AN: okay so you all didn't like the fact that I asked for a certain amount of reviews, so I'm not going to do that again, lol. But by the way it did work. So anywho, let me know what you think. Here's the next chapter. I was going to make it longer, but I figured it had been a long time since I updated so this is what it is.

Ch 6

I drove home in a complete daze. As much as I tried, I couldn't get Jacob out of my head. I didn't like him, but for some insane reason, I agreed to meet him again the following week. It was weird, as much as he annoyed me, at the same time I wanted to be around him. Kind of as if he had some gravitational pull on me, although I had only just met him.

I was snapped back from my thoughts by a bright bolt of lightening streaking across the sky and its corresponding clap of thunder. Damn, he was right. Luckily, I was almost home by the time it started really raining.

Mom was in a much better mood after I gave her the last bouquet of bright colored Gerber daisies and roses. The letter of apologies didn't hurt either. It was a good thing too, because Dad wasn't home, so it was just the two of us for dinner. It was nice though. We ordered pizza and had a movie night. Dad got home late, and his arrival signaled the end of our girl's night and subsequently, bed time.

Sleep eluded me, as expected. The night with Mom had been nice. I was able to distract myself from the day and the thoughts and feelings it evoked, but now, in my room by myself, I was left with nothing to stop my mind from analyzing the afternoon.

I hated to admit it, but I wanted to think about Jacob. Not in a romantic way, but I felt compelled to get to know him. He said he was best friends with Bella, maybe more. That was, of course, if I believed him, and I did. The sincerity in his eyes made his words indisputable truth; no matter how confusing that was. I also noticed how he never referred to her in past tense. Always present, like she was still around. Maybe he just couldn't let go. Plus, he seemed to be hiding something, especially with all of his cryptic remarks. It hurt my head to even try to make sense of things.

I assumed I'd be up all night, but was pleasantly surprised when I felt drowsy sometime after midnight. I don't know when I fell asleep, but the last time I glanced at the clock it was flashing 12:23.

I woke up abruptly to the sound of a thud outside. The clock read 2:49, and my light was off, which was weird because I remember falling asleep with it on. My curiosity beckoned me to the window. Hesitantly, I pulled the curtains aside and looked outside.

I didn't see anything out of place. With nothing insight, I felt a little more confident and opened the window to stick my head out. Nothing was out there; that I could see anyway. It wasn't even windy, and the rain had stopped. A cat scurried, suddenly, across the road, out from the trees surrounding my house. I guessed then, that the cat was the culprit for the noise. Maybe it ran into or hit something. With all seeming to be well, and still being sleepy enough to not wake until morning, I went back to sleep.

The next time I awoke there was a grey light streaming through my window signaling morning. I took a shower and dressed in warm clothing before going to the kitchen for breakfast. Mom and Dad were talking between themselves and looked up from the kitchen table when I entered.

"Morning?" I asked uncertainly. I didn't know if I was in trouble or what was going on, but something was definitely up.

"Morning love," Mom smiled. "Why don't you have a seat," she motioned to the chair in front of her, "there's something your father and I would like to talk to you about."

"Uh, okay," I sat unsurely and poured a bowl of cereal that was ready for me at the table.

"Well dear," Dad, who had been silent until then, spoke up. "Your mother and I have been talking about your situation, and about what's been going on these last few days."

"About that, I already apologized to Mom and I'm really sorry," I cut in. Dad held up a hand silencing me.

"Obviously some sort of punishment ought to be in order for running off like you did, especially not knowing the area, and the worrying you caused us..."

"I think she gets it Phil," Mom said.

"Yes, anyway, with that being said we decided that you'll be grounded for a week, and you'll have to help out with chores and things around the house," he said smiling a little. I didn't understand why that made him happy. I'd be furious at me if I were in his place.

"Um, okay," I said. "That's more than fair." Now they both really smiled.

"So you know it's only to school and back home unless it's an errand for one of us?" Mom asked. I nodded. "Right, okay. So with that out of the way, we can get to the other reason we wanted to talk to you."

"See dear," Dad's turn again, "we also understand what you've been going through, and while that's no excuse for running off, it's certainly understandable. And since we're pretty much settled in, we figured it was time your mom got her car back and for you to have your own again." My jaw dropped in surprise.

