Chapter 4

"Mom, Casper peed on the carpet again!"

"Well, clean it up then!"

"But I did it last time!"

"Alexis Nicole, you wanted this puppy, you have to take care of it!"

"What? I never wanted a puppy! I wanted a cat! And cat's use litter boxes and don't pee everywhere!"

My mother sighed audibly from somewhere in the kitchen. I was not backing down on this one. For the past week I couldn't seem to step out of my room without walking in a puddle of pee. Sure, Casper was an adorable puff ball, but he was a complete pain in the ass that I had no patience for. I'm an only child! I shouldn't have to put up with this crap!

"Alexis, I'm tired of hearing this argument from you."

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes. "I was planning on walking around for a bit since the rain let up, so I'll be back in a couple of hours." I was barely able to keep the irritation out of my voice.

"Hold up!" my mom called out, appearing from the kitchen. "I'll make a deal with you. You take Casper with you and out of my hair for a few hours and I'll clean up the mess, okay?"

"But mom, I wanted to explore." I whined back, conscious of the fact I sounded like a five year old.

"Well, then, Casper would be perfect for you. He can't seem to keep his nose out of anything…" she shot back, disappearing into the kitchen to get his leash. I contemplated bolting right then and there.

Casper whimpered for attention at my feet. I sent him a glare. The stupid thing was worse than an annoying younger sibling. Not that I'd really know.

"Now don't tire him out too much. Remember, he's still a puppy," my mom lectured, clipping on his leash.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I replied, still miffed. "I'll be back later."

"Be careful, Alexis! Don't wander too far into the woods either!" she called out to me from the front porch.

"Well, mom, at least if anything happens to me, I have Casper here to protect me," I called back. "Or at least to offer as a distraction, as I get away…"

Casper let out a tiny whimper.

"Oh, grow up, I was only joking," I told the dog, very matter-of-fact.

It didn't seem to faze him, as he trailed behind me, gloomily. I yanked on his leash to get him to catch up.

We had finally gotten the little monster about a week ago, and so far the thing had eaten most of my socks and underwear and had chewed a hole through my tennis shoes. My feet were now freezing because of it.

However, Mom had absolutely fallen in love with him. We had gotten to the shelter in Port Angeles to find that they had a fresh litter of border collie puppies. Fate had worked against me. I had been hanging on desperately to the chance that there would be no puppies, and I would be able to tempt my mother with adorable, furry kittens.

But no, we were ushered brightly into a pen full of eight clumsy puppies, only after being treated to complimentary hot chocolate and cookies. I secretly think it was a bribe to take one of these balls of energy off their hands. (They even tried to convince us to take a second one, but I firmly shut down that suggestion before my mother got hold of it, playing the 'we-can't-afford-it' card.)

Anyway, there was Casper, sitting there amid the squirming mass of wrestling puppies, a solid white fur ball, except for a black splotch on his head that actually made it seem as if he had a Ying and Yang sign on his face if you squinted hard enough. (I actually debated naming him that for a while, since I was given the sacred privilege of giving the thing a name, but decided Casper was better.)

I glanced back at the puppy, trailing behind me. He was still sulking.

"You know, I was just kidding about wanting a cat more than you," I told him. He seemed to brighten a bit, staring up at me with his round puppy eyes. I winced. "Well, actually that's a lie, I did want a cat more than you," I corrected. "But that was before I knew you and realized how amazingly cool you are, when you're not eating my stuff…"

Why I was comforting a dog who was sulking over my apparent rejection of it was beyond me. In fact, can dogs even sulk?

I looked up to see that we had entered what one could describe as 'downtown' Forks, a sad sight. Surprisingly, no one was out, despite the fact for once in Forks history it had stopped raining.

"You're actually not that bad once I got used to you. Though, we do need to have a talk about you peeing everywhere; it's just simply bad manners, not to mention a pain in the ass for me.

"And this new obsession you have with chewing my underwear is just not going to fly anymore," I lectured him, sounding scarily like my mother. "And don't think that I didn't figure out that that hole in my favorite bra was your doing."

I glared down at Casper, who had the decency to look at least a little remotely sorry with his tail tucked between his legs, even if he couldn't understand what I was saying. Looking at him was a mistake though, for his watery puppy dog eyes stared up at me all pitiful like and my heart cracked just a bit.

