Chapter 1
Embry hated hospitals.
He had never been to Fork's Hospital before and he hoped he never would again. Here, the beds were lumpy and the sheets were as thin as paper. The gowns he had been given to wear were too small for him meaning it revealed more than he liked to- not that the nurses were complaining. The food tasted like cardboard and the strong scent of Dr Carlisle mixed in with disinfectant made his nose burn wherever he went.
All he wanted to do was go home. He had tried to discharge himself earlier in the week, but had failed when they saw his age. Apparently, at the age of 16, it is acceptable to run around the forest, hunting vampires as a huge werewolves, but can't discharge yourself from hospital without 'parental consent'. Luckily, today was the day he could go home. He could go back to his bed, the mountain of food in his fridge and the comforts of the sofa and the TV as he caught up with all the shows he had missed. But before he could do that, he first had to get Dr Carlisle to sign the discharge paper and despite the speed that leeches were capable of running at, it was now one in the afternoon and he still wasn't here. Embry couldn't help, but become impatient.
As he was packing away his clothes on the bed at a snail's pace to drag out time, a nurse who Embry vaguely remembered being called Janet came in wheeling a trolley with a tall stainless steel pot, a stack of bowls and a cup full of spoons. Her blonde hair was pinned up into a bun underneath the hairnet she wore and her face was caked with so much make-up that the skin tone of her face didn't match the skin tone of her neck. Embry stomach protested loudly as the stench coming from the pot filled his nose.
"Do you want some chicken noodle soup?" She sang as she positioned the trolley next to the bed which made the smell even more potent.
"No, thank you." He said politely as he laid a perfectly folded t-shirt into his duffle bag. "My mum is taking me out later for something to eat."
That was obviously a lie as he had an appetite so large that it could rival a bear and his mother never took him out for dinner. Despite being insanely hungry after the tiny breakfast they had given him, he didn't think he could stomach another one of Fork's famous soup without having to throw it back up again.
"Well that's nice," She commented, but she didn't make any attempt to leave. Instead she continued to wander around the room as if it was a museum. "You know you can talk to me if you're feeling down sometimes. My friends always say that I am a great comfort."
"That's nice….but I think I'm okay. I wouldn't want to bother you with my problems." Embry didn't really want to know want 'comfort' she gave to her friends.
"It's no trouble at all." Janet insisted as she laid a hand on his arm. She was trying to be comforting, but attractive at the same time, but all Embry got was the vibe of desperation and it didn't smell nice. "I'm here to help as best I can."
"Is there something I can help you with?" Embry didn't think he had ever been as happy as he was now to see him mum. The door slammed with a loud bang as she entered, her face was twisted into one of disgust with one of her eyebrows raised as she appraised Janet. Janet's quickly removed her hand from Jared arm's, flustered she rushed over to the trolley, on the other side of the bed.
"I was just asking whether Embry wanted some lunch." Janet said as she wheeled the trolley out, her eyes refusing to meet his mum. "You have a lovely son."
"I know," His mum mused, not even bothering to hold open the door for Janet as she struggled to get the trolley out. Once she was gone, his mum turned her attention back to him. "Haven't you packed yet? It's one o'clock."
"Thank you, mum." He muttered sarcastically as he continued to pack his things away, but at a quicker pace this time. "It's always nice that you tell me the time, sometimes I forget how to read it."
His mum definitely wasn't happy by his answer. "Was that supposed to be funny? The last time I checked, the situation that you managed to get yourself into wasn't."
Nothing was ever funny to his mum. He didn't know whether she was born without a sense of humour or she just didn't understand the joke, but you can imagine that growing up wasn't filled with laughter.
"What do you want me to say?" He asked her.
"How about a 'sorry'?"
"I'm sorry." He told her before escaping into the bathroom to grab his toiletries bag.
"You don't sound like you mean it." She snapped, the bed let out a whining noise as she sat down on it. Jared waited a few minutes, bracing himself against the cold sink, calming himself down before he went out to face his mum again.
It was always like this. All of his life, Embry never seemed to be able to do anything right for his mum even though, he was in Advanced Placement at his school, maintained straight A's as well as cooking, cleaning the house and washing his clothes whilst she worked. In her dark and bitter mind, it wasn't enough. It was either he used 'too much soap' when washing or someone got a higher percentage in his class or his cooking was too salty and many other criticism that she managed to conjure up. When he fought about it, he couldn't really remember a time when she had ever said something nice to her.
When he was confident that he had calmed down, he walked back into the hospital room with his toiletry bag in hand in which he put on the top of the clothes and zipped up his bag. His mother watched him with scrutiny as he did this, probably thinking of a better way of organising his bag, but he didn't really care. He had more pressing matter to deal with, smelling him before actually seeing him. His head snapped up when he heard the click of the door and the slight murmur of voices. Coming into his room was Dr Cullen talking to a plump nurse with grey ageing hair. They continued to talk for a moment, before Dr Cullen nodded at something and the nurse went scampering off. He turned around, letting the door slam shut with a warm smile on his face. His sickly sweet smell filled the room making Embry gagged.
"How are you feeling, Embry?"
"Better when I get out of here." He answered, the feeling of disapproval radiating off his mother.
"Well that's not to be a problem. Here are your discharge papers." Dr Cullen stretched over to give it to Embry, but it was snatched out of his hand by his mother. Dr Cullen had the nerve to look surprised at his mum's action, but quickly kept it neutral as he continued to talk. "Just give it in to the reception desk and you are free to go."
