Tuesday was just a wasted day. I was walking around on cloud nine all day, especially after riding to school with Jake, and having him kiss me goodbye. Nothing and no one bothered me. Well, not until Bio. I honestly thought I was gonna make it through the entire class without stupid Cullen talking to me.
"Isabella, we really need to talk about our project." He said right after the bell rang. I was actually a little surprised to hear the edge to his voice, but I still didn't acknowledge him, and continued walking right out of class. But I knew he was right, we really couldn't claim it was a 'joint' project if each of our parts didn't flow together.
"Just make sure if you have to go somewhere outside the school, you go somewhere neutral, although I don't see why you can't just go to the library during lunch." Ben, Angela and I were sitting on a bench in the courtyard after school discussing my issue with meeting with Creepy, possibly psychotic, Cullen.
"The two of you can talk about what you planned on doing, then find some middle ground so that there is some kind of uniformity. You're right, you can't go in there with two completely different projects." I made a sour face, but nodded and she laughed. "Really Bella, I know he's weird, but with the exception of you, his family pretty much keeps to themselves. You seem to be a magnet for them." I cringed at the thought.
"I'm just trying to figure out why you don't tell Jake. I mean, if this was Angela, and some guy was messing with her like that….." Ben grumbled.
"That's exactly why I'm not ready to tell him. I know he's pretty laid back, but I think in this situation he would just completely lose his cool, just like you would if someone was messing with Angela. I have no doubt who would win in a fight between him and Cullen, but I also have no doubt that it would land him in jail since he's already eighteen."
"Hmm, that's true. But you know he's gonna be pissed when he finds out you kept this from him." Ben pointed out.
"Yeah, I know. I'm kinda hoping I can just take care of this myself though." I grumbled. I didn't want to be one of those people that ran to their boyfriends like a damsel in distress, in fact Jake had always made a point that I needed to fight my own battles.
I remember our freshman year, Lauren had been giving me crap for awhile, and I just kept to myself and ignored her until finally Jacob blew up at me, said he didn't know how much longer he could sit back and listen to her treat me that way. He told me he had purposely not done anything because he knew he couldn't be there all the time to fight my battles for me, so I needed to start standing up for myself. So I did. I gave her one warning, which was more than I had ever done before, and then punched her right in the mouth the next time she ran it. I still smile when I remember the look on her face when I hit her. Even though she still didn't ignore me as much as I liked, she stopped for the most part after that.
"Some things you don't need to take care of on your own. You shouldn't take care of it on your own." Ben said seriously. I grimaced, knowing he was right. This wasn't the same as the Lauren thing, this actually might be a whole lot worse. But my little black cloud vanished as soon as I heard the familiar rumble of Jake's bike.
"There's that goofy smile." Ben laughed as we stood up. We walked down to meet him in the parking lot. Jacob pulled me into a hug and gave me a deep kiss.
"Um, eww. We don't want to see that." Angela teased.
"Whatever, we've had to watch you and Ben for years, I think you can deal with a little PDA from us." Jake snarked back at her with a smile. Angela stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
"Anyway, I got a voicemail earlier that they already got your part in and I figured you would like your car back."
"Absolutely! We can stop at the diner for dinner too, that way I don't have to fix dinner tonight when we get back."
"Sounds good! We'll meet you guys at the diner." Ben said, wrapping an arm around Angela.
"I'm never going to get anything done." Angela complained as they left.
After dinner, the four of us went back to my car in the parking lot, so Ben could help Jake.
"This is turning out as bad as last night." Angela grumbled. "My paper is never gonna get done!" I flushed at the memory of the night before. "What was that?"
"Huh?"
"You went red when I mentioned last night." She smirked at me. "Why was it you were so out of it today?" I looked away from her started fumbling with the zipper on my jacket, forcing my smile off my face.
"I just wasn't feeling right, I guess. My mind was…...elsewhere." I looked up and her face was right in front of mine.
"You know you can't lie to me Swan. Spill." I narrowed my eyes at her, knowing she was right. I was going to tell her eventually, I just figured I would have more time to digest it myself.
"Jake spent the night last night." I rushed out.
"And that's different how? Oh, wait, OH! Oh wow." She just sat there smirking at me.
"What?"
"I'm torn. I don't know whether I should be happy that you're finally happy, or worried because you're moving so fast."
"I know. I'm feeling the same way." I scrunched up my nose.
