Chapter 4 – Forks
Devan's POV:
I got the chills when I saw the 'Forks' road sign. Déjà vu happened to me a lot considering my talent, but this was different somehow. The déjà vu continued as Silver and I got out of the yellow cab with the number 64 on the side. Silver always enjoyed when a vision came true, but it still freaked me out a little.
"Thank you, Sir. Have a nice trip back to Port Angeles," Silver waved the driver off. She turned to me and said, "What next?"
"Oh, you are asking me?"
"Sure…you are Madam Devan! You see all!" she giggled.
"I don't know. I am sort of hungry,"
"Me too! Let's eat!"
"There is a diner on that side of the street just a few blocks back," I told her. Her nose started to turn up at the mention of 'diner', but she agreed after looking around for herself and seeing that we wouldn't do much better.
The diner was very rustic. There were a lot of bearded men who looked like lumberjacks inside. The waitress was friendly. Silver lied and told her we were in town to visit family. I could see the next question from the waitress before she asked. I tensed up and hoped my sister's skill of thinking on her feet and lying would pay off here.
"Who are you visiting?"
"Bob," Silver said with her mouth full of burger.
"Bob?" the waitress asked, looking a bit confused.
"Ya. I forget the last name….silly me," Silver said with a dopey look and hit her head with her palm. The waitress smiled kindly at my sister and let it go.
"That was close," I breathed loudly when she was out of hearing range.
"Will you relax. I have it under control. There are so many Bob's we could be visiting anybody. No one will figure it out," she told me with confidence. I put down my fork and pushed my plate away.
"You not going to finish your burger?" she asked, eying it. I shook my head.
"Go for it,"
"If you are sure," she said. Then she took a bite. Her face went all squished up and she swallowed with discomfort, dropping the burger back in my plate with attitude.
"Not good?" I laughed at her screwed up facial expression.
"I forgot it was veggie. Nasty business! I don't know why you won't try the real thing. It is the circle of life…we are meant to eat meat!" she ranted. I had heard it before. Silver was not some meat hound, but she did enjoy the odd burger on occasion. She had tried to get me on board for years.
"I don't like it,"
"You don't know if you like it…you won't try it,"
"I know I don't like the idea of eating animal flesh!" I said with a bit too much volume. The bearded man on my right looked at me as he held a big meaty burger. I shied away and faced Silver who was about to burst into laughter.
"Don't you dare laugh!" I whispered forcefully at her. She looked like her face was going to pop, but she held it in.
*
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*
After we were done eating, Silver wanted to go to the school from my vision. It was like a fun game to her. A mystery and she was loving putting all the pieces together. I was more skeptical that we were on some wild goose chase and my stupid talent was just messing with us. What could a town like Forks have to do with the two of us? We didn't know anyone in the USA and we certainly didn't have a fondness for trees and moss! I bit my tongue and did what Silver wanted. I didn't have a better plan.
"Let me see it again,"
"Why?"
"Just give it to me!" she insisted. I rolled my eyes and gave her my sketchbook. She flipped to the page with the school on it. She held it up in the sky in front of us as we walked and then she pulled it down to reveal the actual building.
"Creepy, isn't it? How good you are!" she breathed into my ear. It was a statement not a question. I was a bit grumpy still from all the traveling and lack of sleep so I remained my cool composure, but a part of me did enjoy seeing the exact replica of my sketch standing across the street from us. Even the trees matched up. It was eerie.
"Well?"
"It is a bit creepy, isn't it?"
"Creepy, but soooo cool! You are the best!" she squealed and she hugged me tightly. I sighed and let a smile out. I was glad to have her optimism sometimes. It must be nice to be so cheerful even with the reality was we were all alone in the World. No family. No place to go! Silver maybe hadn't even thought of that. I didn't want to bring her down so I kept my thoughts to myself. She took me by the hand and ushered me across the road to the school parking lot.
Class must be in session because there was no one around. Silver thought it would be best to wait there for a bit. The sun was out and the warmth was nice on my face. We found a quiet spot on a bench in the courtyard to wait. It was out of sight from the classrooms so no one would see us loitering. I started to see a vision of a blonde boy with a red t-shirt talking to Silver. He was friendly and pointing in a direction. I couldn't quite make it all out. The vision ended. Silver was smiling widely at me. She shoved my sketchbook at me.
"Draw, please!"
"You are bossy,"
"Yes. Yes, I am," she nodded. I heaved a sigh and took the sketchbook. I quickly drew out the boy with blonde hair and Silver talking to him. I draw it all as one scene. I made sure he was pointing to the trees like I had seen. It took me about 7 minutes to complete the rough sketch. Silver was chewing gum and smacking in my ear as she hung over my shoulder to watch.
"You are getting so good. We should get you colored pencils so it would be even more real. That would be even better!"
"That would take too long,"
"Hey…my hair is a bit nicer than that," she critiqued. I ignored her and continued to detail the sketch. When I was done, she beamed and studied it. The bell rang and I jumped slightly. Teenagers started to pile out of the classrooms and walk about the yard. Silver stood up and stretched a bit. I gave her a questioning look.
"Just preparing myself to talk to the handsome boy!" she teased and smiled happily. I was about to say something cynical, but she squealed with joy and pointed.
"There he is! You wait here," she told me and snatched my sketchbook from my hand.
"Hey!" I blurted out. Then I realized I had drawn a book in her hand in my sketch. It was déjà vu again. The same scene. She went up to him and he offered if he could help her find something. She pointed to something in the sketchbook and then he graciously nodded and pointed to the forest and told her something. She came bouncing back to me.
"Very good…you forgot his book bag, but I won't dock you any points for that!"
"Gee, thanks," I mumbled sarcastically.
