So, I'm really happy right now! School is finally out! Summer here I come! Woo-hoo! Yipee! Onwards with the story! "Sometimes you just have to jump out the window and grow wings on the way down."
Everything was shrouded in darkness, warm darkness that cuddled me close and made me feel safe. I felt something near me, but not so near that I could touch it. A soft voice pierced my awareness, but I couldn't make out what the voice was saying. It made me feel secure, loved. I writhed with happiness.
Something cracked sharply as my foot made contact with it, or, was that even mine? I jolted forward, realizing that whatever had happened, something had been hurt. Sorrow coursed through me as I tried to remain still, so still. I didn't want to hurt anyone, especially my mommy. At least, that's what she kept calling herself.
There was a deeper voice that sometimes spoke to Mommy, but it scared me. It didn't want me. It called me mean things that made Mommy sad. It was here right now, so near me. I curled in on myself and felt a hand grasp my own. It was bigger than mine, but that didn't matter. There was someone else in here with me…
"Gah!" I panted as I blinked awake. The lights blinded me for a moment as I slowly realized I wasn't in my own bed. Beep. Beep. Beep. I lazily looked over to find a heart monitor beeping softly. Beep, beep. Beep, beep. The sound quickened as I focused on the needles, needles, sticking out of me. I hated needles so much. They were the stuff of my nightmares.
Without thinking, I ripped them out of my skin. Pain blossomed for a moment as blood began leaking down my arm. An alarm began going off overhead and a slew of nurses rushed in. They scolded me sternly and reinserted the needles. I whimpered softly as they did so. Needles. Sharp and pointy needles. Eh!
My irrational fears were intensified when I saw the tube sticking out of my left arm. Blood seemed to be coursing through it into my body. I shuddered and looked away. Oh my goodness. I was going to die in here.
"Anne! What have you done?" Laurent scolded me as he hurriedly walked in.
I looked down and mumbled, "I don't like needles."
"There, there, your mother is on her way. She got on the first plane back to Otis."
"What happened?"
"You passed out from a lack of blood. When you were little you were anemic. We'd thought you'd grown out of it, but, apparently you haven't. There was a severe iron deficiency in your bloodstream and your blood cell count was almost too low to sustain life. It's lucky I was able to get you to the hospital in time."
"Yes, you were very fortunate." I looked up to see a lovely woman enter the room. She was as gorgeous as that one Cullen girl with blonde hair. Wait, was she a Hale? I couldn't remember, but it wasn't that important, right? Her eyes were a honey color that seemed capable of dripping from her iris. She seemed so pure; I couldn't help but like her.
Laurent cleared his throat and said, "This is Dr. Denali."
"Oh, please just call me Tanya! I can have you discharged within the next hour. I'm prescribing you a bottle of iron pills. That should clear things up. Nurse?" she called out as she strode from the room. "Remove the tube from her arm and get her patched up, please."
A woman came in and hurriedly did as she asked. I felt relief flood through my veins as I stood up from the bed, gauze holding my blood firmly in place. It was where it was supposed to be and that was all I needed.
It felt strange, though. Something was definitely off. If I'd almost died from lack of blood, why were they discharging me so quickly? I hadn't been to the hospital before, but it seemed they'd be keeping me overnight for something as serious as that.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that my clothes were still on my body. In the movies they stuck those stupid backless gowns on you. I would've died of embarrassment if Laurie had seen my ducky undies. What, they were cute when I bought them! They were just not so cute when someone else was looking at them, that someone else being like my uncle.
"So, where are we heading?" I asked as went to the front desk.
"I'll get your meds and then we'll grab some ice cream."
"Ice cream?" I asked with excitement. You'd have thought he'd suggested the most precious item in this world. To me, the frozen sweetness was tantamount to the most expensive diamond ever carved from the earth.
"Yes, the biggest bowl I can-" he paused for a moment, listening intently to something. "Nurse, I need to check Anne Still-Heart out immediately. We have to be at a wedding in thirty minutes. The location is about forty minutes at the proper speed limit…"
The nurse blinked and quickly signed a form. Laurie signed it and whisked me to the elevator. "Laurie, what's going on?" I asked as he pushed the down button to the elevator roughly.
"Shh," he hissed. "C'mon you stupid piece of junk. Who invented these things? Stairs-"
He suddenly tugged me towards the stairs. "Laurie, we are on the sixth floor. Are we really walking down these blasted things?"
"Yes, now keep quiet. They might hear you!"
"Who?"
He didn't answer, but forced me down all twelve flights of stairs. There was one floor for every two flights. It was torture. I was not what you would call 'fit'. Plus, I'd just been checked out of the hospital after passing out from blood loss for Pete's sake. I was already feeling dizzy again.
I opened the final door and walked out. It was very clean and sterile with a help desk and little couches lining one wall. The exit was just in sight. "Phew," Laurie whispered and guided me towards the door.
I rammed right into a beautiful woman with caramel hair. Her golden eyes blinked at me in surprised confusion.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," I apologized quietly. A warm blush crept to my cheeks as I moved out of her way. She blinked and continued to stare at me. Laurie grabbed my arm and began to usher me away. Anger clouded her pretty eyes as she caught a good look at Laurent. I wondered what he'd done to her to make her look at him like that.
"Laurie, that woman was burning a hole in you."
"People do that often, butterfly. I've made some mistakes in my lifetime. I wasn't a good man."
"So, you're a good man now," I replied. "People need to see that you've changed and you're trying to start over."
