Chapter 2- Somebody Save Me

XXX

Bella-

After the abrupt realization of my metal condition, I stepped out of my truck and headed toward the calculus building. The rest of the student population had arrived and class was due to begin. I was absolutely dreading the idea of talking to Jessica. She and I hadn't spoken since before they had left and I think that she, like many, was a little hurt by my anti-social behavior. Not that I could blame her, I hadn't spoken to any of my friends after my depression had began.

I walked into the classroom and headed toward the desk that I shared with Jessica. She was already there, talking animatedly to a neighboring student. They eventually ended their conversation, I took a deep breath and began, "Jess?" I asked, timidly.

"What? Are you talking to me, Bella?" she demanded, distainfully.

"Yes." I replied, innocently.

Her surprise betrayed her features for a moment, "Do you need help with Calculus or something?" she asked, in a sour tone.

"No." I shook my head for emphasis. "I actually wanted to know if you would...go to the movies with me tonight? I really need a girls night out." My voice sounded stiff and she looked at me with suspicion in her eyes.

"Why would you ask me?"

"You're the first person I think of when I need girl time." I answered, semi-truthfully...she had been the first person I had thought of that morning.

She seemed mollified by my answer, "Well,...I don't know."

"Do you have plans already?"

"No...I guess I can go with you. What do you want to see?"

"I'm not sure what's playing." I admitted. The rest of the class flew by as Jessica named off the movies that were showing in Port Angles.

"How about Dead End?" she asked, excitedly.

"What's that one about?"

"Zombies, it's supposed to be a really scary movie."

"Sounds perfect." I would much rather deal with zombies than watch a sappy romance.

"Okay. Do you want me to pick you up after school?"

"Sure." I replied, as the bell rang to end class. She smiled a tentative, friendly smile at me before turning to leave.

The rest of the school day passed by in a blur of lectures and classwork and before I knew it, I was walking in the parking lot toward my truck. I was zoned out in my own little world, planning for that night, when a sudden, overwhelming feeling of being watched washed over me.

I jerked my head around toward the closest group of students, none of them even glanced in my direction. I stared into the surrounding forest, straining my weak, human eyes to see something, anything that would raise such a suspicion in me. When I saw nothing, I hurried my pace toward my truck and jumped inside, the feeling still nagging at me. I pulled out of the lot much faster than usual and began my journey home.

The short drive was uneventful. I stepped inside the front hall and headed up to my room to exchange my backpack for my rarely used purse. I opened my closet to retrieve it and pointedly ignored the pile of rubbish hidden beneath the old clothes that I never wore. I forced my eyes to focus on my task and not stray toward the black garbage bag that held my present from that last birthday. They did not see the shape of the stereo where it strained against the black plastic; I didn't think of the bloody mess my finger nails had been when I'd finished clawing it out of the dashboard of my truck.

I suddenly heard Jessica's car horn outside, so I swiftly traded my wallet from my schoolbag to the purse. I hurried down the stairs, left a quick note for Charlie, and stepped out the door whilst arranging my features into a smile.

As soon as I stepped over the threshold, the earlier feeling returned tenfold. I seriously felt as though I was under the metaphorical microscope. Maybe it was Victoria, finally coming to avenge James' death. Or perhaps it was another nomad vampire that happened to smell my blood. Or was it something else? For a slight moment, I felt a little guilty for possibly placing Jessica in danger. I may have had a death wish but that didn't mean that I had to put other people in harms way.

My feet, however, disagreed with my brain and kept pushing me forward toward her car. I opened the door, "Thanks for coming with me tonight." I told her, as I sat down in the passenger seat.

"Sure. So, what brought this on?" she wondered, as she pulled out from my driveway.

"Brought what on?"

"Why did you suddenly decide to go out?"

I merely shrugged, "I just needed a change." I answered quietly.

We talked about the usual mundane subjects until we arrived at the Port Angles movie theater. The zombie movie that we were seeing was playing early, so Jessica suggested that we see the twilight showing and eat later. I was happy to concede; after all, I was getting what I wanted...Charlie off my back.

As the movie started, a young couple was walking along a beach discussing their mutual affection with gooey falseness. I decided that this was a good time to go and get some popcorn.

"Do you want any?" I asked Jessica, out of politeness.

"No, thanks." she replied, as we were shushed from behind.

I took my time at the concession stand, hoping that the romantic exposition would be over when I returned. As I stepped back inside the theater, I could hear horrified screams blaring from the speakers and knew that I had waited long enough.

"You missed everything! Almost everyone is a zombie now." Jessica whispered, as I took my seat beside her.

"Long line." I replied, with a shrug.

