Chapter Twelve: Unexpected

Angela (POV)

Joshua was sitting in my lap, and I was humming to him absently. The melody something mom used to hum to me, and I never knew where it came from. The house was busy, with dad in his office pacing as he practiced through his sermon for the week, mom fussing over Isaac, and myself a mess of emotions. I hadn't gone back to school yet; I could barely get out of bed most days.

I had never been depressed before. I knew Bella was alive, but something else was bothering me. Weighing on me so much that I could barely focus, concentrate… function. School work had become irrelevant, life seemed to be irrelevant. I had tried to figure it out, and I knew it had something to do with my world view and how in a single afternoon it had collapsed completely.

Would God have created creatures like the Cullen's? It made me doubt everything I thought I knew about reality. What else was out there in the darkness, lurking just beyond our knowledge? It gave me nightmares. I knew it some form of existential crisis, that I was questioning my own place in the world.

Or maybe being confronted with the very real possibility of my own death had spun me, hard.

"Angela, could you bring Joshua over here and take Isaac?" Mom asked, and I nodded without saying a word. My parents assumed that my depression was about Bella, and to a degree they were right. She was the person I would usually talk to about stuff like this, or maybe Alice. Beyond one short call, I hadn't heard from anyone. Even Tyler was staying away and wouldn't return my calls.

I picked up my brother and brought him over to the highchair mom had set up for their lunch. Isaac was a mess, and she gave me a look asking if I would take care of it. She handed me my other brother after I got Joshua situated and trudged into the kitchen to use the sink to give Isaac a bath. It was a relatively mindless action, he loved bath time. I continued to hum, getting him clean and finally drying him off and getting him dressed and back into his playpen. After I was done, I just headed upstairs to my room without another word. I might have heard dad call for me, but I ignored it. I crashed on my bed and passed out.

I think I dreamt of woods, tall dark stalks of cold beauty. I was running through those woods, intent on something. I could feel anger seething and driving me forward. I kept going faster and faster, until the trees became a blur. Then I was at the ocean, the dark waters undulating with white lines crisscrossing the surface. It was the kind of churn that would eat up a swimmer and crash them against the rocks of the cliff I was standing on. Then without hesitation I threw myself in to the sea, and as my body plunged into the frozen depths I woke up.

Alice's ring tone was halfway through its first cycle.

"Alice?" I answered without any perceptible emotion.

"Angela, you okay over there?" Her voice was not as bright as usual, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know why.

"I'm fine, just a little down. I haven't been back to school yet." I sniffed a couple of times and coughed once. "And I think I'm coming down with a cold."

"Oh, well this can wait I guess." Alice said sounding a little sad.

"Maybe that's for the best." I said and hung up before she could say anything else. I looked at my phone and resisted the urge to throw it at my wall.

"Angela!" Mom called from downstairs.

"Coming mom." I said impatiently, slipping my phone back in my pocket.

"We're going to the mall, and then grocery shopping, we have to pick something up for your father. So, we'll be gone for a few hours. Do you want to come with us?" Her question was weighty, and I knew she was trying to help. I should my head.

"I'm going out." I said coming up with an easy excuse.

"Oh, where to sweetie?" It sounded like the last thing she wanted to know, but I had to tell her.

"I promised to spend some time with Alice today. I just talked to her. She called to tell me she is on her way to pick me up." I hoped I was able to lie effectively since I still wasn't very good at it. She gave me a wide smile, but I could see a little frustration in her expression, thankfully she didn't say anything.

"Okay, could you help me get Isaac and Joshua in the car?" I nodded easily, and helped her corral them, get their shoes on, and then helped carry them out and strap them into mom's SUV. Dad came out after we were done and kissed me on the cheek before getting in the car. He was still looking over his notes, and I couldn't imagine how mom was able to handle it all. Yet, she turned and tried to smile at me as they pulled away, just as my phone rang again.

"I'm coming over." Alice said quickly and hung up without letting me respond.