I knelt down and rubbed at his fur. "I'm sorry little guy," I said, scratching his ears and letting him lick my face for once, something that I absolutely hate. "Its' okay-I'll try to stop leaving my underwear on the floor, and you'll try to restrain yourself a bit more, alright?"

"I imagine that would be pretty hard, considering this is your underwear we're talking about."

I whipped around, not surprised for some reason to find Mr. Male Model standing there. He seemed to have made a habit of approaching me when I talked to myself.

"Excuse me, but we're having a private conversation here," I snapped, barely sparing him a glance before focusing on Casper.

He must have been taken back by it, for he floundered for a second, clearly not sure if I was joking or seriously blowing him off.

"Uh…"

I took off down the sidewalk before he could regain his wits. It was a bit cowardly of me, I admit, but I really just wanted to spend the day all by myself. Was that really too much to ask? Just a couple of hours?

"Hey, wait up, paint-girl!"

Apparently so.

I sent him an irritated glance, as he fell in stride next to me.

"Woah, what crawled up your ass and died?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

I huffed and rolled my eyes.

"The fact the world didn't get the memo that today was supposed to be a 'me' day," I grumbled, childishly.

He let out a hearty bark of a laugh, the kind you couldn't help but join in on. I tried to resist and maintain my weak glare and silly anger, but failed miserably.

I settled for simply shoving him, but instead of throwing him off balance, I simply bounced off and hit a street sign.

Ouch. That was going to bruise.

"What the hell are you made of? Concrete?" I cried, rubbing my sore shoulder.

"I like to work out," he explained, a bit sheepishly.

"Or pop steroids," I shot back.

He glared at me. "I know it's hard to believe, but this body is all me in all my natural glory." He struck a pose, flexing his muscles.

I choked out a laugh, "Yeah, you wish, steroid man."

"I do not take steroids," he retorted, crossing his arms and pouting like a three year old. The pose ironically made his muscles even more prominent.

I rolled my eyes; he was beginning to resemble Casper. Speaking of the little guy, I looked around to find him huddled behind my legs as far away from Steroid Man as possible.

"What's wrong with you Casper?" I asked, as I tried to yank him from behind my legs. If he kept this up, I was going to step on him, and the last thing I need was to come home with Casper and a broken paw. My mom would absolutely flip if I hurt her 'baby'.

Mr. Male Model peered around me down at the white fur ball, who seemed to cower even more. "Maybe he doesn't like strangers?"

"Hmm, I suppose," I trailed off. I thought back to Casper's encounter with Mr. Frederickson. He had been all over that poor old man, who had immediately fallen in love with his "youthful enthusiasm". Maybe it was just the fact Mr. Male Model was freakin' huge. If I was Casper's size, I would be scared shitless of him too.

A honk startled me out of musings. I turned to see a familiar dark blue Dodge.

"Oh god," I mumbled, picking up my pace. I officially hated my life.

"Um, paint-girl?" he asked, keeping up with my fast stride with irritating ease. "Do you know that woman? Cause she's waving at us…" He glanced back behind us. "And it looks like she's having an issue with the car window…"

"Nope, never seen her before in my life," I rushed out, on the verge of full out sprinting around the corner of the next block.

Just when salvation was imminent, a shrill voice called out, "Alexis Nicole, don't you pretend you didn't see me!"

I came to a reluctant halt, looking up at the heavens and cursing whatever lay beyond the gray clouds. Life hates me.

I looked past bewildered Steroid Man to the rusty Dodge that pulled up beside us.

"Oh, I didn't see you there mom," I said, pouring innocent surprise into my voice. Too bad my mom has known me long enough to see through my incredible acting skills.

"Don't even go there," she threatened, but then abruptly changed her tone. "I brought you your inhaler; you always seem to forget it."

I turned red, marching over to the car with my head ducked. "That's because I never need it!" I hissed back. My asthma was a touchy issue. I was convinced I didn't need an inhaler to control it; I could handle it on my own with some simple self-control and breathing exercises. I was not some cripple dependent on a metal tube.

My mother sent me a dry look. "Well, it's better to be safe than sorry," she shot back, shoving the Ziploc bag into my hands. There was no compromising with my mother when it came to my health.

"Fine," I snapped, stuffing the bag into my coat pocket and marching away from the car.

