Mike didn't have football practice as their coach hadn't come to school in a few days which left the team a little worried as their Homecoming game was supposed to be this Friday. Angela didn't even want to think about the dance that was happening the next day after the game. Edward and his siblings weren't at school and all her calls and texts were ignored. She didn't even know what to think anymore after Tyler told her that Dr. Cullen surprised the hospital by going on a last minute leave from the hospital to deal with a family emergency.
Angela didn't want to go home after school, finding that time to herself gave her room to worry and think about the death of the security guard and the timely absence of the vampires next door. She hated how conflicted she felt. Thankfully, Mike understood she needed a distraction and drove them to Kalaloch beach. La Push was considered unsafe and people were avoiding the area but they didn't really feel like surfing.
Kalaloch beach was famous for the Tree of Life, a massive Sitka spruce that clung between two coastal bluffs by its winding thick roots. It baffled locals and tourists for how it stayed alive and never toppled over despite the storms it weathered through. Angela had always loved the tree even when it confused her as a child and she wondered why it didn't simply collapse without something to anchor it. She found herself visiting the tree every year, always fearing she would find it no longer there.
Tyler and Eric had insisted on coming along as they decided to show more of Forks on their channel. Eric was filming themselves in front of the massive tree and showing off how impressive it was. Angela and Mike watched them from the beach a few feet away, shivering against the cold sea air. She wished she brought a thicker coat.
"That tree is a beast!" Eric zoomed out the camera to capture the whole tree. "Look at it just clinging on for dear life."
"That's a buff ass tree," Tyler agreed. "That tree could go against the Hulk and win."
Mike shook his head. "It's just a tree."
"No, it's not, Mike Newton," She chided. "That tree is a glitch. It shouldn't exist but it does."
Like vampires. They should only be myths in books but they were real.
"It does look like something you'd see on Middle-earth," Mike observed. "Tolkien would've loved this tree."
He was secretly a huge Tolkien fan and he made her pinky swear to never tell a soul lest he haunt her from the grave for her betrayal. Not that she would ever tell. Nobody would believe her. As far as people knew, Mike Newton only liked Die Hard and sports films.
"It reminds me more of Yggdrasil, actually."
Mike raised his eyebrows at her. "Why does this feel like you're about to give me a history lecture about something obscure?"
"Shut up," She smacked his arm. "And listen. Yggrasil is a tree in Norse Mythology…"
"Uh-huh," Mike dutifully nodded. "Go on."
"They called it the World Tree because it connected the nine realms together," She explained. "One of which is our world, Midgard."
"Like a massive highway?"
"More of a nervous system or a bloodstream," She looked up at the Tree of Life and its massive branches and its green leaves at the top of it, alive and healthy despite the odds. "At Ragnarok, Yggdrasil safely hides two mortals in its trunk and they would repopulate Midgard."
"Ragnarok?" He recognized the word. "The end of the world, right?"
"Yes," She further added. "The thing about Ragnarok was that the more they fought to keep it from happening, the more they ended up making it a reality."
"Self-fulfilling prophecy," Mike continued. "Like Voldemort choosing Harry."
He was also a Harry Potter fan. Mike Newton was probably one of the biggest nerds and it made her somewhat glad to be the only one that knew. It was nice to be trusted. She'd seen already what it felt like to doubt her trust in somebody and how it could eat her slowly from the inside out.
Angela was in the middle of cleaning up after dinner when the house phone rang. She took off the washing gloves and left them on the counter next to the sink to answer the phone. It was Jessica. She sounded concerned and told her to turn on the TV to watch the news.
They were reporting on finding the body of David Smith, the high school football coach at their school. He had been reported missing since Monday and was torn apart the same way as the security guard. They were thinking it was another 'animal attack' and would be trying to find the 'bear' that was responsible. Angela took a seat on the couch and wanted to weep but she didn't know what for.
