It caught my eye and I jerked my head down, poking out from under the seat was the last thing I expected to see. It was the best news I'd had all day but yet the worst. Underneath the seat was an old compass. Now usually I'm not good with that sort of thing. Even a compass is to high tech for me and they are hundreds of years old. Maybe though if my life depended on it I would be able to figure something out. If only that damn rain would stop and the sky would clear, then I'd be able to see which way was north. Then it hit me, I didn't need the sky to clear, that was what the compass was for. I almost smacked my head down on the steering wheel as I realized my stupidity.
I thought I was saved until the next road block jumped up in front of me. It didn't matter if I knew which way was north, or even south-frickin'-east, without knowing whether I was north or south of Forks I could start walking in the complete opposite direction. Slumping back in my seat to consider my options I heard the rumbling of my stomach start up again. Whatever I was going to do I needed to decide on quickly.
Amazingly like someone was watching over me the sky began to rise and the rain slowed to a drizzle. Now was my time. Making sure I had the compass in my hand I jumped out of the truck and slammed the door closed. It latched with a quite roar that made me cringe, even out here in the middle of nowhere.
I am not a coordinated person, I probably have the worst coordination of anyone you'll ever meet but I knew I had to get on my way before the rain started again. My feet began to pound on the wet pavement and water soaked through my shoes making it awkward to run. Sooner than I had expected I fell into the pace of running. Surprisingly with nobody around I wasn't that much of a klutz.
I ran until I was exhausted, which after not exercising in a very long time was very quickly. Adrenalin was what I believed kept me going for most of the time. After I recovered from my doubled over position I began to speed walk. At this rate I would make it somewhere, anyway.
The break in the rain was the eye of the storm because the drizzle ceased and the wind started up again, closely followed by loud claps of thunder and an instant wall of rain.
There was nothing I could do about it but just keep on moving.
I really don't know how long I walked but when I saw the glow of a light off in the distant tears welled up in my eyes and I began to run again. It was farther off than I though and when I arrived at the small shack I felt like dying, but I didn't. I noticed beside the shack was a small sign that read, "Park Campground," miraculously when I opened the old wooden door, inside sitting in a faded blue arm chair was a man in his late fifties. Now the tears that had been waiting overflowed and when the man saw me he jumped to his feet.
"Good god, are you okay miss?" he asked in a rush.
"Do you have a phone?" I managed to hiccup out.
"Of course, here I'll go find you a blanket. Whatever happened to you?"
He hurried off through a doorway and moments later returned with a towel and a large woolen blanket. Gratefully I accepted them both and tried off my hair with the towel. Once I had scrubbed the tears away I took the seat that he offered me.
"What happened?" he repeated again, "Are you Isabella Swan."
"Bella," I snapped but when I remembered that this man practically saved my life I said more kindly, "How do you know?"
"You're all over the news. Apparently your friends and family are worried sick about you. What were you doing out here?"
"I don't really remember. What I do remember is getting in my truck and trying to get away, but I wasn't that clear on where I wanted to go. I woke up this morning and realized I was lost and my truck was out of gas. Where am I?"
"Well hon, you ventured into the national park. You're lucky you didn't meet up with some angry wildlife. We've lately been having reports of extremely large bears as well as many dead animals. More than usual."
I shuddered; I knew what both of those were caused by. At the moment I was stuck in the middle of there fight.
The man kindly handed me the phone and I dialed. After only one ring he picked up and said in a rush, "I can't talk now I have to keep this line free incase Bella phones."
"Edward," I cried, "Oh Edward."
"Bella, are you okay? Where are you?" distantly as if he had covered the phone with his hand I could hear him yell, "its Bella," when he came back on I told him where I was and begged him to come and pick me up. I was an absolute wreck because I found myself fighting tears again. Edward promised to be out momentarily and I knew he would. From what that man had said and Edward it seemed that we were only 10 minutes out of Forks. Edward would be here in 5. Edward stayed talking to me as he jumped into his shiny Volvo. I could hear the tires squeal as he tore off.
In 4 minutes I could see the grey car pulling up in front of the building and Edward jumping out. He ran through the rain and I jumped up to meet him halfway. He scooped me up into his arms and I clung to him like a drowning person would a life preserver. In a way I guess I was drowning, with all that water that was pouring from the sky it could very well be the bottom of the ocean.
"Don't ever do that again. What were you thinking?" he croaked.
"I don't really want to talk about it."
"Where's your truck?"
I pointed off in the direction I had run from, "No gas," I replied simply.
He shook his head and with a grateful thank you to the man he placed me on the passenger seat and he climbed into the driver's. I was asleep before we pulled out onto the road.
When we made it back into town I saw that the school parking lot was full. Everyone was waiting around and when Edward drove up they all jumped up with a second wind. Apparently the whole town had come out to look for me. In the very back, standing beside his Police Cruiser was Charlie. When he saw me wet but safe he pushed his way through the crowd of my eager to hear the story friends. His size and deep voice made this and easy task. Edward helped me out of the vehicle and supported me by placing his hand tightly on my waist. That brief sleep had allowed my exhaustion to hit me full on.
Charlie walked to me and looked me in the eyes.
"Dad," I began but I didn't get to finish because he threw his arms around me and cried, "Oh Bella I thought something terrible had happened to you."
"I'm okay," I said as I awkwardly patted him one handed on the back. Edward was holding my other too tightly to my body for me to be able to move it.
"Come on let's get you into bed," he said, "You're coming home."
I held in my sigh but only just, not again. "Dad all my stuff's at Edward's. It'll be easier."
Edward got what I was hinting at and quickly added, "You are more than welcome to come over with her."
Charlie's face lit up like I had never seen before and he replied, "Oh thank you."
I was helped back into the car by both Charlie and Edward much to my protests out loud, but inner relief.
I don't remember the ride back to the Cullen's, nor do I remember Edward packing me up the stairs much to Charlie's hidden dismay. I only know about it because Alice told me the following day when I finally woke up. Charlie spent the night in the Cullen's spare room and Edward bunked in the den. All in all I decided that as much as the welcome home was nice I could get that just as easily if I went on vacation. There was no need to go get lost again. Besides my body physically and mentally couldn't take it either. Now the only dilemma was how to tell Charlie I could never see him again. Hmmm.
xxx.:.x.:.xxx
a/n well what do you guys think she should do? And what do you guys think about this chapter. I haven't been getting as much feed back as I would have liked and I'm kinda disappointed. I do apologize for the wait. It's been the last few weeks of school and whenever I'm on the computer I'm working on my German course so again I apologize. So again please review. Good, bad I really don't care. Thank you.
