My entry for dancingchickies' Leah Contest. (I hope it's not too late, I kinda forgot about it and so didn't get a chance to edit) I'm completely inexperienced with writing for Leah, but I've always liked the idea. Hope you enjoy! As always, please read and review!
My paws pound the cold earth in a rhythmic pattern, slowly lulling my exhausted brain into a stupor. I have been running for what seems like days. Jake was the one who had told me to do it—he himself had thought to escape this way—though now I could hear his worried thoughts in my head.
Leah, he calls out. Will you come back now?
I don't respond, merely allow myself to slow ever so slightly. I have no idea where I am. I had taken off heading East, but various twists and turns later, I couldn't tell you where the closest town was if my life depended on it. Though, of course, I could easily find my way back to my pack. I would feel their pull even if I ran away for the rest of my life.
I sink to the damp grass, resting my shaggy head between my paws, too fatigued to phase back. I must be near water, for I can hear the gentle hush of a river flowing softly. My heavy lids close. Just a moment. I'll sleep for just a moment.
I see his face before me. His dark hair frames his handsome, tan face. When he sees me, he smiles in a way I haven't seen directed at me in far too long. He opens his arm to me, and I fall into them, feeling more at home there than anywhere else on Earth.
"Hey, Lee-lee," he whispers into my hair. I open my mouth to reply, but find I'm unable to say anything. I just bury my head into his chest, trying to remember everything about him. His hand cups my chin, lifting my face up to meet his. He draws me closer, our lips are a hairs breadth apart—
Suddenly, I am torn from him. She is there instead. He doesn't even notice. Doesn't even care that I am gone. They hold hands. He caresses her face. I scream and scream and scream and no one can hear me. No one cares.
Faces swirl before me of all those who have left me. My father, my cousin, my love. I try to reach out to them, but I am being sucked farther and farther backward, into an endless abyss of darkness. I call out to them, but they can't hear me. No one can.
"Leah! Leah!" someone calls, but I'm too far gone to recognize who. He shakes my shoulder, warm fingers pulling me up from the wet terrain. I realize it is Seth who sits before me, hair plastered to his face from the thick rain that is falling. I notice how short he seems, then with mortification understand that I never phased back. Slowly, I sink back into my human-self, the implications of my actions reaching the horrified expression written on my face.
"Did you see…" I ask, not able to complete my sentence.
He nods, embarrassed. We stare at each other for a moment, then I burst into tears. I collapse against his strong shoulder, and he shifts slightly to be able to wrap his arm protectively around me. He doesn't say anything, just lets me cry onto his shoulder. I wrap my arms around his neck, happy to finally have this one constant. All the men that have fled from me in my life, and he has always been there. My brother.
After I have depleted my supply of tears, I sit up and wipe my eyes, though the heavy rain has made it difficult to tell what are tears. He gives me a half smile, as if to ask, How are you?
I stand up with a grimace, and reach down to pull him up. "Race you back," I say nonchalantly, eager to pretend this hadn't happened. "Bet you can't beat me."
His face lights up. "You're on! One…Two…Three…GO!" He takes off at an incredible speed, but I am hot on his heels, leaving the sorrow behind me as I fly.
I had had my weakness. It is time to move on.