5. Power
I ran alongside Edward and Bella, the fastest in the coven. At about 1 mile into the forest, we reached a scent. It was a herd a small elk; they were not filling enough for me, I preferred the bigger animals… I let the scent pass, and I continued on until the ground began to slope into a valley. Emmett would be close by, so I had to hurry and find what I wanted before he did. I searched the woods in the valley; the bears liked to hide. Then I smelled it, the sweet scent of grizzly! I jumped to the scent, flying through trees and bushes until my prey came into view. I leaped for it, relaxing as the warmth soothed the burning. Emmett must have caught his own, because he hadn't followed me, or maybe he's beginning to learn not to race me for food. I had gotten very good at this, rarely missing a trace or trail that would lead me to my prey. Well, I did spend most of my lonely nights practicing, when I couldn't cause any damage to humans. Of course, if for any reason a human happened to be wondering the forest at midnight and morning hours, Alice would be sure to see it.
I caught a few more bears under the watchful eyes of Alice. It was like having a patrol officer, being followed 24/7 and being restrained if an unfamiliar scent was to find its way to my nose. I understood why; I wasn't safe. Today it was Alice's turn to take me for my walk. Everyday somebody would be assigned to go hunting with me, it was like being a child with a hunting partner. Everyone else was aloud to go whenever they wanted, but I had to wait for a time that suited somebody else. I didn't like being so tied down all the time. I wanted to go exploring, see America with my new eyes. Now, I had to stay within a 20 mile radius of Forks. We had to watch out for the La Push pack too. I still hadn't properly met Jacob, the pack and Renesme. And that's the way it was meant to stay, or there'd be my dinner.
I spoke to Alice on the way home, she seemed to notice how down I was feeling today.
"Are you OK Emma? You seem a bit down, is there something on your mind? You know your secrets are safe with me." Alice said in a smooth tone, she always had a way with making somebody feel better. I sighed and I slowed to human pace; I was sick of being vampire for now, I just wanted to be a bit more normal for a while. Alice slowed along with me, matching my pace perfectly, she was used to acting normal.
"I guess I'm just a bit bored, lonely. I'm not used to being so alone all of the time, I was always with people before, and I guess annoyed too that I cant remember who or even go looking for the person." I sulked and stared towards the ground as we walked, kicking helpless little stones as I went. They clattered against tree trunks and rocks, and shattered into pieces. If I were human, I would probably have cried. I felt Alice put her arm around my shoulder, but I didn't look up, I had other things on my mind, and I didn't think Alice would appreciate knowing them. First, I wanted to find my friends. But doing this could cause danger to myself and the humans. Alice would probably freak if I told her I wanted to go introduce myself to the humans, she'd lecture me on how I couldn't go near the humans until we knew for sure I was tame; I'd heard it all a million times before. Second, I wanted to go and explore America. Never Emma. That's what they'd say, I wasn't aloud to do that either! I was getting angry, not a good thing for me. I had been known to do dangerous things when I got angry…
I began to pick up speed, I hadn't quite decided where I was going, and Alice wouldn't know either as her visions were subjective and I changed my mind at the last minute, I hadn't been planning this. I had nothing more to say to Alice, all I wanted was some space, some time to myself to calm down and think some things through. I ran straight into the darkest part of the forest where the tallest trees stood, making a think canopy overhead and blocking out most sunlight. I heard Alice sigh and her silent footsteps were sure to be close by. The mass of trees thickened and I leaped on the nearest, digging my nails into the bark and making my way up to the stop. I risked ¾ of a second to look back. Alice was right behind me. I panicked and threw myself back, flipping in the air a few times before landing on the forest floor with as little as a scattering a few leaves. Alice wasn't stupid, but she stopped mid climb on the tree and began staring into the distance. I didn't bother taking any interest, I took the opportunity to hide away in the tallest tree I could find. I sat on the highest branch and watched, as the sunset below the distant hills where Emmett and I hunted grizzlies. Finally, peace at last. My last couple of days had been the most stressing yet. I'd began to remember my past life, tiny little flickers of hope that I would one day be able to find my real family and friends…
