7. Discoveries
Emmett's Jeep began to lose the overbearing heat it contained once Jacob was out of the car. Actually, it had been freezing cold for the past 20 minutes while I just sat there. Just...thinking. The past few week's events had been confusing. No, not just confusing, but also infuriating, stupid, annoying, and...exciting? Ignore the last word. Though, they kind of were. All in all, I just really wanted to know what the heck was going on with this Jacob character and him "reading my mind", how La Push is so significant, and why my family wants me stay away from just about...everything. Though getting those answers would be a lot harder than you would think.
I began to drive back towards my home. The sky was pitch black and, for once, was filled with stars instead of clouds. It reminded me of when my parents took me hunting for the first time. It was just a few weeks after they told me the family's "secret" and was their final attempt at trying to make me like blood. The sky was as clear as day and the stars lit the earth around us as we walked through the woods and towards our destination. My mother held on to my hand and my father led the way. It felt like some odd family outing. But instead of going fishing for our food, we chose deer blood.
"Now remember, Nessie, you have to be quick or you wont be able to catch the deer," my father whispered quietly as he crouched down behind a stump. In front of us was small deer eating some grass. Just standing there. Without a care in the world. There was no way it was expecting a speedy vampire to come out of nowhere and suck it's life from it's body. And that's when it really hit me. I was going to sit there and watch my father kill this poor, innocent animal. And for what? Blood? Was it really worth it to see a life taken away?
I watched as my father's eyes turned from it's darkening topaz color to completely black. He was about to make the kill. And I was going to sit there and watch. Before I knew it, Dad leaped forward towards the non-expecting deer and grabbed it perfectly on his first try. He latched his teeth on the deer's neck and immediately the small deer yet out a yelp. I couldn't do this. I couldn't watch this happen to something that had so much more life to live. So I started running. Running as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away from what was going on behind me. As I ran, I realized that in some way, the deer was exactly like me. Getting the life sucked out of it before it could really experience anything else. I had no way of stopping it. I had no other choice. And, honestly, I couldn't really fight it. So, I just had to accept it. Like the deer. It had accepted death, though wanted life.
That's why I never go hunting with my family. Because if I did, it would be like watching myself die. Over and over again.
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When I finally did get home, Emmett was waiting in the driveway with his arms intimidatingly crossed against his chest. I could instantly feel my heart jolt into my own chest as his Jeep got closer and closer to him. I didn't even have time to stop the car before Emmett opened the door and grabbed me by the arm.
"Umm, ow!" I yelled out loud as I was being dragged into the house. Once my feet hit the carpet, his hand freed my arm, leaving a faint red mark.
"What were you doing with my car?" Emmett's voice boomed through the house. I could have even sworn that the floor shook as well.
As I rubbed my throbbing arm, I looked back up at Uncle Emmett and his eyes had turned into that scary black color. I immediately began to freak out. I mean, Emmett is a big guy. Plus he's a vampire. Plus he's probably thirsty. Plus, I just stole his Jeep. "I, umm, I..."
"I swear Nessie, if there is a scratch or even a dent on that car--"
"I didn't do anything to your car, Emmett. I just took it out for, uhh, practice. Besides, you said I could take it anyways...remember?" I smiled wide, hoping the same trick that worked for my dad would work for him.
"What? I never said...," soon Emmett's furious face smoothed into his regular old self, "Oh, I did didn't I?" Nodding to his question, my heart went back to it's normal state when Emmett's eyes slowly turned back to it's familiar color. "Well, shit. Just don't, don't do it again, okay?"
"Oh, I wont. I promise," I said in my best innocent voice. The hell I wasn't going to take it again. Though, next time I would need a better plan. Quickly after my fake apology, I headed towards the door which lead to outside where my cottage was. I was stopped, though, by a now curious looking Emmett.
"Umm, Nessie. Where exactly did you take my Jeep?"
What would be a good lie for this question? To get a bite to eat? No, Grandma Esme fixed me something before she left. I wanted to check out the nightlife? No, it's Forks. There is no such thing as nightlife.
"I just practiced some driving around the town. I mean, I'm going to be getting my license soon, right?"
