THE ARRIVAL

"Welcome to Seattle, Washington. The crew of this plane really hopes that you had a safe and enjoyable flight. Thank you for using Delta Airlines."

A woman's voice was flowing through the intercom of the plane while all the other passengers were scrambling rapidly out of their seats: some to get their carry-on items out of the compartments above their heads, some to freely chat with people around them.

"Could you pass me that green bag over there?" I heard a woman say next to me. I turned around. She looked about 20-25 and her eyes were covered with black make-up that made her look like a vicious cat.

The woman was casting a hard glance over at me and then at her bag, which was at the time right above my head.

"Uh, sure. Here." I reached up as far as I could to grab the bag and gave it to the woman. She was at least five inches taller than me, but she still asked for help from a midget. Probably a daughter of some self-centered millionaire.

Once we got our entire luggage out of the carry-on compartment, I saw Peter looking around, searching for our supervisor. He, whose name I learned was Victor, was talking to one of the flight attendants, who were going around checking on the welfare of the passengers. I frowned, remembering the torture of widely and pleasantly smiling at those thin ladies in blue uniforms.

When Victor caught me looking at him, a wide grin stretched across his slim face showing his one, deep dimple. He slightly jerked his head down the aisle, motioning for us to follow the other passengers. I groped around for Lucy's hand and stepped out with her into the crowded aisle. Loud chatter filled the airplane and it sounded as if a huge swarm of bees somehow managed to get into the locked space.

It took about ten minutes to get all of us off the plane and situated besides the entrance to the walkway, waiting for Victor. Finally, his tall, slim figure stepped out of the double doors and turned towards us.

"Did you enjoy your flight?" he asked politely. This was the third or fourth phrase he had said since we boarded the plane. For most of the flight, thankfully, he was silent. However he did stare at me for a while, actually most of the flight, but trying to ignore him was not always that easy. Unfortunately, the flight attendants weren't the only ones my mouth was aching from.

"Not in particular," Edmund muttered behind me, answering Victor's question with irritation in his voice. I turned around and gave him a stern look. If he was going to behave like this when we meet our guardian, I would rather go back to Mrs. Macready. Why was it always me who had to be embarrassed by Edmund's careless and rude behavior? I'll give him to Peter to deal with, I thought.

"It was just fine," Peter said with fake enthusiasm in his voice. Victor smiled and motioned for us to follow him to the passport check.

From my knowledge of world geography, Seattle is a pretty good-sized city, but while we crossed the big hall, it looked like the airport was too small for the amount of people coming and going. There was no open space where someone could simply stand and talk to a neighbor without being bumped into.

As we walked into the pick-up area, I started scanning the rows of people holding up signs with names of people they're looking for. I didn't know what I was looking for: "Pevensies" or all of our names written on a sheet of paper.

I felt a tug on my arm and turned to examine the cause. Lucy was holding my sleeve with one hand and pointing straight ahead of her with the other with a surprised and confused expression on her face. I turned in the corresponding direction and froze when I saw the big, brown sheet of cardboard with "The Pevensies" written in big, black block letters across it. What stuttered me was not the sign itself, but the person who was holding it up in the air and searching for something in the distance. Some things that caught my attention were that he was of average height and not that young at all; maybe 50-55 years old. Those, however, were all thing I noticed later. The first thing I saw was the dark blue uniform of a police officer, and the identically colored hat with the black strip across it. The first thought that crossed my mind, obviously, was that we were being arrested on our first day in the country!

I looked at Peter, than Susan, Edmund, and finally Lucy, who was still clinging to my sleeve. Except for her and me no one seemed to notice supposedly our next guardian. I nudged Susan who was the closest to me and pointed at the sturdily built man.

"What does that mean?" I asked her. Her eyes widened when she saw what I meant and then whispered something to Peter. He, in turn, looked at the patch of blue in the middle of the big crowd and shrugged.

"I guess our only answer is to find out," he said and made a firm step forward. I took a deep breath and followed after him with Lucy still at my side. When we got closer to the man, he turned to us with a smile that quickly changed to a confused expression.

