Thank you for the reviews! Here's chapter two. Dig in!
(All the characters, except for the ones that are obviously mine, belong to Stephenie Meyer.)
CHAPTER TWO
Home…
"Violet? Violet? Honey, wake up. Everything's okay." A calm, gentle voice called to me through the abyss. I reached through my memory, stretching beyond all the bad, to find the one good that I was so accustomed, but when I surfaced, I found a stranger's scarred face.
"What happened?" Was my generic response.
For a moment there was quiet and then a young woman's voice chirped, "Here's a coke. Oh, you're awake. Thank goodness! When you began to shake uncontrollably, well, we thought the worse. Are you prone to epilepsy? See my brother has that, and if he's stressed or pushed beyond what he can handled… well, he has seizures." She looked at me with big eyes, and I stared.
"Where am I?" I asked instead, reaching up to my throbbing head.
Emily, holding my other hand, said, "Portland airport. We've arrived." She thanked the flight attendant and handed me the drink. The flight attendant backed off, and disappeared.
I hated coke.
"Sorry, I don't really like coke." I said nicely, taking the drink anyway. In one giant gulp, it was down, the taste lingering. I grimaced, and handed it back to her. Although I wanted to gag in reflex to the bitter after taste, I smiled painfully at Emily.
People were already gone, and it was only us on the plane. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I was holding you up." I stood quickly, only to fall back into the seat, the world spinning in circles around me.
"Take your time." Emily urged. "You really worried us there for a minute. You just started shaking, and we had no idea what was going on. I called your name a few times, but you just shook even more violently. Do you know what happened?"
I hesitated, and then decided that they might as well know. "I… don't really know. It happens sometimes. The doctors have never been able to figure it out."
She nodded slowly, and I stood, balancing myself by holding the seat in front of me. The spinning grew worse, but standing through it, I closed my eyes, and I gradually became accustomed to it, then it all but disappeared. Emily stood as well, and grabbed my carryon for me. I began to object, but Sam took it from her, and winked at me. I'd forgotten about Sam, he was so silent. There was no way I was going to say no to Sam.
Soon, we were off the plane and walking out to receive our luggage. "Sam! Emily!" A deep voice boomed. I nearly jumped out of my skin, when a very tall man bounded forward and grabbed both of them into a giant bear hug. I darted away, and avoiding eye contact with anything, walked up to the luggage carousel.
I could hear the loud young man, Sam, Emily, and another voice speaking, but I tried to block them out, reforming the wall in my brain that had been crushed to rubble on the plane. Relief saturated my muscles when I saw my name tags on two bright electric blue suitcases. Groaning, I grabbed them, and placed them on the ground. I stared and then looked away, my lower jaw moving to the side in annoyance. Count on Theresa to pick the most flamboyant suitcases you could find.
As I stood there, I heard the four voices grow louder. Acting as I had when I first met Sam and Emily, I pulled the suitcases away from the carousel, and stood, casually tense, arms crossed over my chest. I gazed intensely at a tile, ignoring the voices.
"Violet?" Emily called.
Tightening my stomach muscles, I didn't turn. There were too many people here. It was so easy. I could just run. I've done it before… No, Vi… don't do it. Remember what happened last time. Just put on your thousand watt smile, and you'll be fine. I told myself, and with a deep breath, turned to the four strangers.
The first was tall, just like Sam, and the second was just as tall as the first. For a moment, I thought I was looking at a set of triplets, but then I realized that the first was slightly shorter, slouched over, and the second was shorter than the first, a giant ball of energy and muscle. Both took me in, their eyes smiling.
"Hot." The ball of energy blurted out, and my smile diminished. I blinked, and turned away, calming myself, punching away the black strings of abyss.
"Paul!" Emily cried, punching him in the arm. I turned back around, and smiled nervously.
He shrugged, feigning innocence. "What? It's hot in here!"
The one next to him, was trying so hard not to laugh, his entire frame was shaking. "Yeah," He said between quakes. "It's really hot in here."
Sam shook his head, and grabbed both of them by the shoulders, standing between them. "The first idiot is Paul." He gestured to the one on his right. "He's the one that thinks it's so hot in here. This one is Quill." To the left. "He's the one that will agree with the first dumbass that speaks."
Quill stopped laughing and glared at Sam. "I do not!"
Paul grinned. "Yeah, he doesn't!"
"Yeah, I don't!" He indignantly punched Sam in the side.
Sam looked at me pointedly. "Point proved."
Paul's smile disappeared and Quill was shaking again. I shuddered, and looked at both of them, trying to get their attention with my eyes. The last thing I wanted was a fight in the middle of the airport.
"I'm Violet. It's nice to meet you." I whispered, kicking myself inside for being so shy.
They continued to fight, until Sam grabbed both of their heads, and physically turned them my direction.
