Sunrise

Chapter 17: Time Is Running Out

So, about Tweedy. Hope you guys like him (you guys KNOW who he is. THIIIINK, haha) because we will be seeing SOOOOOO much more from dear Tweedy.

OOO

When I walked in the house of Jaime Black, the stereo was booming. I covered my ears as did Alex. "JAIME!" I screamed over the music. I couldn't even tell the words out, it was so loud. "STOP THE BASE!"

"Oh, it's just the guys," he said, cutting the power to who knows where. I glared at him as he turned to face me. There was still a ringing in my ears.

"I think I've had enough torture for a year, thanks," I said vehemently. I took a look around, and the place was abnormally huge. "How many of your pack live here?" I asked. There had to be some reason why the house had around fifty rooms or so.

"Not many. There's just the three of us and Alex." He walked into the kitchen, and I followed him, taking in the condition of the house—not clean. "The rest of the band comes over practically every day."

"Who? You, Freesia, and…?"

"Danny-Boy."

"Oh." Alex jumped up on a stool—he was already at home. I looked at the dirty dishes in the sink, the socks on the floor, and the jackets strung about. "How often do you clean this place?" I was afraid of the answer.

"Oh, you know, not often."

"Duh."

"I don't think we've cleaned it since we moved in." He glanced at me sheepishly, and I rolled my eyes. "But we've got glade keeping it nice and fresh."

"And Freesia doesn't kick your ass about it?"

"Nah. She keeps threatening us, but she hasn't actually done anything. She also said she was hiring a maid, but at Dan's comment, she decided against it."

"Do I want to know?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "Probably not." He told me anyways, and I grimaced.

"He said what?"

"And I quote: 'Well, that would be some nice hired help. Make sure she's a girl, Free. I can't really please a guy.'"

"Ew."

"Ew's right!" came Freesia's voice from down the hall. She walked in and dropped the paper plate she was holding. "CARA!" she screamed, running forward to hug me. "Oh, my God! What are you doing here?!"

"Bringing you your future brother back," I told her, awkwardly hugging her back. Freesia took a step back and glanced at Alex, who was hiding behind me.

"Oh, thank God!" she sighed, enveloping him in a hug. The poor kid squirmed to get out of it, sending me a helpless look. "Kid, you can't go running off like that! I mean, honestly! What happened to you?" She glanced at his limp arm and her eyes widened. "What happened?" she repeated to me.

Jaime jumped in. "Prison, evil vampire guy, Cara saved the day, the end." I stared at him in a mixture of anger and disbelief. "What?" he asked. "I can't shorten it a bit? You said you were only going to say it once."

"How'd Alex break his arm?" she asked me, ignoring her boyfriend.

"Lucas broke it more than once," I answered, glancing at the kid's arm. It should've taken six weeks to heal, but it was still broken. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. It should be almost healed."

OOO

Dinner that night was delicious.

The meal was fantastic—despite my vampire nature—probably because I hadn't had real food in nearly a year. When I'd finally stopped shoving food in my mouth, and was able to talk, the subject was fashion, and something hit me.

"Crap!"

Jaime looked at me with something like concern, and Freesia and Daniel stopped talking about the band and what they should wear to the next gig. I covered my mouth with my hand and muffled a scream of shock. Jaime exchanged a glance with Freesia, and Dan just looked out of the loop.

"I am such an idiot." I smacked my forehead.

Dan looked excited. "Ooh! Why?"

"Tweedy!" I said. "I know who he was. Crap, this is not good."

"Cara? What the—?"

I sat back in my chair. "Why wouldn't he say anything?" I asked out loud. "Ugh!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jaime asked through clenched teeth. I glanced at him dismissively. Couldn't he tell I was in a crisis?

"The guy in the tweed hat on the train," I told him without emotion, "was my father."

Well, I could honestly tell my father he needed a different hat. And sunglasses. It was obvious Alice hadn't helped him with this one.

"Oh, well that sucks."

"Why?" I snapped my gaze to my brother.

"Well, because last time I talked to you about it, you kinda freaked out about them following you everywhere. They even said that themselves." He looked at his plate guiltily.

I frowned at my clasped hands. "Not anymore," I said. "Actually, I'm kinda relieved that someone else was with me on that train, but honestly! If he had just told me it was him then maybe I could have brushed things up!" I groaned, running a hand through my hair.

"You'll have your chance," Jaime said dismissively, shoveling more food into his mouth. I shook my head, pushing my plate away. I wasn't hungry anymore.

OOO

That night we decided where I would sleep.

"Basement's probably best," Jaime said to me, taking my duffle and heading for the stairs. I grabbed his shoulder before he took two steps. "There isn't like, flodding and water down there. It's nice."

"No." My glare hardened my face. "I have to have a window."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

I glared harder. "I'm claustrophobic," I lied.

I could tell he didn't buy it, but he didn't say anything. "Right." He turned around, heading for the stairs that lead up instead of down. "Okay, well, you can bunk in the room next to Freesia, with the cat."

"What?"

"Freesia has a room for her cat, with a bed and everything. Don't ask."

"Wasn't planning on it."

The room did have a cat. It was big, gray, fluffy, and so ugly that it was cute. But I instantly fell in love with it. "That's Mr. Momo," Jaime said, rolling his eyes. "And Mr. Momo's a girl, by the way."