"Oh, Alexis," she called out after me in a sickly sweet voice.

"What?" I snapped, whipping around.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" she asked with fake innocence.

Friend? Who was she talking about-

Oh. Mr. Male Model. Right.

I had totally forgotten about him. I looked over to my side to see him standing on the sidewalk looking a little more than awkward.

"Oh, um, well he's not really my friend, exactly," I rambled, slurring my words together, "I don't even really know his na-"

I was completely ignored, as Mr. Male Model suddenly found some balls and marched right up to the car and stuck out a hand. "I'm Embry, Embry Call."

Woah, Mr. Male Model has a name.

"Oh, I'm Diane Cunningham, Alexis' mother, obviously," my mother replied and eagerly shook his hand, delighted at his 'gentlemanly' act.

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am." Oh, great, we have a suck up on our hands. I burned holes into the back of his head.

"So, how did you meet my Alexis?"

Steroid M-I mean Embry-sent me a sly glance. I flushed scarlet. This was not happening. My mother was not interrogating some random guy, whose name I didn't even know until like thirty seconds ago, in the middle of the flippin' street in downtown Forks!

"Oh, well, I actually helped her pick out the color of her room," he replied easily, sending me another glance. I officially hate Embry Call.

"Oh, really?" my mother replied with honeyed curiosity. "She never said anything about that, though that certainly explains why she was gone for only an hour and not four."

My mother leered at me with beady eyes that made it clear that there was going to be hell to pay for leaving out that tidbit of information. One does not simply meet a PMM, a potential-male-model, and not tell their mother; it was one of those unspoken mother-daughter commandments that I had clearly broken.

"That was probably because I kind of left without warning. I had a family emergency and had to bolt out of Mr. Frederickson's without really, um, introducing myself," he explained, sheepishly.

My mom's leer softened at his reply. "Oh, I hope it was nothing too serious." I let out a sigh, glad she was distracted.

"Oh, no, nothing serious, at all." He sent her a broad, reassuring smile, one that was sure to dazzle. I wondered if he was even aware of the effect he had on people with that kind of smile.

"That's good to hear. So, just exactly how old are you, Embry?"

Oh god, I should have seen that one coming. I didn't think my face could possibly get any redder.

"Seventeen, ma'am." He stated proudly, sending a smug look at my astonished face. He was only seventeen? Bloody hell, he could have easily passed for twenty-five!

"Really? You are certainly, um, large for your age," my mother's voice was filled with shock, a mirror of my astonished face.

"I get that a lot," Embry replied, rubbing his neck. "I can hand over my birth certificate if you would like proof, though," he joked.

"That's hardly necessarily," my mother laughed with him. I think I might be sick; Embry was kissing way too much ass. "So, do you go to school here at Forks?"

I groaned. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. My mom was on full investigation mode. I could practically see the wheels in her head spinning furiously.

"Actually, no, I live down on the reservation and go to school there."

"Oh, that should have been obvious! You have those gorgeous Quileute features," she replied, gushingly with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. Surprisingly, Embry's face flushed. Finally, I wasn't the only one.

"Mom, stop flirting with the poor kid," I told my mother, finally gathering the courage to come up to the side of the car.

"I was not flirting, Alexis Nicole, simply stating the obvious," she told me, a matter-of-fact.

Embry's flush darkened, and I sent him a smug smirk, which I immediately regretted when he returned it with one of his own. He turned back to my mom with a sly glint in his eyes.

"Oh, Mrs. Cunningham, it really is lucky that you happened to stop by because I wanted to ask permission to take Alexis down to La Push today to meet a few friends of mine."

What? When the hell did I agree to that?

"That would be wonderful, wouldn't it, Alexis?" My mother sent me a sickly sweet smile at my obvious reluctance. So, this was going to be her revenge, eh?

Like hell I was going to let her win this one.

"Actually, remember, mother, you said you needed me to be home to help you with the trim in the living room? Guess we'll have to do it some other time, Embry." I declared, with an overly apologetic smile, doing a mental victory dance.

"We can do that anytime, honey. I don't want the work on the house to interfere with you making friends," my mother countered with her own triumphant smile. "Go on and have fun. Embry, I insist you take her out of Forks and force her to have a good time and be social for once."

"I am not socially inept and am perfectly capable of making friends on my own!" I cried out, but was promptly ignored.