"He knows the house. He gave me directions," she explained. I was a bit flustered by the new info. I had not seen that one coming. Silver was always one step ahead. Which was ironic seeing as I was the one who could predict the future.
"The house is here in Forks?"
"Ya! Did you suspect otherwise?" she asked me with a serious expression. I didn't answer her. The truth was I had forgotten about the white house from my earlier vision.
"I guess it makes sense," I said to appease her. She smiled and nodded.
"Yep! Now, let us be on our way!"
*
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It was now 2 hours since we left Fork's High School. We were trekking through the forest on a gravel road. The air was damp and everything surrounding us was green. Even Silver, who was normally positive, was grimacing. I had tripped and fallen twice already and gotten my jeans wet and dirty. Silver's hair was falling out of its do and she was not enjoying her heeled boots anymore.
"What the hell, Silver?"
"I am just going by what the cute blonde boy told me. He said to find Boundary Rd and follow it until we got to a fork and then go to the left,"
"I see no fork!"
"Well, maybe we have not gotten to it yet….just keep walking,"
"I am tired. And wet. And it is going to be getting dark in a few hours," I complained.
"Keep the faith, sister," she said with a laugh.
"You are not helping," I replied coolly.
"Well, if you would like to look ahead and see where we will be in a few hours, that might help,"
"It doesn't work that way!" I raised my voice. She kept walking. I had no choice but to follow her. Going back would mean 2 more hours of hiking for sure. I was hoping we were almost at the house and by some miracle it would be like heaven and we would go inside, sit on a cloud, and drift off into a peaceful slumber, away from all this damp, green goo that covered everything.
"Snap out of it!" Silver's voice jarred me back to reality. I guess she had been trying to tell me something. She pointed to the road ahead. There was a fork in it.
"Finally!"
"This is great!" she exclaimed. I shot her a nasty look. She toned down and said, "At least we know were are not lost,"
And that was something to be thankful for. I am not one who likes to be one with nature. It is nice to look at and I can appreciate it but to sleep outdoors under the stars would be torturous to me. I think even through her perkiness, Silver would hate being out here for any length of time too.
Another while passed. It felt like days. Silver had given up on her hair and let it down. I gave her one of my hair elastics to pull it back. Much to her chagrin, she accepted. Just as I was about to start another bout of complaining Silver stopped and put her arm out to stop me. I crashed into it.
"Oh thank you!" I proclaimed as I saw what she was seeing. Through the trees was some white. It had to be the house. I started to walk again. She held on to me and stood her ground. I nearly fell backwards.
"What gives?"
"Well, I don't really know what we should do next," she told me. She was right. We couldn't just go walking into someone's home. What would we say? I was getting cold and impatient so I snapped at her, "Well…we can't stay out here…so make up your mind and let's get on with it!"
"Okay. Okay," she said, pulling me from the road into the soft-bedded forest beside it. My face told her I was not amused.
"We will just sneak up to get a closer look. That way we can see if someone if home,"
"Fine, but then we better go inside the house or at least use their phone to get back to town. I am freezing!"
"Okay, sounds good. Any more visions?"
"No!"
"Touchy!"
"Well, ya!"
"Come on then. And watch your step," she encouraged as she led the way through the dense forest. We were almost there. I could see a lot more of the house now through the trees. It was the right one for sure. I could tell by the shape of the windows and the fancy pillars that held some of it up. I was so busy deciphering the house that I didn't see the twisted root in front of me until I was on my hands and knees. Pain shot through my wrist. I clutched it close to me and held my breath.
"Oh crap! Are you all right?"
"No!" I barked at Silver.
"Well, can you move it?"
"I don't know!"
"Can you try?" she pressured me. She looked sincerely compassionate so I looked down at my arm. It wasn't so bad. I moved it slowly and wiggled my fingers. Everything seemed to work just fine.
"Oh good!" she sighed.
"Stupid tree branch!" I cursed. Silver helped me up and nodded, but her lips curled slightly at my place of blame. I was pretty accident-prone. This wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last time I would fall down.
"I wonder why you didn't see that coming?" she pondered. Her comment made me boil inside with anger.
"Yes, that would have been helpful!" I remarked, gritting me teeth.
"You'd still probably fall over it," she pointed out. I had no comeback. She was probably correct.
Once we got as close as we could to the house without being in sight we stopped. My wrist was still a bit sore, but I didn't complain. I was more concerned about being covered in forest gunk! My whole backside was soaked in brown and green sludge and it was making me shiver and my teeth chatter.
"Shhh," Silver hushed me. She was trying to get a closer look at the house.
"I c-c- can't help-p it, I am freezing. Let's just g-go and knock…say w-we are lost and ask to use th-th-their phone," I stuttered. She looked at me for a moment and then said, "Okay. It is a decent plan,"
I didn't wait for her to pull me this time. I just headed to the door. I had a quick sight of Mary Alice, our Great Aunt, again, but I pushed it aside and kept walking. Silver must have had a vision at the same time, because she had stopped and when I turned around to look at her she was giving me a very confused expression.
"W-what is it n-now?" I asked impatiently. She caught up to me right in front of the steps that led to the large, white double doors at the front of the huge house.
"Just a weird vision," she shook it off. I would have asked normally, but I could only think about getting warm.
As we walked up to the doors, I hesitated to knock for one second. Silver, ever the optimist, was not sure about this either. When I looked at her she gave me a shrug and whispered, "It is awfully quiet," and a shiver ran through me. "Maybe we should-" she started to say, but I had already banged my good fist twice on the large, wooden door. I dropped my hand and stepped back. Silver looked at me with her large, violet eyes and gulped. I knew how she felt. Double gulp!
Well, they made it to the house.....