Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. of Twilight are the property of Stephenie Meyer. I am in no way associated with Stephenie Meyer, any creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.
Some descriptions of characters that previously existed have been altered to fit the vision of this story. If you are interested in viewing the character reference photos, please view my Pinterest Board (/clairebear_04/like-breathing-but-harder/).
Chapter 4: Claire
The sun had begun to set by the time we passed signs for La Push. We had stopped to eat on the way out of town, knowing that we would be too tired to make anything at home.
Home, I said in my mind over and over. While my heart still hurt from leaving the college house, I had never lived with Quil before. Sure, I had been over to his house loads of times. It was an old, small, two-bedroom house on the edge of the reserve that was given to him by his grandfather. It needed a ton of work, from stained, matted carpets to peeling paint on the walls. Quil had worked on it from time to time, replacing the roof, giving the exterior a new coat of paint, fixing a couple of the broken windows that wouldn't latch shut. But now I could call the tiny house my home. Quil was my home.
I caught myself twirling the ring around the base of my thumb as Quil grabbed my other hand. "You ok?" he asked, glancing over without taking his eyes off the road.
"Yeah," I said, a mixed bag of excitement and weariness.
He brought my hand up to his lips and kiss them, clutching it tighter in his.
By the time we came to a stop in his gravel driveway, it was completely dark. Quil lived on the edge of the woods that backed up to the ocean. If it was quiet enough, which it typically was, you could hear the waves beating against the rocks that batted away the water from the luscious foliage.
I stood up out of the truck, my back arching slightly as I stretched. I closed my eyes and breathed in the woodsy air, listening to the crickets chirping in unison with the frogs croaking into the night.
Quil turned off the ignition and leaned over the hood. "Do you want to unpack any of this tonight?"
I glanced back at the bed of the truck, filled with garbage bags and boxes crammed with random junk. I shook my head, yawning as I did so. "Nope. That is a tomorrow problem."
He chuckled and walked around the truck, carrying his duffle bag from the weekend. I grabbed my overnight bag from the cab and shut my door, joining him.
He led me to the front door, unlocking it in silence. The house had a tiny front door that Quil barely fit under without ducking. The porch, if you could call it that, was more of a concrete slab that was about five feet wide and lit by an old, golden porch light. Tiny bugs gathered around it, settling on the white siding and the glass.
Quil opened the door for me, waiting for me to go in first. Back in the day, he used to warn me that "it's not in great shape," or "I'm sorry, I'm not the cleanest," or sometimes "it's really messy this week, lot of late nights." But by now, it was fundamentally unspoken.
Once inside, the house broke into small sections. The first room you walked into was something of a living room, about ten feet wide in both directions. It opened into the next portion of the house that may have been a dining room once. The first of two bedrooms was just to the left of the front door, with the one and only bathroom connected to the middle room. The second bedroom, Quil's room, was right next to the bathroom, closest to the kitchen in the back of the house.
There wasn't much furniture, aside from an old couch and a folding card table that Quil used for cards with Jake and Embry every few weeks. He rarely ate meals at home, most were the eat-and-phase style.
"I'm sorry," he finally said behind me, closing the front door. "This is nothing like what you're used to."
"Quil, it's ok," I grinned and looked at him. "Maybe Emily and I can go shopping later and help spruce it up a bit."
To this, he smiled widely and kissed me on the forehead. "You're amazing, you know that?" His attention was suddenly drawn to the back door through the kitchen. "Hey, you relax, I'll be right back, ok?"
He tossed his duffle bag toward his bedroom door and jogged out the back.
I took a deep breath in, smelling the mix of leather and sweaty t-shirts and smiled. I pushed the door to his room open, grabbing his duffle bag for him. His room was incredibly small, barely had a closet, but it was just big enough for his bed and two dressers. His hamper in the corner consisted primarily of shorts- shirts never lasted long with him phasing all the time- which collected at the base of the hamper.
I set my bag next to the taller dresser and plopped on the bed. I closed my eyes, running my hands over the comforter. It smelled just like Quil, and my heart sang as a goofy smile spread across my lips.
I opened my eyes and sat up on my elbows, glancing around his room. Not much had changed since the last time I had been here. There were a couple of pictures on his dresser, one of me from my princess birthday party when I was little. Another was a photo of his grandpa in front of this house. He had a nightstand wedged between the bed and the wall that had a lamp on it, the shade dingy and tilted. The smaller dresser was next to the sliding door of the closet, where he had an old CD stereo system that his Mom bought him a long time ago.
My eyes wandered to the bedroom window as I stared into the back yard where Quil disappeared to. I could see Quil's outline just in front of the tree line, the light from the house lighting his figure. I couldn't see who he was talking to, hidden in the trees. It wouldn't be Jacob, surely he took the night off with the graduation this morning. Maybe it was Embry, who would most likely be on duty with Quil and Jake gone. But what would be so important to alert Quil?
I heard the back door open and I sat up on the bed crossing my legs. "Everything ok?" I asked as he rounded the corner into the bedroom.
"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine," he said. He didn't look concerned or worried, so maybe everything was fine.
"Who was that?" I couldn't help my eyes from glancing back through the window.
He followed my gaze. "Just Embry," he replied as he sat down on the bed next to me.
"What did he want?"
"Just wanted to make sure we got in alright," he said plainly.