"Thanks, Mrs. Cunningham. I'll have her home before dark."

"Uh, hello, I haven't agreed to anything!"

"Anytime before ten is fine with me. Have fun!" my mom said joyfully, as she struggled to roll up the window.

She waved spastically at us before putting the car into gear and continuing along the street and round the corner.

"What a nice lady." Embry declared, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

I regained my wits quick enough to pick my jaw off the ground and snap back.

"Oh, go to hell, Steroid Boy."

"I am never, ever driving anywhere with you again!" I declared, stumbling out of his old truck, disoriented and queasy.

"Hey, I'm not that bad of a driver," he responded, sounding insulted.

"Embry, you took that turn at freakin' sixty-miles-per-hour!" I shot back, gently placing a whimpering Casper onto solid ground.

"It was not sixty," he argued. "It was more like fifty-five." He brushed me off and headed towards a small trail through the trees.

"Oh, like that's so much better," I bit back, sarcastically, jogging to catch up with him. I had to yank a bit on Casper's leash. He still didn't like being around Embry.

"Where are we going anyway?" I asked, trying to figure out what he could possibly want to show me in the middle of the woods.

"You'll see," he shot back over his shoulder, along with a taunting smirk.

I groaned. I hated surprises.

We walked for a bit in a comfortable silence.

I supposed being kidnapped hadn't been so bad. Embry actually wasn't that bad of a guy to hang out with. He had a surprisingly good sense of humor and a laid back personality that sucked out all the awkwardness that a car ride with two strangers should normally have. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was still a little weird. I had only known his name for a total of five minutes before getting in a car with him and letting him take me wherever. There was a serious chance that he was a serial killer and that I would be dead before dark. But that was the pessimistic side of me speaking. The optimist in me focused on the fact that no one that gorgeous would ever be a serial killer.

Either way, serial killer or not, I had had far more awkward experiences than the car ride with him.

And maybe the fact that I hadn't talked to anyone my age in person for over three weeks helped keep conversation going. To be honest, I had to sort of restrain myself. I didn't want to come off too desperate for someone to talk to or, really, just friends in general. Cause in reality I was really desperate. For friends, I mean.

I was suddenly jerked out of my thoughts.

"We're here!" Embry announced with a large sweep of his arms.

Whoa, this definitely wasn't what I had expected.

We had emerged from the tree line onto a large sandy beach. The Pacific stretched out before us, its waves foaming and gray, making it almost impossible to tell where the murky ocean stopped and the gray sky began.

But, despite the lack of color, it was absolutely breathtaking.

"Just let me know when you're finished ogling First Beach," a tauntingly smug voice broke into my 'Pocahontas' moment.

I would have sent him a glare, but I refused to tear my eyes away from the scenery. Instead, I weakly swatted at his general direction.

"Was that supposed to actually hit me, because, if so, it was really sad," he teased, trying to shift my attention.

I sent him an exasperated look. "First Beach, huh?"

"Yup," he responded excitedly, grabbing onto my arm and dragging me along. He had a bounce in his step that reminded me of an excited child.

As we walked closer to the water, I noticed that the beach was easily a mile wide strip of sand. I was happily surprised. I had always figured beaches up here would be rocky and unwelcoming, but I shouldn't be so shocked. So far I had been wrong about a lot of things about Washington.

"Weren't you supposed to introduce me to some sketchy friends of yours?" I asked, randomly recalling his request to my mom.

He stiffened a little before rubbing his neck, a habit I noticed he had when he was uncomfortable.

"Well, yeah, but lately they've been a little busy…" he trailed off.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

"Each of them doing their own thing, right?" I said as offhandedly as possible.

"Yeah!" he replied, enthusiastically.

"And, you're just left with nothing to do and no one to hang out with?"

"Exactly!" he continued, eyes blazing, "Quil spends all his time baby-sitting Claire, Seth spends all his time at home helping out his mom, and god only knows where Jacob is now, probably clear across Canada…" he ranted, waving his arms.

"And so you've resorted to making friends with the new girl in town who has no friends, and, therefore, has no business rejecting your forced friendship?"

"Right-" He froze.

He turned slowly, a sheepish expression on his face.

He stumbled over his rushed words, "look-it's, well, it's not exactly like that-"

I cut him off with a raised hand.

