Chapter 3: Stages of Grief
Anger, confusion, and a profoundly sad loneliness seeped into Leah's bones as she shifted back, and let the fact that she imprinted on a leech sink into her brain. Her knees shook as she hastily got dressed. She had to be somewhere in Canada. She'd hated being naked in front of her brother, ex,and half a dozen other men she'd strung up clothes and money every ten miles in a tree. She'd never told Sam. She had been a wolf for two days purposefully keeping her thoughts a jumbled mess to throw off Sam and the others. She would have to call her mom later. Not that she would want to hear from Leah. She walked up to a diner that she had found while she was running. She was starving, having only eaten a few hor d'oeuvres at the wedding and a rabbit in the woods. She felt cold for the first time since she'd shifted, and she was glad for the flannel she had put in the bag. She shook it off and went inside. Sitting down, and waited until the waitress poured her a coffee before she let herself truly think about the implications of what she had done. She sank into the booth and sighed. Her chest felt tight. She would live forever. Once someone imprints that's it, they don't fall in love again, and you fall out of love with whoever you were with. She could feel it, she was no longer in love with Sam. Still deeply pissed at him though, so at least the familiarity of that felt normal. She always knew she'd liked girls, she just had never pursued it. Now she looked around the diner, and noticed her waitress for the first time. She was...cute, and once upon a time Leah would have gone for it, but now she just felt…lonely. Figures her soulmate would be happily married. She needed to get a game plan. She would need to go back into the woods and get all those clothes, and money from the woods, and maybe get a hotel room while she came to grips with the fact that she was doomed to love someone who would never love her back, maybe this is what she deserved for killing her dad. She gave the Waitress her order absently and let the coffee warm her bones. She picked at her food, her morose thoughts putting her off her eggs, and the banging of pots and pans in the back were starting to give her a headache. She paid her bill, and got directions to the local motel from the cute waitress. Then she went back into the woods, and shifted running through the woods to get her clothes. Her brother's voice pleading in her head, and her heart panged in at the thought of Seth, she would have to call him too. She made sure her thoughts were jumbled, only focusing on the clothing.
She checked into the motel, and entered her room. It was damp and cold. It smelled ancient. However the bed was clean, and Leah was exhausted. She stripped out of her clothes and dove under the covers. Praying she wouldn't shift in her sleep, or dream of the fairy princess of the Cullen family.
She didn't shift, thankfully, however she did dream of Alice. They were cuddled up on the couch in the Cullens living room. Seth was laughing so hard he was about to fall out of the chair he was sitting in. Alice's cool skin felt lovely against Leah's overheated one. She glanced at the other end of the couch, and there was Jasper, smiling softly and affectionately at not just Alice, but the both of them. Leah and Jasper's eyes met across the couch, and he threw a roguish wink her way, causing Leah to blush. Then she woke up. Her wolf was just beneath the surface, itching to be free to run towards Alice, she pushed the itch away. Then the intense bubble of happiness that the dream had induced burst, and an overwhelming sadness enveloped Leah. She heaved out a sob, and then another, and finally let go, the fact that she would never be with the only person that was perfect for her sunk in, and she let herself grieve. She cried for what seemed like hours. Until her head ached, and her eyes itched. Then she drifted off into a thankfully dreamless sleep. When she woke up again two hours later, and was unable to go back to sleep she heaved herself out of bed, and went to the shower. The water pressure was shitty and it got cold after five minutes. That just reminded her of the cool skin of Alice. She got out of the shower and threw on some fresh sweatpants and a tank top. Then she wondered where the nearest liquor store was because the itch to shift and run to the vampire was getting stronger, and maybe the liquor would drown the wolf.
She went to the front desk, there was the same checkout lady. She had to have been in her fifties. She had her hair piled on top of her head, and a cigarette dangling loosely from her fingers, then Leah noticed the flask next to the small television that was playing a tele novella, and a name plate that said Agnes.
"Do you know where I can get a drink in this town."
"There's a liquor store up the street baby," she gravelled out. Then took a long drag and slid a ten dollar bill across the counter, "you look like you need this; feel free to use the whole ten."
Leah smiled thinly at the woman. and left out the door. She walked down the way the woman she was pointing and right up the road was a small liquor store. She went in, grabbed two bottles of gin, and three tiny whiskeys, and left. On the way out the door she caught her reflection, Agnes had been right, Leah looked rough. Her hair was sticking up, and Her eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot. She angrily shook off the thought that Alice would not approve of her appearance, and went to the fast food place next door to the liquor store and bought enough burgers to help soak up the gin.
She went back to the motel, nodding to Agnes on the way to her room. She immediately twisted the cap off of the gin, and took a straight swig. Her mouth twisting at the taste. She pulled the bottle away from her lips and coughed a little. Then she munched on a burger while she drank from the bottle. After a while the itch to shift faded ever so slightly and her head began to swim a little. Even though the itch lessened, and longing did not, she flipped on the tv and found an oldies sitcom station. Her last thought before she passed out was that Samantha deserved better than Darren.
The next thing that permeated her conscience was a knock on the motel door.
A/N: who could it be Alice, Seth, Agnes well apparently you'll find out soon considering the rate I'm cranking these out. Also I love height difference, and Alice in the book was 4ft10 Ashley Green was 5 ft5, I'm going with that height. Jasper is 6'3'', and Leah is 5'10'' according to wikapedia, I think these are simply adorable facts, and I wanted to share them.