch that was nearest to her room. "Any other problems?" he teased.
Zoe blinked up at him amazement and merely stared at his hand as he lowered himself down for her. Shaking her head to wake herself up, she hesitantly took it and with a huff of air, she was being pulled up; Seth was really strong.
"H-how?" she stuttered, staring at him in disbelief. Her easy ascendance to the branch couldn't mean anything except that he was super strong; and he wasn't. Or, she didn't think he was.
Seth laughed and beckoned over to the distant car lights. "Unless you wanna explain to your dad why you're up here with me, I suggest you head into your room quickly." he said, gesturing to the window.
Flushing a deep red, Zoe nodded her head and made a careful beeline to head into her room. It would turn out that the window could easily be opened and with a tiny push, thus letting her tumble in as a mess. Clumsy as she was, (and dazed at her landing), she could have sworn she heard the reservation boy's booming laughter. This made Zoe blush even more, but despite her embarrassment, she began giggling at her situation too.
Pushing herself off the plush floor, Zoe reached for the window, waved at Seth goodbye, and tried to make herself look normal for when her father got home; looking at the unfamiliar setting, she realized that the task was nearly impossible and settled for, just-reading-a-book-daddy pose.
Finally, after what seemed like decades of waiting, he finally pushed open the door – glasses all askew and whatnot. Zoe faintly smiled at him, hoping that he would not ask about her latest disappearance; he sighed and crossed his arms. "Give one good reason why I shouldn't ground you for leaving me like that." he said.
Putting her book down, Zoe sat upright and tried to muster the most innocent act she could put on. "Dad, you know I hate being in a room full of strangers.." she began, searching for the right words to guide her out of trouble. Finding none, she stared up at him, seeing if he had any input of sort.
"They aren't strangers, Zoe. More like –"
"Distant family members. Yes, you've told be already. And I've met them. Without you." she cut off.
"And so Seth has said," he sighed one more time and wagged one finger in her direction. "Tomorrow. Afternoon," he said. "We're having lunch with them and you're going to be there with me, Got it?" he stated.
Zoe nodded obligingly and waited for him to close the wooden door before collapsing on her bed in mild defeat. She just couldn't understand why her father couldn't accept the fact that she was bad with people – that she wasn't a frolicking social butterfly like her mother.
"Psst!"
Jumping up, Zoe was prepared to scream if she hadn't spotted Seth's tousled hair first. Narrowing her eyes, she warily edged closer to the window she had, (unknowingly), left open. "Wha..? Did you hear everything?" she whispered, careful to throw glances at her door.
Seth nodded his head. "Not to be nosy or anything though," he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Anyway, if you're gonna be over the Black's house tomorrow, I think I can find a way to save you." he offered.
Zoe perked up. "Really? What can you do?" she asked.
Laughing, Seth put a finger to his lips and began to whisper his plan into her ear.