He shuffled his feet, looking like a shamefaced little boy about to be scolded by his mother.

"Embry, it's okay. I'm not going to hold it against you, despite the fact I feel a bit used." I shushed him, when he looked as if he was going to object. "As long as you realize I'm using you too."

He looked a bit confused, and I turned towards the beach to avoid his gaze, suddenly self-conscious. "I mean, I just moved here, and I would rather not spend the rest of the summer with just my mom and Casper to hang out with." I kept my eyes glued to the gray waves.

"So, we're even, okay? We're both using each other for equally selfish reasons." I finished, wondering if I had gone a little too far in my analysis. This entire situation was getting a little too serious for my liking.

The silence stretched on for awhile, and I began to get nervous.

Out of nowhere, I got the wind knocked out of me. It felt as though I had just collided with a boiling rock. I dropped Casper's leash in shock and vaguely watched as he darted away and began to bark his pathetic little puppy yap.

And, just as suddenly, my feet left the ground, and the world began spinning.

"Embry Call! You put me down this instant!" I choked out between laughs and gasps or air.

The world didn't stop tilting, even as I felt my feet sink into the soft sand. I griped onto his arm to steady myself.

"That-was-not-funny," I wheezed.

He let out a hearty laugh that shook his entire body. "Yeah it was. You're just a stick in the mud," he replied cheekily.

I shoved away from him, a bad decision as I stumbled into the sand. "I am not a stick in the mud," I defended, weakly.

"Well, you certainly look like one now," he shot back, walking over. Fiery hot hands gripped just under my arms, and I was hoisted to my feet.

"Are you feeling okay, Embry?" I asked, thinking of how hot his body had felt.

"Um, yeah, why?" He looked bewildered.

"You just felt really hot, like you had a fever or something…" I trailed off, thinking that maybe I was just the one who was abnormally cold.

"Oh, that," he tensed for a moment, before continuing dismissively, "I just run a bit warmer than most. It's a Quileute thing."

"Oh," I replied, nodding, stupidly buying the obvious lie.

"So," he began, sending me a hopeful look out of the corner of his eye. "Wanna hang out tomorrow?"

"Sure," I replied with a grin. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Bye Embry!" I called out from the front porch, sending him a short wave, before disappearing behind the front door.

I unhooked Casper's leash, and the little fur ball darted off into the kitchen, probably in search of food. I stayed behind, tugging off my shoes and socks, which had gotten soaked when Embry and I had wandered a little too close to water.

"Alexis, is that you?" My mom called out from somewhere in the kitchen.

"No, mom, it's the ghost that haunts this ridiculous doll house," I answered, sarcastically.

"Well, if you're a ghost, than I suppose you wouldn't mind if I gave my daughter's portion of macaroni and cheese to Casper, would you?"

The irony of that statement escaped me, as I dashed into the kitchen. "Wait, mom, don't do it!"

I flushed at my mother's wide smirk and the sight of my plate of delicious homemade mac & cheese, sitting untouched on the table.

I shuffled quickly over to the food, before she had the chance to snatch it away.

"So, how was your day with this Embry guy?" my mom asked offhandedly with her back to me, her attention apparently on the soapy dishes in the sink.

But I knew my mother better than that. Diane Cunningham was the queen of subtle, two-faced conversations.

"It was cool," I responded, as flippantly as possible with a mouth full of cheesy goodness.

"And what about his friends?"

"Oh, we never got to meet them. They were all busy."

"Really?" I knew from the tone of her voice that something was up. "So you spent the whole day alone with him?"

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, as dismissively as possible. I ducked my head and stared intensely down at my food in an attempt to avoid my mother's inquisitive gaze.

She let out a suspicious hum.

"He's a good looking boy, isn't he?"

I nodded without thinking, and immediately regretted it after seeing my mother's sharp look.

"Uh- I mean, he's decent looking, I guess," I tried to recover.

"You may be inexperienced Alexis, but you are not blind."

Ouch. That hit a nerve.

"Okay, fine, he's gorgeous! Happy?" I shouted back, grumpily shoveling a spoonful of noodles into my mouth.

"Ecstatic," my mother replied bubbly. She slid into the chair across from mine and stared at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked a little perturbed.

"Well, tell me about him," she prompted with a hand wave.

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, I just met the guy, I don't know anything."

