© 2007
"I'm going to look for more kindling," I called to Becky from outside the tent. She was probably reading in there, that girl was crazy about books. Weirdo.
"Whatever," she called back, "but don't you dare go off exploring again! You almost got lost last time! It's not like your gonna find anything in these dreadful trees. And come back soon 'cause it's getting cold and dark and I don't want to come looking for you."
"Alright," I said turning south to begin another of my famous mini-adventures. The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are absolutely gorgeous. Green, green, and more green. The only downside being the rain; it was almost always wet. I was in a clear for the moment and itching to know what lay beyond our little campsite. I only had two more days to do whatever I wanted before Becky, my older sister by two years, and I had to hightail it back home.
I walked down the game trail we took to get to our campsite wondering -not for the first time- why Becky had agreed to do this with me, her seventeen year-old baby sis. As far as I could tell, she didn't like me all that much, and I'd only begged her to come because Mom and Dad didn't trust me on my own. Maybe she wanted to get away, too? Who knows?
We had just moved to Forks, Washington, and I had gotten so sick of Mom's raving about boxes and her new job and I really wasn't looking forward to starting a new school junior year. I had to find a way to leave the house and Olympic National Park was close enough to our new home for me to get away with. My excuse being, of course, that I wanted to get to know my surroundings.
Looking up from my thoughts, I realized that I'd wandered from the poorly marked trail leading back to our tent. Slowly, without moving my feet, I took a 360 of my surroundings. Nothing but almost identical trees on all sides could be seen in the dusky light. And even with my small flashlight, I couldn't see footprints behind me in the spongy undergrowth. Up ahead, though, was what appeared to be a small clearing, just barely visible, and with night falling fast and adventure still on my mind, I went towards it instead of back the way I'd come.
The clearing, which it did in fact turn out to be, was covered in a blanket of small, yellow wildflowers that were absolutely beautiful in the hazy moonlight. I walked slowly across the tiny field trying my best not to crush their smiling saffron heads. In the center of the patch of flowers I sat down wanting nothing more than to sleep with the tiny beauties. But when I leaned back on my left hand, trying to get comfortable, the dirt moved. A million tiny legs ran up my arm, freezing me speechless for a moment. Spiders!
Too terrified to scream, I jumped up and ran, brushing them off as I did so. "Eew, eew," I cried to myself, feeling more of them crawling up my legs. Gross, gross, gross. How could something so heavenly house the most dreadful creatures on Earth?! Paying absolutely no attention to direction, I sprinted on hoping beyond hope that I was dreaming all of this. Finally, I saw a glitter of light to my left. Stream, I thought and quickly changed direction angling toward my new destination.
I ripped off my boots, jeans, and sweatshirt then threw myself into the thigh deep water. Submerging completely, I twisted in the frigidness washing away the spiders and trying to calm my near hysteric brain.
Totally frozen, I climbed back out onto the "warmer" bank, shivering beyond any control. I curled up into a ball rubbing my arms and legs wishing desperately for warmth and unable to think about anything else. Suddenly, I felt soft fur against my back. Heat radiated from whatever glorious creature this was, and I turned over, snuggling closer to its sweet smelling body. Ever so slowly, my spasms ebbed and I became overwhelmed by the weariness of my aching legs. It wasn't long before a dreamless sleep over took me.
When I awoke, the morning sun was shining through the branches over head and my first thoughts were of the beauty of this place in the daytime. Then, the horrible memories of the previous night came crashing back and I sat straight up looking for any proof that it had actually happened. To my right, the stream gurgled happily dancing in the light. Everywhere else, trees stood like sentinels, observing yet silent. Turning back towards the stream, I noticed that my sweatshirt and jeans hung, as if drying from a wash, from a branch over the water. My boots sat near the bank not too far from me.
"Oh, good, you're awake. Are you feeling alright?" My head whipped around at the gentle, husky voice. At the edge of the trees stood a gorgeous boy, black hair to his shoulders, tan skin, wearing only a pair of tattered jeans on his nicely muscled body. All I could do was stare at him, my thoughts jumbled together in a tangled knot. "Are you okay?" he asked more slowly, starting to walk toward me.
Realizing my apparent dumbness, I shook my head, trying to clear it.
"You're not? What's wrong?" He sat next to me, his brow furrowed, and I felt the warmth that poured from his body, reminding me of my savoir from last night.
"No, no. I'm fine. Just a little confused, that's all." Yeah, there's a word for it.
"Oh. Well, your clothes should be dry now. Do you want me to bring them over here?" A strange smile crossed his face as he looked at me, making me look, too. A blush crawled up my neck as I realized my current attire: boy-boxer underwear, and an undershirt, maybe that's why I was feeling a little cold. I nodded, unable to look back up at him.
When he left I got even colder, but he hurried back handing me my pants first, still smiling. I found that I liked it when he smiled, and I couldn't help smiling back. "Thanks," I said a little sheepishly, "for all this."
"You're welcome," he replied happily. "My name's Jacob, by the way, Jacob Black, from La Push. I'm 18."
"Anne Matthews," I answered, finding no reason to lie to him, "just moved to Forks. 17." I pulled on my pants and shook his big hand. He had to be at least a foot taller than my five-feet-four-inches.
"We live pretty close, then. But, what are you doin' out here by yourself, Anne Matthews?" He sat down again, patting the ground beside him.
"I could ask you the same thing, Jacob Black." I said teasingly, sinking to the ground next to him, my legs still sore from my wild sprint last night. "I'm camping, with my sister, except I suppose I'm a bit lost."
He laughed softly at that. "Well I've found you, so you aren't lost anymore." He looked at me and something sparked in his eyes, making my stomach flutter.