"That's fair." I muttered to myself and just sat down on the front porch to wait. It took Alice all of ten minutes to arrive, a drive that would've taken me nearly thirty. She was standing in front of me in a blink, and I shuddered slightly at the sheer unnatural quality of it.

"I was going to wait, maybe a week. Once we were sure. Looking at you now, you need reassurance. We're not monsters." Alice held out a hand to me, and I stared at it for what felt like forever.

"Okay." I took her hand and she pulled me up. I turned and locked the door to my house, and then followed her to her expensive car. Once we were on the road, I finally actually looked over at her. She didn't look right, there was nothing in her expression that felt like the Alice I knew.

"What's wrong?" I was surprised by the amount of emotion in my voice.

"Plenty, but nothing you should worry about. I'm just thinking a lot lately. How are the twins?" She seemed distant and detached, which was so unlike her that it had me really worried.

"You're avoiding the subject, but the twins are fine. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. How long has it been?" She glanced at me worriedly. "I'm losing track a little, I haven't been back to school." Was Bella the issue, or was something else troubling her?

"Almost a week." Alice answered unenthusiastically.

"Something's off about you. Fess up, is it Bella?" I pried, and she shook her head at me.

"Bella's great. She's adapting better than we could've hoped, and even forgave Edward and Carlisle already." She didn't sound happy about that development at all.

"Are they back together?" I asked hopefully.

"No. We can forgive but never forget, our memories are indelible. She's still a little angry about the whole thing. I can't blame her. No, I'm upset because of something else." She was frowning, her concentration on the road.

"Oh? Maybe I can help." I offered, and she almost chuckled. I would've felt insulted, but I honestly wasn't sure what I could do for mythical monsters and their internal drama.

"You being you helps. The family is just facing some adversity we were hoping to avoid, and some things have developed that are putting everyone on edge." She was being evasive, and I didn't know why.

"That's vague, what kind of adversity?" I said looking over to see if I could gauge her reactions, but when I did, I could tell something had changed. Alice was stone faced and immobile. "Alice! Alice, are you okay?!"

We were speeding too fast down a narrow two lane road outside of Forks proper. At the speeds she was driving we were only five minutes from her house, but it was still miles away. The path before us was a winding and dangerous section of road that wound around a nature reserve, which caused there to be some extremely sharp turns. It was also a busy route since it was a major thoroughfare to Port Angeles and then beyond to Seattle. I wasn't sure if she was having a seizure or something even more serious, I had no idea what affected vampires.

Then her hands fell from the wheel as the black top began to curve to the right. Immediately we started to drift to the left. Ahead of us, only four hundred or so meters away, was one of the nastiest blind turns in the entire area. It was the obligatory 'Dead Man's Turn' which of course my mother hated when I drove through it. More accidents and fatalities occurred here then anywhere else within a thirty mile radius. I grabbed a hold of the steering wheel and attempted to put us back into the right lane. Then suddenly she tensed up and her foot pressed hard against the accelerator. After a second of pressure the metal began to buckle under the force she exerted, and then it broke off at the gas pedal. I fought hard against the wheel which threatened to rip loose from my grip.

"Alice we're going to fast! Alice! Wake up… please!" I frantically yelled, glancing at the speedometer and watching as our speed was still increasing steadily.

I realized screaming was doing no good and unhooked my seatbelt so I could reach under her with my leg to try and force her foot off the gas pedal. I found the right leverage, but it was like trying to move an imbedded rock, she wouldn't budge. I looked up at the turn approaching fast, and swerved fully into the left lane to get a wider arc on the turn. It was the only way we would be able to take it at the speeds we were moving. Then I heard a large air horn, the kind attached to big rig trucks. The warning was typical around this turn as a courtesy to avoid head on accidents.