"Alexis Nicole, you just spent the entire day with the boy, and you can't tell me a single thing about him? If you weren't talking, what were you two doing?" She sent me a sly smile, knowing just how to provoke me.

I groaned. "Okay, okay, give me a second to think."

I mentally went through our day. We had spent practically the entire time at the beach, messing around. A good hour had been wasted trying to teach Casper how to play fetch, a sad thing really. It had reached the point that he would go pick up the thrown stick; however, he had issues with the concept of bring it back. He had either refused to come back or had simply dropped the stick and had come running back empty-handed. We decided he was a lost cause.

We had spent the rest of the time wandering up and down the crescent shaped beach simply talking for a lack of anything better to do.

Embry had been surprisingly interested in my life in the big city, having lived in this tiny little town his entire life. I had told him of my huge high school, my friends, my part time job at the coffee shop down the street, and how I had used to rollerblade to school. My job, in particular, had brought about a long round of laughs. The shop was a huge hangout for teens and college students, which had resulted in some pretty hilarious stories of me and my fellow co-workers being hit on in a number of creative ways.

My mother tapped the table in impatience. My gaze focused back on her expectant face.

"Well, I figured out why he was so interested in hanging out with me," I told her, hoping to put an end to all her insinuations.

"Oh?" she made a vain effort to keep the curiosity out of her voice.

"Yeah, apparently all his friends have kind of been into their own thing lately and have basically ditched him. And then there's that one in Canada…" I trailed off, making a note to ask Embry to elaborate later. "So, basically, he's kind of desperate for someone, anyone, to hang out with."

"Oh," her face dropped, and I resisted the urge to stick my tongue at her.

Alexis: 1

Diane: 0

"But that means you're going to be seeing a lot more of each other then, right?" she recovered with a happy, smug grin.

"Yeah, he's stopping by tomorrow around ten. We're planning on heading into Port Angeles. He offered to show me around. "

"Oh, what a great idea!" my mom responded, enthusiastically. "That's where I start work in two weeks, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

I had completely forgotten.

Mom had gotten a job working for ACTI, a company which manufactures composite aircraft parts for lots of different companies, including the US Air Force. She might not look it, but mom was a wicked aeronautics engineer. She had been offered some high up, well-paid positions, but had declined them all. She had always claimed she rather have time to eat dinner with me and watch my soccer games than have enough money to buy a nicer car or house. I personally think it was just a lack of ambition on her part, but what do I know.

"It's has a lot of cute shops, so don't forget your wallet. You're going to want to buy something down there," she said, swiping up my plate just as I was able to scoop the last bit of noodles into my mouth.

"I doubt Embry would appreciate me turning this little voyage into an 'Alexis-centered' shopping trip."

"Well, if what you've told me is true, I doubt he particularly cares what you two do, as long as you do something." She sent me another sly look.

Okay, this was getting old real fast.

I jumped up, threw my glass and fork in the sink, and dashed out of the kitchen, fed up with the never ending innuendos my mother had been pulling out of her ass all night. "I'm going to take a shower! Wake me up tomorrow before nine, please!" I shouted down the stairs.

I moved away from the railing after hearing her quiet hum of acknowledgement.

I shuffled lazily into my room, the long day finally catching up with me. I found Casper sleeping in a ball on my bed. Looks like I wasn't the only one exhausted with everything that happened today. Poor guy must be absolutely worn out between avoiding Embry and his miserable experience at fetch.

I let my gaze drift over what had become of my room. The color Embry had picked had actually worked out perfectly, though I would never admit it to him. The blue was bright and warm, giving the room a shocking, yet refreshing quality. My bright royal purple bedspread and matching curtains added even more color to the room. I loved it. It had character. And it was a brilliant contrast to everything Forks seemed to stand for with all its gray and green.

I glanced over at the large window for a moment. At this time of night, the deep green of the forest turned an eerily dark black, a stark contrast to the white, ghostly outline of the backyard fence. The shadows moving around out there played with my mind.

I ripped my eyes away and shut the curtains. Picking up my clothes, I wandered back out into the hallway and into the bathroom.

Washing my hair, I tried to focus on how much fun tomorrow was going to be, but I couldn't stop thinking about that stretch of woods.

I could have sworn I saw something shift behind the tree line.

I just wanna thanks to McMar for leaving an awesome review!