No copyright intended. I do not own any recognizable entities herein. This is an AU Twific. I hope you enjoy it! Troy is my own character.
Rated M for Mature Content. 18 and older only please.
~She sat in the damp, thick ferns - completely naked - with her arms wrapped around her knees, her fingers digging deeply into her thighs as she rocked back and forth. The pain threatened to consume her. The night had settled over the Olympic Peninsula like a fleece blanket; not a star in sight. She stayed close to home, afraid that if she ventured further than the few feet into the woods, he would find her. Her long dark hair was curled, matted and knotted, hanging down her back and over her shoulders. It was her only protection from the misting, chilly elements but she couldn't bring herself to go back inside. The tears tracked hotly down her cheeks, dripping onto her knees and running down her shins as she continued to grip herself and continued to rock. There was no way she could go back there, not now. He would know exactly who she was once he saw her and she couldn't let that happen. He would hate her for keeping such a secret from him.
Though she supposed he had a secret of his own. She longed to know what had happened to him all those years ago. Had he ever thought of her? Did her parents tell him that she'd died? She knew that he'd tried to save her. She had heard him banging on the doors, screaming for her. It had almost completely broken her to hear his sobbing as if his heart was being torn from his chest.
Growing up in the thick of the Tennessee wilderness in the 1930's, she and Emmett McCarty would run, knobby kneed and clumsy through the thicket, laughing at each other and chasing tiny creatures in the forest. They had been practically inseparable since birth, crawling around in their diapers together while their mothers sipped tea and nibbled on crackers, gossiping about their husbands in hushed tones as if the children could understand their words. Emmett had always been her protector, whether it was from a snarky squirrel or her father's whip, he was always there to save her or comfort her. Her tiny, skinny limbs would wrap around him and his overweight arms would hug her tightly.
As they entered their early teens, the running, swimming, and playing outdoors - along with Emmett's father's demands that he work harder on the farm - turned Emmett from a chubby cheeked child into a handsome, burly young man. His muscles bulged as if he'd taken supplements and he'd gotten a late growth spurt that had made it hard for the hormone driven girl to swallow half the time. She had been coming into her own quite quickly, growing breasts that made the fabric of her dresses wrinkle tightly and hips that showed even under the fluff of her skirts.
Unfortunately though, these changes didn't go unnoticed by her parents and they locked her in the basement with the excuses to the neighbors that she was ill. They knew what was happening to her, even as she was kept in the dark - figuratively and literally - and they were terrified for themselves, the townspeople, and the livestock on their precious farm. Never in their wildest dreams had they thought the legends and myths of old, told to them by their great grandparents as they tucked them into bed, could be true. In order to save themselves, they starved her and refused her any comforts of home. For two solid weeks of her fifteenth year, her mother would throw scraps of dinner - usually reserved for the compost - down the cellar stairs, apparently uneasy with letting her only child stave to death. She would crawl on the cold, wet dirt, skinning her knees as she cupped whatever measly meal she was given. She'd only cried for three days before she realized her parents didn't give a shit what happened to her.
She barely survived and she still didn't know why they'd locked her away. None of her questions had been answered.
Somehow, during what she thought was the end of the second week, she wound up in the forest and instead of running back home to the hell she'd learned her parents preferred she live, she turned tail and ran as far away as she could to the complete opposite end of the map. She hitchhiked in her filthy clothes, kind strangers giving her quarters for baths and a lovely woman giving her her husband's clothes to wear.
By the time she had made it to Idaho - where a kind man took her in and let her sleep in a real bed after a hot, filling meal - she knew what she had become.
A monster.
That was why her parents had locked her away. They knew! She would never return. She would make it on her own, somehow, scavenging for food and clothing. She would try her damndest to make something of herself. Her only regret was that she would never see Emmett McCarty again. Her very best friend.
She left Idaho a few days later, keeping her monstrous secret hidden, and continued traveling west. She wanted to get as far away as she could and now she could travel much easier. No more uncomfortable rides with strangers, no more begging for money for a train that didn't go quite that far. She was freer than she'd ever been before, running faster than she ever thought possible.
She was found days later, cowering in the wildflowers at the edge of a mossy, lush forest by a strange man. She had heard him coming from miles away while she was bathing in the cold creek water and slipped out to hide behind a fallen log. He towered over her naked, shivering form with his dark, narrowed eyes under thick, heavy brows. The nostrils on his sharp, angular face flared for just a moment as if sniffing her. His black hair was long and straight, hanging silkily down his shoulders as he crouched down in front of her, his large bronze hand extended and she was mesmerized by his rippling muscles. It sent a pang of longing through her as she remembered Emmett once more. Oddly enough, she didn't feel threatened or intimidated by this Native American stranger with his overly warm temperature. She felt safe.
Completely naked, her long, still filthy hair covering her breasts and one dainty hand hiding her most innocent part, he helped her stand and then nodded curtly as they walked into the forest together.
He'd saved her, given her a place to stay and helped her build a life for herself. He became exactly what she needed. She would forever be grateful to Troy for his kindness.
Now, as she rocks back and forth in the ferns after her quick run and subsequent breakdown, she realizes that she needs to gather the strength that Troy lent her. She wasn't made to flinch away and hide, cowering in the bushes. She was made to lead, to destroy her enemies, and to hold her head up high with honor. She would do that, even if Emmett hated her for leaving him behind. It was a miracle in itself that he was still walking the earth...then again, it was the same kind of miracle that she was as well. Knowing he found himself a family and a girlfriend made it hard for her, but she was used to hard. She'd been dealing with hard for too many years. It had been a long 70 years and she was ready to be strong finally.
She could do this.
Lifting herself up from the ground and pulling down a sheet from the clothesline, she walked briskly from her backyard as she wrapped the linen around her shoulders to hide her young body from view. She climbed the three steps to the back door and continued into the small two story white house she shared with Chief Charlie Swan, her adoptive father. He was used to her lack of clothing and odd behavior, as she was less than human most of the time so he would just avert his eyes politely and give his usual greeting as she entered the house from the back door.
"Hey Bells."
Lifting his hand in a quick wave and chugging his beer with his eyes closed, he swallowed the bitter liquid. She chuckled at him with a hello of her own as she headed up the stairs to jump in the shower and clean herself up. She would forever be grateful to Charlie for adopting her and giving her a place to live. He was used to the odd occurrences in Forks, Washington and had only a few questions. Troy and she had fielded them and answered them in whichever way the situation called for and Charlie opened his heart and his home to her - having lost his own wife and daughter years ago when she took off and divorced him.
She scrubbed her body as her adopted father's voice rang in her ears. She loved the nickname he gave her shortly after meeting her. He claimed that it fit her better than her given name since her laugh sounded like bells and she agreed that it was fitting.