I swallowed, and repeated, "I'm Violet. It's nice to meet you."
They looked at me for a minute, eyes blank. Confused, I glanced at Emily. She shook her head and smiled. "Anytime a beautiful young lady walks in, they revert to their hormones. Don't worry about it."
I blushed, flattered, but slightly shaken.
Soon we were in Sam and Emily's jeep, Emily driving and Sam talking to her quietly in the passenger's seat, and I was stuck in the back with the two idiots.
I tried to ignore them, but since I was stuck in the middle, there wasn't much I could do, except stare straight ahead, rigidly. I watched the road arc left and right, counting the time down in my head.
"I'm telling you, it's Batman." Paul grumbled.
"No, Superman!" Quill whined, reaching over my head to punch him. My back muscles tensed uncomfortably.
Paul began to grow red. "No!"
Quill looked down at me. "Tell him that Superman totally powns Batman."
At this point I was in no mood to play this game. "I'm not really the person-."
"See, she agrees with me. Batman!"
"Superman flies!"
"Batman has a butler! What now?!" He made a lunging gesture at Quill, who reached over and punched him again.
Out of desperation, I called out the first thing that came to mind. "Thor!"
They both stopped and stared. Paul snorted. "Thor? Really?"
Quill snorted with laughter. Before I could respond both began to rumble with laughter and soon were leaning against the car doors, unable to control themselves. Sam and Emily at this point finally took notice.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked, concerned by my expression.
I was mortally horrified. For the longest time I thought I was actually understanding these people and then BOOM!
I wasn't.
"Thor." I mumbled. Sam and Emily smiled and were soon laughing so hard that Emily had to pull over.
La Push wasn't what I expected. Trees covered most of the roads, and a lot of the time, forced Quill or Paul out to move fallen branches out of the way. Everything dripped. The sky dripped, the trees dripped, and even the houses dripped. I was used to the once a day rain shower that sunny Florida got, but this was constant. It was as if everything breathed and sweated. It was as if La Push was running a marathon that it was struggling to keep up with.
"I'm actually surprised it's not raining." Emily told me. "It usually rains non-stop."
"Yeah, I'm getting out here." Emily stopped and Paul jumped out. "It was nice meeting you, Violet." He breathed in deeply. "Man, it sure is hot out here!" And he disappeared into the trees.
I blinked. "Umm…"
"He's an avid hiker." Sam explained, but it still seemed odd.
"Yeah, really loves it." Quill agreed, hiding a grin.
Sam threw him a warning look and I watched them closely.
We drove a little ways and soon we were in the heart of town. Made up of small homes, and stores, it was homely. Everyone knew someone it seemed.
"I'm off here." And with the jeep still moving, Quill opened the door and shut it behind him. "It sure is hot!"
Tossing a smirk, he disappeared into one of the stores.
Sam and Emily's home was just as they had explained on the walk to the airport in Orlando. It was small, with yellow paint, and blue shutters. A wind chime hung lazily, water falling from it, as it chimed softly.
"Welcome home!" Emily's scarred face split into a smile.
"It's so pretty." I complimented, hopping out of the car.
"Come on in." Emily waved as the jeep fell into silence.
I timidly waited for Emily, who ushered me in. Inside it was even prettier. I couldn't help the tears that came to my eyes. It really did seem like home, the home I couldn't ever forget.
The first thing I saw was a handmade dining table and just behind a partition was the kitchen. Beyond was the living room and a small hallway that led to three doors.
"Your room is down the hall to the left." Emily pushed me along until I was standing at my bedroom door.
Cautiously, almost nervously, I opened it. It was a small room, with a twin sized bed, the comforter speckled with yellow, blue, and purple flowers. A small desk sat adjacent, with a blue desk lamp on it. The dresser, a bit bigger than the desk, looked hand made, just as the dining table did. A window gaped open, letting in cool wet air. Trees, like a maze of greens and browns that glistened like crystals hypnotized me.
I took everything in, small tears welling in my eyes. I forced them to stay put. I was touched, but I wasn't a big baby.
The memory of the airport flashed in my mind and of Theresa's expression as I uttered those three words. I violently pushed them away and turned to Emily.
"It's amazing." I whispered, smiling widely.
Emily, from the doorway, grinned. "Well, I'm glad." She leaned back and called out to Sam. "Hey, Sam, go run and tell everyone she's here, and that we'll be there in an hour or so."
The front door opened and closed.
Emily looked back at me. "Welcome home." She smiled and vanished around the doorframe and down the hall.
I turned back to looking out the window. My stomach fluttered with warmth.
"Home." For the first time in a long time, I actually liked the sound of that word.
End of Chapter two! I'm torn… should I bring in Embry in the next chapter, or let the suspense carry on? I know that this chapter wasn't actually up to par, but hopefully the next one will be better. Please, review! I love 'em! J
H.
