OK guys as promised, you didn't have to wait as long as the last chapter :) however, it's not as long, but still juicy. Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed. I can not express how much it really means to me. Getting this kind of feedback is so unexpected. Coming into this I didn't know what I was getting into. Thank you so much! Again, please review and let me know what you think :)
Also, if you guys don't mind. I am in a process of writing another story. It's called "Agape". So if you wouldn't mind checking it out for me as well and letting me know if I should continue with the story :)
It was like watching your tv go in and out. Static blurring your vision. Every other second was movement and grunts. I felt James grip around my neck tighten up and I did whatever I can to get away. Even if luck wasn't on my side I tried to go against the odds.
"Baby your skin feels so soft", James whisper in my ear. I felt the tears coming down. I tried to call out for help, but I couldn't. Then out of nowhere James tight hold was suddenly thrown off me. I heard yelling and grunting, but I just couldn't just make it out. I was just glad that James had stopped choking me. Then to my disappointment...the darkness took over.
I opened my eyes once again and somehow I was in the back seat of someone's car. My head was still in scorching pain. The wind blowing through the front windows was slapping me in the face. Then James came to the forefront of my thoughts. I looked around in horror. This car was different. I wasn't in James car. I let out sigh of relief. Who's car am I in? Then I grunted in pain trying to get up in a sitting position. I couldn't. I felt the car slow down like if we were stopping from a red light. Then to my surprise a familiar face turned around to check up on me. Jasper.
He looked at me with worry. My vision was still discombobulated and trying to focus on Jasper in front of me. All these emotions just rushed into me and I just started crying. Jasper tried to reach back to rub my arm to comfort me, but out of my unconscious thoughts I backed up as far as I could and just yelled and panicked. A vision of James grabbing me came to mind. I yelled out "get away from me!" I didn't mean to. Then Jasper came back to view. My vision was bad, but I can tell that he was crying silently. I know he wasn't trying to hurt me, but after what just happened with James panic just took over. I can tell Jasper can see the restlessness overcome me and just nodded because he knew he really couldn't do anything.
Still crying I was trying to gather myself together. "Where...are we...going?" I asked.
Jasper turned back around and started driving the car forward again. "I'm taking you to the hospital." He was so matter of fact. I could see all the streetlights we were passing by. I started crying erratically. "Please don't be scared. You're going to be ok." I could hear the pain in his voice.
We drove through a bump which made me jump out of place and I screamed out the top of my lungs. "I'm so sorry!" Jasper yells out. I knew it wasn't his fault, but he was trying to comfort me as much as he possibly could. The car suddenly stops and Jasper jumps out the car. I started to get anxious being alone in the car. What if James found me? How did I even get here? What happened at the beach? I can feel my heart beating faster. A few seconds later the back door opens and I see Jasper with a wheelchair accompanied with what looked like hospital nurses behind him.
They lifted me up carefully and sat me on the chair and wheeled me in. As the glass doors of the emergency room slid open I could see everyone that was in there looking at me horrified. The bright lights hit me hard in my eyes. I didn't want to see any reactions so I looked down watching the tiles below me flow by. I was ashamed. I heard Jasper talking to the nurses and then he told me once again that everything was going to be ok. I was still crying.
They rolled me into a room with a single bed. The nurses gently lifted me up again and laid me down in bed. Jasper took a seat next to me and slowly reaches out to hold my hand. I flinched a little bit, but my reaction to his touch wasn't as bad as before. "My dad's working the emergency room tonight. I've asked the nurses to call him so he should be here any minute." Jasper squeezed my hands tighter. He was right. Not a minute later a tall man walks into the room. It looked like he may have been wearing a white coat, but I couldn't really put everything into perspective. It must have been Jasper's dad Carlisle. I couldn't even explain the look he was giving me because I was avoiding to look at his face. Everything else was a blur. Everything was so bright.
"God, Seth. What happened?" I didn't know if he was talking to me or Jasper.
After a few seconds of silence Jasper answered his dad, "He got attacked by..."
I quickly cut Jasper off, "Muggers." Out of the corner of my eye could see Jasper quickly whip his head towards me. His mouth slightly opened as if he was surprised that I didn't tell the truth.
He turned to look at Carlisle. "He's lying dad."
I let go of Jasper's hand and just looked down at my feet. "No I'm not. You weren't there. It was a mugger." I didn't want to admit that James did this to me. I didn't want to ever see him again and if that means I have to lie to not see him then that's what I'm going to do.
