Chapter Three

Encounter with a Monster

No.

It can't be. It's not supposed to be like this. I wasn't ever meant to see him. Well not like this. Not this close. Not this near to him. The proximity already had my mind retracting on all that it had achieved. The strength within myself that I had thought could boast such grandeur was beginning to fade, to weaken, becoming nothing more then the water. Light and impossible to hold as it falls out of my hands and flows away with the current of the river.

But why? I can push back these emotions, hide them once more in some distant part of me and disconnect myself from them entirely. They were broken bones with nothing to be made from them, not even a proper skeleton. They should remain buried in the sand, within the earth. As a secret. A secret never spoken of.

But they wouldn't, they didn't, they don't.

I have those few seconds of thought before my head tilts upward to see one of my hearts most wanted desires. The very being for which a very good part of a year my heart beat for, breathed for. Jacob Black. He stands in all of his glory. His beauty so remarkable only nature could ever try to compete. And as soon as my eyes see his face and his own deep dark orbs, hope begins to fiddle with my mind and my heart.

The possibilities of a future, the fantasies I had once created begin to soar within my mind. Instantly resurfacing and concreting themselves as if they had never left and were always there and everything had just been forgiven and forgotten. Why question the past when the future could be so impossibly bright?

"Jacob" His name comes out a second time but with more expiration. As if this time it was more in awe and wonderment. Almost like a realisation of everything which could occur. Jacob could be mine. My Jacob. This was an opportunity, a moment to finally forge the relationship I had been yearning for, for so long. When else would I get such good fate, to be alone with Jacob, in a forest. Just to talk, just to feel, just to realise. Hope was making me reach for the skies, reach for my highest desire. It was hope that was making me believe that this could be an untouchable truth. It was all just hope.

I stand up but due to my abandonment of the conscious world and my fall into the somersaulting and slightly chaotic realm of my thoughts, I fail to realise something quite peculiar. Until slightly later that with another jerk of my head, my eyes draw away from my fantasies and thoughts and now to the actual physical realm. For Jacob is dressed in only a pair of shorts, naked for the rest and if my hands hidden within the confines of my pocket were any indication of the weather, then the chilly wind and dark grey clouds were otherwise. And Jacob had been entirely silent in these moments of thought as if he himself was also thinking. Could it be possible that he was thinking of me? Of us?

We stare at each other, both in silence until Jacob's pink and full lips move but nothing comes out. Well to me nothing comes out until I realise.

"Sorry what?" I ask, cursing myself for being distracted by Jacob's godly body feature.

He looks at me with slight annoyance.

"I asked what are you doing here?" he says, his voice close to a shout. His eyes stare into mine, slightly winced and cold and even with the distance of the river it still makes me suddenly look down, becoming redder by the second.

"Um…I always like to take walks in the wood" I curse my tone as soon as the words come out. It sounded childish and high as if I was making an excuse after being accused for something by an adult. I had more security than this and didn't want to be intimidated by Jacob like that. But I was because I want to please him.

"Well, you shouldn't go this far. You shouldn't be here, you have to leave now"

I look back up to him his position is still the same. His back straight, his hands by his side, his head held high, certainly a stoic statue but his face is in a frown and was there slight concern in his voice?Or was it more as if he was just telling me off? For the entire part of this conversing between us, my mind had succumb to the fluffy and oblivious clouds of desire and love but in a sudden second, what was left from my healing takes a bold step.

"Well, what are you doing here?" I say to him with a scowl on my face and a certain tone which held a distinct sense of rebellion. Rebellion against what though? I may have been or still am besotted with Jacob but he definitely wasn't my parents or anyone in that case who could tell me what to do and give me orders. He wasn't a higher authoritative figure in my life so I guess I was rebelling against the power that I had given to him. The power, that I in my lost cause of love had handed over to Jacob Black with little fuss. Now a part of me wanted to be so undeniably devoted but another part wanted to be bolder and stronger.

Jacob crosses his arms against his bare chest in response to my question and his frown deepens. His silent, his lips purse as if troubling searching for an answer and annoyed at me for giving him such a question. But it was my right to.

"Well?" I ask mockingly my palms turned out in a questioning stance and my shoulders held to my neck to give such an impression.