"Weren't there five?" he asked. If not for the question, I would think that that was utterly rude for him to say hello to us for the first time he met us. For a second I didn't know what he meant. I looked around, and finally noticed that Edmund was not with us or anywhere around our little cluster. I looked back to the place where we had just been standing, and noticed his slim, freckled face peering through the bodies trying to find us. I waved, but he didn't see. I didn't feel like shouting since I didn't want to catch the attention of the people around me. Finally, I detached Lucy's hand from my sleeve and bent down to her ear.

"I'll be right back, stay right where you are," I whispered to her and went to retrieve Edmund from his search.

Everyone together now, we walked without a word out of the crowded building and quickly paced down the many ramps and stairs and street-crossings to the parking lot. I could tell that the man that was leading us was not very social and not very good at greetings or other supposed-to-be-emotional ceremonies.

We walked up to a small Police cruiser that didn't look capable of fitting all of us into there. I frowned, already feeling slightly claustrophobic.

"Some of you kids will be riding with me, and some will be with my friend's son here. Jacob?" A tall boy stepped from around an old, red truck that was parked next to the cruiser. He looked young, maybe 15 or 16, certainly younger than me. His childish, tan face was lit up by a grin that resembled his unnecessary politeness.

"He's a good guy, and a safe driver. He won't hurt you," the Police Officer assured us. Him and boy started out on putting our entire luggage in either the trunk of the cruiser or the back of the truck. While that was going on, my siblings and I decided on two groups: Lucy and I going in one car, and Peter, Edmund, and Susan going in the other.

"I'll take the threesome," said the officer and opened the back door of the cruiser for Susan to get in. I looked at Peter as he climbed in after her and he just shrugged. What if this was a trap to separate us (which was a stupid thing to think since no one knew us here anyway), but there wasn't anything else to do than to get into the old red truck and see what's going to happen next. I let myself slide in to the passenger's seat and put Lucy on my lap. She wasn't that small and light anymore, but there wasn't any other way. I heard the driver's door open and Jacob slid into the seat next to me. We waited until the cruiser pulled out and followed after it.

"So you're going to live with Charlie, eh?" he asked. I nodded in response. The name of the man sent relief through my body for some reason. The name Charlie didn't seem harmful at all and the fact that we're living with him meant that we're not getting arrested or sent to the police department.

"He's the chief of police of Forks, Chief Swan, so be good in his house," said the boy and smiled at me. I smiled weakly back which reminded me of the flight attendants and Victor. I frowned at the thought of having to smile at everyone around me again. A ragged sigh escaped my chest when I realized there was an awful pain in my right side. Probably from the horrid seats of the plane. I put my hand on the source of pain and tried to inhale. Big mistake. Instantly it felt like someone poked me with a knife from the inside and I hunched slightly over. I repressed the urge of another deep breath knowing that another stab of pain will follow. This was going to be an awful first month in this little town. Jacob pretended not to notice my wild behavior and kept quiet the rest of the way. I saw him glancing at Lucy and I once or twice, but otherwise he kept his eyes on the road. After an hour or so of driving, we pulled up into a driveway that led up to an average sized house of brown color.

"Well, here's your new home," said Jacob and, pulling the keys out of the ignition, opened the door and hopped out. I was going to do the same when I noticed that he came around the car and was holding the door open for me. I stared at his grinning face for a split-second and then put Lucy down on the pavement and got out myself.

"Thank you," I said softly looking down. I didn't look back at him as he closed the door and went to get the luggage out of the back of the truck. I just took Lucy's hand and started walking towards the rest of my family.

The inside of the house looked larger than the outside; perhaps because of the lack of furniture in the rooms. Mostly it was just open space with nothing in it. I didn't bother looking around the whole place since I was too tired and only wanted to plop down on a soft bed and sleep until morning. I just began to realize how tire I actually was of this whole chaos. I let go of Lucy's hand and looked at our luggage standing besides the door. The boy was just bringing in Peter's backpack where he held all our documents, and that was the last of it. Jacob took a deep breath and then looked at the man who he called Charlie. He noticed his gaze and smiled.

"Thanks for the help kid," he said.

"Anytime," Jacob answered and taking one last long look around the room he went outside. A moment later the front door opened again and he threw a set of keys to Peter.

"Your truck," he said briefly and with a smile he went out and closed the door behind him for the last time. Peter stood there with the keys in his hand for a while and when finally he got back to his senses he looked at Charlie, confused.

