Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
The drive home was loud and rowdy as Jess squealed with excitement over the so-called sighting, but she had no idea.
"I told you!" she screamed at me with frightened delight that made me want to smile as well. Jess was a force of nature. She was bright and innocent in a way that I wasn't sure I had ever been.
"Jess, leave her alone," Mike quickly interjected as I tried not to roll my eyes at his soothing tone. Jess was the least of my worries now.
"Its fine." I assured Mike with a fake grin that seemed to appease him as Jess continued to ramble on in her excitement until we pulled up in front of my new so-called home. I hadn't wanted to live here, but it was better than whatever mom had planned for me.
No one spoke as we all looked at what was waiting for me. Every light in the house was on, causing it to shine bright against the darkness that surrounded it. It was like a beacon of mediocrity that called to me in a weird way since there was comfort in the silence I found there.
"You're dad must be waiting on you," Mike said slowly never taking his eyes off the place. It was clear he was more bothered by the lights than I was, but what he didn't understand was that, this was my father's way of welcoming me home. He knew I hated the darkness even though he never asked me why. It scared me since I knew what lingered in the shadows was sometimes far from good. It was his peculiar way of saying I love you.
"Yeah, I better go," I whispered as I opened the car door before Mike had a chance to come open it for me like the gentleman he was trying so hard to be.
"Wait!" he yelled after me as I tried to make my escape away from him and the night of chasing some local legend. Try as I might to leave him, I could not when I heard that desperation in his tone. It forced me to stop in my tracks and allow him to catch up with me.
"I'll walk you to the door," Mike announced in a shaky voice that caught me off guard even though it shouldn't have. Maybe it was nervousness. Maybe it was the tinge of want that surprised me. Maybe it was all in my head, just like my mother, to remind me.
Try to be normal, Isabella.
Her words ran on a constant loop in my mind as I struggled to smile at the boy. Normal teenage girls would be thrilled to have a boy interested in them. A normal girl liked attention. A normal girl was not something that I was.
"Sure," I mumbled causing the boy to smile. It was soft, sweet and shined bright with hope.
We walked in silence to the door while I felt Jess's eyes heavy upon us. They weighed me down, casing me to trip over the cracks in the pavement leading up to the porch. It was that unease that had Mike holding my hand. It was warm and gentle as he interlaced his fingers with mine.
"I was wondering, you know, if you would… If you would like to go out… Maybe the movies?" he asked in an awkward tone that made me cringe internally for the boy. He was interested, and I was only interested in doing my time in this place before leaving for college. I had one year to serve and nowhere in that time did high school romance ever come into play.
"I don't know, Mike." I trailed off slowly as I tried to think of a way to let this boy down without bruising his ego or heart.
"It's just a night, Bella," he replied as his confidence rallied over my indecision.
Try to be normal, Isabella.
"Let me think about it," I sighed while trying to keep the bitterness directed towards my absent mother out of my voice.
"Sure," he grinned brightly at me as if some battle had been won, but what he had failed to realize was that I was far from a prize.
"Sure," I mumbled as he squeezed the hand he was holding as if to reassure me before turning to leave me there at my door step. It was a sweet gesture, but one that failed to impress me like it should have.
I listened to his footsteps scuffle along the pavement with ease. There was a confidence in his step that made me smile since I had never lived like that.
Mike waited in the car, watching me as Jess continued to yell her good byes from the window while making promises to call tomorrow. It was easy to agree to phone calls or plans to get coffee at the diner. It was everything beyond simple acquaintances that I had failed at when it came to navigating the social scene. With one last wave good bye, I pulled out my new house key. The silver metal was cold in my hand as I struggled with the lock before finally giving up to knock on the door like a visitor so I could be let in.
Dad opened the door quickly with a casual look on his face, but I knew better. He had been waiting and listening to my good byes. He may have disagreed with mom that I needed help, but that didn't mean he trusted me.
"You didn't need to knock, Bee," he chided as he peered out the door to the car where Mike and Jess watched our exchange.
"I couldn't get the key to work," I mumbled, but he wasn't listening to me. He was too wrapped up in watching Mike Newton as he waited for me to enter my home safe and supposedly sound.
"Is that the Newton kid?' he asked as he jerked a thumb in their direction just as Mile pulled away from the curb slowly.
"Yeah," I shrugged as I by stepped him to enter the house.
"Him and Jess Stanley" I explained a little further as his eyes darted form the moving car back to me.
"He's a nice kid," he stated with a smile that was far from honest. I could see through him. He was treading softly. He wanted to know what I had thought of the boy, which only meant he had eavesdropped as Mike asked me out.
"Yeah, he is," I murmured, leaving him twisting in the wind over what I thought about the boy as I skipped up the steps to my new bedroom. He didn't need to know that I thought Mike was nice but bland. He was harmless and would be helpful in my case to prove that I was mentally stable even if mom didn't believe it.
Once in the silence of my room, I stripped for bed. I ignored the shadows that called my name, demanding to be listened to.
"You're not real," I whispered to them even though I knew it was a lie.
"And…I can't help you," I whispered a little louder as I tried to ease the flash of guilt I felt course through me as the spirit of an older woman dressed in a long nightgown whispered her ghost stories to me. It was always the same.
I need to find my family.
They need to know…
It never changed when it came to those spirits left behind. They wanted something. They needed to complete something or right a wrong in order to move on. It was tiresome and had cost me too much in the past, but this was a new start in a new town. I had something to prove even if it was as easy as trying to prove that I could be a normal seventeen-year old girl. Without another word, I grabbed the head phones that I had strategically placed by my bed for moments like this and placed them on my ears. I turned the sound up of the music on my iphone, drowning out the woman's demands for my attention as I closed my eyes, but no matter what I did I could not get the image of the boy who sat on the edge of the roof off my mind.
AN:
Thanks for reading!
Thanks to Tracy, Lou, Andi, Terry & Sarah for their inout and corrections. Love you all : )
I know this is a little early, but I will be super busy on Saturday so here it is now. I'll be posting teasers for ch 4 in reviews, my facebook page, & Fic Teaser Tuesday for those interested.
Xoxo
Mamasutra
