Hi! This is my first story ever, so constructive criticism is gladly taken. :) Enjoy!
Crash
By Pichigaru
Chapter 1
I hadn't meant to hit him with my car. I was just driving along the road and when I rounded the bend... the wolf had just run out of the woods.
A black Jeep drove around the bend on the long, twisting road, just as a large blur of gray fur ran out in front of it, and the two objects collided with a screech of tires and a yelp of surprise. The girl inside the truck screamed, and the airbag exploded, snapping her head back with a painful crunch. Blood trickled down her face, and with a shaky hand she reached up to the source of her blood: her forehead had been ripped open by shards of glass. She glanced down at her arms and tried not to scream again. They, too, were cut up with glass and her left arm had a long, thick piece of glass lodged deeply into it, halfway up her elbow. She closed her eyes and tried to calm the thundering of her heart. It was beating much too quickly.
She then heard a whimper of pain. It did not come from her, but from the animal lodged in her windshield. She looked at it, and she hiccoughed in shock.
Her lungs seemed to stop short, and the clouds of breath that once had been coming from her in rapid, faltering bursts of fear stilled. She had hit a wolf. Trying not to hurt herself or the creature even more than she already had, she pulled her phone from the purse beside her, and quickly hit speed dial one. She placed it on speaker; she could not hold it up to her face.
"Nine-one-one, state your emergency," a woman's voice came through the phone.
"Help," the girl breathed out, starting to tremble from the adrenaline.
"I crashed into… into an animal. We're both hurt. I'm about a mile or two away from Forks. I'm scared." She tried to relay as much information as possible, but her last sentence had burst from her mouth without her mind willing it.
"I'll send an ambulance and Animal Rescue right over, ma'am. Please stay on the phone with me until they arrive. What's your name, miss?"
"Tala… Tala Nayely Brooks." She began breathing again, and glanced at the wolf, whose eyes were closed. Some of his fur was matted down with blood, and there were shards of glass stuck in him all over. Slowly with her free hand- the one with, unfortunately, the most glass imbedded into her skin- she reached down to unbuckle herself so she would be able to sit upright. Her back was sore from her cramped position.
"Tala? Are you still there? Tala?"
Tala felt as if a bucket of water was thrown over her head as the woman's voice reached her brain, and she answered the dispatcher. "Yes, I'm here. I'm just… I'm cold, and scared."
"That's understandable, Tala. Do you have any family? Is there anyone that you want to be notified of what happened today?"
"No, I don't have any more family. They're… kind of too far away to reach, y'know?"
"Ah, I see. Well, any friends you would like to notify?"
"Sam. Sam Uley? I was on my way to his house. I'm staying with him for a while. Until I turn eighteen. He lives in La Push. He's on my Emergency Contacts, I think." She sighed, watching her breath float away from her in the cold, quickly darkening air.
"Yes, he's right here. I'll have someone contact him."
Tala nodded, and then realized that the dispatcher couldn't actually see her. "Um, yeah, thanks."
The quiet whine of the ambulance sirens echoed through the twilight sky, disrupting the unsettling calm of the area.
"Hey, um… sorry, I didn't catch your name..?" Tala said to the phone.
"I'm Anna," she said, with a smile in her voice.
"Anna. That's a cute name. Well, Anna… the ambulance is here. Do I stay on, or do you hang up or something?" Tala questioned, finally spotting the brightness of the ambulances lights through the trees- they would be there in five minutes, at most.
"I can stay on the line if you want me to," Anna replied.
"No, no, I don't want to clog the system. Thank you, Anna. You're…" Tala laughed at what she was about to say. "You're a lifesaver."
Anna laughed. She had a nice laugh, like bells. "Not a problem, Tala. Goodbye." The phone call ended and the dial tone sounded.
Tala cracked a small smile at the phone. She didn't notice that something was moving on the hood of her car until it was far too late. The wolf snarled and pounced on her, saliva dripping steadily from its maw. Tala screamed, and the wolf looked right at her, its eyes crazed. It dug its claws into her shoulders, ripping her skin even more than it already was. Then it stopped, and the maniac look it had been giving her softened, and now the dark grey wolf stared at her as if in… awe? No, Tala was just imagining it. But there they were, girl and wolf, staring into each other's eyes. Tala reached out to touch its muzzle, not feeling the pain of the wolf's unnaturally heavy weight on her small frame, or that his sharp claws were digging into her skin.
The ambulance rounded the corner the second her hand met the side of the wolf's grey fur. It was soft. But suddenly, the wolf was gone, while she was stuck in her car unable to move, and all she could see of where the wolf had gone was the quivering underbrush on the left side of the road, as the sky opened up and began to cry.