Carlisle walked over to the other side of my bed. "I have to check your pulse, but before that I need to look at your head." He brought a small flashlight and waved it across my eyes. Then he started gently moving my head side to side to get a better view. "Looks like you may have gotten a concussion. You're going to need some stitches." He leaned into my left arm and I leaned my head back screaming in pain. He took a look at my arm. "Your arm seems to be dislocated as well. Seth, I'm going to need to put it back into place. It's going to hurt, but I can promise you I'll give you some pain medication so the pain would go away as soon as possible." I looked at Carlisle then I looked at Jasper who was still on the other side of my bed. Jasper nodded to me and in return I turned back to Carlisle and nodded for him to do what he had to do.
"Ok in 3 I'll pop it back. One..." then I heard a loud pop and immense pain taking over my body. I turned to my side and cried profusely. "Sorry. You're going to need a sling for your arm for a few weeks. Charlie should be coming in soon to file a report. Any violent act that goes around here needs to be consulted with the sheriff." I widened my eye and shook my head at Carlisle. "I'm sorry Seth. It's hospital protocol. Mugger or not you got hurt. Whoever hurt you has to deal with the consequence of their actions. I don't know if you've seen yourself Seth. You look pretty bad. I'm not going to lie to you and say that you just got a few scrapes and bruises because you obviously have more than just that." Tears were still coming down my eyes. I gave out an exhale. "I'll leave you two alone for awhile. I'll send a nurse to bring you some pain meds. Jasper , I'll leave it to you to call Mr. and Mrs. Clearwater. I'm sure they're worried and they would probably want to know where Seth is."
As soon as Carlisle left the room Jasper quickly confronted me. "Why did you lie? You fucking know it wasn't a damn mugger who attacked you." He was getting frustrated. "You..." He choked on his words. "You...could've died." I looked up at him and tears were flowing down his cheeks. His eyes were red.
"How did you find me?"
Jasper didn't answer me right away. I kept looking at him while he was busy looking around the room. Seem as if he gave up and looked right back at me.
"Melissa called me." Jasper finally answered my question.
My eyebrows furrowed. "W-what? How did she know where I was?"
Jasper smiled. He grabbed my hand again and started rubbing his thumb across my hand. "She lives right by the beach. She was walking her dog and she saw this car zoom past by her which upset her dogs. Then she saw you and James get out the car. She thought it was suspicious that you two were going to the beach so late for no reason. So she ended up giving me a call and asked for me to check up on you. I drove down the the beach as soon as I can. I'm so thankful that she did Seth. We could have lost you." Tears were coming down his face once again. "Right when I arrived at the beach my headlights caught you two on the ground. I didn't even have time to think. I just ran towards you two. Then the closer I got I was able to see what was happening. I tackled him to the ground and he got his arms off of you. We fought for a bit, but I noticed that his nose was already bleeding and he was hurt. Somehow I get a good jab and he passed out. Once I saw him just lying there I ran towards you...you were just laying there. I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't. I panicked so I just grabbed you and put you in my backseat and that's where I guess you woke up. Now answer my question. Why did you lie to my dad? Don't you see what he's done to you? You shouldn't let him walk away just like that." That's when my vision started getting a little better. I looked at his hands. It was all scraped and bruised. His knuckles had blood all over them. He had some scratches on his face. I felt so bad that he too had to get hurt.
I gulped. I really didn't want to answer his question, but there was no use. I couldn't even get any words out at that point. Once again I was crying hysterically. One of the nurses finally came into the room and handed me some pill for me take. That task itself was hard for me to do. My jaw hurt to open my mouth wide enough to put it in and do drink water to wash it down was almost close to impossible. It must have been the pain pills that Carlisle was talking about because not too long I phased back out.
As I opened my eyes again the room was a little be dimmer than when I first came in. I was trying to get my vision back together and I noticed my family was here. I turned my head to see that Jasper was asleep on the couch across the room. Leah was on the floor asleep on the ground with her back on the wall. My mom and dad was right beside my bed. My mom with her head on my dads shoulder and my dad just looking right at me. He gave me a small smile. He reached out to grab my hand which in return woke my mom up.
"Oh my god Seth you're awake." She got up and hugged me. I winced in pain and she quickly pulled away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She sat back down besides my dad. I noticed that Leah too had woken up. She got up and slowly walked towards my bed and sat down at the footing of it.
"How long was I asleep?" I asked.