He slowly unfolds his arms and my shoulders droop and my posture tenses as my eyes are drawn to his muscular and defined chest. I gawp at him in a sensual gaze until suddenly in the seconds of a shifting wind Jacob runs and leaps from his position on the opposite side of the bank to land right in front of me. His hand grips my wrist tightly and he pulls it up. His strength is bewildering if slightly sexy but I'm amazed at how his hands are big enough to cover my wrist and overlap. If his chest had left me in an oblivious gaze his sudden proximity and touch had me flailing as if any second I could just fall to the ground or maybe into his arms.

I can't look up or else I would make contact with his eyes and I know then all my resolve will disappear, anything that I had built from my healing, my strength, my boldness and my security and independence would just become impeccably nothing. But I want to. I so badly want to look into those dark brown orbs. If I just tilt my head a little bit. But it's too late my head moves a little up and my eyes make contact with his and I feel myself fall entirely into his being, into his everything. Iwant to be his everything.

"It doesn't matter what I'm doing here. I told you, you have to leave this forest now and don't ever think about walking around here again!" His eyes are dark and his voice deep with authority. I feel the notes of his voice tangle their web around me, around my mind luring me into their control, into their order where I would be easily persuaded and dictated by them.

He still holds to my wrist and his face is bare in a scowl. Why do I look so lovingly at him but he just looks down at me with annoyance and anger? Clearly he didn't want to spend his time telling me off and ordering me around. With that I struggle against his hold on me, thrashing around, realising two arms are better then one and raising my left arm to push my hand against him. But he wouldn't budge. I push against the middle of his chest but all I feel is his hard muscle, must as well be made of stone. He snickers at my attempt.

"Let me go!" I yelp and thrash once more.

He loosens his grip and I fall out of it, staggering backwards from my chaotic dance of a trapped animal pursuing freedom. I feel angered at the mere fact he probably enjoyed weakening me. Something he had done, even if unknowingly, many times before. I rub my hard soothingly over the red hand mark his strength had painted on me. I look up to him, seething. If there was any emotion that could compete with love it had to be anger, it certainly had the same level of intensity. But my face softens as I look upon him. His statue pose from before is now gone, his shoulders have slumped and his looking down as his feet.

"I'm sorry about that" he says referring to the hand mark and the fact that he had hurt me. I realise that he is ashamed of himself and feel my heart flutter in a overwhelming warmth. I step closer to him as if to offer comfort. Did he care for me? Was it possible? It filled me with an elevating hope. My mind once again submerging itself into instant thoughts of opportunities. If Jacob cared then he might actually have the same feelings as I do for him.

"It's fine. It'll heal soon enough" I state rather meekly, overtaken by the change of emotion from Jacob and everything that was brewing within me.

He looks up at me and smiles thinly. It's enough to make me smile entirely before he in turn has a full smile on his face. I stifle a laugh.

"I'm sorry but when did you get super human strength and was able to leap over rivers"

How had I not taken in the complete strangeness of the situation? Was I so taken by Jacob that I was oblivious to the fact that he must be freezing and he had become more athletically keen then I had known?"No but seriously if you're cold I can give you my jumper, I have a long sleeve…"

"Na I'm fine, I'm just always warm, I don't really feel the cold" He replies, shrugging off the cold as if it was as simple as that and still smiling at me. His voice had soften and it reminded me of the Jacob that upon a rare occasion would talk to me. I shrug in reply to him and then open my mouth to say something but can't find the words.

I gape for a moment before finally. "I guess I better go then like you said" I say smiling meekly and turning around to leave but stop at the sound of his voice.

"Yeah, it's just…" he takes a step forward but then stops, looking down by his side as if lost for words.

"It's just what?" I ask my head turned over my shoulder to look at him.

He waddles his arms around as if such an action could somehow retrieve what his trying to say. Why was he struggling?

"It's just that it's dangerous out here, there are bears and wolves…"

"There hasn't been a sighting for years" I interrupt him.

"Yeah true" he looks up at me with something that I understand but not sure if I'm imagining it or not. "But you don't know for sure, just please don't go into the forest anymore" Was Jacob Black pleading? Pleading at me.

I feel that warmth again spreading through my body, soothing any of my past pains. He does care, I'm sure of it.

"Don't worry I wont" I reply assuredly but softly.

With that I turn completely and make my way back.

"And sorry again about before" he shouts from a distance away.