"Can we really have it?" he asked, astonished. I guess he wasn't used to things like getting a car being so easy. Charlie just nodded and pointed at the keys.

"You do have the keys," he said. "Anyway, I suppose you would like to get to your rooms as quickly as possible and get a rest from your journey?"

We all nodded. I wasn't the only one tired. Lucy was leaning against me with her eyelids slightly closed and Susan was looking like she'll crash right at that moment. Charlie turned and motioned for us to follow him. We came up to a staircase and started climbing up.

"There are not enough rooms for all of you to have your own, but I suppose it won't be that hard for some of you to share?" Charlie asked hopefully. I thought about sharing again. Throughout my life, that's all I ever had to do: share my rooms with my siblings and everything else I owned. Except for the time in Narnia, we obviously had our own rooms, but in the real world it wasn't all that great. I was hoping that when coming to the States I would finally get something of my own, but apparently luck wasn't on my side as always. Right now, though, I didn't really care if I had to share a room with everyone in this house, I just wanted to fall onto a bed and finally get the heavy burden of the move off my shoulders with a long night's sleep.

"I think the younger ones could share," offered Peter. Edmund looked at him with such annoyance and fury in his eyes that Peter quickly took his words back. "I mean, you don't all have to share. And it's not like we're going to make you sleep with the girls Edmund."

That put Edmund's mind to rest and he backed away, but he was still watching Peter skeptically.

"How many rooms are there?" Peter asked Charlie.

"Four for you and one for me" was his short answer. He shrugged and went into one of the rooms. Oh nice, I thought. He just leaves us at our most important decision of the day.

I looked at the door of the open room in which Charlie had just entered, and wondered what was in it. A second later, his semi-bald head peeped out of the corner.

"This is the biggest room here," he said. "Maybe you two could share." When he said that he pointed at Lucy and Susan. I looked at them sympathetically, but I also didn't want to be too nice. As pleasant as I was, I didn't want to end up in their place. Lucy didn't look like she cared much; her eyelids still drooped. Susan did not look excited, but didn't look like she minded it anyway.

Without a word, Charlie took their bags and carried them into the open room. Susan sighed and taking Lucy's hand gently pushed her in. There was a creak of a bed, a sigh, and Charlie came out and shut the door behind him.

"And you three get your own rooms," he said under his breath, as if talking to himself. "You will all be next to each other. The sound doesn't travel much in this house so it really doesn't matter. Pick one for yourself, but please don't fight." He snickered and left us, running down the stairs with a quick "good night."

"Well," said Peter taking a deep breath. "I believe this room has the window coming out to the driveway, and the rest have a view of probably the back-yard and the forest." He looked at Edmund than at me. "Who wants the driveway?"

I looked at Edmund who looked like he didn't particularly care if his window had a view of the driveway or the green forest. I really didn't either, but it looked like Peter was desperate to get the forest, and not the driveway, so I gave him what he wanted. Since he was a kid, he was fond of nature and its secrets. He used to always run around in the forest by out previous house exploring it and bringing back home random creatures that he found.

"I'll have the road," I said. Peter smiled hugely, and taking his suitcase went into one of the south rooms. Edmund followed his example and trotted over to the room next to his brother's. I looked at the one empty room left, and taking a deep breath took my light bag and slowly slid into the room. I gently shut the heavy wooden door behind me, and looked around my new chamber. It was light, but not so big, which I didn't like. I got used to the big rooms in the professor's house, and didn't feel particularly comfortable in the cramped space. It was all right though, and I could live with it. Probably would grow used to this room anyway.

I set my bag on the floor besides the bed and plopped down on it. It wasn't as soft and cozy as my previous one, but compared to what I expected and taking into account my tiredness, it was heaven. I took one more look around the room, noticing an old computer on a small wooden desk, a closet in the wall, and an average sized window to the left of the bed. With a sigh I kicked off my shoes and without even bothering to take of my clothes, I lied down and sank into a long, dreamless sleep.


