30 Days of Night

Notes: Okay, so I went to IMDB to write down the names of the supplementary characters from 30 Days of Night and discovered that Josh Hartnett's character actually is named Eben. Apparently, I can't hear the difference between b's and v's because I've been thinking his name was Evan this whole time. At any rate, I went ahead and fixed that for the sake of consistency.

Chapter Two: Barrow, Alaska:

Oh yeah, Barrow was going to be so much worse than Forks. I could tell already and I hadn't even landed yet. Of course, the fact that I had to take an airplane that only sat two people should have clued me in to just how horrible this experience would be. The whole flight was like riding a roller coaster. Every little current of air jostled us around. Clinging to a vampire's back while he ran through the woods wasn't nearly so terrifying as this airplane. I thought I was going to lose it a couple of times. I don't really have that strong of a stomach to begin with. Fortunately, God must have been smiling on me. Or the Bonine I took before I got on the plane was doing its job.

I had to admit that Alaska was beautiful from the air. I had seen practically the entire state during the course of the flight up to Barrow. Passing by the ocean, over valleys of green trees, into the dusty stretches of wilderness covered by thick bands of snow, I'd had plenty of time to think. Though I hated to acknowledge that Charlie was right, I was starting to feel a little better now that I was free of the oppressively green, lush environment of Washington state. I could breathe again. Even though I hadn't seen him in a while, I was looking forward to spending some time with Eben. I didn't know many of my cousins. Renee's family was small and none of them had been in Phoenix. My grandparents were all dead. Charlie's family lived mostly in Oregon and Washington, but as I'd stopped coming to Forks once I convinced him to start spending our two weeks in California, I hadn't seen them either.

Really, I didn't know many people at all, not even my own family. I probably should have felt lonely, but I never did. I liked being by myself, so did Charlie. I could understand why Eben would want to get away from Seattle and go someplace where no one would bother him. Why he had to pick one of the coldest places in the United States though I'd never understand. The plane suddenly dropped and I felt my stomach shoot up into my mouth. Glancing out of the window, I saw the tiny airport outside of Barrow. It was composed of two runways and a hanger. A larger plane was sitting on one of the runways. I could see a line of people waiting to get on it. They looked like ants from so high up. I snorted to myself as a thought struck me. I was the only person actually trying to get into Barrow. Everyone else was trying to get out.

I honestly thought I was going to die when the plane landed. But somehow the pilot kept it on the icy runway. We didn't flip over, which I had been envisioning since the first wheel hit the ground and seemed to slide out from underneath us. As I stepped out of the plane, my legs shaking and my stomach still twisted in a nervous, nauseous knot, my first thought was that Charlie was going to owe me so much more than space when I got home. I grabbed my bag out of the back of the plane and thanked the pilot. Then I started for the hanger. The hanger was partitioned into two spaces. The first was the large warehouse where the planes waited. The second was the office where the passengers waited. The whole building smelled like a mechanic's shop.

The only person in the waiting area was a blonde women a little taller than myself. She was sitting on one of the plastic chairs, absently watching the fuzzy television in the corner of the room. She was wearing a red parka with a fur trimmed hood. An official state badge was pinned onto her arm and she wore a walkie talkie on her hip. Her hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail. As soon as she saw me, she smiled and stood up. "Hey there," she said in a friendly voice. "You must be Bella."

"That's me," I said, awkwardly clinging to my bag as I stood in the waiting room trying to figure out whether to shake her hand or hug her. She made the choice for me and gave my shoulders a quick squeeze before pulling away.

"I'm Stella. Welcome to Barrow, top of the world. Eben would have come to pick you up himself, but the duties of a Sheriff never cease," she explained with an exaggerated sigh.

I rolled my eyes. "I know all about that," I said and she laughed.

"Do you need help with your bag?" She asked as we started to move toward the door.

"I got it," I replied, even though it was a bit heavier than I was accustomed to handling. I had thirty days of winter clothes stuffed into it.

"Eben's pretty excited that you're here," she said, opening the door for me. The only car I saw on the lot outside was a truck, so I started walking toward it. "You're sort of our only guest."