I turn around again too look at his smaller figure, from downhill. I stop for a second to think about what I'm going to say. My encounter with him has changed a lot within me. Resurfaced things from the past which weren't all entirely terrible. Maybe forgiveness was the key if I wanted to pursue the future. Closure with the past to move forward. Giving Jacob a chance again to form something that truly was only in my dreams. Or else I could try to hurt him, make him feel a little pain, I had an opportunity to do so. But how would I feel about it later? Would I feel reinvigorated with my strength or would I just feel full of spite for him and for myself.

"Don't apologise you're already forgiven" I call back before giving him a wave.

I see him waving back before turning around for a final time and beginning my walk home. My heart and mind have been swallowed in an undeniably needed warmth. My fingers are tingling with something that must be the magic of emotions and I'm smiling from ear to ear. My thoughts race over everything that has occurred. Playing out the events once more in my head and scrutinising everything that happened. Every word and every action from Jacob and myself and what it all meant. The way he had smiled, the way he had acted around me, what his eyes had shown and the very way he had responded to me. I wasn't sure about it before, I had given myself hope with it, but now I truly did believe something was in fact truth. It meant a lot to me, for someone who had been dreaming of such a day, imaging such a thing happening, in different circumstances of course but none the matter it had still happening.

He had shown something. Jacob Black had shown that he does in fact care for me.

He cares for me.

The air had become stagnant. I fumble around bringing my hand to my mouth and ears, covering them as to not breathe in or smell the pungent scent of decaying flesh. Where had it come from? I had stumbled upon my fare share of dead creatures. Decaying dead creatures. Usually those my forever-hunting pet cat, Shadow, brought back to the house but this, this was something worst. This wasn't some small reptile or bird or even rodent this was something far bigger, so much so in fact that it had consumed a large part of the forest in its terrible stench. I fumble forward my eyes becoming watery from the scent. When will I get out of this stench? The clouds above have darkened to the brink of twilight and the once dreamy sightings of the majestic forest canopies are now looking more terrifying then so. Their leaves no longer provide shade and an environment of life and pleasantry but now instead block most of the light which could enter the forest, cloaking it in a murky darkness, not quite complete blackness but not light enough to able to see clearly. My irregular movement inevitably cause me to catch to a large root and stumble to the forest floor my hands retracting from my nose and mouth and pushing forward to soften the fall. As soon as my skin makes contact with the floor I feel its coldness. As if it was entirely frozen, like winter had come early but hidden itself entirely, leaving only an iciness in the earth. My hands also make contact with the moss and forest moulds, the slimy and fleshy creatures of the earth's floor coating my skin in their uncomfortable texture. I swiftly wipe my hands to my pants, managing to remove as much of the moss and mould as possible. And in those seconds I fail to realise the sudden fog which has fallen upon me. I stare up to see myself surrounded by the oddest thing ever. It looks like fog but it doesn't feel like. As if the water particles were made of stone, the fog feels heavy, when it covers you it almost feels like weights upon your bones. I struggle to stand up, the fog, like gravity pushing me down but I manage to get to my knees and begin crawling to get away from the burdensome mist.

"Of all days it had to be today" I mumble to myself.

I continue to crawl until suddenly I find myself having to cover my nostrils and mouth entirely. The stench from before has worsen and I find myself once more stumbling to the ground this time in a fit of coughs as the stench has infected my lunges. What could it be? I put half of my head inside my jumper and use it to breathe through as I continue to crawl forward. Now curious to find the cause of the stench.

Before, I conclude, my mind must have been to busy trying to get away from the fog to question but now as I continued to crawl I realise with a startle and a frozen stance, the queerness of what was happening. A fog, heavy enough to push a human down? A stench that burnt the throat? The latter was conceivable but the former has me quizzically looking down at the ground, searching for a possible and reasonable conclusion. But nothing comes to mind. I shrug with indifference figuring I'll think about it later when I'm out of this predicament.

The fog begins to settle and I feel my heart soar with a sudden strength. I am close to getting out, I am close to home. But fear soon clutches me in its haunting grip. My heart beat slows and my breathing becomes heavy when I see a dark bulging figure in a patch where the fog was clearing. I couldn't make out what it is but it looked huge and unsettling. My head is telling me to go, to leave, to get away from that place as quick as possible but my eyes are already drawn, drawn to see what lay in that clearing. And they wouldn't stop pushing me forward, searching and discovering until I knew what it is. With the clearing fog I fumble to my feet and in a sense sway to the clearing, my body acting strangely and differently in this haunting and eery place.