"Grudges are hard to release, young one. Now, let us go get that ice cream!"
"Yay!" I screeched and fled for the car.
I was happily eating a 'family' tub of the Founder's Favorite ice cream from Coldstone, basking in the rays of clouds at one of the metal tables outside, when Mom showed up. She was frantic, checking me over once, twice, three times to make sure her baby was alright. When I had assured her I was fine and taken a big bite of chocolaty goodness to emphasize the point, she whirled on Laurie.
"Laurent!" her voice went an octave higher than I'd ever thought possible. Her eyes were coal black in this light and it made her look dangerous.
"Victoria…" Laurent's voice held a sort of warning. "Did you get any business done?"
"N- No," she whispered. "I was too worried about my baby girl dying from lack of blood! How could-" she stopped abruptly. Her body became lethal still and I knew something was going to happen.
"Laurie, I'm going to go inside," I smirked. He looked sort of terrified at the prospect.
"If I die, you get my all my worldly possessions," he whispered. I patted his back and went inside to watch the show.
I chose a seat right beside the front window. Mom and Laurie stood by a red car, moving in extravagantly fierce motions. I watched their lips intently as they moved faster than words could form. It was too fast for me to actually tell what they were saying. Darn.
"I haven't seen you around before," a soft, rugged voice said. I looked away from my family and towards the speaker. I had to redirect my gaze up, up, up just to meet his eyes. He was about six foot four, a good foot taller than I would ever be. His russet skin was tinged a light shade of pink. Being obviously as shy me, I couldn't stand to be mean to him.
Well, that was what I thought until the guy pulled out a chair and sat down across from me. He just had to sit at my table. I didn't like strangers and he, a stranger, was totally invading my table space. "I moved here just recently," I replied sort of testily.
"Is that your, um, parent out there?" he asked again.
I looked up, wondering why he didn't say parents, and realized that Mom had disappeared. Laurie looked a bit worn out as shook his head and walked away from view.
A dry laugh escaped my throat as I muttered, "No. That's my mom's friend. He's that person."
"So, you know him pretty well?" he inquired steadily.
"Yeah, sure," I said quite amiably. "Now will you leave, Mr.?"
"Mr.?" he sighed. "I'm Embry. I'd be careful around that guy. If you ever get in trouble, um," he blushed warmly again, "well, um, give me a call? Here's my number."
Before I could say a word he shoved a piece of paper towards me and stood up from his chair. I called after him, "You don't gotta worry about me, you know. Laurie wouldn't kill a fly let alone a person."
That earned a snort from him. I was about to say something I'd probably regret, but Embry had already left. I stared after him for a moment before I went up to the cashier and asked for a pen and napkin. Laurie and Mom would be back in their own time. They were probably hashing things out in a more private venue.
I smoothed out the napkin gently and began to draw Embry's rugged face. A young girl was reflected in his left eye and an elderly man was reflected in his right. The forest surrounded him, enveloping him like a second skin. It was almost like Embry belonged there. I knew I'd forget his name so I wrote it in flowing script at the base of the drawing.
As I was folding the picture up, Mom and Laurie came back from whatever hole they'd climbed in. The number lay on the table still, drawing me in yet warding me away. Before I could overthink it I pocketed the number and walked outside. The sun seemed to be trying to peek out of the clouds which meant we had to get home ASAP. Mom and Laurie both had skin disorders that made them very susceptible to sunlight. I'd personally never seen them out in it, and that's coming from the girl that has lived with them for sixteen years.
When we got home, Laurie went straight to his room. He was in a bad mood, mainly because Mom had ripped him a good one. He'd probably be calling on my services to mess with her much sooner than I'd anticipated. Not that I minded. There was virtually nothing I wouldn't do to grate on my mom's nerves.
"I got you and myself cell phones. It's not much, just a flip phone, but it has unlimited texting and calling. I thought that it'd be best just in case something happened to you and you needed me," Mom said while pulling out a little black device.
I screamed and thanked her profusely. This was a big leap in the right direction. I'd never thought I'd see the day when she actually held a phone. Maybe, maybe I could cajole her into getting me a laptop or television for my birthday. Maybe.
"I also brought you a big thing of Kool-Aid home. It's in the kitchen. You can take your iron tablet with that."
"About that… don't blame Laurie. It wasn't his fault. He loves me as much as you do. You know he would've never done something like that on purpose. Please, don't rag on him too hard."
Mom smiled softly, but there was something strained about it. "I won't, darling. Don't you worry your pretty little head. I love you, sweetie."
I hugged her and laughed. "I love you, too, Mom. What's with all the lovey dovey crap?"
She hugged me back and whispered into my hair, "I was really worried about you today. I don't want anything to happen to you. You're all I have left."
"Oh, Mom," I smiled as I stepped away from her. "You have Laurie, too. And, don't worry. I ain't going anywhere."
"I'll hold you to that. Now go grab some Kool-Aid. It'll make me worry less if you have that and your iron tablet in you before you go to bed."
"Oh, silly mother. I'm a teenager. When's my bedtime? Twelve o'clock!"
"Nope. Tomorrow's Monday. It's eight o'clock on account of your near death experience today."
"Aw, c'mon Mom!" I whined.
"Nope, upstairs now. You just got a brand new phone today; do you want me to take it away already? That's right. March!"
With great reluctance I retreated upstairs. Mom had won the battle, but she had certainly not won the war.
So, new chappie. That was pretty quick on account of schoolsies being let out! Whoop! Whoop! Freedom! Until the fall at least….
