Chapter One
The forest was getting darker as the sun was setting through the trees. I knew that I should have turned around and went home hours ago, but my mind was so far gone that I needed some time to myself. I needed time to think and cork my head back on straight.
It wasn't the first time I had come out here since my parents were killed, but this time I was living in Forks, Washington by myself in a big house and I was out in the woods with no clue where I was. I had wandered too far off of the trail. The air was getting colder, and not having a jacket on wasn't helping my current situation.
It was completely dark out now. Good luck trying to find your way back home now you dummy, I thought to myself.
I had managed to trip on a tree stump that was the size of a friggen' flea and landed flat on my face in the cold, damp leaves. "Ugh" I muttered, "Way to go, Kaylin."
I snapped back up into a standing position. I could hear rustling in the trees. Uh oh… I turned around slowly and my jaw dropped to the ground. Was it a horse? No… I don't believe horses have fur coats and paws… I realized that second that I could make a run for it and I did. My feet have never taken me so far so fast in my entire life, and I used to run track! I could see the clearing where my house was and I sprinted. I thought I had ran through the door, but apparently I opened it and slammed it shut so fast that I was just hallucinating that I left a big person hole in it.
Whatever I had seen in the woods was BIG. I didn't know what it was, but I was pretty sure it wasn't going to hurt me, or it probably would have before I darted through the trees. To tell you the truth, I don't even think it followed me when I ran… I was beginning to think I was going crazy. There was a loud beeping sound flowing through my head.
My alarm clock was screaming at me to wake up. I hated that object. It reminded me of another day that I got to spend alone.
However, today was a new day. I missed my mom and dad, and being an only child made things even harder. I was now living with my Aunt Connie in Forks, WA. It was a lot different from where I was from. Ontario, Canada had it's sunny days and in Forks it just rained. All the time.
I brushed my hair and my teeth and headed down the stairs to the kitchen. The scent of coffee filled the air and there was not a doubt in my mind that the pot was still brewing. Damn, I thought, I'll have to wait a few minutes.
Aunt Connie was sitting at the kitchen table reading the daily news paper.
"Good morning, Kaylin." She said. "Today's the big day!"
"Don't remind me." I mumbled. Usually I could never get a full sentence out unless I've had my first cup of java in the morning. "Do I really have to start school today? I just moved in on the weekend. Can't I take some time to settle in and get used to things?"
She laughed. "Kaylin, the only way you're going to get used to things is if I do to you what my mother did to me."
"And what was that?" I asked.
She lifted an eyebrow. "Throw you into them head first." The coffee pot had finished brewing as she said those words. "Finally! I really have to buy another coffee pot. This one is slow."
I laughed at the way she said slow. The coffee pot didn't even take 10 minutes to brew. She was just an impatient lady.
"You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry up and move your curvy little butt out that front door."
I looked at the clock on the wall – 7:30 am.
"Crap…" I said. I jogged up the stairs and back into my room. I'd grab some toast on the way out the door and eat it in the car on the way to school. Aunt Connie mentioned that I wasn't the only newbie starting at Forks High School today. I guess Chief Swan's daughter moved to Forks as well over the weekend. I remember playing with her when we were little girls. Aunt Connie's husband and Chief Swan were good fishing buddies. Uncle Kent passed away last summer from a heart attack. Aunt Connie took it very hard, and she was finally starting to get herself back together again.
I was finally dressed in my "idea" of school clothes. Blue jeans, black long sleeved tee, and a comfortable pair of runners. I was definitely no fashionista, but I had some fashion sense. I took a hoodie with me too – just in case the rain started back up again.
I ran down the stairs with my back pack over my shoulder and Aunt Connie was at the door waiting with some toast for me. She opened me the front door, handed me my breakfast, and gave me a little push. I sighed. Might as well get it over with, I thought.
I headed for my van. It wasn't anything too great. Just a Dodge. It was newer, at least. My parents had left it to me in their will. It was my moms. They had been driving my dad's car that night… I fought back the tears and climbed up inside.
When I got to school, I parked beside an old Chevy truck that had just pulled in as well. I recognized who was inside. It was Bella Swan. She hasn't changed at all since we were kids, I thought. I wonder if she'll still recognize me. Only one way to find out. I grabbed my bag and got out of the van. I locked it just to be safe. I didn't know any of these people here… For all I know they could be murders from the way they were looking at me. Not only were they staring at me, they were staring at Bella, too. At least I had someone to share the first day of school pain with. Maybe we could sit together.
"Bella?" I asked her when she got out of her truck.
She looked at me funny, then her eyes brightened up. Ding, ding, ding – we have a winner.
"Kaylin!" She hugged me. "My dad told me what happened to your parents."
I looked down at the ground and bit my bottom lip.
"I'm so sorry…" She said.
"Everybody lives to die, right?" I amused. I had never been good with grief. I always liked to keep it bottled in, but it always seemed to burst out when it shouldn't.
She shook her head and looked around. "Looks like we get to suffer together today, then?"
"You betcha. I'm guessing our first stop is the office since we have absolutely no clue where we're going or how to get there?"
We heard a voice come out of nowhere from behind us. "I can help you with that." We jumped and turned around at the same time. "Sorry to scare you," he laughed. "I'm Eric. I'm the eyes and ears of this school."
You got the ears part right. What a snoop. I thought to myself. I looked over at Bella and I could see she had the same look on her face.
"That would be great. Could you point us in the direction of the main office?" Bella asked. She was blushing.
"To make things better, I'll take you there myself." He said.
Greeeaat, I thought. Just what this school needs… A tour guide.
Eric showed us to the office and I constantly reassured him when we got there that we didn't need his "guidance" anymore. He finally surrendered and said he would see us later that day.
