It was dark, it was cold, and the gravel underfoot was frozen to glittering shards of glasslike edges; glinting gold in the sulfuric illumination of the sparse streetlights. Everything hung heavy with the iced wetness from the evening, everything was petrified, the trees motionless and the wind hushed.
It unnerved Jacob; made him itch in his burning skin and his nostrils flare, clawing the air for a wiff of displacement. Through the chilling lick of icicle gravel and slick pavement, his thoughts were clear and sharp, everything came into perspective. But one thing evaded his thoughts.
Why exactly, he was in the nipping September air at one in the morning, without shoes. It made no sense really, with feet that were numbed and to the point of bleeding, he trudged on with his hands fisted in the insulated pockets of his hoodie. Jacob thought about his life, the irreversible process of him becoming this monster, how Sam and the rest of his tribe dealt with these feelings long before him, and lastly; he thought of Bella.
His faced heated as he recalled her warm, muddy eyes and the cool flicker of her breath on his skin. She was a fantastic girl; petite, down to earth, beautiful but with an agonizing price.
She was in love with a vampire: a creature with hard, frigid skin and a hunger to eat her kind up; to kill her and like it. Jacob howled in despair and clutched the bright orange fabric of his sweater, tearing holes in the flimsy fabric. He felt unbelievably dumb to be so stupidly in love with her. She didn't love him back, not in the way he wanted, and he doubted that she ever would. But still, Jacob longed for her presence, her eager laugh and the pounding warmth of her chest when they embraced.
The thought sent a tremor of wild thought down his to core. He shut his eyes, squeezing out the bad as he paused alongside the road inhaling desperately. He was trying cooling down his excitement. Jacob exhaled, steam twirling from his nostrils like a dragon, and opened his eyes once reposed. Everything around him was somewhat familiar.
He was just a mile or so up the road from the reservation, to the point where the thick forest began to thin around some dreary looking houses. He stood near a two story house, with sad gray shingles and a green front yard. As long as Jacob lived, not once had he seen the house occupied. But, it seemed a new family moved in, not long ago either judging by the U-haul truck hogging the drive way. He curiously scanned the face of the residence, looking for a sign of life. Most of the windows were dark, shades pulled and blackened from the inside but one remained faintly lighted.
He moved forward, trying to get a better look. A thin curtain dulled the light from inside the room, but he could make out a form near the window, sitting motionlessly. Jacob pondered who could have moved there, mulling over all of his school friends to remember if they mentioned new students or hints at moving. He wrinkled his brow in frustration at his fuzzy memory; his absences at school had taken a bit of a toll on him.
Suddenly, the light inside winked out and Jacob sighed in disappointment. He stared one more minute at the window on the front face of the house and decided to head back. But before he fully drew his eyes away, he saw the shade move, and a hot slice of yellow face peer down at him. He froze, they froze, and then the curtain moved.
He gently kept walking, lightheaded from the cold, he thought. As he came to the reservation, his mind was buzzing with who the face was. It looked female, and he chewed over what she looked like exactly, her age, and her interests. His mind went crazy, and still whined on well into the night.
Something inside Jacob bloomed, shaking everything else loose and jarring every thought around within him.
a/n: You guys are probably sick of these already. Hahaha. but who is to deny a fan their happiness?