PART II
The sodden earth seeps through my jeans and cools the flesh of my buttocks and thighs. I find myself in Forks for the first time in months, awaiting a series of events to unfold in front of me; the sole reason for my presence.
"Thought I might find you here."
I don't turn for the voice; I already know who it is. He sits beside me, soaking his pants through too. "Noah, what brings you here?"
"I have a few minutes before I need to be in Madrid."
I nod, there are only a few breaks in our days where we can have some down time, and only a scarce few minutes at that. "And you chose to be here?"
"Yeah, I promised James to pass on a message to you."
"Young James from Dublin?" I ask.
"No, old James from Oregon."
I nod, putting an old face to the name. "Why were you there? did his wife pass on?"
"No, she is doing very well."
I smile, "that is good news, but why were you there?"
"Oh, their pet Corgi passed, he is a sweet little dog."
I nod, "she must be devastated."
"Yeah, she is. But James wants you to go see him when you can."
I spare Noah a glance, "he is ready to move on?"
"Yes… Margie is doing so well… so well, that she has moved on herself. James doesn't hate her for it or anything like that, he is actually quite happy for her…"
"But it isn't something he wishes to bear witness to," I offer.
"Exactly."
Poor James, as happy as he may be for his wife, it would still be painful for him. "I should have time this afternoon, I'll go visit him then."
"Here they come now," Noah points to two people entering the clearing, a man and a woman.
"Which one is it?" Noah asks.
"Neither, an innocent third party gets caught in the fray."
He offers me a strange look, "caught in the fray? what do they start doing, waving knives around?"
"Just hang around for a bit longer and watch."
The female of the duo starts crying and begging to her male counter-part which he responds to by walking away from her and begging for her to leave immediately; his desperation very evident in his tone.
"No! not until you tell me what is going on!" The woman screeches almost hysterically.
His frame starts shaking from his obvious emotional distress at the situation, and he once again begs her to leave. He slumps to his knees and hunches over, his body shaking more violently now.
"Listen to him, love," Noah offers the situation, not that the woman can hear him.
She approaches the hunched over man and gently… lovingly places her hand on his shoulder. "Please Sam," she begs, "just tell me."
He flinches from her touch, her heartbreak becoming very evident on her face. "I'm…" the man gasps. "I'm sorry." His shuddering frame finally bursts into a giant black wolf, the woman unfortunately getting caught in the explosion of fur and teeth and claws. She is injured severely down her face and neck, but her injuries aren't life threatening.
"Wow…" Noah says, "I've been around for quite a while, and I've never seen anything like that before."
"Mmm." The victim of this scene now prances into the clearing from the west and unfortunately for it, it crosses the path of the panicked wolf. The wolf bats the doe away with its razor sharp claws, delivering the fatal wounds. I stand from the wet earth and rush to the doe's side, embracing it with the love and sympathy I feel for it. "Come on little doe, come home with me."
I release my hold on it and it rises from the ground, not even sparing its corpse a glance. It just stares at me like I'm its world. I embrace it again, "come on, let's go. Thank you for passing on the message Noah, I appreciate it."
"No problem Bella, and I may see you soon, little doe."
It bleats an incomprehensible response to Noah, he then disappears, presumably to Madrid. I pat its head and spare the unfortunate couple in the clearing one last glance. The wolf hasn't calmed down enough to return to his human form yet, but he seems to be able to act more rationally now. He has lowered himself to the ground, silently begging the injured woman to mount his back so he can take her to help. I know he will succeed, for it is not yet her time to go home.
I turn from them and take the young doe to her new home. "You are going to love it there, little doe." It doesn't respond, it just stares with its saucer-like eyes.