Bella and I got our schedules and found that we had all the same classes together. That was great, now we would get to suffer and find our first class together. Go figure. My best subject – English.
"It says here it's in building two. I'm guessing we have to go back outside into the coldness. Ew" Bella said.
"Ah, come on Bella. The cold isn't that bad." I said as we walked to the second building. "Try going through a Canadian winter and tell me what you think of that!"
"No thanks." She said almost instantly.
We found Building 2 and walked inside. The warmth felt great on my damp sweater. It had been sprinkling out after we left the office.
Mr. Belding was our substitute teacher for the day. I guess the original one came down with the flu. I wonder why…
Bella and I took seats next to each other and decided that today would be an "observant" day. We wanted to sit back and see how things were taught. We continued this scheme until lunch. Eric had invited us to sit with him and his friends at their table.
The second we sat down, a bubbly girl with blonde hair came and sat down in between us. "I'm Jessica. You must be Bella," she pointed to her, "and you must be Kaylin. Eric wouldn't shut up about you two all morning." She laughed.
"Nice to meet you, Jessica." I said.
Bella was blushing. She did this a lot when she was nervous.
She introduced us to everyone at the table – Mike, Tyler, Eric (we already knew), Angela and Lauren. The last one, Lauren, she seemed pretty stuck up. I was always taught not to judge a book by its cover, but I couldn't help myself this time. Even Bella knew it.
We were half way through lunch when a group of people walked into the cafeteria. They're absolutely beautiful.
"Who are they?" Bella whispered.
"Them? They're the Cullen's." Angela replied.
"The big tall guy is Emmett, and the blonde on his arm is Rosalie." Jessica said. She paused as Bella and I took them in. I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. "The little pixie girl is Alice… She's kind of weird, and the boy who looks like he's in pain, that's Jasper." Then someone else walked into the cafeteria. I could feel the heat radiate off of Bella's face as she looked at him. "And that is Edward Cullen. Totally gorgeous, I know. But he's not interested in anybody here." Jessica pouted.
"Wasn't interested…" Bella mumbled.
He had a smirk on his face when he sat down with his brothers and sisters. I couldn't believe how beautiful they were.
Our next class was Biology. We were beginning to get a feel for the school, but Mike and Eric had biology too, so they walked with us to class. They asked us questions about where we were from and things like that. They kind of looked at me funny when I told them that I was a Canadian. Yep. That look right there. That's the one… Eh. Unfortunately in bio, Bella and I couldn't sit together. There were 2 seats available, but they were at different lab benches. We made due. Bella got to sit next to the cute Cullen boy, Edward.
He's kind of strange. When Bella was walking to the bench, he covered his nose. She didn't smell, I had been around her all day.
I, of course, got stuck sitting beside a groveling Mike Newton. He told me all about Forks and that his parents own a sport shop here. I thought that was cool. Maybe we could go out running or hiking one day. He looked like the type.
Soon enough, the day was over. Thank God. Bella and I headed back to our respective vehicles. Lucky for me, nobody tried to break into my van. There wasn't much worth stealing anyway. Maybe some air fresheners.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Kaylin. It was great seeing you again. Say hi to your Aunt Connie for me." Bella shouted as she revved up her truck.
"Same here. Say hi to your dad for me! Tell him I'll stop by sometime and you and I can hang out."
She smiled.
It was nice knowing at least one person in Forks. I had decided to take a drive because I had a lot on my mind. I had heard some kids in Geography talking about "First Beach" down in La Push. I decided to drive down there and let the ocean clear my head.
It didn't take long to get there. First Beach was absolutely beautiful. It would have been more beautiful if it weren't for the ugly rain clouds staring me in the face, though. At the moment, I didn't care. All I cared about was my ass in the sand and nothing on my mind. It was perfect silence… For a minute. I could hear some people laughing and talking a short distance from me. I turned around and saw a group of boys around my age horsing around and wrestling in the sand.
I decided that my "alone" time had ended and went back to my van. One boy in particular stood out to me. They all kind of looked alike, but he was different. There was something in his eyes. I had a strange feeling that I would be seeing him again… I just didn't know when. He smiled at me when I walked by them to return to my van.
Aunt Connie was nowhere to be found when I got home, a little note she left was on the kitchen table. Left over pizza in the fridge. Gone to bingo. I waited but you never came home. Love, Aunt Connie. I smiled.
I ate my dinner, watched some T.V. and decided to go for a walk. There was a forest behind the house and I remember taking hikes through it when I was a kid.
The sun slowly started setting and inside the woods was getting darker. I better get heading back. I turned around to start walking back to the house and had no idea where I was. I had walked off the trail on my little hike and cursed myself for it. I started walking to the direction I thought the house was in. It was pitch black in here now, and just my luck, I tripped over a friggen' tree stump. Way to go idgit, I thought to myself. I could hear movement behind me. I immediately snapped up and I was standing. I slowly turned around and saw what I thought was a horse… But horses didn't have black bushy fur or paws… They had hooves… I'm sure they had hooves.
My legs kicked into overdrive and I ran as fast as I could in the direction I thought was back to the house. Lucky for me, my GPS system in my brain had been working that night and I saw the house through a clearing of trees. I sprinted the last hundred yards or so and whipped through the front door like a kid going down a Slip 'n Slide. I wasn't sure if I had actually opened the door, or just ran through it and left a person hole. I looked behind me and the door was still standing. Whew. I looked out the window and into the black forest and saw nothing. Whatever I had seen deep in the forest, never followed me out. I slid my back against the wall and closed my eyes. It was a déjà vu… What just happened right now, was my nightmare from last night…