Chapter 9 :o

Chapter Nine: Paul's Wonder

What would've happened if Jared didn't find that body and I did...Would I be the one who went missing and he would be in my place? He wondered to himself. He pondered on thought of this question. Maybe if I offered for him to stay over my place, maybe I could've fought off whoever attacked him. Paul scratched his jaw and sighed. He closed his eyes and images of Jared's room popped into his mind. The body of the missing man on the corner, blood all over, his bed a mess, scratch marks on the floor and wall.

He sat on the beach staring out into the tides. He couldn't help thinking about his missing friend's whereabouts, or if he's still alive for that matter. He swallowed hard at that thought, there's no way he could be dead, I would feel it. The sand under his palms felt cold as always on this regular, gloomy, Wednesday afternoon.

The sun didn't shine through the black clouds that laid over his head. He blinked once as he was waiting for the rain to pour down from the clouds but they never came. He heard the small rumbles of thunder down the shore miles away from La Push. Too far heard by the human ear.

He hadn't seen any of his other packmates, or hasn't heard any information about Leah's sudden un-transformation back into a human. He can't help but wonder what she is feeling more, happiness and relief or shock and sadness. Maybe she's feeling neither, he supposed.

He also hadn't heard about the person behind the killings of those two innocent people and Jared's disappearance. Whoever this person is, they're really good to not leave behind a scent or any evidence for police or even them. Where could it be hiding? What could it even be?

The sound of the tides sounded peaceful in his ears but it didn't draw out his uneasiness from within the back of his mind. He swallowed hard to remember Jared and all the events that led up to his disappearance and that gruesome discovery he made two mornings ago. Paul grabbed a handful of sand within his hand and let it fall out slowly. This somehow drew all his thoughts to a sudden silence and distracted him for a bit before the thoughts come back in again.

Paul and Jared go way back. There has been a joke between their mothers that Jared and Paul have known each other when they were in their mother's womb. They were born in the same month, attended the same school since pre-k, and have always seen each other at family gatherings, even though they're not blood related. However, that didn't stop the two of them from saying that they were brothers in school or at the playground all the kids go to on the reserve.

Paul smirked.

The good old days, he recalled. Those days where the stories of wolves and warriors, demons and monsters were just fiction and imagination's work. I wonder if his child self would believe that these things were actually real? Doubt it.

Paul never really believed in those stories of the werewolves, the warriors, or the 'cold ones.' He still scoffs at the idea of all that being real...but he's reminded about it when he shifts into his wolf form and protects his land from these threats. Very big job for him and the rest of the pack. Ever since become one, he now knows how the police feels that would bring him home sometimes after he had fist fights with certain kids back in high school feel.

High school. Paul frowns as he recall those years. High school on the reserve weren't his best years, or those that were quite memorable since he can't remember half of the things and doesn't want to remember the rest. Those years weren't his best moments. He remembered how much of a jerk he was during those years to most of his classmates. Sure he apologized to most of those people last year during his ten-year reunion but he still feels regret.

He remembered how disappointed his mother would be every time Paul came home incredibly late, or even the next morning, or when the police brought him home early from school. She would often ask herself, he remembers, what she could've done to have made her son become such a dysfunctional child.

Paul feels the shame coming. He remembers about sneaking out late at night to head over to Port Angles for parties from other schools with some of his ex-friends. He remembers drinking till he couldn't see anymore or walk. He remembers all those girls that he were around with, the easy ones.

He swallows hard as he remembers how he would treat girls back then, like trash, because that's all he's been ever treated all his life, trash. He puts his face in his hands when a certain memory comes into play. He remembers one girl who he met his senior year of high school eleven years ago. He swallows hard as he remember meeting her and thinking that she was cute but not as cute as the others.

She was incredibly kind to him and treated him a strange way, a way no one has ever treated Paul before. She treated him like a human being, and he liked that. He remembered spending time with her during school, he remembered her helping him with homework that he never did, he remembered how she laugh at all his jokes, even if they weren't funny.

He closed his eyes, he then remembered how they ended before they even began. It was the first ever prom that his high school decided to throw that year. He didn't want to go but she wanted to, so he went with her. She was so beautiful, he thought. He remembers once the party ended and the drive back home, she took the wheel and he was on the passenger's side. It was a snowy night and rain suddenly broke through. The road was covered in ice and how all the sudden...she lost control. He remembers the crash, the screams, and then the silence.

Paul lies down in the sand as he remembers that moment. That moment he died in that car.