"You're not thinking of running are you." Suddenly her smile was gone and she honestly looked scared.
"No way! Absolutely not. I just, I'm worried that now that I'm in too deep." I looked up through the windshield at Jacob bent over the engine, the muscles in his face and arms moving smoothly as he worked, and I wondered how someone so rugged could still be so beautiful.
"Umm, I'm not following."
I sighed. I hated to admit this, because it made me sound so weak and pathetic, but I had to remember, this was Angela.
"Remember how I had said before that I was afraid of starting anything with him because I didn't want to lose the friendship."
"Oh God. Bella..." She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"No wait, listen to what I'm saying. This is just so much better than everything before, it really is absolutely perfect. I just….I can't be without him now."
"Well, who says you will?"
"Come on Ange, we're only eighteen."
"Do you love him?"
"It's a little early for love isn't it?" I already knew the answer though.
"Well I would have thought it was a little early for last night too, but…"
"Ugh. Yes, ok! Yes, of course."
"Does he love you?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Bella." She cocked her head at me.
"I don't know, maybe, probably…"
"You need to tell him."
"What?"
"Tell him how you feel."
"I kinda did last night."
"Kinda?"
"It kinda slipped out."
"Well what did he say?"
"He said it back but…I was kind of half asleep when I said it. I think he thinks that I don't remember. And I'm not sure how to bring it up."
"Well, ok then. So you know how he feels, now he's just waiting on you to confirm how he thinks you feel." She grabbed my hands away from my zipper and made me look up. "Honestly, what are you afraid of?"
I opened my mouth to tell her when I heard the hood drop on my car..
"We'll finish this later." She whispered as the guys came back to the car. Jacob opened my door and pulled me out.
"Ok, she should be all set." He said handing me the keys. "Start her up and we'll see."
And of course it started right up, sounding just as smooth as ever.
"Alright Bells, we're out. Angie's gotta get her beauty sleep." Ben joked, which earned him a swift elbow to the ribs. They waved and backed out of the parking lot.
"I'll follow you back to the house. Just in case." Jake winked at me. I rolled my eyes and pulled out of the lot with him close behind.
I thought about Angela's last question. What was I afraid of? I really didn't know. We were happy, really happy. Why was I so concerned about losing him. Was it because I loved him? What good is love if you're always worried about losing the other one? Maybe we needed to talk about all this, just the two of us. So far, all my talking had been to Angela, and while that was therapeutic, it didn't give me the solid answers I needed. Just some insight.
He followed me wordlessly into the house, and as soon as the door closed behind me, he spun me around and pulled me flush against him.
"Do you have any idea how much I missed you today?" He mumbled with a smile.
"I think I have an idea." I smirked back, and then kissed him hard as his hand came up to grip my head and neck. He spun us around, pushing me up against the door, never breaking the kiss. My hands wandered up his arms and down his back, and then he caught my wrists and pulled them both over my head, holding them there, while he moved to start kissing and sucking my neck behind my ear. I moaned out his name, and he responded grinding himself into me, which only made my moaning multiply. I lifted up one of my legs to wrap around him, trying to anchor him closer while still relieving the desire I had for him to be right where I wanted him. He released my wrists and slowly ran his hands down my side. One hand hooked under the leg I had lifted, spreading me wider. He angled us where I was rubbing right up against him, and I threw my head back with a moan of his name. He started kissing me again, and I was lost in his taste. I found myself once again unable to get enough of him. I felt my pants loosen and then tighten as he dipped his hand down.
"Fuck Bella, you're so damn wet." He started rubbing circles around my clit. He would stop to slowly dip just the tip of his finger into me, and then go back to circling again. He was driving me mad, and I thought I was going to pass out when he started slowing down. "Tell me Bella, tell me what you want."
"Damn it, you know what I fucking want." I was trying so hard to grind myself into his hand, but he was to worst kind of tease.
"Come on baby." He whispered in my ear. "How can I know if you don't tell me?"
"I want…..oh..I want you touching me….touching my clit." And he did, but painfully slow. "Oh God, yes, faster, please Jake." And he did, he was moving fast against it, still slipping one or two fingers inside me.
"God Bella, do you know how beautiful you are when you cum? Do you know how fucking beautiful it sounds when you're screaming my name?" I was so close to coming, but I wanted to take him with me.