"Really?" I asked, disbelief coloring my voice.

"Yeah," they both answered, glad to make me happy.

"Even though I've been such a pill?"

"You haven't been that bad, and I haven't been a whole lot better," Mom said with a smile.

"Thank you!" I almost yelled and hugged them both. "When?"

"I have the day off, so we figured now would be as good a time as any," Dad announced.

Five long hours late, I pulled up behind Dad's explorer in my very own new, black Nissan Exterra. Well, new to me anyway, and only a few years old really. It came with a sun roof for the rare sunny days and really nice speakers. It was perfect for me.

"Um Mom, Dad?" I said over dinner. "Would you guys mind if I were to go back to Forks every now and then?"

"I suppose that would be acceptable now that you know the way," Dad answered.

"When did you plan on going again?"Mom asked. Of course she knew I'd have a day in mind already.

"Saturday. I know I'll be grounded still, but you see when I was there yesterday, I ran into a person who knew Bella, and he wants to show me some places. He's having Chief Swan come along too, so I'll be perfectly safe."

"Who's the guy?" Mom asked, strangely calm given the subject.

"His name's Jacob Black"

"Ah yes, she mentioned him a couple times," Mom said, still calm. "He was a bit younger than her if I recall correctly."

I was so shocked that Mom was talking so calmly about my sister, that all I could do was stare. Dad, apparently had the same thoughts, given his blank face and slack jaw.

"Mom?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes dear?"

"You okay? I've, we've, never seen you act so calmly while discussing my, erm, sister."

"Well, you know it's strange," she began, thinking aloud. "Maybe it's being around here again or your thirst for knowledge, regardless, I've been thinking about her a lot. And last night I had a really nice dream," she explained taking my hand in one of hers and Phil's in the other one. "She talked to me and told me she was fine, more wonderful than ever. She looked just beautiful," she breathed out. "She said she loved me, but that it was time to let go, to be happy," she finished dabbing the corners of her eyes. I squeezed her hand and Dad kissed her forehead. "So I'm going to try to be happy with Bella's memory, instead of running from her ending."

Later that night, Dad and I helped Mom put up a few of Bella's pictures. She even got out her wedding photos to Edward Cullen. They were beautiful. All of the Cullens were absolutely, unfairly beautiful. And for the first time, I wondered what happened to his family. I mean what were they doing now. I didn't know if it was weird for our two families to completely fall out of contact after what happened. You'd think that they would maybe bond together over it, but maybe it just made things harder. I tried to let it go. Mom gave me the okay for Forks Saturday, as long as I was on top of my school work.

It was weird to have to go to school the next morning. It seemed like the last time I had been there was so long ago. I made my way outside, into the cold, and hugged my jacket closer as I ran to my car. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the white envelope sitting on my windshield until after I was inside, so I had to go back out to retrieve it. Once I was really settled inside and had the heat on, I examined it. My name was written on the envelope in simple black pen. There was no return address. I gasped when I read the short note it concealed.

For your own safety, STAY AWAY FROM FORKS!

That was it, but it was enough to freak me out completely. I had no idea who it was from. Who would want me out of Forks? Renee came to my mind first, but she wouldn't do this. She would simply tell me I couldn't go there, same with Phil. I racked my brain for answers. Jacob? But he wanted me to come back to see La Push. Plus, he didn't know where I lived. Who else was there? Charlie? He had the means to find my address, and who would want their ex-wife's kid running around their town, especially one who reminded them of their own daughter. But he had been so nice on Friday and this just didn't seem like something he would do. But if it wasn't any of them, who else could it have been?

I drove to school with shaky hands and tried, unsuccessfully, to push it from my mind. I concentrated on school and the people there. Erin was back from her trip to the islands and her two side-kicks, Krissy, who wasn't too bad, and Jamie, who I had no use for and vise versa, were pressing her for details.

"Was it totally breathtaking?" Jamie asked.

"The only thing breathtaking was when my little brothers decided to turn the buffet into an all you can eat challenge," she laughed. "They ate enough for 10 people, then threw up all night." Jamie and Krissy made "eww" faces and noises. "They were sick all weekend and I got stuck taking care of them while my parents went out."

