Chapter 5
The Lost and the Found

"What's your favorite color?" Evelyn spoke up, her small feet sliding over the rocks.

Jacob had avoided the beach.

To him, the beach was irrevocably intertwined with her. The beach was where he had first met her. The beach was where he had confessed to her. The beach was where he had told her about the nature of that…that thing that would steal her away. The smooth stones of the beach were littered with thousands of lost hopes, dreams and memories. All of her.

The beach was her.

And yet, when Evelyn had lightly taken his hand, in that soft, yet strong, way that so characterized the slight blind girl, and dragged him to First Beach, he found himself unable to tear himself away.

The truth was, when he walked down the beach with Evelyn, he couldn't think of her.

When he was with Evelyn, she eluded him.

And that bothered him.

"I don't have a favorite color," Jacob stated flatly, thrusting his hands into his pockets and turning his head tersely away.

Evelyn smiled calmly, "You like all colors then. Equally."

Jacob scoffed, the sound coming out more like a derisive grunt.

But Evelyn didn't count herself defeated, "Yes. All the colors," she paused, closing her eyes, her smile intact, "It fits you, Jacob."

Jacob shook his head impatiently, his lips firmly pursed into a thin line, "No. No color."

The werewolf was surprised when the girl burst into laughter, twirling around in a perfect circle. Her brown hair caught in the breeze and her eyes that would have been a startling blue shone in the rising light of the sun.

"Jacob!" Evelyn reprimanded, grinning, "Are you attempting to tell that you are the absence of color?"

Jacob couldn't respond. The sight of her: twirling on spot, her long brown hair flying, her face flushed with the cold bite of the morning sea wind, was giving him a sensory overload. He would have answered; but he couldn't make his mouth muscles respond, much less find the air necessary in his lungs.

She tipped forward, her nose scrunching up in the most adorable of ways, as she reached up and poked Jacob, "Don't hide from yourself, Jacob Black."

And just like that, her flippant mood vanished, and she resumed her even strides down the shore, humming lightly to herself.

"Evelyn!" Jacob had yet to move.

She stopped, the breeze toying with her embroidered white skirt, and turned, her head tilting slightly.

The werewolf was trembling, his sunken eyes dark and haunted. "I am not hiding from myself," he rasped.

She didn't say anything. Instead, Evelyn did three things in sequenced order: she raised her eyebrows, curled her lips in a knowing smile, and held out her hand.

Jacob hesitated. His tall frame weary and slightly apprehensive.

Evelyn waited, frozen in the still morning, outlined by the orange rays of the rising sun.

And then Jacob stepped forth, and took her hand.

If Evelyn would not have been blind, perhaps she would have seen the small, almost imperceptible wisp of a smile that shone briefly on Jacob's dark face. But, truth be told, Evelyn didn't need sight to see his smile. It was visible in the warmth of his hand around hers and in the slight pressure of his fingers.

And she found herself smiling too.

ooo

"What color is the sky?" Evelyn trailed her fingers upwards, as if to touch the heavens.

Jacob cast an uninterested eye up, "Grey."

"Oh," Evelyn paused, pursing her lips, "Are there any clouds?"

This time, he didn't even bother to look up, "Yeah."

"Are they white?"

Jacob felt like smiling, but he couldn't quite get there, "Clouds are always white."

"The sea," she said the name almost reverently, her long eyelashes brushing her cheeks as she whispered into the air, "What color is the sea?"

"Blue."

Evelyn didn't seem content with the answer, tilting her head slightly.

Jacob let out a frustrated sigh, "Maybe green."

Still not completely satisfied, "Green?"

The werewolf bristled, "Why do you care about color so much? You're blind," he stated roughly.

She wasn't affected by his callous tone. Instead, her perpetually calm smile reappeared, "Close your eyes Jacob."

He was going to say no, but the noise caught in his throat. The Man Who Stared complained loudly: why was he even walking with this bizarre girl? His time could be better spent trying to find the familiar heart-shaped face with those impossibly soft chocolate brown eyes in the objects around him. His time could be better spent feeding that constant numb ache inside him; remembering the way her lips felt on his, the softness of her skin, the sound of her laugh, the sparkle in her eyes. His time could be better spent remembering the way she had loved him once. But somehow, though his mind pushed Evelyn away, clinging to those fragile memories of the girl he had loved, he resisted – and when the Man Who Stared made to pull away, Jacob Black stayed.