I raised my eyebrow and looked back at her. "Really?" I asked.

"I don't have any family," she explained, "and Eben's parents didn't particularly want to come all the way up here. So….," she trailed off.

"Charlie would have come," I jumped in, suddenly feeling terrible for them. "But like you said, the duties of a Sheriff never cease."

"Yeah, he explained it all to Eben on the phone," Stella replied.

I frowned. I wondered how much he had explained. I threw my bag in the back of the truck and slid into the passenger's side while Stella jumped into the driver's seat. Looking over at Stella, I sized her up. She seemed like a fairly straight forward person, so I risked asking her, even though I knew it would probably be embarrassing to us both. "How much exactly did he tell you?" I asked.

She chuckled as she shoved the key into the ignition. The truck roared to life. Looking over at me, she said, "Charlie told Eben you were having some trouble in Forks."

"Trouble?" I asked.

She nodded, threw the truck into reverse and started backing out. "He thought some time away might do you some good."

"Did he tell you why I was having trouble?" I asked, my arm snaking around my midsection again. Stella shifted again and the truck shot forward.

"He said you were dating some guy," Stella explained. Some guy. That was definitely something my Dad would say. "And he left. So now you're having a hard time with it." I sat in silence for a while, watching the snow pass by the window in a blur. It didn't look like there were any real roads here in Barrow. Just paths made in the snow that had been hardened and compacted by truck tires. I could only imagine how traumatizing it would be to try to drive something like a Toyota Corolla here. "Bella?" She asked, looking over at me.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I get it, you know," Stella said. I looked at her in confusion and she elaborated. "People leave, they break up with you. And most times it doesn't matter. Yeah, it hurts, but you get over it. Time heals everything. But sometimes, you meet a person that just becomes a part of you. And if that person leaves, well, it's like he's taking half of you with him. You can't get over it. Time doesn't heal it. It stays with you and you just have to endure it because that's the only thing you can do."

I looked over at her in shock. No one had understood what I was going through, not Charlie, not Renee, none of my friends at school. But here I was, half a world away from home, and I had met the one person who seemed to truly get it. "Yeah," I said, though the word sounded stupid in my ears. "That's about it."

"If Eben left me, I'd be the same way," Stella said quietly. She turned left and I wondered how she knew where she was going. There were no road signs anywhere.

"So the wedding's tomorrow, huh?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood for both of our sakes. The hole in my chest was starting to burn around the edges again.

"Last day of sunlight," she said, smiling. She must have seen the slightly horror-stricken look on my face because she laughed heartily. "I know, you outsiders just don't get why we're so into our thirty days of night."

"Don't you miss the sun?" I asked, honestly curious.

She shrugged. "I suppose I'm always a little grateful to see it rise again at the end of the month. But there's something really peaceful about the darkness. The schools are closed and most of the businesses shut down. Everyone just stays indoors. It's this whole month where you get to recharge your batteries and not worry about anything."

"That actually doesn't sound so bad," I said, surprised at how appealing she had made thirty days without sunlight sound.

We were starting to get close to town. Every once in a while, we'd pass a house or two. The houses started to get closer together and the tires finally hit an actual road. We were on Main Street, which consisted of about twenty buildings. Barrow had to be the most depressing looking town I'd ever seen. The buildings were all purely functional, drab siding, gray wood. A couple of the houses had Christmas lights still up to try to spread a more festive atmosphere, but the lights just looked out of place. The center of town seemed to consist of the Diner, the only restaurant I'd seen, and the police station, in front of which we parked.

"Here we are," Stella said. "Eben and I have a little house just outside of town, but he wanted me to bring you here first to get you acquainted with Barrow." She hopped out of the truck and I followed. "So," she continued, waving at the buildings. "This is Barrow."

"I guess I'm acquainted," I joked. "How many people live here?"

"Five hundred and sixty-three," she said.

My eyes bulged out of my head. "That's it?" I asked.

"That's it," she confirmed. "It drops down to about one hundred and fifty-two during the thirty days."

"Yeah," I said, "I saw a bunch of people getting on an airplane back at the airport."