The rest of the film was comprised of zombie attacks and endless shrieking from the handful of people left alive. I had thought that there would be nothing about the movie that would disturb me. But I still felt uneasy and I wasn't entirely sure why. It wasn't until the very end, as I watched a haggard zombie chasing the heroine that I realized what the problem was. The scene kept cutting between the two and I realized exactly which one I resembled the most. I stood up.

"Where are you going? There's, like, two minutes left," Jessica hissed.

"Um...I need a drink." I muttered, as an excuse, racing out of room.

I sat down on a bench outside of the theater, breathing in the fresh air to calm my nerves, and tried very hard not to think of the irony of my situation. It was ironic that, in the end, I wound up being a zombie. It was depressing to realize that I wasn't the heroine anymore, that my story was over.

Jessica finally stepped out the door and found me. "Was the movie too scary for you?" she wondered.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I guess I'm just a coward."

We discussed my cowardice a little further before changing the subject to where we were going to eat and ended up walking toward a McDonald's at the end of the boulevard. We were walking on a short stretch of unlit sidewalk, the shops lining the street all locked up and dark, but across the street there was one open business.

The windows were covered from inside and there were neon signs, advertisements for different brands of beer, glowing in front of them. The largest sign, in brilliant green, read-'One-Eyed Pete's.' Jessica had abruptly quickened her pace and it wasn't until I looked more closely that I realized why. Lounging against the wall beside the front entrance, where four, seemingly drunken men.

Jessica's eyes were fixed on the path ahead and she moved briskly. She didn't look frightened-just wary, trying not to draw any unwanted attention to us. Her method was failing. The men stared hungrily in our direction and, as we walked further down the sidewalk, I noticed them taking steps forward to follow us. Talk about deja vu!

It was a different road, a different night, but the scene was still the same. 'And there won't be anyone here to save you this time.' my mind whispered. What was it that I had been nicknamed before? Oh, yes-'Danger Magnet.'

As we walked more briskly, the men began to quicken their pace behind us. I risked a glance back and saw that they were all smiling sadistic, little smiles.

"Jessica?" I heard myself say, it seemed as though I was having an out of body experience.

"Yes." she replied, quietly and quickly.

"We need to run."

"Bella, I've read that in this situation it's better to stay calm and keep a steady pace."

"Jess, I've actually been in this situation before...We. Need. To. Run." I emphasized every word.

She glanced sideways in my direction, "Okay." she said, as we both broke into a fast sprint. The clobbering footsteps behind us followed suit, quickly gaining on us. We were almost to the light when the footfalls behind us stopped suddenly. Neither Jessica nor I, took a chance to glance back and see who or what had halted them. Instead, we headed forward toward the reassurance of the well-lit restaurant.

XXX

Aro-

I had followed the girl, Isabella- as I subsequently discovered, to what I deduced was her school that morning. To my utter surprise, she had almost seen me stalking her from the tree line. Thankfully, I had been able to swiftly step backward into the shadows, away from sight. I had spent the remainder of her school day waiting in the forest for her to reappear.

When she stepped outside, she had appeared to be absorbed in her own mind and I silently itched to touch her skin. To see for myself the mire of her thoughts that seemed to be so very troubling to her. But then she had suddenly halted and glanced quickly around the lot, it was almost as if she knew she was being observed. Unknowingly to her, our eyes had met and, even at such a distance, I had been swept into the endless depths of her soulful, brown orbs.

The moment passed and she hurried to her old decrepit vehicle, jumping inside, simultaneously closing the door and starting the engine. I ran along behind her, following her back to her home. She jumped out of her carriage and disappeared inside. I was once again standing within the tree line, watching for her to appear again, when my cellular telephone began to vibrate in my suit pocket. I pulled out the device and answered, "Yes?"

"Master?" Jane's voice sounded on the other end.

After we had landed in Seattle, I had ordered the four of them-Jane, Alec, Demetri, and Felix- to stay behind. They had protested vehemently, stating that my safety could be compromised if I journeyed alone. But I had in the end gotten my freedom from them, as they could not disobey my decision. It was rather annoying to think that simply because I had not fought anyone outright in over a millennium that the guard thought me to be incapable of securing my well being, if the need arose.

"Yes, my dearest Jane? Is something amiss?"

"No, master, the four of us were merely worried, we had not heard from you."

"Worry not, my dear, I am perfectly fine." I replied. "I am simply trying to determine the best means to handling this delicate situation."

"Master, perhaps one of us could..."

I knew what she was thinking without having to touch her, "No, Jane, this girl will not be harmed!" I did not want to lose her potential power, that was all that I would admit to myself. Oh, if Caius could have heard me in that moment, I'm certain that he would have demanded her head on a silver platter or...blood in a goblet, however you wish to state it.

"Yes, master." the young vampire replied.

A horn suddenly cut through the air, interrupting our conversation and I glanced back toward Isabella's home. An automobile sat parked in her drive. "I am sorry, Jane, but I must go." I said, hurriedly, as I saw Isabella cross the threshold of her door. It was the first time that I had actually taken a moment to truly take notice of the girl.