That was music to Embry ears. "Thank you, Mr Cullen." His mother said as she stuffed it into her bag. "Hopefully, this will be the last time we are here for this matter."
"Yes, I do too." He agreed. "That's why I advise Embry goes to a group counselling session in Port Angeles Mental Health Ward. It is every Wednesday at one o'clock and from what I heard, it seems to be very successful."
His mother stopped dead in her tracks. "What are you trying to say? My son has some kind of mental health problems, that he's not normal."
Dear god, Embry thought as he stared at his mum. It was clear that his mum was starting to get angry just by the hint of red which began to tint her cheek and the way in her arms were crossed over her chest.
"I'm not applying that at all." Dr Cullen defended. "I'm just saying that an incident of this severity shouldn't be treated likely. Rather than prescribing anti-depressants, I thought it would be more beneficial if he was around kids who were having the same trouble as he was having."
"Well…" She began as she gathered her bag up from the bed. "It will have to be up to Embry considering his age." She said whilst throwing him a look which read 'you-better-not-think- of-going. "I better give in the discharge paper. I have to be in work in a couple of hours."
With that, she stormed out of the room, barging past Dr Cullen and leaving the way she had entered, with a loud bang. After she was gone, Dr Cullen looked back at him with concern filled in his golden orbs.
"Are you sure you're okay." He asked.
Embry picked up his duffle bag and threw it over his shoulder. "Why wouldn't I be? It was just a mistake…one that I don't plan to make again."
Dr Cullen nodded, but by the expression on his face, he didn't look convinced. "Here's the leaflet just in case you do change your mind."
Embry tentatively took the leaflet in his hand, glanced at it briefly before stuffing it into his jacket pocket. "Thank you, Dr Cullen… for everything."
"You're most welcome." He said, with that same warm and reassuring smile before he turned around and left the room. It had taken twenty minutes before he was allowed to leave as each nurse insisted on personally saying goodbye to him one by one - he could have sworn that one of them had pinched his butt. When he slid into his mum cars, he wasn't surprised to see that she was in fact unhappy again.
"What took you so long?" She interrogated as she pulled out of the hospital car park and headed down the freeway towards La Push.
"The nurses wanted to say goodbye to me."
His mother gave him a pointed look before whispering 'vultures' and turning her attention back to the road. After five minutes of silence, his phone in his duffel bad pinged. Reaching inside the pocket at the side of his bag, he grabbed his phone, turned it on to see a text message.
Where are you?
Sam
He sighed and placed it back into his bag. If he kept it in his bag, then he could forget all about.
His mother looked over suspiciously. "Is that Sam again?" Embry rolled his eyes at her and stared out of the window. They had been over this topic before, time and time again and it was starting to get boring, but it wasn't as if his mum was going to give up as easily. "He's not a good influence on you, Embry."
"You do realise that the stuff that we are doing are for the elders and the community."
This time, it was his mother's turn to roll his eyes. "That is a load of crap and you know it. The elders aren't to be trusted, you know that. Whilst the schools are underfunded, the elders are filling their purses with the money they get from the local government. Look at Sam and Emily and how much money they have received from the elders, it's ridiculous…."
Embry began to tune out as he stared out at the drizzle of rain which had begun to fall. Flecks of rain dusted the car window as his mother rattled on about her latest conspiracy's theory. He knew he should be trying to discourage his mother's from those crazy's thoughts, but she was only reflecting the views of most of the people in the community. Ever since Sam's disappearance, people were becoming more suspicious of the elders and their powers.
"I don't trust Sam." That was the final thing she said to Embry before turning her attention back to driving. They had just passed the Welcome to La Push sign straddling the border between Forks and La Push. Small, cosy houses began to spring up as they drove further into La Push.
"Look, the elders haven entrusted me with a job which means that I have to work with Sam if I'm going to do it, so I'm going to do it whether you like it or not."
She pursed her lips at his answers, she hated when he became defiant. "Fine! But you have to go to that group session thing."
"I thought you said there was nothing wrong with me."
"Well if it keeps you away from Sam, then I don't mind and anyway. Dr Lahote daughter will be going to those classes. She's just won the World's Gymnastic Championship so hopefully she will be a good influence on you."
La Push had been buzzing with the news of Dr Lahote new daughter and his mother, as expected knew all there was to know about the girl. She was the youngest daughter of his first marriage and had been living in England for the past 5 years.
"I don't want to be driving around a snooty, stuck-up girl for the next two years." He complained, it was bad enough dealing with the girls at school.
"You will or I won't allow you to hang out with Sam anymore."
"Alright! I will do it."
His mum settled back into her seat with a satisfied grin, something that didn't bode well with Embry, but he couldn't be bad. If it stopped the screams and all the grounding he was getting, then so be it. When they reached home, he rushed back up into his room where everything had been left where he was. A pool of dark red blood stained the carpet at the foot of his bed and the bottle of aspirin laid tumbled on his bedside table. He knew he would have to clear it up, but he was too tired to do that. Instead, he tossed his bag into the corner of the room and collapsed on his bed.
The last thing he heard was the thrill of his mobile phone before sleep consumed him.
I hope you enjoy the first chapter. I guess I started this story because I have always though of Embry being this naturally quiet and reserved person who is always in the shadow so this story is a way of telling his story through my perspective of him so again, I hope you like :)