That's how her mother found her, clutching one of the frilly throw pillows as a lifeline and wanting to disappear into herself. Knowing something was wrong her mother gently pulled her away from the couch and led her to her bedroom. She had Angela to change into her pajamas then made her sit on her bed so she could brush her hair. The simple act comforted Angela, reminded her of when she was a little girl and she felt that her mother could protect her from everything.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Her mother asked. "You don't have to but it might make you feel better."
She had been bottling so much for weeks. About vampires and Edward and what may have caused the deaths of those poor men. She had been too afraid to tell anyone a thing, knowing they wouldn't believe her. Deep down she realized that she was afraid to acknowledge that even if the Cullens didn't kill those men, most probably killed people in the past and she didn't know if she could accept that.
"Mom, do you ever think that you may have misjudged someone?"
"What do you mean, love?"
"What if you realized that somebody was actually a bad person?" Angela swallowed. "They've hurt people? And somehow I'm supposed to just ignore that?"
Anna put down the brush and had Angela turn around so she could look her in the eye. "Who are we talking about?"
"I can't tell you," She shook her head. "These aren't my secrets."
"Angela, other people's sins are not yours," Her mother cupped her face in her hands. "If they've done terrible things, as you say, and you cannot accept that, it is not selfish to protect yourself."
She was crying and she couldn't stop it. "Even if I care about them?"
"It is not your responsibility to forgive them," Her mother sighed, stroking her hair. "My sweet Angela, you've always had a big heart. I do not want you to ever give more than you can bear."
Her mother pulled her into a hug and Angela accepted her comfort. She wanted to feel safe and loved. She wanted to go back to a time Edward Cullen ignored her existence and all she had to worry about was homework and dealing with her little brothers. She wanted to go back to before his family arrived in town and Forks was a merely small town where nothing ever happened.
The Homecoming game and dance was pushed back two weeks from the chosen day due to the football coach's death. They had an assembly at school for him and most of the students went to pay their respects at his funeral. Almost everyone in town was there as they had been at Paul Simmons' funeral. Angela had stood there with Lauren as Jessica gave her condolences to his wife and how small and helpless his children looked.
Angela had to watch as this time Mike spoke to the coach's widow. She looked at the coach's son, a Freshman who had acne and wore a suit that was too big for him. He looked skinny and unsure about how to act. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling at that moment and she prayed she never had to know.
A sense of unrest and dread came over the town. Forks wasn't used to tragedy of this magnitude after years of petty crimes and small accidents. People had become complacent in believing they were safe in their small town tucked away in their corner of America. Death had a way of opening people's eyes to grim truths.
Angela didn't know what to do with herself. She felt almost numb, mechanically going through the motions of her day to day life. Unlike before where she was content with her life's ordinariness, the knowledge of another world hidden from people's eyes made her feel isolated. There was some truth to ignorance being bliss. She wished she had somebody to talk to, somebody that would believe her.
She hadn't been sleeping well. Nights spent staring at her bedroom ceiling as time passed around her. Mr. Mozart had taken to sleeping beside her more, tucked against her body and offering his silent comfort. A rustling outside and the sound of something hitting wood made her sit up in alarm.
If she had been asleep, she would've slept through it but that night she got up from her bed and made her way to the window. The lamp at her bedside table was on and it gave her minimal light as she tried to make out what was outside. She saw a silhouette of a large animal beside one of the hemlock trees. Remembering the news talking about a bear they hadn't caught yet, she froze.
The light hit the animal just right as it raised its head and she saw large brown eyes gaze up at her in alarm. It was a wolf, larger than any wolf she'd ever seen in her life. It was as big as a bear with sandy-colored fur and paws almost too big for its body. The wolf turned tail and ran.
She ran back to her bedside table and pulled out the flashlight she kept there. Going back to the window, she unlocked it and pushed it open. She flashed the light into the darkness and found only trees. The wolf was long gone.
Angela's head was spinning with so many questions, she barely concentrated in class. She couldn't eat either, just moved her food around with a fork as her thoughts wandered. Her friends tried to engage her in conversation and she responded half-heartedly. She startled when Lauren pushed her into the girl's bathroom.