He didn't understand.

He couldn't understand.

He didn't want to understand.

Jacob closed his eyes, his hands in his pockets, "Okay."

"What do you hear?" her voice asked, somewhere off to his right.

Nothing. It was a quiet morning, with no other people around to provide a backdrop of chatter, not even a seagull to cry out in that annoying hyena-like laughter.

Jacob gritted his teeth in annoyance and breathed heavily through his nose, "Nothing."

He could imagine her radiating smile, "Really?"

The werewolf was half-tempted to just open his eyes and pretend – after all, she was blind, but, for some reason he couldn't really explain, he decided to humor her. He concentrated, shutting his eyes more tightly.

"The sea, do you hear the waves?" she proposed.

Her voice.

He could hear her voice. It was odd; he had never really grasped the peculiar quirks that made up her unique voice. At first, it was wispy, a half-whisper: it was a reverent breath, as if she was concerned about breaking apart a symphony. It was calm. Always peaceful and self-assured – everything that she said she fully believed. But it was also like a bubbling stream, full of life and sunshine, reminiscent of chimes.

It was like a breath of fresh air.

Jacob smiled. A real, genuine smile, "I can hear you."

She was probably smiling in that disconcertingly imperturbable way of hers, "What color am I?"

This time, he didn't dismiss her - perhaps it was the lack of sleep or maybe the conviction in her words. Jacob absorbed her voice. He listened. And he understood.

Everything: every trilling octave of the seagull above, soothing lullaby of the waves, muted tone of the insistent breeze, even rhythm of the stones shifting under his feet – everything had a personality, a color, a mood. Everything talked. And he heard.

"Blue, maybe" Jacob started, careful with his words, "But a bright blue, a very bright blue. Or white. No. No – yellow," his hoarse voice seemed happy with the choice, "Yes, yellow like the sun."

Her voice was soft as always, "Color is not just a single-faceted, detached wavelength reflected from a certain chemical mix. Color is…emotions. Life."

Jacob opened his eyes and got caught in Evelyn's perpetual blank stare. It was just them, the sea and the sky. Nothing more. Nothing less.

She blinked her large blue eyes, "Everything has a voice, all you have to do is listen."

She fell silent, and Jacob didn't feel the need to say anything.

He didn't know how long they stood there for. Maybe a minute, maybe hours. It didn't matter. Jacob was accustomed to silence. Evelyn had shut her eyes, her long brown hair flying in the breeze around her, playing with the heavens. For once, Jacob didn't feel the gaping hole opening up inside him. He felt comfortable, standing here with Evelyn.

A slow smile began to spread on the odd girl's face, robbing the silence of its grave and almost poignant air.

Jacob was almost scared.

"I have to say hello to the ocean vertebrae," Evelyn was now grinning. And not because of the utter absurdity of what she had just said.

"Yeah, sure. Completely understand," Jacob really tried to hide the sarcastic bite of mockery in his voice.

Evelyn either didn't hear it of completely misunderstood it. With a happy twirl and a loud, almost obnoxious, humming of what Jacob strongly suspected was Jingle Bells, she ran into the ocean and dove headfirst, fully clothed, under the waves.

It took him a few seconds to regain his senses. For one, the werewolf was too shocked by the girl's abrupt and, in his opinion, highly unreasonable, mood swings. Furthermore, Jacob Black found himself completely and utterly confused.

Evelyn was downright the most baffling girl he had ever met.

Not to mention deranged, a bit psychotic, and just plain weird.

And despite this long interminable list of synonyms he was sure he could come up with, Evelyn was…how could he put it? Fascinating.

Fascinating.

Jacob Black thought that Evelyn was fascinating.

Slightly short, but full of important interaction between our lost werewolf and the, one-and-only, fascinating Evelyn. So. Drop me a line, let me know what's on your mind! :)

AneleTiger.