It was dark outside, incredibly cold. Paul sat there, his head to the side of the window, the glass was so cold he remembered. He didn't know why he didn't die that moment but a light came before him and flashed before him. He awoke and saw that he was in a stretcher and looked around in panic. His arms ached, his eyes stung, he couldn't see anything around him. He tried to find her, to see if she was ok, but he saw her on the ground with a white blanket over her head.

He remembered before they covered her face. Her eyes were staring at him, no life in them, blood on her cheeks and nose. She looked so white, why?

"What the hell happened to you?"

"What the hell happened to who?"

Paul turned around and saw Rachel there. He gave her a small smile as she walked over to him and sat in his lap, giving him a small kiss on his cheek. He embraced her, petting her hair, happy that she joined him on this lonely strip of the beach.

"Are you alright Paul?" She asked him, looking into his eyes.

He hesitated but nodded. "Yeah, just thinking about Jared."

"Oh." She replied, looking down on the ground.

Paul sighed and held her. "They're going to find him, you know that right?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"Paul, when are you gonna come back home?" She asks him.

He shrugs, "I do go home." He responds honestly.

She shakes her head, "No, to my house."

"Soon."

"When's soon?"

He shrugs, "Jake's not home?"

She shakes her head. "He's taking care of Leah with Seth."

"Oh, I see." He responds.

"Paul, is something wrong?" She asks again.

He sighs, "I just need a little time to think, Rachel, trust me I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" She puts her hand on his cheek softly and caresses it, "I hate seeing you like this." She admits.

Their foreheads touch, he looks into her eyes and can't help but get lost in them. "I'll be fine," He replies, kissing her nose, her lips, then her forehead, sofetly. "I promise I'll be home by six."

"Ok." She says, she gets up and kisses him again and walks back home.

Paul has this sudden urge to follow her but his body doesn't respond to it. He just stays sitting there on the beach staring out into the ocean, listening to the waves. He closed his eyes for a moment and thought about everything that he thought of here at this beach. Jared, the missing people, Leah, the girl, his mother, his pack... He wondered who is next?

Paul opened his eyes and realized that it was raining. He got up quickly and ran into the woods and hid under the largest tree in the entire forest. He held the tree and felt the wet bark underneath his palms.

Paul looked up to the sky and saw the drops fall at a fast motion pace. He growled, he should be home with Rachel instead of staying at the beach. He heard thunder rumble through the dark sky and was between two decisions, either to stay here and get wet or run home and get wet, such hard decisions, he thought.

Paul suddenly smelled something. He covered his nose instantly at the whiff of whatever had that unbearably disgusting odor. He turned behind him and saw a shadow ten feet away from him.

He stood there, like a rock, his golden eyes shining in the dark. Paul knew who this was, he suddenly snarled and growled, "What are you doing here?"

The person in front of him didn't answer. In a flash, he flew away.

"Come back here!" Paul growled.

The being stopped. It looked at Paul with its eyes. He shivered with its stare but soon shook it off. The being smiled and then disappeared.

"Trespasser!" He screamed.

He ran after the figure in the direction it headed. The figure jumped up and was now into the trees but was heading in the same direction. Paul kept up perfectly and had a perfect view of it. The figure suddenly made a sharp right turn leaving Paul a bit confused but was able to turn and follow it.

He ran into a mud bath, slipping and sliding through the forest floor, often times getting stuck, having to use all his strength to get out. He cursed out loud every time he fell on the floor or crashed into a tree. He soon got up and continued after it.

The rain continued to pour endlessly and now lightning began to strike in the sky. Thunder rumbled so loud that almost the ground shook along with it. Paul growled, he jumped up on one of the branches and was now on high ground.

He looked around him to see where the trespasser went. He looked up on the other branches and then below him and saw nothing. Just leaves and water.

"Dammit," He muttered to himself.

He could have sworn he saw him. He scanned once again all the branches and around him. He stared straight in front of him, hoping to see if that somehow the being would seem right in front of him. Paul sniffed around him hoping that it's scent could pick up, only the rain had washed away all of it. He cursed himself again as he stood there, feeling completely duped. Where are you?He asked, hoping for someone to answer.

He looked up to the sky and saw the rain drops fall on his face, his chest, his shoulders, he sighed deeply and looked straight again. "I know you're out there," He spoke out loud, he scanned left and right, waiting for it to make a move, "Show yourself." He snarled.