The next few minutes were a blur: people were grabbing the car door and opening it, laying her down onto a stretcher, loading her into the ambulance and pulling the shards of glass from her body.
"Your leg is broken, and we have to set it now. Don't worry, you'll be fine, and your dad is on the way to the hospital."
The only thing Tala remembered was trying to explain to the medic that Sam wasn't her father, and then screaming in pain as they set her leg before she blacked out.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Tala's eyes fluttered open. Her vision was blurry.
"Tala? Tala! Oh, thank God you're awake." A tall, muscled male was sitting by her bedside, and so was a woman. As Tala's vision slowly cleared, her eyes focused to see Sam looking at her with a relieved look on his face.
"Sup, Sam?" Tala said groggily. "Long time no see."
Sam rolled his eyes. "You scared the hell out of me, Brooks. Never do that again. I knew I should have picked you up from the airport."
Tala smiled as she sat up. Her shoulder throbbed suddenly, and everything that had happened the day before flooded her mind. "What happened to the wolf I hit? Is he okay?"
Sam looked at her oddly. "There was no wolf. You ran into a tree, Tala."
"Maybe you were seeing things. You did lose a lot of blood. And there's no such thing as wolves the size of bears." Sam's wife, Emily, said kindly.
Tala looked at her suspiciously. "I never said how big it was, Emily." She sighed. "I suppose you're right, anyway. Wolves don't have human emotions, and they don't look at you like-"
"Like what?" Sam questioned. His voice sounded clipped and short.
Tala looked at him oddly. "I dunno, it was kind of weird, actually. It was kind of like how you look at Emily."
Then, Tala snorted. "But like Em said, I lost a lot of blood and hit my head. I was probably moping about having to leave California. Ignore my stupid woozy headed-ness."
Sam shared a worried look with Emily. "Whatever you say, Tala. Emily'll stay with you until you're able to leave. She'll take you home then. I have to go to work. Boss won't let me off."
Tala smiled tiredly at him and Emily.
Sam got up, patted her head and left, just as she dozed off into another short sleep.
The car ride to La Push was silent except for the loud rumbling of the motor and the occasional static of the radio.
Tala spoke up just as they turned into the driveway. "Hey, thanks for picking me up, Emily. I'm really sorry about the car crash, I don't even know what happened-"
Emily smiled at her, the scars on her face stretching a little and whitening at the edges. "Not a problem. It was an accident, and it wasn't your fault."
"Em, I ran into a tree. That's what Dr. Cullen said, anyway. I was hurt so bad I imagined that I had run into a wolf. It was my fault- I probably didn't have the wipers on or the fog was too thick." Tala sighed.
"I'll just have to fix my truck up when my arm and leg heal. And then try to get a job at the veterinarian office in Forks, if they have one."
Emily smiled. "Well, I'm sure they have an opening for you. They'll hire you in an instant."
For the first time in a long while, Tala smiled.
Tala sat on a bar stool in Emily's kitchen, helping Emily cut shapes into the cookie dough when the door burst open and six colossal people crowded into the tiny kitchen. Tala toppled off the stool in surprise, smacking her arm on the wall and smashing her head against her crutches. She clutched at her head, and heard a booming laugh.
"You okay?" A hand was offered, and she took it.
"Thanks, you just really surprised me." Tala looked up at the owner of the arm. He was tall, with a huge smile that reached his eyes.
"I'm Jared. Nice to meet you."
"Same here. I'm-"
"Tala, right?" Jared grinned at her surprised expression. "Sam talks about you a lot during p- uh, work."
"Oh." And that summed up Tala's small talk skills.
After being hoisted up and back onto her stool, she was introduced to the rest of the men who now inhabited the kitchen.
"I'm Quil. Nice to meetcha."
"I like your hat. I'm Brady."
"I'm Jacob. Nice cast."
"What? Um- thanks-"
"Can I sign your cast? I'm Seth, by the way, and this is my sister, Leah." The smallest of the very large boys gestured to a girl who was half hidden behind all the bodies.
Leah grunted a hello.
"Hi, Leah. I like your haircut," Tala said sincerely.
Leah cracked the smallest of smiles; you could barely see it. "Thanks."
Tala smiled back at her, and continued to stamp out cookies. "And yes, you can sign my cast, Seth. Everyone can, I suppose."
This led to a rather large scuffle for the only Sharpie that wasn't pink and still had ink in it. Tala held out her leg and waited as the guys signed her cast in an array of both crazily scribbled and neatly printed lettering.