She shrugged. "Not everyone can stand thirty days of darkness." She opened the station door for me and I stepped inside. The station was tiny, just four desks cluttered together in the center of the room, and two cells on the back wall. Some posters were hanging on the walls – Click It or Ticket and Friends Never Let Friends Drive Drunk. That last poster caused a new flash of pain to shoot through me. I honestly had no idea how I remained standing. An older woman was sitting at one of the desks, typing something on an ancient looking computer. I managed to pull myself together before she noticed. Stella must have seen the pain shoot across my face because she had laid a steadying hand on my back. "Helen," Stella said, walking up to her. "This is Eben's cousin Bella. She came in for the wedding."

"Ah," Helen said, looking up at me and smiling. "Good to meet you, dear."

"You too," I said.

"Where is Eben?" Stella asked.

"He and Billy are checking out a fire on the north ridge," Helen said. "He should be back soon."

"Okay," Stella replied. "We'll wait."

I had a feeling that I would be spending a lot of time in this station. While we waited, Stella and I played a few hands of rummy and talked. I hadn't really been expecting much when I came up here, but I found that I truly enjoyed Stella's company. She was relaxed, easy to talk with, and didn't seem to care that sometimes I would zone out for minutes on end, clutching my stomach. Finally, we heard voices approaching and Eben and Billy walked through the front door. I recognized Eben right away, even though I hadn't seen him in years. His dark hair was a little longer than I remembered, hanging down in his eyes when he brushed his hood off of his head. He was tall and he smiled the same crinkly-eyed smile that Charlie was known for when he saw Stella and me sitting at his desk.

"Bella," he said, moving over to us. "It's great to see you again. I'm so glad you could make it up here." I stood up and he pulled me into a tight hug. His jacket was freezing, but the human contact felt good. Snowflakes sat on his shoulders and I brushed them off.

"You couldn't have moved to Florida or something?" I mumbled playfully and he laughed.

"Way too crowded," he said. "Did you have a good flight?"

"Yeah," I shrugged, "for the most part."

"Bumpy, huh?" He asked.

I nodded sheepishly. "There may have been a couple times I thought we were actually going down."

He laughed a deep laugh and gave Stella a quick kiss. "I think the pilots do that just to freak out the tourists."

"What was with the fire on the north ridge?" Stella asked, diverting his attention for a moment. I took the opportunity to observe them. I finally noticed that the badge on Stella's jacket read "Fire Marshall" and I understood why the fire had captivated her attention. They stood close to each other, leaning toward each other as they spoke. I could see the warmth in Eben's eyes when he looked at her. The pain in my chest tripled, but I was happy for them. Just because I would never find that kind of love again didn't mean I had to begrudge it in other people.

"I don't know," he said, "someone stole a bunch of satellite phones and burned them."

"Satellite phones?" Stella asked. "Why would they burn them? I can understand stealing them to sell, but why destroy them?"

"Billy thought it might have been some kids playing a prank before the thirty days," Eben explained.

"But you don't think so?" Stella asked, reading the meaning between his words.

"Kids would've left a note. A fuck you to their parents, or the world, or whatever. I don't know," he sighed. "It doesn't matter," he brightened. "Soon as this day ends, we're off for the weekend and Billy'll just have to handle whatever comes up." Stella and Eben weren't taking their honeymoon right after the wedding. They were going to wait until after the thirty days and then fly to San Francisco. I frowned, wondering exactly where I was going to be staying on their wedding night.

As if reading my mind, Eben turned to me and said, "Why don't we take your stuff to our house. You'll be staying in our guest room for most of the time, but Helen was more than happy to take you in for our wedding night."

"Good," I said. "You guys are great and everything, but there are some things I really don't want to see."

They laughed and we went back out to Stella's truck. As we drove to their house, I watched the sun setting over the snowy ridge. Tomorrow would be the last time I saw the sunset in thirty days. I didn't know why, but my stomach dropped at the thought. I didn't care about not seeing the sun. I barely saw it in Forks anyway. But a slow dread was spreading through me. I tried to shake it away, I tried to think of something else. But I couldn't. For a brief, panicky moment, the thought occurred to me that I would never see the sun again.