"Jacob, I can't without you, I can't cum without you. Please Jacob, I need you, I need you inside of me." He caught me in a bruising kiss as I felt him pull my pants down. Then he lifted me up and pinned me to the door again, as he slowly slid himself in me. We both cried out from the pleasure. I wrapped my legs around him tight as he started moving, pushing against me. I grabbed onto his hair, arching myself up into him, and he caught a nipple and started sucking. I could feel that building again, that feeling that I just could never get enough of.
"Oh Jacob, Oh God, Jacob! Oh, Jacob!" I screamed as I exploded. He continued pushing into me, harder and faster until he was screaming my name along with some other garbled nonsense. We stood there, catching our breaths, and he let me slide down him, but kept me pinned upright, which was good since I wasn't sure if I could actually stand otherwise. Once our heart rate and breathing calmed, he helped me up the stairs, and we took a long shower together, just kissing and touching.
Later that night, I had a horrible nightmare.
I was somewhere dark, I couldn't see anything, but I could hear someone breathing.
'Isabella…..'
That voice, that sickeningly sweet voice. The next words spoke much closer, right in my ear.
'You're mine.'
I woke up screaming, with Jake trying to calm me down. He asked me what it was, but all I would say was that I had heard a voice. He held me on his chest until my breathing slowed, and a finally fell back asleep, listening to his heartbeat.
The next morning he dropped me off at school, which unfortunately caused a scene, which Jacob apparently didn't mind since he pulled me in for a long kiss. I swore I was gonna kill him later, but he just laughed and rode off, promising to pick me up later.
"So did you talk to him yet?" Angela prodded.
"No, I'm just afraid of…"
"Geeze Swan, you're hopeless. Anyway, you think you guys will be up for a double date this weekend?'
"Probably, I don't think we had any plans, none that I know of anyway."
"Do you think you two could make it through a two hour movie without groping each other?"
"Angela! You know I can't make any promises about that!" We both laughed, which got us a sharp look from the teacher. He couldn't be too mad though, we turned in our papers a whole day early, thanks to working through lunch period the past two , we were nerds like that.
The next night, the four of us ended up in Port Angeles, walking around the little downtown shops. I managed to talk them out of the movie, just because I honestly didn't think we could really sit in a dark room for two hours without touching. It was hard enough when people were around. As we were walking back from the bookstore, I had that same feeling I had the night I had saw the face outside the window. That extremely unsettling feeling someone was watching me. I scanned around us, but didn't see anything or anyone out of the ordinary. I pushed farther into Jake's side.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, just had a feeling someone was watching us."
He swiveled his head around to look, but apparently didn't see anything either. He kissed my head and we continued following Angela and Ben. The feeling still didn't go away, but I felt safe with Jacob.
That night I had another damn nightmare. That's what I'm calling it anyway. Jacob and I were asleep, and I woke up to a cold chill, which was extremely odd since I usually was drenched from sleeping beside the human heater over there. I tried to turn to see if the window was open, but it was like I was being held in place.
"Isabella…"
I started trembling and hyperventilating. I could see Jake, was staring right at him, was laying less than six inches away, but I couldn't get my voice to work right to scream for him.
"You are mine, my love, don't ever forget that."
And then I was free. I flipped over to see no one behind me, but the window was opened, and I could have swore I saw something move past it. I did the only thing I could think of. I screamed.
The next day we decided to hang out on the rez. I tried to tease him that he just wanted to get some sleep at his house since my restless nights had been keeping him awake as well. He didn't really find it that funny. He was seriously worried. Which I guess I didn't blame him, really I don't know if I had had any nightmares since the ones I had after my father had died, so yeah, I guess it was odd. He had asked me over and over what had happened, and I finally told him the words I was hearing, and that the last time I had felt like I had been held down and couldn't move. He seemed as shaken as I was, but come on, it's just a dream, right?
I ended up going to see Leah while Jake hung out with his dad for awhile, We talked for awhile, and I ended up telling her everything with Cullen and my car, and now I was having nightmares because of it.
"And, lemme guess. You haven't said squat to Jake about this."
"Nope. I just think it would be better to wait until-"
"What? Wait until this prick has done something? Wait until h';s cornered you somewhere? Wait until he's dragged you off into the woods somewhere? Come on Bells, you can't be this stupid!"
"I know, but first of all, not only do I have to face this guy in class, I have to work with him on a project, and-"
"Woah, woah, woah. You have to work with him? Like outside of class?"