A head on collision with a truck or a sideways flip into the forest, where the roof would likely get impacted by trees, neither was an appealing option. But they were the only two that seemed available to me, so I searched my brain for anything else. Like a flash of lightening it occurred to me that Alice might be able to survive a fall from a moving vehicle. So I unhooked her seat belt and opened the driver side door. Then I scooted to the far side of the car and pushed against her with all my strength. She rolled like a rag doll out of the door. I jumped into the driver's seat and slammed my foot on the brake. Unfortunately the damage to the accelerator had locked it into place so the brakes were sluggish to react.

The speed and the distance to the truck was too short, there was nothing I could do to completely stop the forward momentum. I took a deep breath and reached for the seat belt in a vain attempt to mitigate the damage to myself. But the belt was locked because of the pressure on the brakes. I closed my eyes, and flashed upon my life up until this point. I felt almost euphoric, as I realized this was the moment of my death.

Then something hit the right side of the car, I looked over to see a pair of unusual mismatched eyes peering into the passenger's side of the car. The stranger motioned for me to cover my face so I looked away from the window. I heard a shattering noise and a gentle pair of hands grabbed a hold of my right arm. Then he pulled me out of the car. I felt like I was in free fall for a second before we hit the pavement. Once we stopped moving I looked up quickly to see Alice's beautiful car crash head first into the truck. The driver of the truck was obviously slamming on his breaks in a panic, but it was far too late.

The crash was spectacular, the metal twisting in a deafening roar, and the two vehicles slid forward almost a hundred feet before sputtering to a stop. The stranger pressed his hand to my neck, and then patted me down quickly. I looked up at him with curiosity and gratitude. He just smiled at me briefly before he was up and running towards the truck before I could even thank him. He yanked the door off its hinges like it was made of cardboard and dragged the unconscious man out carefully. He pulled him off to the side of the road and checked his vitals like a doctor. Then sighed deeply and looked back at me. I checked myself and felt a surge of relief to know that all my bones were intact. He moved over to me quickly and offered me a hand to help me stand.

"You must be Angela." I blinked at him, feeling confused. "You're the only human I know the Cullen's have any intimate contact with, it's nice to put a face to the name." It made sense if he was a friend of the Cullen's.

"Alice!" I turned and looked around for her. She was laying face up a hundred feet back. I ran over to her as fast as my legs would carry me. I felt a little shaky, but I shook it off as adrenaline. Alice's clothes were a little tattered, but she seemed physically fine, except she was staring blankly up into the air.

"You're in shock Angela, I should get you home." Concern laced his words. I looked into his earnest eyes and noticed the beauty in his face. My savior was gorgeous. But I had to disagree with him.

"No take me to the Cullen's. I need to take Alice home." I set my tone as determined, but it came out a little broken. I felt my legs give out from under me and gasped as I felt solid hands catching me effortlessly.

"Very well, but I need to clean this up first. Give me a few minutes then I'll get both of you home." I nodded not sure what he meant. Then he set me down carefully and turned towards the wreckage. As I blinked he was next to the hulk of twisted metal. He took a long minute to stare at it, as if figuring out how to tackle something so impossible. Then he wrapped his hands around the frame and proceeded to pull the broken car from the front of the truck. I was surprised how little damage there was to the truck. Then he picked up the car, held it above his head, and ran into the woods.

Less than a minute later he was back and began to pick up the remaining pieces of the car. Moving with a speed that I could barely see he cleared the road in seconds. Then he jumped into the truck and pulled it off to the shoulder. After the truck was in place he set the air brake and turned off the engine. Then he retrieved the driver and placed him gently in the driver's seat. Then he bent the hinges of the door back into place and closed it quietly. As he walked back to me I felt awe on my face, but I struggled to repress it. When he was a couple feet away he looked down at me and held out a hand.

"Let's get her home. Will you at least let me be your feet for a little while?" I just nodded at him and grabbed his hand tightly. In a fluid motion he brought me up and onto his back. Then he pulled Alice into his arms, being careful to cradle her comfortably. "Hold on tight, and you might want to close your eyes." I just shook my head.

"What's your name?" I asked before he started to move.

"Mason. It's a pleasure to meet you." He smiled widely, and then he launched us into the wilderness.