"Yeah, yeah you are. Geez, Nessie. It seems like yesterday you were just a little kid yelling out 'Strike!' for every pitch in our baseball games. And now you're--"
"Still the girl who yells 'Strike!' for every pitch at your baseball games. Yeah, I still don't know the difference."
Emmett laughed and ruffled my already messed up hair. "I can't wait till you can actually play with us."
"Ha, do you really think I'm going to be fast enough to keep up?" Even though I would be fully matured, it didn't mean I was getting super speed or anything.
"Hey, I don't know. Carlisle said it's possible for you to gain some vampire traits when you reach seven, or, I guess, sixteen."
"Really?" Great, another thing to add to my non-normalcy category. "Uhh, well that's cool," I said, trying to make it sound like I was excited, "I'm actually going to go to bed, though. Goodnight."
"Night! Oh and don't worry about the car thing. Just ask me next time you want to take the Jeep, okay?" I nodded and headed out into the cold towards my cottage. As I let out a big yawn, I realized just how tired I actually was. And a nice big bed sounded oh so great at that exact moment.
Before I could open the door to the cottage, an obviously loud rustling came from the woods behind me. Fear began to trickle into my body. Could it be that wolf? Or what if it was a vampire making it's way through town? Or what if was that poor deer coming to claim my life as well? Instead of going and finding out, I quickly opened the door to my cottage and slammed it shut behind me, locking every lock that I could. I zoomed towards my room and bounced onto my bed, forcing myself underneath the sheets. What was out there?
"Oh come on, Nessie. It's the woods. It's probably just some bear," I spoke out to myself. My little pep talk didn't work because soon I heard a faint knock at my window and I pulled the covers tighter over myself, hoping this whatever would just go away.
It didn't. The knocks continued. And soon, the knocks turned into the Mario Brothers theme song. Ugh, really? I took a deep breath and slowly peeled the sheets from over me and made my way to the window.
"Alright, alright. I really think three minutes of constant Super Mario Brothers theme song is--," I opened the window to find no one outside of it, "enough." Okay, so this is the part in the scary movies where the unsuspecting victim (me) takes the killer's bait and when the unsuspecting victim (still me) turns back from the window/door/shower curtain, the killer arrives to kill the victim in a gory fashion. And as the unsuspecting victim, I stupidly turned around to meet my killer.
"Jacob?" In front of me stood my "killer". Tall, dark, and, dare I say it, handsome. The total opposite of your typical mass murderer.
"Expecting another guy?" He asked sarcastically. I quickly ignored his question.
"Why are you in my room?" He laughed and pointed towards the door. "But I locked it!"
"Apparently not too well because I walked right on in." I didn't exactly respond because half of me felt embarrassed for thinking someone was going to murder me and the other half felt kind of nervous having a boy in my room...for the first time. Alone. Is this what all teenagers deal with? It was quiet between the two of us as I watched Jacob scan my room. His eyes stopped when they reached my dresser, which had all of my picture frames on it. "Why do you only have one picture?" He looked over at me, holding on to the one frame that did have a picture in it. The rest were blank. I walked towards him and took the frame from his hands. The picture inside was of me, Mom, and Dad.
"I, umm, only have one. The rest of the frames are for the future," my cheeks felt hot from the embarrassment. I mean who keeps picture frames for pictures of what will happen in the future?
"So what kind of future pictures do you plan on putting in the frames?"
"I don't really know. Hopefully," I grabbed my small purple picture frame, "this one will be for my first pet. And I was thinking the green one can be for a trip that me and my family go on."
Jacob didn't respond, just faintly smiled. He looked at all of the abandoned frames and picked up the one I was hoping he wouldn't ask about, "How about this one?" The red sparkly heart frame reflected in the light as he held it out towards me.
If my cheeks could melt, they would have right then and there from their intense heat. "Uhh, heh, that one's for, uhh, a future boyfriend...maybe?"
"Really? Hmm..." Jacob sat down the frame and walk towards my bed, plopping down onto it. Yeah, my cheeks were melting, and making a big puddle on the floor. Hmm? What did hmm mean? Did he think I was not capable of having a boyfriend?