Leah crawled up to lay down besides me and I tried to scoot over as much to give her some room. "You were asleep for over a day. We got all worried, but Carlisle said from the exhaustion of what happened during that mugging and the extent of how much pain you took that it was normal for you to be sleeping for so long." I closed my eyes. I'm so thankful that Jasper didn't tell anyone what really happened. I turned my head towards him to see if he was still sleeping. He wasn't. He was now there sitting with his arms crossed.
"Charlie came by yesterday, but since you were asleep he couldn't complete his report. He said that he would just stop by the house during the week." My dad said to fill up the silence that took over. "So why were you walking at the beach so late at night Seth?"
I looked up at the ceiling. "I just wanted to go for a walk." I hated lying. I felt someone touch my other hand and I flinched in nervousness. It was just Leah. What's going on with me?
I was in the hospital for another couple days till Carlisle said it would have been ok for me to come home. A sigh of relief got to me because I was getting restless just being in the hospital room. I finally got the see the extent of how badly hurt I was. Yes, I had a sling on my arm, but my face was badly beaten. I could barely tell it was me.
When we finally got home I just stayed in my room. To be honest never really wanting to leave my room. A few days has past and I didn't want to go to school. The worst part was the nightmares. I would cry and yell in my sleep for help. I would recall the events that happened that night. I would wake up by either Leah or my parents coming into my room to wake me up from my horrible slumber. Jasper came by everyday to check up on me. He said that the guys were asking about me and he told me that he told everyone the same story I was telling everyone. I wanted to talk to him about it, but still I couldn't come to face with reality. I could see a hint of disappointment behind his eyes. Charlie came by the other day and asked me a few questions. He asked me to describe my 'mugger' and I just told him since it was dark I couldn't really identified the attacker. As he left he told me that if I remember anything else don't hesitate to come to the sheriff's station.
It was a little over a week till I decided that I had to go back to school. My face has healed up just a little bit, but still I was still unrecognizable. I told Jasper yesterday my plan and he told me that he would be picking me up and that he wouldn't be leaving my side. Great, I have my own personal security guard. I didn't want that. I told him he didn't have to, but I guess anything I tell Jasper at this point he wouldn't listen to. I had to face the possibility that I might see James at school. Jasper told me that he hasn't seen James at school since the incident which helped me ease up just a little bit.
As soon as we got to school I was just looking down. Passing students left and right. Then we just stopped as I saw a pair of legs in our way. It started me and I quickly took a step back. I thought it was James, but I looked up to see that it wasn't him. It was Jacob.
"My god. Seth, what happened?" Jacob asked and he took a step closer.
I don't know why, but anger was starting to take over. My eyes were getting filled with tears again. I looked at him with so much anger. "So now you're talking to me?! Why do you even care?!" I took a step forward and in return he took a step back because of my aggression. He finally stopped walking once he finally backed up into a locker. I don't know where it came from; I just went off. "Don't act like you care now just because something happened! The way you've been treating me this past few weeks made it clear to me that you wouldn't have cared if I existed. And now what?! Just because I look like shit and almost got the life beaten out of me you try to come running and rescue me? What the hell do I look like some damsel in distress?! You said you considered me your best friend Jacob, but the way you treated me made it seem like you cared more for shit stuck on your shoe than me. So yea, I look like shit, but don't you dare come to me acting like you care now because I'm tired of this bullshit! And you know what sucks about this whole situation?! I still considered you as one of my best friends, but I guess you proved me wrong right?" He was surprised. I stared at him with his eyes wide open and his mouth agape. It looked like he was about to say something, but before he can muster up the words I walked away pulling Jasper with me. I could tell students had stopped and they were staring. Whether it was because of my sudden outburst or the way I looked like, but at that moment I did not care.
I got to my first class and everyone's attention was on me; including my teacher. They all gave me the look like I was a walking dead. I tried to ignore it because I'm probably going to be getting these looks all day. I kept my head down till I noticed Embry come walking towards me and sat next to me.
"Holy crap Seth" Embry whispered to me. "What the fuck happened to you? I mean, I heard you got mugged, but fuck it looks like you got one hell of a ride out of it. I'm sorry I don't mean to open up wounds that you are trying to heal. We were just worried about you man."
I sighed. "Thanks. That really does mean alot to me." I forced a smile to come across my face.