Darkness. All around me: a dark and soundless space. I tried opening me eyes, didn't help much. I blinked, still not helping. I tried to sit up and look around. Reality check number 1: I was not in the professor's house and not my familiar bed. Reality check number 2: I was in a dimly lit, small room, which was slightly familiar. I looked to my left automatically to check the time. The clock was there, and it showed 7:40 in glowing, red numbers; odd. My clock had a green light. I looked in front of me, and saw a heavy, wooden door; even odder. I slid my feet off the bed and felt a rough, wooden floor beneath my feet. Slowly, I started walking towards the door, my mind in a haze. I felt hot and really light, a feeling someone gets before they pass out. When I reached the door I stuck out my hand in front of me, grabbing the doorknob and turning it. Slowly and gingerly I creaked the heavy peace of wood open and peeked outside. I shrieked and jumped back a foot or two from it. In the crack that I just made was a skinny freckled face staring at me with huge, brown eyes.

Suddenly a familiar laugh pierced through the air around me.

"Are you…still…so tired and… out of it?!" Edmund asked between laughing attacks. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves as everything came back to me.

"I guess my mind is a little hazed right now," I admitted. I took another deep breath and walked towards the door and opened it as wide as it would go. The hallway where we were all standing yesterday was there, and right in front of me was Edmund who was curled up in a ball from laughing.

"Not that funny," I muttered, but that only started him up again. I walked around my brother and came up to the bathroom door, or at least what I thought was it since the sounds of flowing water were coming from there. I knocked and heard the water flow ease.

"Yes?" came Susan's voice, much louder and more clear than the day before.

"Hurry up, 'ay?" I shouted, since she started up the water again.

"In a minute," she yelled back. and I went back into my room. I looked around and finally realized why it was so dark when I woke up. The blinds on the window were closed, and none of the lights were on. I went over to my bag and got out the first pair of jeans I could find, and a light blue long-sleeved shirt. I found my bag of toiletries and with that, walked out into the hall again.

"You're the last one," said Susan walking out of the bathroom. "Lucy, Peter, and Edmund are down stairs, eating breakfast. That nice man is going to work a little late today, since it's our first day." I nodded in response and went into the hot and humid bathroom. I took a quick shower, dried up, put on my clothes, and decided to let my hair air-dry. Rubbing it with the towel, I brushed it and went into my room to get my bag. I only had one with me so I threw whatever stuff was useful for school I could find into it, and ran out the door and down the stairs. Being myself, I tripped on the last step, but thankfully, Peter was there to catch me in time.

"Careful there," he said with a smile. "Don't hurt yourself on your first day in town." I blushed, muttered a "thank you" and went to join the others. I picked up a bagel from the table and turned around to find Charlie leaning against the counter.

"So are Edmund and Lucy going on the bus?" I asked. "And Peter, Susan and I somehow fitting in the truck?" Charlie shrugged and went up closer to me.

"I would send the youngsters on the bus. Middle School and Elementary are joined together, so they won't have to take separate buses. As for you three, I think there is a seat in the middle, between the driver and the passenger, but if not, I can put a seat in the back, behind the front seats: there's room for a seat that's usually taken out of there for extra room for tools and other stuff." He looked at Susan and smiled. "Unless she wants to ride in the back of the truck, out with the air." Charlie chuckled and Susan scowled at him.

"No thank you," she said. "I'd rather squeeze in inside." She flicked her head back towards the table, her wet hair spraying everyone around her.

"Hay!" Lucy complained. "Now my shirt is all wet!" They broke out into a small argument while I, finishing up my bagel, went outside to take a look at the truck. Peter and Charlie followed after me.

"Peter can drive and you can sit in the passenger's seat," Charlie said, opening the door of the truck. He got inside and looked behind the seats. "See, there are the hooks for the seat, so I can have Billy bring the seats over and I'll put them in. It's no big deal, I'll get it done today."

"Where is Susan going to ride right now then," Peter asked.

"I'll drop her off, but just for this one day. Then you're on your own." He smiled and slowly set off towards the house door. I looked at Peter who was looking mysteriously out in the distance.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, curious. His face was only this mysterious and plain when he was thinking hard about something.

"This is all just really awkward and I think we're getting a little too comfortable in this place," he answered. I had to admit that he was right. I mean, we haven't even been to the school yet, and I was personally feeling like I've been here my whole life.