Arriving to the patch, my mouth falls open, my arms become numb and I feel stupefied. My stomach becomes nauseous and I quickly grasp it and turn away to prevent myself from throwing up from the nightmarish sight I had discovered. Taking deep breathes and calming myself I decide the second time would not be as worst as the first. I turn around. It is.

Before me the remains of what must have been a wolf decaying in the slow and banal time of death. This wolf was no regular wolf though, not it must have been the size of the horse as although some of its flesh has decayed the skeleton still remains revealing its colossal size. I succumb to puzzlement and awe. Puzzled at how such a creature of such a size could exist and in awe of its size as well. It is as if I was looking at some extinct creature in a museum brought to life by some ancient bones. But this isn't a museum, this was in a forest close to home and this creature wasn't extinct until possibly a couple of weeks ago. I step back in fear my heart beat racing with the sudden intention to flee from this place. But my feet are frozen and once again I feel some weight pulling me down. A heavenly fatigue over takes me, something like the essence of sleep, the essence of a dream and I feel myself flailing to the ground with the slightest of cares.

"Seth…" a voice rings at to me and I raise my obliviously featured face to the sound. "Seth…"

I recognise the voice. It was a voice of a dream, so soft, so familiar so beautifully haunting. I'm drawn to it like nothing ever before and I find my limp body moving to the body of the decaying wolf. Is that where that sweet sound is coming from? Some chanting begins, a chorus of high and whimsical voices they enhance the circus that is occurring around me and in my head and I find myself swaying to the notes.

"Seth…" the voice calls from the mouth of the wolf. It's head remarkably had been untouched by decay and it had died with its teeth bare in a snarl but now it was almost as if it was smiling to me as it talked. "Seth" It says my name so sweetly so dreamily. "Come closer, Seth" Familiarity causes me to close to the wolf step by step. Why does it feel so familiar? I felt the power of nostalgia so overwhelming that I had to commit these actions just to feel closer to that memory I had cherished and never forgotten.

"Seth…give me your hands" the wolf says,

I raise my arms and put my hands on the side of the wolves head just below the ears. The fur was night black but so very soft. So cozy feeling and warm another reminder of familiarity and simply home. "Seth wont you play with me? I've been so alone until you found me"

"Sure I'll play with you" I reply without any thought.

"Really?" the wolf asks as if unsure but truthful knowing the answer.

"Of course" I reply once again without any thought to the consequence of my words.

"Your the best Seth! Open your mouth Seth! Open wide!"

I follow the orders of the thought with no questioning, with no openness to debate just going through with it. Although somewhere in my mind I did hear a voice screaming at me to run, to flee and to not to what it wants. But that was only a voice amongst a chorus of other voices.

"Good work Seth! Great!" the last word comes out in a sudden hollow drone of a voice. It was cold, dark and low but it was already too late. I couldn't close my mouth it was being kept open by some invisible force. My eyes widen in alarm as the mouth of the wolf opens unnaturally wide and a purple smog begins to slowly crawl out of it. The more fog comes out the more I begin to scream but its only silent. The fog becomes dense and soon enough I realise its not a fog but some sort of being, or creature I have no idea what it was but it was starting to shape. I see the arms before the face but then my eyes land upon it. The devil lived in the wolf. It looks like the demons of paintings hanged on the walls of gothic and ancient churches. Its horns are curved like those of mountain goats and its mouth had a multitude of teeth. Its skin is purple but blemished with bumps and its eyes are as dark as night but as deathly as the worst of nightmares. I feel any life begin to drain from me as I'm locked in the demons eyes and the state of dreaminess I was in before disappears in a flash and recognition and realisation falls upon me. That voice is the one in the nightmare, the one coming from the river, the one I had subsequently somehow been warned of. But it is too late.

The demons hands clench my jaw and prevail to widen it further. The hands are cold, so cold I feel as if they are gonna give me frostbite but the pain of being unnaturally changed is worst and I blacken out from it. Falling into the abyss of the unknown as I scream silence.

Thanks for the reviews, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Happy reading :)