"That sucks," Krissy sympathized.

"Eh, it wasn't so bad. We stayed in the hotel and played Wi the whole time," Erin smiled. "What'd you do this weekend Sophie?"

"I," I didn't know if I should tell them about Forks or if it would call for a background story, and I wasn't quite ready to share my families loss with them yet. "I got a car," I finished.

"Really? That's awesome!" Erin replied. Krissy smiled while Jamie pouted. "What kind?"

"It's a black exterra. We got it a couple years old, but it's in really great condition," I gushed, trying to pour all of my focus into something other than the past weekend and the creepy note I had received that morning. It worked well enough. Erin and Krissy asked me all sorts of questions and compared their cars. Krissy had a new silver honda civic, and Erin had her dad's old accord, which in her defense was "top-of-the-line" when he got it. Jamie ignored me and talked to the other girls only. It was nice to talk to them, but I couldn't quite escape the thoughts that were pushing in on the edges of my mind.

At home, after school, I went straight to my room, dug through my dirty clothes, and finally pulled out the little scrap of paper with a, now all too important, phone number. It rang twice before he answered.

"Hello?" he sounded out of breath, like he had been running or something.

"Jacob?" I wanted to make sure it was really him.

"Yep, speaking,"

"Hey Jacob, it's Sophia"

"Oh hey, calling to say you decided I was a psycho after all?" he laughed. I smiled, because it wasn't really a mocking laugh, but a real one.

"Ha, no. Actually, I was calling to make sure Saturday's still okay, and not an inconvenience or anything," I said nervously.

"Oh, no, it's no inconvenience at all. I'm actually looking forward to it," he said. "There are some people I think you'd want to meet. Oh yeah, Charlie said he'll be there too."

"Jacob," I hesitated. "Do you know anyone who doesn't want me to be around Forks?"

"Why would you ask that?" he asked, confused.

"Well, it's just that I, uh, found this note on my car this morning. It said, I quote, 'for your own safety, STAY OUT AWAY FROM FORKS!' in all capitals," I told him trying to stay calm, but I couldn't quite edge the hysteria out of my voice.

"What?" he was suddenly angry sounding. "Who else, besides myself and Charlie did you talk to here?"

"Uh," I tried to think back, "just the deputy and the lady at the gas station. Oh and the florist."

"Are you sure that's everyone? Maybe someone on the street looked at you funny?"

"No that's everyone. I didn't even see anyone else. Friday night it was late, and Saturday I only made a couple stops," I explained, not the least calmed down by Jacob's apparent anger.

"Tell me every place you went Saturday," he said in a strained voice.

"Well, I picked up the car from the police station with my dad. Then I stopped at the florist. After that I took some flowers to Charlie's, then the semetary."

He was silent for a while. "Jacob?"

"What? Oh sorry. Listen, could you do me a favor?"

"Depends what it is,"

"Could you please stay close to your home until I see you on Saturday," he asked, but I could tell it was more of a demand than request.

"Yeah, I'm grounded anyway,"

"Good," he was relieved. "I'm sorry about all of this."

I didn't know quite what he meant, but I had a suspicion that I had unknowingly and unintentionally walked into something very dangerous.

"Sophie?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I call you every day to make sure everything is normal?" Again, it wasn't a request.

"No, do you need my number?"

"No, it stored it to my phone when you called.

"Oh okay"

"Look, I have to run. I'll talk to you later and make sure you call me if anything weird or scary happens. I don't care what time it is, I want to know," he told me hurriedly.

"Sure okay, by Jacob"

"Call me Jake,"

"Bye Jake"

Talking with him was once again a frustrating experience. When I hung up with Jake, I felt both lighter and heavier at the same time. I was lighter in that I had someone to share my fear with. However, on the other side, he seemed sincerely worried, which set me on edge. Plus there's the fact that I could tell he was still hiding something from me. At least I wasn't alone anymore though, that helped a lot.

I tried to focus on my homework, I really did, but my mind refused to be redirected away from my phone conversation with Jacob. Try as I might, I couldn't figure out what he was hiding from me. It was important, that much I knew, and probably dangerous. That part would explain the eerie feeling in my gut. I could only hope that Saturday would bring answers.