"I haven't yet, but I'm going to have to. Up until now he's just been annoying, but now, I don't know, it's starting to go way past creepy. But then again, I don't know anything for sure. This could all be in my head. Maybe I've imagined this whole thing."
"Bells, no offence, but you are probably the least creative person I've ever met. And I don't think you've ever overreacted about anything. If this is actually concerning you, then it's serious. How do you think Jake's gonna feel when he finds out you've been keeping this from him?"
"Ugh, I know. But I also don't want him flying off the handle and tracking this guy down either. Who knows what he would do to him."
"Yeah, that's true. Well, I don't know, but you gotta tell him."
"I know, I know."
And I did need to tell him. She was right, he was already going to be hurt I didn't come to him before now, I needed to take care of it today, but probably wait til he took me home. No need to start anything at his dad's house.
We got home and Jake followed me silently inside. I think he could tell something was up.
"Jake, I need to tell you something." I said hesitantly as I sat down at the kitchen table. He followed and sat down beside me. He looked as nervous as I felt for some reason. He started fidgeting with the empty mug that had been left there from earlier. I didn't know exactly how to start this, so I just took a deep breath and started from the day my car was vandalised, how Cullen had been just normal annoying earlier that day, pressuring me to work on our project with him, but then how he was out at my car with me when it wouldn't start, like he was waiting on me. Jacob's eyes were focused on the center of the table, his jaw clenched. The kitchen was completely silent until I heard the sound of the mug shattering in Jacob's hands. My eyes went wide as I saw the pieces fall from his grip.
"Jake, please, you have to calm down."
"The hell Bella!" He roared as he jumped up. "Why wouldn't you tell me that you knew who did that to your car?"
"Because I didn't know!" I yelled back, although my raised voice was more like a kitten compared to his lion's roar. "I can't just go around accusing people of things like that without anything solid. Besides, based on the way you're acting now, I'm pretty sure he would have ended up in the hospital if-"
"Damn straight! If I didn't kill him first." Woah, this was not my Jacob. I'm not sure if I even knew this person standing in my kitchen. I stood up to face him.
"Jacob Ephraim Black, what is the matter with you? Have you lost your mind?"
He looked at me with hard eyes, and turned away from me, breathing hard. Suddenly I heard another roar, and his fist flew through the pantry door. A sick feeling hit me.
Random fits of anger...
"Jacob." I said softly. "Please calm down, you're scaring me." I saw his shoulders visibly tense, and he turned to me with a scared look on his face.
"Oh my God, Bella, I'm so sorry….I don't know what…." He faltered and looked down to his balled fists and forced them open. I walked timidly toward him.
"Jake…" I reached out and touched his arm, and gasped.
Fever spikes...
"Jake, you're burning up." I rasped. I don't know if he heard me or just ignored me, but he just walked past me and collapsed into a chair at the table, cradling his head in his hands. I got him some ice water, and sat silently as he drank.
"I can't lose you Bells." He whispered. "I just got you, I can't…"
"Jake, you aren't going to lose me! Where is this coming from?" He didn't answer, just stared at his water glass. I couldn't figure out why he would think he would lose me, none of this had to do with us. He finally stood up slowly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.
"I guess I should go ahead and go." He mumbled, his eyes never once reaching mine. He slowly turned and walked out to the foyer to get his coat and keys. I could feel my brain screaming at me to do something, say something. I couldn't let him leave, not like this. What if something happened to him? What if he didn't make it home? Was this really how I wanted things left between us? The only thing that stopped the thoughts from bombarding my head was the roar of the bike outside.
"Jake!" I yelled as I ripped the front door open, but he couldn't hear me. I ran out as he was rolling forward and he stopped. I motioned for him to take his helmet off, and when he did I pulled him to me and kissed him hard.
"I love you." I said looking him in eyes. He stopped and stared at me, not in fear, but almost like he was trying to make sure I was telling the truth. Then he pulled me into a bruising kiss that took my breath away. It reminded me of one of our first kisses there on the porch when we just couldn't get enough of each other. We broke apart several minutes later, breathing heavy.
"I love you too, Bells. So damn much." I pulled him back to me for another kiss. I couldn't let him go now, and he was thinking the same thing.
"Please let me stay." He said between kisses.
"God, yes, please stay with me."
"Always."
And I pulled him off the bike and back into the house.