Lightening struck through the sky, leaving a white flash, revealing the dark forest and showing a figure hanging upside down from a tree branch. It's yellow eyes stared at Paul and suddenly grew wide once it realized that they look so damn familiar. Paul roared as he advanced forward to the being. The being jumped down to a lower branch, and Paul followed quickly not far behind.

The being jumped up again to a high branch, Paul jumped but almost didn't grab the branch. He grabbed on the trunk and winced a bit as he felt the bark sink into his skin. He looked up and saw it continue to climb higher and higher. Paul used his nails to dig into the tree bark and began to climb the tree until he reached a branch and jumped to the next one and the next. He saw it...crawling up the tree and made it look so incredibly easy.

It turned back and face Paul. It hissed and backed away slowly as Paul kept on getting closer and closer. Paul was soon face to face with this strange creature. It didn't bother to move or seemed frightened or intimidated by the werewolf. Paul snarled as he tried to grab it up suddenly a couple of trees down from the one he was in, lightning struck a tree branch causing a fire to begin.

Paul looked away and was soon engulfed in fear as he saw the fire begin to grow bigger and bigger. Paul looked up and saw the being there, smiling at him, mocking him. His temper flared and he screamed as he grabbed it. The creature however squirmed out of his hands and with its legs pushed Paul on his chest sending him down to the ground.

Paul yelled as he fell, hitting every single branch that came down his way. He tried to protect his face, tried to grab on the tree again so he could stop falling but he was going down to fast and was hurting himself along the way down.

When he finally met the ground, he felt everything ache. He let out a loud scream and felt his back snap. "Dammit!" He screamed as he tried to get up from the forest floor only it made the pain even worst. He screamed and cried out for help as he felt powerless not only to mother nature but to a stranger who stands before him with his yellow eyes staring at him. He smiled in victory as he stood over the wolf and couldn't help but look over to his left and saw the fire fueling and growing more and more.

Paul looked up and saw it standing there. "What?" He screamed at it. It turned and stared at him, "What are you going to do to me?" He asked it, his voice shaken, no Paul wasn't scared, he just wanted it to get whatever it came here to do over.

The being stood over him and crouched down, their faces touching. Paul growled. The being soon began to take a different form, Paul laid there and was soon speechless as he saw who was now in front of him. "Wha-" He couldn't finish. It picked him up by his throat and picked him up, Paul yelped as he felt his entire body ache. He stared at it with horror and confusion, how can this be happening?

"What's wrong Paul?" It said. The voice was feminine and very soft.

Paul swallowed hard. It was her, she stood in front of him, only her eyes weren't the brown he remembered, they were yellow. "How? No! You're dead! I saw you die!" He screamed at it, only to have it squeeze his throat causing him to silence.

Paul watched as it soon took a different form and it spoke again, "It looks like you've seen a ghost." It took the form of Diana Wells now, staring at him with the same yellow eyes. He shook his head and closed his eyes, when they opened it now took the form of Jordan Light and had a big smile on its face.

"Come now? I thought you didn't believe in anything?" It asked.

He swallowed and was soon thrown to the ground and picked up again, spun around and thrown into a tree. Paul screamed in pain as he tried to stand straight, he turned around and was in shock by what he saw. Not only did it take the form of those three people, Diana, Jordan, Paul's dead girlfriend, it took the form of his missing friend. Jared. Paul could only think of one thing as he saw it stand there. Those three people were all dead...does that mean...

Jared suddenly body slammed himself into Paul back into the tree and swung his arm into his neck causing Paul to gasp and fall into the ground. The smell of smoke became unbearable as the flames now stretched all over. Jared stood over Paul and smile at the unconscious wolf.

"Silly human." Was all he said as he looked up and saw someone standing there.

Jared lifted his chin and saw who it was. He backed away slowly and ran into the fire, disappearing.

Edward ran over to the unconscious wolf and picked him up. He looked to the flames and saw the being through it staring back at him. Glaring.

"Edward!" Emmett yelled.

The being disappeared and ran off into the night.

"Edward!" Emmett yelled again as he came through the brush with his other brother, Jasper, and saw the fire growing larger and larger.

"There's nothing we can do about the fire, just help me get him out of here!" He yelled to his brother who took the werewolf in his hands and ran out of there. The rain soon picked up again and began to pour harder than before. It was able to end the flames and only left burnt remains of trees and dirt soil.

The being sat there in a new form, it was there and saw them escape from his grasp. "I don't know who allowed you to come into my game." It said with its new voice. "But welcome to the game board, prey..." It smiled as it smirked.