I didn't expect to get any sleep that night thanks to the threatening message I had received that morning, but was surprised when the next thing I was aware of was the fact that I was face down on my desk with a kink in my neck from falling asleep. I rubbed my hands over my face and felt the distinct grooves of my spiral notebook imbedded into my forehead.

"Urg," I groaned, attempting, in vain, to massage it out, while at the same time, slowly rolling my head around, loosening my neck cramp.

The light was still on, but the clock told me it was after one in the morning. I stood up to stretch when a screeching outside caught my attention. I realized it must have been what woke me up. It was a scratching noise on the outside of my window. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. "It's just the cat from the other night," I whispered to myself. Hesitantly I crept to the window and with what felt like redundance pulled the curtain back.

My heart stopped in my chest. I pressed my hand against my mouth to hold back the scream that threatened to escape. This was definitely not the cat from last night. I backed away from it, but I couldn't pull my eyes from th bouquet that hung in my window. It was the exact same bouquet that I had place on my sister's grave days before. I wanted to run, to scream, but I seemed to be frozen in terror.

I focused on breathing in and out until I could control myself enough to dash for my cell phone and dial. It rang a few times given the late hour, and I trembled until he answered.

"Sophia?" he asked, tired and urgent.

"Jacob," I was a little more relaxed just talking to him; a little, but not enough to keep the terror from brimming over in my voice.

"What happened?"he demanded immediately, no longer the least bit tired.

"I, I fell asleep at my desk. When I woke up, I heard a screeching outside, and, and" I tried to keep myself together, but my words were getting clogged in my constricted throat. "And the flowers I gave to m-my sister are hanging outside my window."

"You're sure they're the same?" he asked slowly, deliberately.

"Positive," I breathed.

"Shit!" he curse angrily. "Shit! Damn!" I stayed quiet through his rant. "Sophia?"

"Yes?" I managed to squeak.

"I'm on my way. Try to stay calm. It's probably just a prank or something."

"Or something," I muttered. If Jacob really thought it was a prank, he wouldn't be driving all the way out here. I was about to give him directions, but he cut me off.

"See you soon," he said and hung up.

I tried to call him back to tell him the way, but he didn't answer. I didn't know if I should wake my parents, but something inside me told me to keep them out of this, they had enough to deal with, so instead I huddled in a corner scared out of my mind, and waited.

It felt like I had been waiting for forever when my cell phone vibrated, causing me to jump, but relief flooded through me when I was it was Jake.

"Jake?"I said into the phone.

"I'm getting out of my truck," he said and I heard the door clank shut. "I'm assuming your window is the one with the flowers out front?" he asked sarcastically.

I extracted myself from the corner, "Do you want me to come outside?"

He was silent for a while. "Jake?"

"Wha-No! No, stay inside," he said abruptly.

"Okay," I said taken aback.

"Sorry, I just don't want you out here in case," he trailed off, but I understood. In case someone was still out there.

"It's okay. I'll come let you in," I said.

"I'm going to grab the flowers and meet you at your door."

I ran through the hall, and skidded to a stop, flinging the door open. But he wasn't there. I took a few steps out onto the porch and looked around. He was still by my window, and I wasn't positive, but he looked to be shaking.

"You okay Jacob?"

"Yeah," he shook his head and walked over with the bouquet.

I showed Jake into the kitchen, and got out two bottles of water.

"I believe these are for you," he said dryly, handing me the flowers and taking a seat at the table. I rolled my eyes and took a seat across from him.

"Oh look, a note," I said nervously twiddling with the white envelope attached. I unfolded it slowly.

Sophia

IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE, STAY OUT OF FORKS!

"It's better than the last one," I said calmly. My fear had evaporated into and odd numbness and indifference. I didn't want to die or be in any danger, but it was as if I was removed from my body and was watching a movie. Stuff like this just didn't happen. I had heard about the serial killer in Seattle that had killed over 40 people, but that was almost 20 years ago. Nothing like that had happened since, and we weren't in Seattle.

Who do you think is responsible? What should Emily's and Sam's kid be named, and should it be a boy or girl? Review! ...please :)