"What is going on with you?" The blonde demanded. "You've been acting like a zombie for days."
"Nothing is going on with me," Angela replied. "Everything's fine."
"No, Ang, everything is not fine," Jessica countered, warily. "Ever since the Cullens left town, you haven't been yourself."
Angela said nothing. She knew they were right. She had no excuse for her behavior. The secrets she kept between herself and everyone else was a chasm she couldn't cross.
"We get that you and Edward were becoming something," Lauren said. "We all saw it. We have eyes. But what we're seeing right now is terrifying all of us."
That stunned her. She knew Jessica and Lauren would've cared. Mike had a way of reading her no one else could. But even Tyler and Eric noticing and getting worried was surprising to her.
She didn't know why she was so floored that all her friends cared so deeply about her. She'd always assumed that they took whatever she gave them and didn't really take note. Which as she realized it was a truly messed up way of thinking. She was so used to being the one taking care of her friends that she didn't know when to ask for help and have them take care of her.
"We love you, Angela," Lauren stressed. "Talk to us. Talk to anyone. Please."
"Okay," She would be better. She had to. "I will."
She just didn't know where to begin.
Angela could admit she was not the bravest soul. She would've never made it into Gryffindor. She didn't run head first into things without carefully assessing every angle first. That's why she made Edward wait and let him woo her with paper ducks and sincere confessions. Not that it had prevented her from falling for the lie of Edward Cullen. Or the truth of him as the wolf she saw the last night now put a new spin to the story. She couldn't tell which was which.
She was walking home after school as Mike was back to football practice since they were able to get a sub to coach them. Eric was working double time on the school newspaper and Tyler had to run errands for his mother. It would've been a short walk as her house wasn't far from the school but Forks, being what it was, rained hard in the middle of her trek. She foolishly had no umbrella that day so she wrapped her arms around herself and tried to insulate whatever heat she could.
She didn't run as it was pointless at this point. She was soaked through. A car was passing by, a blue Volkswagen Rabbit, and it stopped beside her. The window rolled down and Jacob Black told her to get inside. She hesitated.
"Angela," He gave her a pleading look. "Please, just get in. You're gonna drown yourself out there."
She opened the car door and got into the passenger seat. Jacob started driving immediately and with one hand he reached into the backseat for an old blanket. It was a little threadbare, a faded grey that had seen better days but it was warm and dry. His car didn't have the best heating and she shivered, her shoulders shaking from the cold.
Jacob asked, "You couldn't have your friends drive you?"
"They were all busy."
"Your parents?"
"At work."
Her teeth were chattering and she couldn't stop. She rubbed her hands together for warmth but it wasn't working. Jacob stared at her and she knew her lips had to be turning blue. He, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by the cold and was only wearing a t-shirt. She remembered him saying he was warm-blooded and she envied that.
He inquired, "Where do you live?"
"Bogachiel Way," She tried to blow heat unto her numb fingers but it was futile. "It's just around the corner."
He pulled up to her driveway. Nobody would be home until later and she dreaded being alone in the empty house. She turned to Jacob and remembered that date that never happened. She'd been too caught up in someone else.
Hesitantly, she offered, "Do you want to come inside? We have soup in the fridge."
He smiled and it was like the sun. "I'd love to."
She told Jacob to make himself at home in the living room before she left to take a hot shower. She felt better once she was no longer in danger of hypothermia and wearing dry clothes. When she went back to the living room, she found Jacob looking at the many photos they had hanging on the wall or standing in frames around the TV. They chronicled her growing up from a baby at the hospital with her parents to her latest photo in her first day of high school and she was surrounded by her friends.
Jacob was smiling at a photo of her when she six and wearing a Snow White costume for Halloween. She and Jessica both wanted to be Disney princesses. Jessica had been Cinderella. Mike had dressed up as a fireman.