She was tall, but not exceedingly so. Her dark brown hair hung in soft waves, cascading around her small shoulders and the fathomless, brown eyes that I had noticed earlier, nervously glanced about before finally settling upon her friends vehicle. Her body was surprisingly thin- almost sickly so- with pale skin stretched over seemingly nothing but bone and lightly colored, violet blemishes under her eyes, as if she did not sleep well very often. The bizarre effect was so very striking that I could have easily mistaken her for one of my own kind, had it not been for the heartbeat sounding steadily in my ears.

She opened the automobile's door, greeted her friend, and sat down inside. Soon after the vehicle sped off down the roadway, with myself following closely behind. As we neared civilization once again, I slowed my pace and allowed them to go further ahead of me. I did not want to appear anymore inhuman than necessary to anyone or anything that may have caught a glance. I found myself walking down the sidewalk toward Isabella's scent and soon after discovered that it led inside a moving picture theater. I had never been a fan of the spectacles so I resigned myself to wait outside, hidden in the shadows of an alley across the street.

Some time later, she stepped outside and sat herself on a bench. Her friend appeared shortly after and they began to trek down the block toward what I deduced was a restaurant at the end of the boulevard. They were approximately halfway down the sidewalk when they stepped into a darkened area of the street and, across from them sat, in all of its brazen glory, a barrel house.

It was, however, the quartet of drunken men standing beneath the neon sign that garnered my attention. They were openly staring across the way at Isabella and her friend, a hungry look in their eyes. 'This will not end well.' I thought to myself, as I took note them beginning to follow the young women.

I remained tucked into the shadows and followed closely behind. When I heard Isabella mutter the word 'run,' I took that as my opportunity. Both she and her friend broke into a sprint and their pursuers did the same. They were quickly gaining on the two of them, when I stepped out from my position, hoping that neither Isabella nor her friend would see me. My luck prevailed as I saw them run further down and into the well lit restaurant.

"You shouldn't have kept us from getting our prize." One of the men said, standing closely behind me. "Now the four of us will have to deal with you." he smiled what I suppose was meant to be an evil sort of smile that quickly faded as I smiled back, a growl ripping from my chest. The four of them were dead before they could truly grasp what was happening and there, in the dark, I drank my fill and disposed of their bodies.

Isabella and her friend eventually stepped out of the restaurant and circled in another direction to reach their transportation. I followed, of course, my scarlet eyes glowing anew with fresh blood. They finally arrived at Isabella's home and I watched as she stepped out of the car and turned to vanish inside. She spoke quietly to who I guessed was her father for a few moments and then proceeded up to her bedroom to ready herself for sleep. She glanced out the window one last time, putatively in my direction which once again surprised me, before turning off her lamp and climbing into bed.

I patiently waited until I heard her breathing quiet and her heart rate slow, before I vaulted up to her window, pushed it open, and stepped inside. It was a quaint little room, full of pictures and objects from, no doubt, her childhood and recent years of life. But the young woman, sleeping fitfully on the bed was the most intriguing subject in the room. I softly padded over and leaned down above her, slowly reaching out my fingers and lightly grazing her jaw. I waited for the onslaught of her memories and dreams to come, but I was met with nothing more than silence.

My gift did not work.

She mumbled in her sleep and then began to thrash about on her bed, in a way almost painful to observe. A piercing scream suddenly rang through the room and I jumped backward into the dark. I had thought for a panicked moment that she had awoken and seen me standing above her and had become frightened, but then I realized that she was still in the throes of a fitful sleep. She was having what humans called a nightmare. She screamed again and I listened as her father climbed out of bed. I vaulted toward the window and was back on the ground outside before he could even open his bedroom door. I waited until their conversation had ended and Isabella had fallen back into a slumber before I attempted to reenter.

When I did, I sat in an old rocking chair situated in the corner of her room and merely watched her sleep. It was an enticing thing, to watch someone slumber and wonder what it must feel like. I had not slept in thousands of years and my human life had almost completely faded into the depths of my ever expanding mind. I could not remember what it was like to be lost in the unfeeling grip of unconsciousness.

All too soon the sun began to rise and Isabella began to reawaken. I left her room in a quick procession, as I had in the night, and left her alone with the beginning of a new day.

XXX

Okay, so that was chapter two! I sincerely hope that you like it! I was honestly surprised with the amount of feedback that the first chapter received...I usually do a 'Thank you' section so I can thank all who responded in the various ways, but there was so many I suppose that I'll just have to say THANK YOU! to you all. Each and every one of you who reviewed, added this story to your favorites, and/or added this story to your alerts, your feedback means so much to me, thank you! Chapter 3 will hopefully be posted soon...