When I was a baby my mother would lay me in my crib and open the curtains so I could look up at the stars. She would always sing the same song to me as I lay looking up at the sky. Sometimes when the night is quiet I can still hear her singing as I drift asleep.
Hush now, go to sleep my sweet baby,
The moon keeps watch, as you dream
Of peace.
Hush now, go to sleep my sweet baby,
The moon keeps watch, as you dream
Of a far off land.
I miss her so much… I wish I could just talk to her instead of her picture.
xxxxxxxxx
"Piper?"
"Come in." I wiped the tears from my eyes and sat up .
"Hey. I made some breakfast." Aunt Liz came in with a breakfast in bed tray. "How are you feeling?"
"Good."
She sat down and put the tray of food in front of me, it looked and smelled so good that my stomach grumbled.
"You don't look so good and it is not going to get any better by you staying in bed. So, I have an idea."
"I hope this doesn't involve one of your crazy art projects." I smiled as she tried not to laugh.
I picked up the fork and started eating the scrambled eggs.
"Well, I am glad you still have some humor. No, it doesn't involve art. After breakfast you are going to get dressed and get out of the house."
"Where am I going to go? This jam is really good by the way."
"Mrs. Wilson made it, it's homemade. Anyways, you can go anywhere. There are some shops in town, a short walking trail in the woods behind the house, search for sea shells at La Push beach any thing to get you up and out of this house while I am at work."
"They all sound so thrilling Aunt Liz. I don't know how I'll ever choose."
"Ha-ha. Promise me you will get out of this house for a while. If you don't I'm calling Chief Swan to drag you out." She stood up and made her way to the door.
"Ok, I promise I will get out of the house today."
"Good. I'll be home around 6 tonight with some Chinese. Love you."
"Love you too."
I finished breakfast and climbed out of bed to open the curtains. The sun was shinning brightly, a rare occasions for Forks, Washington.
'Hmm, a walk does sound nice.'
I turned on the radio and searched for something to wear. "Welcome back to 101.5, we have 8am on the clock. For today's weather we have a high of 40 and not a cloud in sight. Look out for tonight, there is a winter storm moving into the area. The national weather service is warning everyone to be off the road by 7pm. We are expecting this storm to start around 8pm and it could cause power outages. Up next we have Cocorosie with Werewolf."
I showered and brushed my teeth. I looked like crap, with dark circles under my eyes, which we also puffy from crying so much. 'Well, I hope I'll eventually stop looking like I feel' I pulled my hair into a side braid and dressed in my skinny jeans and black Ugg boots with a simple royal blue v-neck sweater. Well a walk it is then. I turned off the radio, grabbed my coat a headed down stairs.
It was a beautiful day out, the sunlight was warm on my face. The walking trail began at the far edge of the yard, I wrapped my scarf around my neck and buttoned up my coat as I headed for the trail.
It was peaceful out here. I could be left to think, reminisce or cry if I wanted to. Although the trees were bare they were still thick and the trail was a little over grown, leaving me to push some of the branches out of my way as I walked. I let my mind run away with me, thinking of my mom and dad, our home and how much fun we had. I never has many friends we were always traveling from country to country. Thinking of how no matter what we always spent Christmas in Ireland with Grandma Donovan before she passed away and Paris every year after.
I cried my heart out, so much that I stopped and sat down on a large log until I could cry no more. I was still sitting there a while after I'd stopped crying, trying to gather my strength to start walking back to Aunt Liz's, when I heard a few branches snap. I turned my head in the direction and saw something move behind a large tree.
"Hello? Is someone there?" No answer, curiosity got the best of me. I put my mittens back on and started walking toward the trees where the noise came from. I took a few slow steps when he appeared three trees in front of me.
"Hello Piper. It is lovely to see you. My you are so beautiful, just like your mother."
"Wh-who are you?" Run! My brain was telling me, but my body was so tired and frightened I could barely do anything but shake.
"I'm an old friend of the family." He began walking toward me.
"H-h-how did you know my family?" I began backing up slowly. Something was seriously scary and crazy about this man.
"Well we are curious aren't we Piper." He smiled, I turned around and ran as fast as my legs would go. I could hear him shouting behind me.
"No need to run Piper! I do love a chase and I will catch you!"
His foot steps fell heavy, I could hear them echoing throughout the hollow woods. My heart was beating out of my chest. I stopped when I couldn't hear his foot steps anymore, hoping that he had lost sight of me and tired of chasing.
"Dear Piper, have you tired of running yet?" I froze, then turned slowly only to see him standing behind me. My stomach turned at the sickening sight of his smile. I couldn't get any words out and my legs wouldn't move. He was about to say something when he snapped his head to the right. There was a barking growl off in the distance and the ground began to tremble.
I used this opportunity and began running as fast as I could. "PIPER! I will get you!" My only mistake was looking back, because that moment, I tripped on a fallen tree branch and began tumbling down.
xxxxxxxxxx
"We were so close to getting that bloodsucker!"
"Yeah, well I'm not sold that is exactly what it is."
"Face it Sam he's a blood sucker or Paul wouldn't have freaked out."
"Haha, Jared."
"He just smells different and he dropped something while we were chasing him." Sam threw old knife on the table, "I don't think suckers have a need for things like this."
"What is it?"
"It looks like an old hunting knife. What are these symbols on the side of it? Jake toss me a Coke."
"Heads up! What kind of symbols are they?"
"I have no clue."
"Let me see that thing." Jacob looked closely at the knife, "Well, it looks like we have a long night of Google-ing ahead of us. Quil- you order the pizza."
xxxxxxxxxx
"Charlie, I'm telling you, something is wrong. Piper is missing." Aunt Liz paced back and forth in the kitchen. "Ok. Ok. Please hurry Charlie, it's starting to snow and the storm is moving in. She could freeze to death quickly." She now sat on the living room sofa. "Ok. I'll put a fresh pot of coffee on and will see you when you get here."