"Mm," I decided he was telling me the truth. If something was happening, Quil would have no choice but to go help. It wouldn't be the first time.
"You ready for bed?" he asked, noticing I hadn't changed.
I heaved a sigh and smirked. "Yeah, just give me a second."
That night I fell asleep in Quil's arms, not from sneaking in my window or hiding from Sam's view, but because I was allowed to be there. I pressed my cheek into his warm, bare chest, heaving up and down as he slept. Snuggling closer to him, I felt all the sadness from today wash away, and all I could think about was that this was the first night for the rest of my life that I get to sleep by his side.
Mom helped me into the back seat, buckling my seat belt for me, even though I was old enough to do it.
"Mommy, let me," I whined.
"Claire, not now honey," she looked over her shoulder, her black hair falling into her face. She looked back to my seatbelt, her hands fumbling to get the piece in the buckle.
"Mommy," I complained again.
Mom clicked the buckle and shut the door without responding to me. I felt pain my chest at her lack of acknowledgment that brought tears to my eyes. She ran around the front of the car and slammed the driver door shut, not buckling her own seat belt as she threw the car in reverse.
"I want Quil," I insisted, folding my arms over my chest.
"It's ok, Claire bear, we're going to see Emily," she said, steadily glancing back and forth to me in the mirror and then out the passenger window. She stepped on the gas, causing the car to lurch backward as she cranked the wheel to turn us away from the house.
"Mommy, I want Quil," by now the tears in my eyes started to well over.
I heard Mom heaving air in and out as if she was sucking through a straw. She yanked her cell phone out of her purse, frantically dialing a number as the car peeled out of our driveway.
"Em-" Mom gasped into the receiver. "Em, he found us- It's just like Sam said- he, he wants Claire-" at this Mom started crying.
"Mommy," I whimpered, tears steadily streaming down my face. "Mommy I want Quil!"
"Em we're on our way, we-"
The car exploded into a whirlwind of metal and glass, flying all around us. Gravity felt like it had stopped for a moment as the ground suddenly became the sky. The seatbelt holding me to the backseat ripped into my chest, making it hard to breathe. I screamed, but I didn't know if Mom could hear me. With a loud bang and another painful jolt from the seatbelt, the metal and glass cyclone stopped, along with the ground returning underneath us.
I was crying steadily now, a mixture of screams and wails blending together as I struggled to breathe between them. My chest felt as if it had been squished by a giant elephant. The top of the car had ripped off, and I was able to see the sky and trees above us. I felt warm liquid all over me, hearing crunching noises under my hands and feet.
"Mommy!" I shrieked, looking to her seat for her to turn around and comfort me. But she wasn't there. She was there a second ago on the phone with Aunt Emily. "Mommy!" I cried harder, trying to get her attention. "Mommy, Mommy!" Air couldn't come to me fast enough, I felt my head getting dizzy.
Suddenly I heard a loud snarl behind the car. Another round of screaming ripped through my body starting at the base of my spine. There was another growl and a loud thudding noise off in the trees. My eyes were clamped shut as I wailed.
"Oh my god," I heard a voice say beside me. "Embry! Get Sam and Quil NOW!"
Feeling my body tremble, my screeches turned into whimpers. I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. My hands throbbed, my chest hurt, my head was pounding. "Quil," I wheezed, tears dripping off my chin.
"He's coming, Claire," Jacob ripped the rest of the car door away and I heard more clinks of glass on the road. "Hang in there, Claire bear, I'm going to get you out of here."
"I want Mommy," I said faintly.
"She's-" he tugged at my seatbelt. The latch wouldn't give way. "Just stay with me, Claire, stay awake for Quil, ok?"
Another round of shaking caused my body to jolt. "Uncle Jake?"
"I'm right here, Quil is on his way, ok?" he grunted as he pulled the seatbelt, ripping it out from between the seats. More crunching noises from under his feet.
When he scooped me up into his arms a cry of pain escaped my throat. "Shh, I know, I'm sorry," he said as he clutched me to his chest, carrying me out of the mess of metal and glass.
"Claire!"
Jacob turned me around just as Quil staggered out of the trees, heaving air. I started crying again uncontrollably at the sight of him. I saw more men behind him, their faces frozen in horror.
Quil ran to meet us, my arms outstretched for him. His face was overcome with agony as tears fell down his face. "Claire," he gasped, taking me in his arms. Another sharp pain ripped through my chest but I could barely feel it anymore.
"Quil, Quil, Quil," I whimpered, my body still quivering.
"I'm right here," he said, holding me close to him. "I'm right here, Claire bear."
Air shot out of my lungs as I bolted upright, my hand pressed against my chest. "Quil, Quil, Quil!" My shoulders heaved as tears came to my eyes.
Quil awoke immediately "Claire?! What is it?"
"I- she-" I blubbered. It had been years since I had the dream that vividly. My hands started clamping and relaxing, testing to see if the shards of glass were still there. "I could feel all of it," I whimpered.
"Shh, it's ok," he wrapped his arms around me tightly, pressing me against his body. "It's ok, I'm right here."
I couldn't speak anymore. I let him hold me, rocking gently. Pain throbbed across my chest from my right shoulder down to my left hip. I squeezed my eyes shut, the echoing of glass shards clinking in my ears.