I woke up in the middle of the night to Jacob moaning and thrashing in bed. Thinking it was just a bad dream, I reached over to put a hand on his arm, and immediately jerked it away. I turned on the lamp and saw he was drenched. No wonder, he felt like he was running a fever of at least a hundred and five. He rocked back and forth, and I got a cold wet washcloth and touched it to his head. He relaxed a bit under it, but soon he had his teeth clenched and was thrashing again. And he was still asleep.
"Jake." I tried gently rousing him. How he was still asleep through all that was extremely worrying. "Jake, babe, wake up." He continued thrashing and jerking, and his moans got louder and more pained. I started calling his name louder, and he still wouldn't wake up. I went to go wet the washcloth again, and as I came back in I heard him moan my name.
"Bella…"
"I'm right here Jake, I'm right here."
"Bella…..help me, please!" My heart broke for him. I laid the washcloth on his forehead and picked up the phone to call the ambulance when I heard a pounding on the door downstairs.
It's 3:30am and my boyfriend's getting ready to stroke, but sure, why not have visitors?
I didn't even think to be cautious, I was too worried about Jake. I opened the door and actually wasn't as surprised as I should have been to see them.
"Where is he?" Sam demanded evenly.
"No, first, you tell me what's going on." My voice wasn't as steady as I thought it would be. I was terrified.
"Not now Bella, we don't have time." As if on cue Jacob screamed out upstairs, a cry so painful, my knees nearly buckled. I looked at Sam and knew I had no choice.
"Please just help him." I said as my voice broke. The tears fell as the five of them climbed the stairs. Jacob's screams and cries became more frequent and pained. I clenched my eyes shut against the sound and dug the heels of my hands into my temples. I wanted to block it out, but at the same time absorb it, in hopes of taking some of it away. I had promised to protect him from what was happening, and I had failed. They carried him down the stairs, struggling as he thrashed against them. He arched sharply and screamed out and I nearly lost it. As much as it hurt me just to see him like this, I couldn't imagine what he was going through. He reached out and grabbed my arm as they went by, even though his eyes were still jammed shut.
"Bella!" He half whimpered and half screamed. "Bella please stay with me."
"Stop Sam, please. Please don't take him, I-"
"This is not up for debate, we have to take him now!" He nearly yelled at me, and jerked Jacob's hand away from me, which caused Jake to let out the most terrifying sound I had ever heard. It was something between a scream and an animalistic roar.
"We need to get him into the woods, NOW!" Sam ordered. And they rushed off with him into the woods behind my house. I could still hear Jacob's screams, but they were fading quickly. I finally let loose a sob and collapsed onto the porch. What had just happened? My whole body shook between my crying and the cold air, but I didn't even care. I jerked my head up when I felt a warm hand gently wrap around my arm, pulling me up.
"C'mon Bells, let's get you inside. It's way too cold for you out here." Embry said softly. His eyes looked sad, but he had a soft smile on his face. I let him lead me inside without a word. All my fight was gone. He sat me down on the bottom stair in the foyer.
"I can't stay, I need to go help the guys, but please know, we will take care of him."
I looked up at his blurry form through my tears as he retreated out my door. I fell into another crying jag. I was completely lost. He was gone. He had been taken away from me just like Leah said.
Leah.
I looked at the clock. It was already quarter til 5. The pounding in my head testified that I had indeed been crying for an hour or so. I didn't care if she was gonna get pissed, she would get over it. I had to call her cell seven times before she finally answered.
"Yeah." She said groggily.
"Leah." My voice cracked.
"Bella? Bella, what's wrong?" She was suddenly very alert.
"He's….he's gone. Jake's gone. They took him." And I blubbered out all the details of what had happened.
"I'm so sorry Bells. Maybe….maybe Jake will be different. Maybe he'll be stronger, more stubborn."
"I just don't get it, he hasn't been anywhere near those guys for days at least, he couldn't have been drugged. Leah, it was horrible. I can't even explain it, I have never seen anyone in as much pain as he was in. I just don't know what could cause that."
"Has his behavior been any different?"
"No, not actually, he got really mad last night, more so than I had ever seen him. But there wasn't any kind of outburst or anything, and he calmed down pretty quick."
"I don't know Bells, it sounds similar, but not exactly the same as Sam. I'll try to keep my eyes and ears open to see if I can find anything out. If you need me to come over, or if you want to crash here for awhile, you know you can."