Just as Jacob finished signing her cast, Sam walked into the house, along with another very tall, muscled male.
"Okay, there are officially steroids in the water here," Tala muttered to herself.
Jacob grinned at her, and Seth chuckled.
"Hey, Tala. Meet Paul. He's part of our dysfunctional family, too."
"What? I'm not dysfunctional. If anything, it's Seth that's dysfunctional- being so goddamn happy all the time." Jared quipped.
Seth punched him in the arm, still grinning happily.
Tala smiled nervously at Paul. "Hi. I'm Ta-"
"I know who you are. Sam told me you crashed into a tree. Go get driving lessons before you even think about getting near a car." Paul sneered, stalked into the kitchen, grabbed some food and left.
Tala felt anger wash over her, and she clutched the side of the counter so hard that her knuckles turned white.
"Hey, Tala. Don't worry about him. He's an ass to everybody." Sam said, handing her a cookie sheet to put the cookie dough on.
"I gathered that," Tala muttered as she slapped the cookie dough onto the sheet unceremoniously.
There was a pensive silence.
"So what do you like to do, Tala?" Quil asked, sitting on the counter, his head brushing against the ceiling.
Tala shrugged. "Watch movies, fix cars, eat food, take care of animals. Why?"
Quil grinned. "I can drive you to the vet today, if you want. I have nothing to do. I also want you to meet Claire. She's my im- uh, she's the little kid I take care of."
"Thanks, but I-"
"Cool!" Quil grabbed her crutches and held them out to her. "Claire gets outta school in twenty minutes."
Tala looked to Emily for help.
Emily just smiled at her, encouraging her to go along with him.
She grumbled, and took her crutches from Quil. "Okay." She hoisted herself onto the crutches and tried to smile at Emily. "I'll see you later, then?"
"Yes. And please, bring Tala back in one piece, Quil," Emily said jokingly.
"Will do, Emily." Quil grinned, and grabbed an umbrella for the rain that hadn't let up since the night of the crash.
Quil and Tala made their way through the living room, where the others were all squashed onto the couch watching the Winter Olympics, which were occurring in Vancouver.
"COME ON, USA! BEAT THOSE CANADIANS! WOOOOOO-!" the boys bellowed at the small TV set, while Leah just looked on with a smirk as she ate fries out of a bowl.
While Quil helped Tala into his truck, another tall male walked up to Emily's house.
"Quil! Is Sam in the house?" He walked up to the car.
Quil closed the passenger door and leaned against his truck, facing the newcomer. "Yeah. Have you met Tala yet?"
He looked quizzically at Quil. "Who?"
"The kid that Emily and Sam are taking care of. She's like, Emily's sixth cousin three times removed or something." Quil replied, gesturing at Tala in the car.
Tala watched the exchange from the car and decided to roll down the window and say hello. Maybe she wouldn't make a fool of herself in front of this guy.
"Oh, hey Tala. This is Embry. Embry, meet Tala." Quil moved out of the way.
Embry looked up at Tala and froze. His jaw flopped open like a fish's and he blinked rapidly. "You-"
"Er, hello." Tala replied. He's sort of cute, she thought. Apparently, her mouth took that as a cue to embarrass her. "Do all of you take steroids or something? Because, they're kind of bad for you," She blurted out, and then almost immediately turned bright red and buried her head into her neon green jacket, hitting her head on the window frame in her hurry.
Quil began to howl in laughter.
Tala's ears turned a very dark crimson color.
Embry smiled. "No, I'm just tall. Are you okay? You hit your head pretty hard."
When Tala looked up to reply, he was standing right in front of the truck, his face lowered right next to hers.
Tala yelped in surprise. "Yes! Fine! I'm fine!"
He chuckled. "How's your leg?"
"Leg? What? My leg's fine." Tala almost yelled, her words tripping over the other. God, she sucked at talking to people.
"You sure? I heard it was broken." Embry said, and nodded at her crutches.
Realization dawned in Tala's eyes. "Oh. That leg. Well, broken is hardly okay, I think-"
Embry grinned and started laughing. "You think?" He stopped laughing then. "You're cute." He smiled and went into the house with a skip in his step.
"What…?" Tala said half an hour later.
Quil looked at her oddly. "What do you mean, 'what'?"
"Never mind." Tala sighed, looking out the car window at all the green flashing by. It began to rain.
So, that's my first chapter EVER. Thoughts? I update every Friday, mostly because I'm going to be starting school again this Monday, and my amazing BETA Reader, MySuperAwesomePenName is also in school (P.S. Go read their stories. They're awesome).
Until next Friday,
Pichi