We went back inside where everyone was finishing up eating their breakfast and getting ready to leave. Edmund and Lucy went outside to wait for the bus, and Charlie went with Susan to drop her off. Peter and I got our bags and walked out to the truck once more. I opened the door and slid into the familiar seat; I realized I have sat here before already. Peter turned the key in the ignition and the truck started up with a loud roar, which made me jump. Peter hesitated a moment and then put the truck in reverse and backed out of the driveway. I waved to Edmund and Lucy as we went past them and then just sat looking out on to the road.

"Do you even know where the school is?" I asked Peter.

"We're all good," was his short response. I guessed he was still in deep thought which meant the best for me was to shut up. After about ten minutes, we pulled into a parking lot full of outdated cars and high school kids sitting or walking; talking to each other. I said all of the cars were outdated, but that was a lie. Something shiny caught my eye and I turned my head to see a silver Volvo with tinted windows standing out in the mid of all the others. It didn't look at all outdated, and neither were the owners, or what I guessed shout be them. Five teenagers were standing around the car: a couple on one side, a couple on the other, and one person on the hood. Their skin against the car looked sheet-white compared to the silver color of the Volvo. They looked like models, no, gods. Perfect face features, perfect posture, and everything else about them was absolutely perfect.

"Are you coming out or staying here all day?" Peter's voice knocked me out of my daydream and back to reality. I nodded and pushed open the door, hopping out with my bag on my shoulder. Everyone around stopped talking and looked at us with amazement. They looked like this is one of the most exciting things they have ever seen, which was probably true since nothing that exciting could happen in this little town. I noticed Susan walking slowly towards Peter and I. When she reached us, I took a deep breath and started walking towards the building with Peter on one of my sides and Susan on the other. As we walked past the silver Volvo and I saw five sets of perfect eyes look after us. There was something strange about their eyes though. They looked more like a color that a cat or another animal would have, definitely not a human. They were all a different shade of a dark color that looked like it leaked out of their irises and made a purple bruise underneath their eyes, something like one would get after a long, sleep-less night. Weird thing number one in this wretched, damp, green hole

I have been to many different schools and moved a lot so I knew that the first day at Forks High wouldn't be at all that pleasant. "Aslan is with us" was what Lucy repeatedly said while we were on the plane, and I really hopped that she was right. It was a small school with a small amount of people, which made it worse. This meant everyone would know that there are new people coming and everyone would be curious and – I didn't want to think about what these students would be like. We were a topic of gossip, that was enough.

We walked in to the small, warm building. A woman was sitting behind a little desk in the office. She looked typical, one of those chubby, short women with little beady eyes and glasses on the tip of her nose. She looked up when she heard the door open and us step in. The corner of her eyes wrinkled when as smiled widely at us.

"Can I help you?" her voice was loud and piercing in the little space.

"We're the Pevensies," Peter said. "We just came yesterday from England," he added when he saw the misunderstanding in the woman's eyes.

"Of course!" she finally said after a long pause. Her smile instantly faded away when she looked back at her desk and started rummaging through the files. After a couple of minutes of flipping she took three sheets of paper out of a folder and handed them to Peter.

"These are your schedules and there's a map of the school on the back." Her smile came back to her chubby face when she handed us three little slips. "These are for your teachers to sign and have them brought back to me by the end of the day, k?" Her smile got even wider which made her eyes look like they were closed shut. Peter nodded and turned, followed by Susan and I out the door.

"I guess the people seem nice here," he said when we were in the hallway. It was already packed with students chatting and standing at their lockers, getting ready for class.

Susan looked around and then dropped her gaze down on her sheet. "That's only one though, out of a couple thousand. Do we all have lunch the same period?" she asked and looked back up at us. I looked over her shoulder and nodded. "Okay, well see you then," she said and walked away into the junior hall. I stared after her for a while and then giving one final glance toward Peter, walked off to my first class hoping that I wold have a little more luck in the next hours.


AN: Well that took a while. I guess I have to get used to my new schedule with the story and hurry up with writing the next chapter, but we'll see how it goes. There were some problems with the computer so its not just my fault. Also, I did by accident upload the unfinished version a while ago, but then deleted it so if you got a notification and got mad because it won't show up, that was my fault. Anyway, don't get discouraged with this chapter, its just some stuff I couldn't skip so.. Review if you want more!