Thank you: angelina32, mrslisablack, Dottyanne, SugaMiss, and Beaches of La Push.
Chapter 2
"If two wrongs don't make a right, try three." ~Laurence J. Peter
Bella
My mind felt scrambled, and I assumed that I was about to start steaming, if I hadn't already. I opened my eyes a crack- I wasn't sure why I had woken up until I saw Charlie standing next to my bed, one hand outstretched as he pulled it away from my forehead, "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." He said softly, and I shook my head slightly.
"It's alrigh'." My mouth felt as if I had been chewing cotton. I reached up to rub my eyes sleepily, "Wha' time is it?" My voice was clearer, but still obviously hoarse.
Charlie picked up the glass of water on my bedside table- I absently noted he had put a straw in it- and offered it to me, "I'm leaving for work in a little bit… I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're not going to school today."
I gave him my best glare, which was admittedly unimpressive given my position. Charlie raised an eyebrow and I sighed, giving up my offended façade, "Yeah… could you also call the Newtons? Tell them I have what Mike has, and that I can't make it in today. Tell them I'm sorry."
"Sure, no problem." Charlie assured me. I thanked him, or at least tried to, as I drifted back into unconsciousness.
It's interesting; how the mind works- some things fade over time, and are eventually forgotten. Adults have very few- if any- memories from when they are young children, the moments they do remember are often only of traumatic experiences. I remember nearly falling off the docks into the dark water when I was three or four, and hiding in the closet when the other children in ballet were picking on me because of my being so clumsy. My parent's last fight when Renee left Charlie is practically engraved into my brain, yet the little fights they had leading up to then are blurry- like looking through frosted glass in winter.
As we age though, our mind develops, and we are able to recall events with more clarity. And yet… the trauma stays with us. I can no longer remember what James exactly looked like- the colour of his hair or by how much he towered over me. Even the strangely melodic yet dangerous sound of his voice becomes harder to construct with each passing day. There will always be two things that I remember about James with complete clarity: the first is the deep bloody red of his eyes as he joyfully taunted me. The other, the burning pain of his poisonous venom as it slowly worked its way toward my heart. There are few things in this world that can even begin to compare to that agony. I suppose being burnt at the stake might be close- I plan to never find out.
I knew I was dreaming almost instantly- firstly, because I was standing at a fork in the road. Secondly, there was no way a wolf could be that large in real life, and lastly, said wolf was sitting precisely in the centre of the fork.
I stood there, staring at the obscenely large canine for a few minutes, trying to figure out what it wanted.
"Well, are you going to make a decision?" I blinked, as I knew I had heard a voice, yet the only other animate object present was the wolf.
"This has got to be the strangest dream I've had since the dancing shoes." Was all I said in return, unsure what choice he- the voice sounded male- wanted me to make, "Who are you?" I knew my insatiable curiosity was going to get me in trouble one day, but this was my mind- so what the hell.
The wolf stood, slowly stretching its extremely long limbs, "My name is Levi."
I nodded cautiously, raising an eyebrow, "Bella… but you probably already knew that, seeing as you're in my head." The wolf- Levi- gave me a cocky grin, if that was even possible, but stayed silent. I looked past him to peer down the two roads before me; the first may as well have been paved it was so smooth. The trees on either side were trimmed and the grass was completely even- as if not a single blade dared to grow out of line. It was perfect- too perfect, and I turned to the other road. Road, was giving it too much credit; it was wide for a few feet, but then seemed to instantaneously transform into a deer path. There were rocks and bumps covering the small bit of ground that showed, and the grass was as tall as me in some places, but it was beautiful. Flowers peppered the greenery, and the forest surrounding it seemed to be bursting with life. I looked back to the first road- it seemed dead, abandoned- as if no living creature would even try marring its perfection. I knew in that moment exactly what the wolf had wanted.
"You want me to choose a path." I stated, not bothering with a question.
"Obviously." Levi sounded snarky.
I looked at the roads again, "How do I know which one to pick?"
Levi's eyes glittered, "Follow your heart, no one can make this decision but you, Bella."
I snorted, shaking my head, "The last time I followed my heart, it ended up broken."
Levi nodded sagely, "Let me tell you a story my Grandfather told me, that his grandfather told him;
One time, a long time- back when all the animals were human beings-
Báyak, the Raven, went to visit Pát'sawol, the mole.
He took along his wife, Mrs Báyak.
When they got there, Mr and Mrs Mole prepared food for them.
They gave the visitors what is called camas, or kʷala.
Kʷala is like a small onion. It grows underground in prairies.
The reason Mole can get them is because he's an underground person,
He can go under the ground and dig up the kʷala.
So, Mr and Mrs Pát'sawol prepared the visitors a big dish of camas.
It's a favourite food of Báyak, because it's nice and sweet and soft,
and it's tender, very tender.
When they get through eating, Mr and Mrs Mole gave them a basket
full of kʷala to take home.
There was so much it would last them for three or four days.
While paddling down the river, Báyak got hungry again
and planned how to fool his wife, so he could eat all the kʷala himself.
Mrs Raven was paddling in the front of the canoe, with her back to Báyak.
He started shooting arrows,
Shooting arrows right past her head.
"Keep paddling! Keep paddling!" he shouted at his wife.
"The enemy is after us- there's lots of them after us!" he told Mrs Báyak.
"Don't turn your head around! Just keep paddling and head for shore!"
Raven kept shooting arrows past her, saying, "They're after us! Keep paddling!"
Finally, as they hit the shore, Báyak told his wife,
"You run for the bushes and hide. I'll stay right here."
