Sunlight

Chapter One

The Move

The wind blew through my hair as I zoomed down the highway. I was honestly surprised that my beat up little buggie handled this trip as good as she did. Highways and my car never really got along and here I was, driving twenty-four hours from Arizona to Washington. I could have flown with my sister, but that involved not only leaving my baby Buggie behind but it also involved going in a metal death trap thousands of miles above the earth. No. Thank. You.

Unlike my twin, Bella, and our mother Renee, I absolutely loved Forks. The trees and the sounds of the forest always comforted me as a kid. And, unlike my sister, I didn't mind the cold. If we're being honest, living in Pheonix was torture. It was too hot for me, it's easier to warm up than it is to cool down. I would have gone to live with Dad a long time ago if Mom and Bella didn't give me the puppy-dog eyes every time I brought it up.

But things were different now, Bella and I decided that Mom needed to be her free-spirit self. She needed to travel with her pro-ball husband, Phil, and actually see his games. So we packed what we could and shipped ourselves off to Forks.

I was just outside the outer limits of Forks. I could see the ocean, smell the salt air as it blew in through my cracked window. It was a chilly January afternoon, which meant that it was just a few degrees above freezing. Breathing in the fresh salt air one last time I rolled up the window of my ancient bug. I still needed to stop for gas, which would allow me to dig through my bag and find a sweatshirt. And grab a bag of gummy worms, I had a weakness for gummy candies of all kinds.

That mission only took me half an hour, and soon enough I was pulling up in front of a home that held so many childhood memories. On the outside, it looked just the way I remembered. The only new addition was a rusty red truck parked next to dads cruiser. I wonder if Bella liked her present, I bet she loved it.

With a gummy worm between my teeth, I pulled my key from the ignition and hooked it back onto my pink and blue paracord lanyard. After grabbing two of my bags I kicked Buggie's door shut and walked up to my new-ish home. The second I opened the door, I was bombarded by the scent of Bella's homemade lasagna and garlic bread. With a mom like Renee, Bella and I cooked for ourselves. Mom could burn a bowl of cereal. I've seen it.

Dad and Bella must have already been sitting in the kitchen/dining room. I promptly dropped my bags on the floor by the stairs and walking to where my family was.

"Please tell me there's pepperoni in there" I stated as I walked over the threshold.

"Annie, you made it just in time for dinner. I thought Cha-Dad could use a home-cooked meal."

I had to fight an eye roll at Bella's statement. She only ever called dad by his title in his presence, otherwise, she would call him Charlie. Bella was my sister and I loved her, but she gets on my nerves. A lot.

We ate in near silence after that. Nothing but the sounds of metal hitting porcelain and the crunch of deliciously cheesy garlic bread. Dad had asked how my drive was and how the bug held up. Only to grunt in response before skimming his newspaper.

It was obvious where Bella got her silence from.

Dinner was finished in silence after that, then Bella and I retired to our rooms to unpack and get ready for tomorrow. School. Yay. Starting school more than halfway through the semester was a new kid's worst nightmare. Especially in a small town like Forks where everyone had known each other since they were still in the womb.

For such a small little car, my Buggie could hold a lot and it took some effort to un-Tetris the boxes I had stacked in the backseat. There was only so much Bella could bring with her on the plane from Pheonix, so I had to bring a few boxes of her stuff too, those were the first to make it into the house.

Once my car was unloaded and the boxes were piled up in my room I set myself to the task of unpacking and organizing. Starting with my bed. Dad had gotten rid of the old twin bed of my childhood and upgraded me to a full. Which was great because my white and turquoise bedding set was for a full.

Next was pulling my laptop and a Family Guy DVD box set from my backpack. With the hilarity of the Griffin family playing in the background, I started unpacking the rest of my stuff.

The desk dad had salvaged for me was great, and a perfect spot to display my few knickknacks. However, the likelihood of me sitting there with my laptop was low. Other than my dresser and a small bookshelf, there wasn't much else for storage space. I still had some leftover money from my old job at the small grocery store near mom's house, so I could easily get myself a shelf or two sometime in the near future.

After my clothes were hung up in the closet and folded into my dresser, I pulled out a pair of pajama's and got ready for bed. I could hear my sister already in the bathroom, sharing the small space with two other people was going to be challenging, but I usually kept all of my...feminine stuff in my bedroom anyway. Really I just needed to wash my face, and brush my teeth, which I did once I heard Bella shuffle passed my bedroom.

My new bed was cozy and I instantly snuggled into my warm blankets and fluffy pillows. Tiredly, I reached over to my laptop, lowered the volume. As my eyelids drifted closed to the low sounds of Family Guy, I held my old brown and tan wolf stuffed animal to my chest.

As I lay in bed I couldn't help but think about my summers here in Forks as a child. We would often find ourselves down on the Quileute reservation, La Push. I remembered the stories that were often told to us by dad's friend Billy Black. As we sat on first beach, we would often be told of Taha Aki and his pack of wolves. How the Quileuete ancestors protected La Push and their people from what was known as the 'cold ones'.

I remember playing pretend, just like any other kid. Only I wasn't playing house, or princesses or anything like that. No, instead I would pretend that I was one of Taha Aki's spirit warriors. I don't think mom liked that very much, she all but forbade me from playing that game ever again. At seven years old, I didn't understand what was so wrong. But I did what my mom said, and I never pretended I was a spirit warrior ever again.