Angela made her way to the kitchen and reached for the big pot of soup in the fridge. She heated them two bowls of pozole rojo. It was her mother's favorite soup that Anna learned to make in college after spending a semester in Mexico. It was a soup that took hours to make and they slaved over it for most of the previous day.
She came over with the bowls and handed one to Jacob who smiled at her gratefully and took a seat on the couch. She took the seat beside him and let the soup bring her back to life. Pozole was a stew made with hominy, pork, guajillo peppers and garnished with cabbage, cilantro, radishes, and lime. The hard work to make it was worth it.
Jacob's eyes widened in surprise. "That is so good."
She smiled, feeling herself go red from the praise. "It's pozole."
"Ah," He took another spoonful. "Kinda spicy but I like it."
"Well, at least we finally had some soup," She tried to show she was sorry about basically blowing him off. "I didn't mean to never call you. I just got…busy."
"It's alright. I got busy too," He swirled the spoon around his bowl. "A lot's been happening this year."
"I know," She sighed, placing her mostly full bowl down on the coffee table. "Remember when Forks was boring and ordinary?"
He snorted. "Maybe on the surface. I think even small towns have secrets to hide."
She didn't know what made her tell him. Maybe she was just sick of keeping so many things to herself. Maybe it was Lauren pushing her to finally talk to someone about what was bothering her. She just needed to finally let out all the things in her mind that were slowly driving her insane.
"I saw a wolf last night," She admitted. "Outside of my house."
He raised both eyebrows. "A wolf?"
"Except it was huge, like the size of a bear," She continued. "And I remembered that they never caught the bear they were looking for in La Push. Maybe whatever this mutant wolf thing is, it has something to do with the attacks."
Because if there was some wolf-bear running around in the woods, then maybe the Cullens didn't kill those people. And that meant Forks still wasn't safe. The monster was still at large.
"I know it sounds crazy," She said. "But that wolf thing is still out there and it could be looking for its next victim!"
"Angela…"
"Don't!" She got to her feet, feeling distraught at finally opening up to someone and getting the outcome she expected. "Don't look at me like I'm making all this up! God, I knew I shouldn't have told you. Like anyone would ever believe me-"
"Angela!" He got to his feet as well and he grabbed unto her arms to keep her still. He was still gentle despite his strength. "I believe you."
She stared up at him, relief rushing through her. He believed her. He didn't dismiss her claims like she thought other people would've done. Someone believed her and she knew from his eyes that he truly did and he wasn't just humoring her.
"You don't think I'm crazy?"
"That's still debatable," He joked, smiling softly before becoming serious again. "There's something you should know."
Edward left town and Jacob is back in the story. This was a very condensed version of New Moon's events and different as always because Angela is her own character. Before you guys say so, no, Jacob was not the wolf outside Angela's house. Definitely part of the Quileute pack but I'll let you guys guess who it was.
1. The Tree of Life, also known as the Kalaloch Tree, is a real thing and is found north of Forks. You can google it. It's truly something.
2. I never felt comfortable when deaths are just brushed off in stories even if they were minor characters we never got to know. Bella brushing off that the Cullens had killed people in the past never sat right with me. Angela would have a moral crisis because she was raised to value human life and she is naturally empathetic. I wanted to really show her dilemma and the effect it had on the town with the little connections they had with Mike and Jessica.
3. It was also important to me to show Angela has support available to her if she would accept it with her mom and her friends. Oftentimes, we try to carry the load all on our own and it's unhealthy. Angela had to learn this. She's too used to being independent and the caretaker.
4. Chapter title is from the song 'Say Something' by A Great Big World. For Angela's feelings on Edward and her opening up to Jacob.
5. We got some Harry Potter references because I am a massive Potterhead. Personally, I think Angela is a Hufflepuff. Not that she's not smart enough for Ravenclaw but she has all the best traits of Hufflepuff with being loyal and hard-working. Hufflepuff also has the credo of accepting students that don't fit in the other Houses.
6. And Mike likes LOTR cause boys can have multiple interests. The jock can also like to draw and read Tolkien. No to toxic masculinity 2020.