And she did run and hide.
Old Raven hollered, "Don't you come back until I call you!"
Mrs Raven stayed hidden in the bush for a long time,
and Báyak started eating the kʷala.
Oh-h-h, he used both hands. He wanted to finish it in a hurry.
He got awfully full.
He ate so much camas he swelled up.
Then he jumped out of the canoe and started hopping around on the shore,
hopping around on the sand, to make tracks.
He wanted to make tracks like the enemy, like there had been a lot of enemies.
He did that to fool Mrs Báyak.
Hop around,
Hop around,
Here and there.
Finally, Báyak told his wife that it was safe to come out of the bushes.
"Whew! They left," he said.
When Mrs Báyak returned, she looked in the canoe.
She saw all of the kʷala was gone and got suspicious of her selfish husband.
She said, "My, those tracks look just like yours, old man."
Báyak said, "Ha-ha, you know nobody's tracks look like mine.
There's no comparison to my tracks.
Look at them. There was a lot of enemies.
They beat me up so my head aches. Even my stomach aches."
"Where did all the kʷala go?" She asked.
"They took everything," Báyak said.
"The enemies ate it all. There's nothing left.
I tried to do my best to keep them away, but they ate it all.
And finally they left."
So Mrs Raven had to go home hungry."
I blinked, and then blinked again, "Interesting story- and you tell it very well, but I have no clue what you mean by that."
Levi shook his head, looking amused- if a wolf could look amused, "It means that just because someone's protecting you, it doesn't mean they're saving you. Wood is not the only material masks can be made from, lies and deceit work just as well to conceal one's true face and intentions." He looked me in the eye, "What someone says is not always what they truly mean."
I thought over the words, "You really love speaking in riddles, don't you?" Receiving no response, I turned back to my choices; dead perfection or beautiful chaos… well, put that way, "It was obvious which one I was going to pick from the beginning, right?" Levi laughed, "Will I ever see you again?"
"I am here to advise you, I will be here whenever you need me." His tone was reassuring, and I took a small measure of comfort from it. I walked towards the path on the right. I reached out slightly as I passed Levi, brushing his surprisingly soft fur. I slowly stepped along the first few feet of my chosen path, "Bella," Levi called my attention back to him and I turned to look at him, "one last thing before you go; contact the Blacks before anyone, anyone, else. Do you understand?" I nodded cautiously, not quite understanding, despite my answer.
I returned my gaze to the path in front of me and took a deep before continuing in my stride. The grass was closing in on either side of me; I stumbled a little on the stones littering the trail. I reached a turn in the road and I took one last glance back at Levi, only to see a large, strangely familiar, man standing in his place.
Suddenly, I fell forward, going head-over-heels into a hole I hadn't seen. Darkness surrounded me on all sides. One last thing echoed in my mind, "Remember, no one but the Blacks." One moment I was freefalling, the next I hit the bottom, and my world exploded in pain. I didn't even get the chance to scream.
The theory goes that when a person dies in their dreams, they wake up- usually short of breath and scared out of their wits. Usually. Unfortunately, normal tends to run screaming from me.
I woke up feeling like I had been tenderized by a body builder, and then thrown in the broiler on extra crispy. Not a pleasant feeling. Over the years, due to my clumsiness, I had developed a realatively high threshold for pain. The feeling of being put across the rack, however, caused me to scream bloody murder. I silenced myself by biting my lip, the bitter taste of blood soon filled my mouth, and I realized I had bitten through the skin.
My door flew open, slamming into the wall as Charlie ran toward me. I was distantly surprised, knowing that he had stopped coming to check on me due to my nightmares after the Cullens had left. The baseball bat in his hand made me reconsider his stance, "Bells? Bella, what's wrong?!" His voice was expressing his fear and worry.
I let go of my lip to answer, "Every… everything hur… hurts!" I had to grit my teeth to keep from screaming.
Charlie practically leapt across the room to put his hand to my forehead, "Jesus, Bella! You're burning up!" I relished in the brief, cold touch.
He rushed out the door and returned almost immediately with a phone clutched in his hand in place of the bat, "Hold on, I'm calling for an ambulance!"
"No!" My body reacted before my mind could, "Call Billy!" Charlie looked at me incredulously, which I admittedly deserved in that moment, "Trus… Trust me! Plea… Please! Call Billy!" I pleaded with him, having to force my words through the pain.
Charlie huffed, then dialled one of the few numbers I knew by heart, "Billy- no, it's Charlie… yes, I realize what time it is… no, I don't care I woke you… Billy just shut up and listen!" Charlie was shouting into the handset at this point, "Bella's sick, I don't know what with, only that it's not the stomach flu. She woke up screaming in pain and sweating enough to soak the sheets… I was going to call the hospital… she demanded that I call you first… she said everything hurts… Billy, she bit through her lip." Another bout of pain took me, and I scrabbled at the sheets, tearing them. I could hear Charlie calling my name, but it was faint, obscured through the veil of my torture.
Jake
I shut the door behind me, looking up to see my father staring at the phone in his hand with a shocked expression, "What's up?" I asked. He jumped, surprised to see me, though I hadn't been quiet with my entrance. I could hear the dial tone.
My dad shook his head slightly, "Jake, get Sam over here now."
"Why?" What had happened? Confusion reigned my emotions, a short reprieve from the seemingly constant anger I now suffered.
"Jacob!" He yelled at me, "For once in your life just do as you're told!" I flinched, and then ran back out the door I had just closed. I jumped off the porch, feeling the pain and the anger of the phase rip through me as I rushed to fetch my alpha.