Embry looked like he was studying my face. It looked like he had a question he wanted to ask me, but was deciding if he should or not. "So if you don't mind me asking, do you know who did it? I mean the mugger. Did you take a good look at him? Whoever messed with you is messing with everyone in the group. We're all ready to pounce." He chuckled. "I know Jacob sure is."
"What are you talking about?" I inquired. That statement somehow got me curious.
Embry and I waited for a while to continue our conversation. Our teacher started talking, but fortunately the rest of the class we were just going to watch a video. Once the teacher popped in the video Embry turned towards me again. "Back to Jacob, he was so pissed off when Jasper told us. He kept asking who was the person and all Jasper told him that you didn't know. Is that true?"
I shrugged. "It was dark. I couldn't get a good look at him." I hated lying, but I wanted to stick with my story. If I can just avoid James my whole life then I would do it.
Class ended faster than I thought, but then again Embry and I were not even paying attention to notice the bell even ring. It was nice talking to him. He started telling me about this new girl he has started seeing. He was at the mall with Quil. Quil was hungry so they went to the food court and as they waited in line to get a hot dog this girl stood behind them. Embry told some lame corny pick up line which I guess worked because they have been talking ever since and that was a week ago. To be honest, I'm glad he's telling me this because it kept my mind away from things. At the end of class we were assigned a project. Embry and I were to work on it together so that just means we would be spending a little more time together. That would be nice.
The day seemed to go by quicker than I thought. Of course I got a little more attention than I ever had since moving here, but I have to say that I'm glad I came to school instead of staying home. It was lunchtime and I decided that I wanted to hang out with the guys because I did miss them. Once I arrived joining the rest of the group they all expressed their concerns and I in return told them I was ok. In reality I was nowhere near that. I still had James in the backseat of my thoughts and seeing him I don't know how I would react. Surprisingly Jacob was with us. He didn't speak to me of course, but I caught him looking at me and when he saw me turn my head he quickly turned his. Not this again. I'm getting tired of this. Can't he just go back to ignoring me. I would be a lot happier. Jasper and I was sitting on the bench talking about heading to the diner after school when I got goosebumps from a familiar voice speaking up. I turned around only to be horrified to what was in front of me. Jasper quickly stood up in front of me with his hands balled up.
"So I heard a rumor in school that you were mugged. I hope you're not as hurt as you look." James said coldly with a smile. Everyone else in the group didn't really pay attention to him because prior to events we were actually hanging out so they just acted casually.
I could sense the hostility that Jasper has towards James. A flashback of what happened that night hit me and then I felt anger boil inside of me. I stood up to face James. There's no way that I'm going to let James affect me this way. I know for a fact that James wouldn't start anything here anyways because all my real friends were here. The adrenaline was pumping into my veins. "You know what James? You can take your fake ass concern and take it somewhere else!" My eyes darted towards him. At this moment, I could tell everyone in the group had their attention on me, even Jacob.
James grinned back at my stabbing stares, "But Seth, I thought we were friends?"
"Friends?" I laughed. "James, you don't have friends. My parents always taught me to never judge anybody on their appearance; so I figured that I should give a pathetic soul a chance. But I guess I just wasted my fucking time didn't I? Do us all a favor and jump off a cliff and at least make it entertaining for us. I'll reserve my seat front row. Till that day comes, back off the fuck off and I never want to see your face again."
Out of nowhere I heard clapping and I turned to see Jasper laughing and cheering me on. The other guys had a look of surprise on their faces. I hate to admit it, but even seeing Jacob grin made me feel good. I turned back around to see James expression of what looked like defeat, but then smiled again. As he was leaving a turns his head to look straight at me, "I may be a pathetic soul, but you're the dumbass who gave me a chance. Seth, just remember even in the dark you have a shadow." He winked at me and walked away.
As James cleared away I realised that I was now shaking. I can't believe I just did that. I can't help but think about that shadow crap that he was talking about. Was that another threat? Shit. I felt someone grab my shoulder and turn me around. It was Embry.
"What was that about?!" He yelled out.
"Oh we just had a falling out. I realised that he was everything that you guys warned me about. I was just stupid enough to think he had any good in him."
After my confrontation with James I kept a lookout around me. Jasper as promised was with me with every turn. Luckily, I didn't encounter James the rest of the day. After school Jasper took me to the diner Jacob and I went to when he was teaching me how to drive. All these memories was starting to fuel my emotions and I was going haywire.
We were getting out of the car when I noticed Jacob and Melissa walking out of the diner. Oh great. Why does this keep happening to me. When I wanted to see him Jacob was nowhere around. Now when I don't want to see him he was always there. Nobody got time for this.
