Book Two: Seth
Pain and Suffering
A week passed after getting caught by Jacob when I was with Alex, and I had yet to see him. It wasn't until nearly two weeks later when he made his appearance.
I was approaching the back steps to my house whistling lowly as I dug in my jean pockets for my jeans. After a while, I cursed loudly realizing they must have fallen out of my pocket. Hesitantly, I glanced around the yard before searching the grass for my keys. I had been searching for at least ten minutes before the sound of footsteps caused me to lift my head.
"Hey, Jacob," I leapt up from the ground and brushed off my jeans pretending not to noticed the pissed off look he wore. My eyes were suddenly drawn from his face down to his hands were he was casually tossing my keys back and forth. "You found my keys!" I reached out to grab my keys startled when he hurled them out into the trees. "What the fuck, Jake!" I moved to go retrieve my keys when Jacob's hand grabbed me roughly by the shoulder and pushed me back in front of him.
"What the hell were you doing with Alex?" his question shocked me and I smiled deciding to fake ignorance.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
I quickly sidestepped him and dashed towards the direction of my keys. It didn't take long for Jacob to lunge after me yanking me back by the collar. My body lurched backwards and was suddenly propelled to the side by a blast of pain shooting up the side of my face. I clutched my head and let out a loud howl of pain just as his fist connected with my side sending me sprawling out on the ground.
Groaning, I sat up quick enough to get knocked by down by another quick blow to the head. It was somewhere around this time that Leah burst through the trees followed by Sam, Paul, and Embry. I momentarily felt a twinge of relief, but my moment ended quickly when Jacob pounced on me repeatedly punching me in the face.
I could have probably pushed him off me and made a break for the trees or possibly tried to fight back, but for some reason my body wouldn't respond. I felt as if I deserved this…
"Jacob," my sister's voice cried out in pain, and I could barely see her pound and claw at Jacob's back attempting to pull him off me. "Stop, Jake, please! I'm begging you!" tears poured out of her eyes causing me to lower my gaze back to Jacob's angry face. She didn't understand how I deserved this.
Somewhere in the background Sam was yelling at Embry to stay put and help control Paul and Jared who had somehow decided to try and pull Leah away from Jacob. My vision blurred slightly, and Jacob's hands found their way around my neck as he throttled my body.
"Seth has been messing with my imprint behind everyone's back, cheating on his girlfriend and stealing my one chance of happiness." I lay on the ground coiled up as Jacob yelled my crimes out to the whole pack and whoever seemed to witness my brutal trial. Whatever commotion that seemed to be going on the background suddenly ceased after hearing Jacob's words.
In a way, what Jacob announced was true. I had told the pack I had a girlfriend (Ashley Simmons) in order for them to stop pressuring me about being single. I had also made up lies about when I took Ashley out on "dates" to cover for when I went out with Alex. I guessed I had stole his one chance of happiness after what had happened with Bella and Edward, but was it wrong for me to want happiness for myself?
I had wanted Alex ever since we were children. I had known Alex better than Jacob; Jacob hadn't even looked at Alex until the imprint. Jacob stole my chance of happiness. At the Fourth of July party, I had finally gotten the guts to do what I wanted and the day after Jacob had to steal it all.
Angry tears poured down my face as these thoughts ran through my mind. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.
Sam gave Jacob a look of pity before motioning for him to continue.
My whole body went numb.
Sam was approving of this.
I could hear my sister's complaints as she screamed at Sam yelling for him to stop what Jacob was doing until he commanded her be quiet. After that, there were no sounds except the smack of Jacob's fists continually hitting my face.
I endured the beating for at least a few hours longer before Jacob spat in my face and walked away. I wasn't sure how long I lay there until Leah began to cradle me in her arms. My swollen eyes were barely able to make out the tears streaming down her face.
Throughout the month I was constantly being attacked and harassed by the members of the pack until Sam ordered everyone to have no contact with me which forced me to run patrols every night until the crack of dawn. Jacob refused to acknowledge my existence blaming me for Alex's sudden vow of silence around him. I had just gotten used to being shunned by the pack when Sam visited me after school.
He pulled over to the side of the road impatiently after trailing me for nearly the whole walk home. His face was pressed close to mine, and the frown lines on the sides of his lips were more noticeable. Immediately, I knew what was coming.
Another week and a half later I was staring Alex in the eyes as she listened to my half hearted break up. Each line I had spoke Sam had commanded to me to say. Each word was perfectly scripted and held the right amount of pain. It wasn't even my own words I was using to express my heartbreak.
I had watched as she walked away.
I had watched as she saw Jared whispering something to Aaron.
I had watched as she and Aaron left in tears.
I had watched as Sam smiled in approval.
I had watched as a group I had once thought of as family now looked more like strangers.
It was later that night I had written out a note explaining everything as best as I could before sneaking it in her room. I packed a few clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, money, and a picture of Alex into a gym bag before leaving La Push.
It was official. I had detached myself from the pack and once I phased their voices weren't in my head. At first it was startling, normally I would here Jared's voice typically responding to something Paul had said. After a few seconds I took off.
I ran until my feet hurt. I ran until my legs felt like they were going to detach themselves from the sockets. When I stopped to rest, my massive body collapsed on the ground. The smells of the woods barraged me from all sides reminding me too much of home and of Alex. I rested my head on my front paws allowing my eyes to drift shut.
I woke to the sounds of birds chirping and the feel of rain gently hitting my fur. I slowly rose to my full height before taking off even further north.
I didn't know where I was going. From the times when Jake hung out with Bella, he remembered her mentioning a vampire mafia. The name started with a V… Voltri, Volri, it was something like that. He mentioned something about Bella blabbing on about vampires like the Cullens that live up in Alaska. I could go up there ask them about the "vampire club" and then quickly be on my way.
Easy, right?
Wrong.
I had no idea where in Alaska these vampires would be and how could I even be sure they would tell me where this group of vampires were. Still, it was my only hope. With any luck the vampires would allow me into their elite mafia or whatever. I know it was a slim chance, but compared to other options it was the one thing I could do.
This went in a different direction than I thought it would go, but be assured that this will play back into what's going on back in La Push.
~B