"How did you find me?"
"You were kinda hard to miss, running through the woods like there was an axe murderer on your tail." He laughed again. "And then you flung yourself into the stream. I came over to make sure you were okay, and saw the spiders on your sweatshirt. Water was a clever idea, but you nearly froze to death." The last part he said with a soft reprimanding sort of edge.
"I'd stopped thinking things all the way through by that point," I said weakly.
"You're lucky I'm so warm," he said teasingly, but almost immediately after his face became worried, and he looked away, biting his lower lip, as if he'd said something he hadn't meant to.
Such a reaction to own his words made me think hard about what they meant. You're lucky I'm so warm. My fuzzy friend from the night before had radiated heat just like Jake did. The fuzzy had also smelled really good, sweet and foresty. Very slowly, I reached out and touched Jacob's arm. Yep, very warm. He turned to look at me again, worry etched in his features, his eyes burning with emotion. He didn't shrink away from my touch, however, and I leaned toward his shoulder, breathing in as I rested my head against him. He smelled exactly the same as the fuzzy. "That was you. Last night?" I asked. He nodded. So, either he was hiding a luxurious fur coat somewhere, or-
"You're a …a…" It was too mind blowing for me to say out loud. Too fanciful.
"A werewolf," he breathed softly, finishing my sentence.
"But last night wasn't a full moon," I observed, my head still resting on his shoulder.
He laughed once, and I imagined his face lighting up again. "You're funny. Most likely, all of the stories you've heard or read about werewolves are false." He paused. "But you aren't scared?" he asked tentatively.
Now there's a question for you. He was a werewolf, or so he said. If what I knew about werewolves was true, then he'd have eaten me last night, right? But he hadn't, he'd taken care of me, kept me warm. "What do you eat?" I asked after a long pause, honestly curious.
He chuckled nervously at that. "Muffins, hot dogs, burgers. I don't eat people if that's what you mean."
"Oh, then I guess I don't have any reason to be scared, right?" I tried to sound brave, but my voice quavered a little. I looked up, finding his face a lot closer than I'd expected. That same spark I'd noticed earlier flashed again in his eyes, and then his lips were on mine. Softly, he kissed me, and I kissed back, my world evaporating until only he existed.
We parted after a long moment, both of us a little dizzy from lack of oxygen. "Wow, Jake," I said, lamely.
"Yeah, wow," he returned, smiling. "I've imprinted, I can't believe it," he said to himself, shaking his head.
"What's that?" I'd apparently been reduced to two word phrases.
"It's a wolf thing, like the heat. It's kind of complicated really. When we find our soul mates, we just know."
"Like love at fist sight?"
"Yeah, but more powerful, more absolute." He studied my expression intently.
"Oh," I was too stunned to say anything else, but searched his eyes, looking for proof that his words were true. Seeing the fire that burned there, and accepting it as proof enough, I leaned in to kiss him again.
When this kiss broke, my thoughts turned to my family and how they would take this development in my previously boring life. Becky would- "Becky!" I exclaimed aloud, jumping up.
"What?" Jake asked totally confused, jumping up, too.
"My sister, the one I'm supposed to be camping with. She's got to be totally freaking out right now. I have to go back to her." I was nearly hyperventilating.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Anne. I can get you back."
"You can? Oh, duh, sorry, dog, right. I'm okay."
"Just wait here, I'll be right back, and don't be scared, okay?"
"O-kaay…"
"Love you," he said, and then he was gone.
Not three seconds later, the largest wolf I'd ever seen walked slowly towards me from the direction Jacob had gone. The wolf stood maybe ten feet tall, russet brown and muscular. I took an involuntary step back and the wolf stopped moving. I looked into its eyes, Jacob's eyes. Yep, it was Jacob alright, and he was amazing. I smiled at him, awed beyond expression.
His mouth opened in kind of wolfish grin, his tongue hanging out to the side. It looked so ridiculous that I couldn't help laughing. I ran to him, still smiling, threw my arms around his soft neck, and kissed his furry cheek. I stepped back and he licked my face. "Ick, that's nasty Jake," I said giggling, wiping off his wolf slobber.
Jacob walked over to where I'd left my boots and sweatshirt and pointed at them with his nose. "Alright, alright, I'll get dressed," I said playfully, tugging them on quickly. I noticed as I passed him, a black cord wrapped around his hind leg holding his folded jeans. So that's how he kept up with them, I thought. It made sense. A lot better than carrying them around in your mouth.
Then, Jake and I were on our way, him leading of course. Every now and then, he'd stop and sniff the air or ground and readjust our direction. I merely followed hoping he knew what he was doing.
After about fifteen minutes of brisk walking, we came upon the wildflower-slash-spider meadow. "Uh, Jake," I called up to him, "can we go around this one?" He looked back at me questioningly. "Creepy-Crawlies," I told him, shivering with the memory. He nodded and led me around the circumference of the clearing, picking up my trail again on the other side.
When we made it back to the game trail, Jake stopped and turned to look at me. He bent his head so our eyes were level and breathed out through his nostrils in a huff, which I took to mean "stay". He sprinted into the trees and came back a few seconds later, human again.
"Hello," I said cheerfully, accepting his hug.
"Hi there," he said. "So, what are we gonna do about you're sister? It might be best if you confronted her alone. I can meet you back in Forks, or you can come down to La Push, your choice. I really want you to meet the rest of the pack."
"La Push," I answered. "Just tell me where and when."
As it turned out, Becky hadn't even woken up yet. Must have stayed up extra late with her current read. So my confrontation with her was nonexistent. She hadn't even begun to worry. "Wake up, Sunshine!" I sang, shaking her awake. "How do you feel about taking a side-trip down to La Push?"