Melissa skipped towards us. "Hey Seth!" I hate how she's so cute.
"Hi Melissa" I greeted.
"How about me?" Jacob asked. "Are you going to greet me too?" I just looked at him and waved. "So can you tell me what happened?"
Once again, anger was starting to take over. "Didn't you hear? I got mugged." I told him.
Jacob chuckled. "Do you know what this guy looks like? Did you get a good look at him?" Why was he pressing so much?
I exhaled. "I told everyone the same thing and I'm telling you this; I don't know."
"C'mon Seth, you have to remember something about the guy."
Jasper all of the sudden steps in front of me. I took a quick look at him and he looked pissed. "You know what Jake you want to know the truth, here's the truth. It's all your fucking fault!" I grabbed Jaspers arm and he snatched it away from me.
"Please Jasper don't." I begged him. Jasper turned to look back at me.
"No Seth! I'm tired of this crap. Out of all the people, Jacob needs to know." I took a look at Jacob and Melissa; they both had a puzzled look on their faces. Jasper turned his attention back at Jacob. "You want to know what really happened?! I'll tell you. Since you chose to not be around and now since you're so worried about Seth here's what really happened. You want to know about the mugger?! You wonder why he couldn't remember anything about that mugger?! HA! There was no mugger!"
"Wait...what?!" Jacob replies.
"I'm not fucking done. There's no need to pretend that we all don't know what's going on." Jasper took a step closer to Jacob and started talking a harsher tone. "I found Seth being beaten to an inch of his life and in the of an attempted rape. It's all your fault!"
Jacob tried to cut Jasper off. "How is it..."
"Shut up I told you I wasn't done! You know Seth might have been hasty about kissing you and showing how he felt about you, but that was no excuse for you to ignore him and treat him the way that you did. Didn't you realise because you started ignoring him that was the reason he turned to James. I tried to talk him out of it, but there's only so much I can do when he was so brokenhearted over you. I've known you for so many years, but I never thought you could be that cold. Even if you aren't gay that doesn't give you a reason for you to stop talking to him. So what if he told you he couldn't be friends with you again. What did you expect him to say?! He was scared and didn't know what else to do. You shouldn't have let him walk out your house! What kind of friend does that?! You're a fucking pussy Jake, that's what you are! Even Melissa was more of a friend to Seth than you have been lately. Thank god Melissa called me to tell me spotting Seth and James at the beach."
Jacob took a step back shaking his head. I took a look a Melissa and she was crying her heart out. Then Jacob took his attention to Melissa. "You knew about this and you didn't tell me?!"
Melissa fell down to her knees with her head down, "I swear I didn't know. I'm so sorry all I wanted to do was help you." Wait who is she talking to?
"Don't be mad at her. If it wasn't for her I'd probably be dead by now." I walked over to Melissa and knelt down beside her pulling her into a hug. "Thank you. You saved my life."
"How is this my fault? I'm sorry I wasn't around, but I don't understand how this is my fault." Jacob said.
"How is it your fault Jake? You were on of his best friends and you totally ignored him. You pretended like he didn't exist. Like he was nothing on this earth. Seth was abandoned by someone who he trusted and cared about. Fuck that, he fucking loves you!" I was mortified. Why would Jasper confess that to Jacob?
"I understand that it was wrong of me to ignore him because of the kiss, but I wasn't the one who forced him to befriend James. I even warned him again." A few seconds passed by till Jacob started talking again. "Wait James...he was at school today. Was that the reason why Seth went off on him? And what the hell did he mean over that stupid shadow shit?!"
Jacob now turned his attention towards me. "Seth, I know I haven't been a good friend...Fuck! I haven't even been a good friend lately. But I want you to know that I always cared about you. I'm not going to let James get away with this."
"You know what? It's too late."
Jacob stood there for awhile staring at me and he suddenly started walking backwards till he bumped into his truck. He didn't say anything else, but just got into his truck and drove away peeled out of the parking lot.
We were all left at the parking lot figuring out what just happened. Melissa was still crying on my shoulder and I was trying to calm her down. We were suppose to eat at the diner, but ended up arguing with Jacob. Boy what a day. Can it get any worse?
Oh how I was wrong. The next day when I arrived at school Jasper and Melissa ran towards me out of breath.
"Seth!" Melissa says, "We have to get you out of here. Something bad has happened."