"Yes, really. Even though I'm doomed to a hellish eternal life, I can still have a boyfriend!" Oh crap, he did know about me, right? I mean, he did know about the whole vampire situation. Jacob didn't seem to be caught off guard by anything. So, maybe he did know.
Though, Jacob's face turned into a frown after a while. He scooted over on my bed and looked up at me. Was this like an invitation to come sit next to him? Without even thinking anything else, my legs led me to my bed and I slowly bent them to kind of sit on it. I didn't want to make things awkward and sit really close to him. "You think you're doomed to a hellish eternal life?" He spoke in a new, sincere voice.
"Yeah. And?"
"Well, why do you think that?"
And as if something in my brain snapped I spilled everything out, to this perfect stranger. "Because I am! I mean I will be living forever, stuck exactly like this. I'll never get a chance at doing anything normal, because people will get suspicious. I mean, look at my family. They have to move, just so people wont start asking why the Cullen kids still look so young. I don't want that life. And then, and then what if I do find a guy I care about? He'll most likely be human and, shockingly, age. And guess what? I'll still be sixteen. It's like I'm stuck on this everlasting ride, it's fun at first but after a while you're going to get sick of it. It just makes me so mad that I didn't get a choice about this. It's like I'm forced to live this way. With no say whatsoever." Trying to catch my breath, I turned away from Jacob. I just spilled my guts to a person I've only know for a few hours. Something I couldn't even do with my parents, who I've known my entire life.
Without warning, two warm arms wrapped around me. Making me jump slightly. I turned around and noticed just how close Jacob was to me. And though it felt really nice to be hugged by a guy like that (in the comforting way), he was still like a stranger to me. So I forcefully pulled myself away from his arms.
"Sorry," he instantly replied.
"It's okay," was all I could say back.
"Look, I got to go. It wont be long before your big bad babysitter comes to see why he hears someone else's voice in your room," he winked and got up from my bed. For some odd reason, I didn't want Jacob to go. At least not yet. I felt as if I had someone to talk to, who was normal. Who was, well, human.
"Jacob, wait!" I leaped up from my bed to block my front door. Jacob smiled a cocky grin as if he knew I didn't want him to leave, but for totally other reasons. "I, umm, just want to say thanks."
"For?"
"Umm, for listening to me, I guess? And for, umm, hugging me? I mean, not for hugging me but for being supportive. I've never really had that before."
"So you're thanking me for hugging you?" He said while a big smiled formed on his face.
"No. Did you not hear me? I said for being support--"
"Nessie, relax. I'm kidding," he took his hand and placed it on my cheek once again. Hmm, I wonder if he really could read my mind? Jacob nodded.
"Ah-hah! So you can read my mind! How?"
"I'm not really supposed to say," Jacob said, while taking his warm hand from my face.
"Oh come on. Please?" I grabbed on to Jacob's hand without even thinking and it caused him to jump this time.
"Umm, heh," Jacob began to laugh nervously. Wait, did me touching his hand make him nervous? "Umm, you can't tell anyone I'm telling you this, okay?" I nodded, anxiously awaiting his explanation. "You have an ability."
"An ability? Like Dad reading minds?"
"Exactly! You inherited it from him."
"So, what exactly is this ability?"
Jacob looked cautiously at my hand which was still in his, the comparison in the sizes were kind of laughable, and placed it on his forehead. "Think about something." My mind went back to just a few minutes ago when Jacob had his arms around me. How it made me feel different, but in a good way. Jacob grinned the instant my thought was complete. "If you touch anyone's face, your thoughts instantly become theirs."
Wow. So, I really had an ability. A power. I could tell people how I felt, without even speaking a word. Why would my parents want to keep this from me?
"So, how can you touch my face and know what I'm thinking?"
"Umm, I don't know. Maybe that happens with everyone."
Jacob removed my hand from his face and held it gently in his, staring at it for a few seconds. "Is my hand that fascinating?" Jacob looked up and immediately dropped it.
"Funny. But I really have to go now," he walked past me and went towards the door, "Oh and I'll see you later." He slyly grinned and headed out of the cottage. Into the dark and cloudless night.
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