Easy As Breathing: Post-Eclipse as Told by Jacob Black
Chapter One: Bonfire Party
Author's Note: I am really new at the whole fan fiction thing, so I don't know if I am going to continue writing or not, it all depends on the kind of response I get. A little disclaimer: I consider myself a huge Stephanie Meyer fan (the character of Jacob Black and some others plus a lot of the storyline belongs to her) but I have only read the series once, so if you find mistakes or things that don't quite match up to the facts, kindly let me know, there are many places I could be wrong. This is the first chapter of "Easy as Breathing" let me know how you like it. It starts out right after Eclipse ends, I just continued the story. I haven't read a lot of fan fiction eithar, so if I am copying someone's ideas (besides Stephanie's, obviously) I am really sorry, it was unintentional.
I kept running. When I am in wolf form, the world blurs. That's how it was now, just green and brown and more green, blurring past me. I didn't know where I was going; I didn't even know where I'd been. One face was burned into my mind. Bella, in a wedding dress, smelling like some sort of frosting made with Clorox and way too much sugar. Bella, marrying that bloodsucker I couldn't stand.
Most werewolves can run for a long time. Sam once ran for almost a week, five days at least. It was right after the incident with Emily. Ever since I became a werewolf I knew what it felt like to be Sam. I also knew what it felt like to be Leah, ever since she changed, but now… I felt Leah's pain on a whole other scale. It wasn't just happening to Leah and felt like it was happening to me, it really was happening to me… right now. I had lost the one I loved more than anything. I had been trumped by the monsters of the world. What would have been as easy as breathing became something more difficult than dying. But in a way, knowing Sam and Leah as well as I did, I could understand why Bella had left me. It was sort of like imprinting. Bella and I loved each other, just like Leah and Sam had loved each other, but just like Emily was something more than love for Sam; Edward was something more than love for Bella. I couldn't fight with that anymore. Suddenly I felt like I understood Leah on a whole new level. Yeah, she had been hard on the pack, but we were hard on her too. She had a heavier load than we did. She had to face Sam everyday, have him in her head. She didn't ask for this, I didn't ask for this. None of us asked for this. Even the bloodsuckers didn't ask for their fate, things just happen.
Author's Note: I was a HUGE Jacob/Leah shipper, I wanted them together, but when Leah didn't imprint on him, I kind of gave up. I still want them to reach an understanding though, especially since he is going through almost what she was with Sam and Emily and all.
I knew I must have been running for at least seven days. I had passed little towns and mountains and streams. I had run along the coast for a day or two, but none of it mattered. I realized I was hungry and tired. The tiredness wasn't something I was really used to, being what I was. I never stopped running, except for certain times. I would stop running whenever the voices would come into my head. Leah, telling me to stop whining, Sam and Quil and Embry begging me to return, Paul almost glad I was gone, Seth wishing I was there for him to look up to, Jared… it all became too much after about two seconds. Whenever they popped into my head, I changed back into a human, running naked through the woods. For what seemed like the hundredth time in a week, the voices returned. I didn't even wait for them to think anything. I changed back into a human.
I finally came across a little tourist trap of a town along the coast. Westport, WA, the sign said. I had swum past it, letting the pounding water cool me and wear me out. The town was smaller than Forks by a little bit, but still not near as small as La Push. I realized I wanted a real bed, a real meal and a shower. I was going to shave my head again, my hair was getting in the way and it didn't even matter what Bella thought anymore. The sharp stab that I had felt when I received the wedding invitation had dulled to an ache, no less painful than before, but less… intense. Now that I was human I realized that I was naked. As a wolf, everything blurred, but as a human, everything was sharp and intense, like my senses had been rubbed raw by Bella's rejection and everything seemed to remind me of her.
Author's Note: Westport is a real town in Washington, south of La Push by quite a ways, but I haven't been there for a while. Some of what I say about it is probably incorrect, but I want you to see it as I saw it: completely beautiful! The ocean is gray and wild there, I imagined the beach at La Push looking a lot like my beloved beach at Westport, so I thought it would be great to include a place I actually knew and loved in my story, especially since it played such a big part in how I saw parts of Stephanie's story.
I dragged myself out of the ocean, tossing my head, trying to shake out some of the salty water that was weighing it down. I looked around, becoming painfully aware of my surroundings. This place reminded me a little of the beach at La Push where I had first spoken to Bella. It wasn't as rugged, it was sandier and there weren't any cliffs, just grassy banks. To the north there was a wooden, tourist-y port with a boardwalk and little shops; ferries and boats moved around in the water. I could barely see it, but my wolfish hearing could detect the clang of shipping bells. The beach was long and wide. I could see some scruffy cabins and motels about a quarter mile up. The beach was probably a motel-customers-only novelty. It was completely empty. I realized that if I were human, I would probably be cold. It was less than 60 degrees, and the water was near freezing. Perhaps that is why such a beautiful beach was abandoned by the human set. I started to think about a way to get some clothes when I heard the voices.
The beach was so long and open, the only place to hide was the water itself. I knew I could handle the cold, what worried me is what would happen if someone happened to look at the exact spot in the water my head happened to be bobbing. I dived, then turned to watch the group strolling down the beach, laden down with blankets and bags. There were five of them, three girls and two boys. They all wore long sleeves and long pants. I was right, for a human it must be cold. I couldn't see their faces, but I noticed that one girl wore her hair long and they seemed to be building a bonfire on the beach. I sat for at least three hours, watching them. They must have came at around 11:00 am, because when the sun did shine for about five seconds about an hour after they got there it was shining almost straight down. They roasted hot dogs and laughed and talked until the fire almost burned out. I was reminded once again of the first time I really talked to Bella, the first time I really began to fall in love with her. Four of them started preparing to leave. The wind must have been just right, because I heard snatches of words.
"You're going WADING??? You must be crazy?" This was a blonde girl with a peppy little ponytail.
"I like the water, you guys go on up, I'll only be a few minutes." The girl with her hair down answered. It was light brown, I could see now, and a complete mess. The damp saltwater and wind had whirled it into tangles that even now whipped around her face even more. I still couldn't see her face, but somehow, I found her hair kind of pretty, the wild way it blew with the changing wind.
She rolled up her pants and took off her shoes (Converse All-Stars, the hi-top variety; pink) and socks. Then she started walking right toward where I bobbed in the water. She reached the water line, and waded up to her knees. She was getting way too close, but she still wasn't facing me and her hair was whipping around more then ever. I really wanted to see her face! She stared out at the horizon. The sand, the sea and the sky were almost exactly the same shade of gray, it was hard to see where one stopped and another began. Waves crashed up her legs, wetting the rolled edge of her pants. She wasn't super skinny, but she wasn't fat either, by no means. She kind of reminded me of Bella. Her legs started to turn red from the cold, all the blood from her body rushing to them, goose bumps rising. She turned around, as if she was going to leave the water, then did a double take, turned, and looked straight at me.
Author's Note: This is my version of a "cliffhanger." I hope it was suspenseful enough for you to want more! Review please, and perhaps I will write more. I might do it for myself anyway, I am kind of wondering what happens to Jacob. That's why I started this in the first place.