"Thanks. I really appreciate it. Right now, I just want to..." And I fell into another fit of sobs. Leah was at my house an hour later, armed with Nyquil. She said it was the only way she could get any sleep when Sam left, and I didn't argue. After sleeping till about 5pm, I started feeling ashamed of myself. He didn't leave me, he was taken. Pretty much against his will, and I was already rolling over claiming defeat? Oh hell no. I picked up the phone to call Billy, knowing I would be able to tell if he was lying most likely. Leah was anxious to hear how this would play out.
"Oh, hey Bella." He suddenly sounded very tired, and I lost a bit of my fire.
"Listen Billy, I don't know what's going on over there, and I'm sure I'm not supposed to know, but you already know that Jacob was hauled out of here last night by Sam and his henchman.
"Bella, Jacob is sick, they were just trying to-"
"And how exactly did they know he was sick? How did they know to show up at my house at 3:30 in the morning? And they didn't call an ambulance, or drive him to the hospital, they took him out into the woods. I don't care what you want to say, or how you want to spin it, there is something going on." I stopped but Billy didn't say anything.
"Billy," I said in a softer tone, "I just need to know if he's ok." Billy sighed on the other end.
"Bella, I promise you. Jacob is fine."
I hung up with Billy, believing him when he said Jacob was fine, but still extremely uneasy about what exactly was going on with the Quileutes. Leah talked me out of going to school the next day, and she drove us over to her house. Once she explained to her mom what had happened, Sue allowed Leah to stay home with me too. We slept late Monday and decided to just lounge around all day. I was torn between telling myself everything was fine and I would hear from Jacob soon, and being terrified that I would suffer the same fate that Leah had. I finally decided I needed to get out of the house, and after my last run through the woods, I definitely wasn't going alone this time.
Leah and I used to run and hike all the time, she was the perfect partner. She preferred running through the forest like I did, but she kept to herself and didn't try to talk to me during runs. It was a type of therapy for both of us. We went up through the woods behind her house. She let me lead since I was the one who needed to burn off some energy, and though I knew she would probably kill me later, I wasn't planning on this being a short run. Not only did I need to clear out my insanely gummed up head, but I needed to wear myself out to sleep tonight. We had ran about three miles when I heard her yell over.
"Alright wonder woman, it's starting to get dark, we need to head back. I stopped and we were huffing pretty hard.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
"Yeah, I got that. I don't even know where we are Swan."
"I guess we just head back the way we came?"
"The way you were winding around, there's no way to tell." She stopped and tried to get a look at where the sun would be if not covered by clouds. "Come on, I think we need to go this way." I followed her as she cut left and wound us back around. After another half mile I saw a break in the trees and we headed toward it, but it wasn't what we were looking for.
"Damn it, it's just a clearing." She cursed.
"Aren't indians supposed to be better at directions?" She flipped me the bird and walked out towards the middle. "This isn't good Swan, I don't recognize this place at all." I jogged over to where she stood. The sky was getting darker. "I can't believe you got us so lost."
"You should have said something dummy, you know I'm not thinking straight." I joked back, but there was very little humor in either of our voices. We had never gotten lost in all the years we had went running, but then again, we usually had much more daylight than we had this afternoon. I looked up trying to find the sun, or a lighter part of gray. Leah grabbed my arm.
"Did you hear that?"
I listened, and from one side of the clearing, I heard what she was referring to. There was the sound of movement, a lot of movement. Large movement.
"That sounds like…."
"...a bear." She said finishing my sentence.
"I forget, which one are we supposed to fight, and which one are we supposed to play dead?" I whispered.
A low growl came from that side.
"How about we just run?" Leah offered
"Even better."
And we were gone. Unfortunately we made too much noise, and we could hear whatever it was following after us. We ran back down through the woods, and could always hear it just behind us, though we never saw it. There were a couple times when it rounded around to the front of us and we would have to take off in another direction. Just as I thought my lungs were going to burst, we broke through the tree line, right behind Leah's house. I couldn't believe our luck. She ran ahead and vaulted up onto the back deck, and reached down and pulled me up. We stood there catching our breath, watching the tree line for the bear, or bears, to come through, but they never did.
"What, did they give up?" Leah huffed.
"Don't know….don't care." And I headed inside for some desperately needed water.
"Do me a favor Swan," Leah said, still out of breath, as we stretched out on the living room floor. "Don't ever ask me to go running again."
"Deal."