Flashback…
He laughed his deep chuckle once more, before his head fell against my shoulder and his light comforting snore blew in my ear. I smiled and pulled the blanket over him, then rested my head against his. A dirty baseball and mitt lay on the table, along with a TV remote. I reached for the remote and turned off the TV witch had been showing an old game show which the boy on my shoulder had found so funny. Then the door went and I glanced at the boy to see that it hadn't woke him, then slid a couple of pillows under his head and went to answer the door. A woman had already let her self in, she smiled at me pleasantly and then glanced over to the boy on the sofa and sighed. I told her I'd see her tomorrow and reached for the door handle. It was locked, so she passed my a key chain. The chain was a mass of keys and key rings, one long strip of material read BEN…
____
I remained frozen at the top of the tree for what seemed like forever, then I felt someone shaking vigorously on my shoulder. I didn't respond, I just kept running the name through my head over and over again…Ben, Ben, Ben… I was aware Alice was shaking me around like a rag doll, and normally I would have done something about it by now, but I just couldn't get the name stuck there, I was afraid that if I stopped thinking about it for one second, it would disappear again. Alice grabbed both shoulders and shock me so hard that it may have actually hurt me! I winced away from her, but stayed in my trance. Alice groaned and threw me over her shoulder and jumped down from the safety of the tree tops. She stood me up, but I nearly flopped back down again. I was dazed by the memory of the memory of the boy…Ben. The feeling I had felt for him when he was asleep on my human shoulder, I was unsure. Was it friendship? Or was it something else, love? And the woman, was she his mother? What was she to me?
I hadn't realised that Alice had been running again with me slung over her shoulder, until we reached the house. She raced through the door and threw me down on the sofa as if I were dying! The rest of the family gathered round me in a flash and started questioning Alice. Rosalie was by my side, pulling my hair away from my face to see that I was ok. I tried to speak but nothing came out. I suddenly felt weak and I covered my face as the lights began to get brighter and blur. This wasn't normal, even for a vampire. Where had my beautiful voice and perfect vision gone? Was I thirsty? As far as I knew, these were not the normal symptoms of thirst. I lifted one hand to touch my throat, and I winced as a pain stuck deep in my stomach… But it wasn't thirst. Instinctively, I had a pile of teenage vampires over me, pushing me onto the sofa, but I wasn't rebelling, didn't want to hunt, I wasn't thirsty. Then the pain came again. I groaned and they pushed me down harder. I was so sick of this that I didn't bother to fight against them, I knew the consequences if I did; more patrol officers, more time being baby sat. The feeling grew stronger, and so did the frustration. People were grabbing me from all sides, shouting my name and telling me to calm down, to stop it. I wasn't doing anything it was just them being over protective, exaggerating once again! I was submerged in bodies, Emmett's chest was over my face, all I could see was his black t-shirt, and I wasn't happy about that in the least. I stared into it, I had nowhere else to look! The feeling made its was through every organ in my body, faster than thirst would travel. Then I gritted my teeth, as a crushing sensation ceased in my chest. I trusted my body upwards with the feeling, which had changed from being painful, to being a relief. I began to think I was hallucinating when my vision returned in red and orange clouds. Then I recognised Esme's scream. I was yanked out from under Emmett and towed over to the dinning table, were I was sat down on a chair beside Jasper and Rosalie, each holding an arm. Jasper stared at me for what seemed like a long time, and Rose bit her lip as she watched Emmet, Alice, Esme and Carlisle huddling around Emmett's black t-shirt. Emmett was shirtless, holding up his t-shirt and talking intensely to Carlisle about it.
"It was flames, Carlisle" He said sternly. My jaw must have dropped open. Had the orangey-red vision really been flames?