"Excuse me?"

"Ask my girlfriend."

He left then, and I pulled the cat close. It mowed, but I ignored it. Why didn't you tell me it was you, Dad? I let the cat go and picked up a pillow. I screamed into it, and the sound was muffled. GR!

As I lifted my head, something dark flitted past my window. I froze, my entire body tensing and my eyes pierced the dark trees outside. Nothing.

"You're being paranoid," I told myself out loud. It made it seem better. "It's nothing. It's nothing. Paranoia. Nothing. You're fine."

I remember thinking: Maybe the basement would have been better.

OOO

It was late, the windows let moonlight through. I woke in a sweat ripping myself from the covers and gasping. Mr. Momo had been resting on my chest, and she mowed disgustedly and leapt from the bed. My neck burned and I placed my hand to it. You're fine, I told myself. Everything's fine.

Something flickered in the corner of my vision again, and I stopped moving, stopped breathing. My hand, still pressed to my neck, balled into a fist. My eyes raised slowly upwards, and they widened farther than I thought possible.

Lucas was standing above my head with a knife.

I screamed. Loud.

Then he was gone.

What the hell? My eyes raced around the room wildly, every fiber of my being tensing. I placed my back against the wall, and I realized it was hurting my chest, my muscles constricting in fear. I still wasn't breathing, and I dragged in a huge gulp of air.

No, no, no, no, no!

I looked at the door. Wouldn't Jaime—somebody—have heard me? I instantly screamed again. He was there. At the door. No knife this time. Just the casual pose he'd used so many times as he watched me tremble in my cell.

"JAIME!" I screamed, my eyes burning. Cara-who-didn't-ask-for-help was long gone. I gripped at the sheets, my throat constricting. I scrambled back from the edge of the bed, my breathing ragged, my stomach tight with terror.

The door burst open, and the Lucas vanished like smoke. I began crying as Jaime rushed over to me, shaking my shoulders. "Cara!" he said firmly, but there were these strange, ripping sounds coming out of my mouth and I sobbed against my brother's shoulder. "Cara, what happened?"

"Oh, my god," I moaned. "Oh, my god."

"What happened?" Jaime repeated. I glanced up at him, my eyes blurry form tears.

I shook my head, my voice breaking. "He was here, Jaime. Lucas was here."

"Wh—what the hell?" He got up and I grabbed his arm, my nails digging into his skin.

"No, no, no!" I begged. "Don't leave me."

"I'm not," he said slowly, peeling my hand from his arm. "I'm checking the room."

I knew it was stupid. It was probably a nightmare, after all. But I remembered when I'd slept over at Rob and Maddie's house and I'd had nightmares. He'd checked the room for monsters, and I'd felt safer.

"Jaime, did I wake anybody else?" I asked sheepishly, once my breathing had calmed. He glanced back at me, a smile in place.

"Well, obviously Mr. Momo. But you screamed pretty loud—Freesia and Dan are really heavy sleepers, though. Takes a natural disaster to wake them up. Don't worry, Freesia was still snoring when I woke up."

"Good," I breathed. "Good."

"Nothing here," Jaime announced after a range of ten minutes. "I don't smell anything either, so I think we're fine." He sat down and looked me in the eye. "You sure you're okay? I can camp out on the floor tonight if you want."

Man, was I lucky to have a bro like Jaime. "No, no," I lied. "It's okay. I'm fine. You go back to sleep."

"Cara," he said sternly. "It's a lot to get over, I understand that. You're probably in some form of shock, because you were awake when I walked in. Meaning: You weren't having a nightmare. You were hallucinating."

"Bull," I replied automatically.

"What? You want to tell me he was actually here? No offense, Cara, but you killed the freak yourself. You'd know he's dead."

I averted my eyes. "I do know that," I told him. I rubbed my eyes, taking deep, calming breaths. "Look, you're right. It'll go away and when that happens, I'll be fine. I just need some rest."

"Good idea." He turned to get up, patting me on the shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

"No, I'm fine—I swear."

"Okay." He didn't sound convinced. "Night."

"Night."

OOO

When I woke and opened the door to my room, Jaime tumbled at my feet. I stared at him as Mr. Momo escaped and darted past me. Jaime started, jumping up and looking around. There were bags under his eyes, and his clothes were wrinkled. "Oh," he said groggily when he noticed me. "Morning."

I blinked. It was becoming a habit for me. "Uh… I thought I told you everything was fine."

"You're a horrible liar," he replied easily.

I glared. "Am not. You're just good at seeing bullshit when it comes your way. How else would I have gotten past Maddie?"

"Come on," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"Breakfast, dork. Come on." He grabbed his stuff and placed it under his arm, walking back to his room and chucking the crap in. Then he leapt down the stairs and disappeared from sight. I followed him, but I wasn't hungry. I'd had another nightmare after my hallucination, this one about Matt.

"You think that everything's going to be fantastic now, Cara? After everything that's happened in the past year? Really—where is your head? What makes you think I'll want you back? How do I even know you love me?"

I was sobbing hopelessly. "I'm sorry, Matt. I love you."

He was shaking his head, the world fading into another dream.

"Yo, Cara!" Jaime called. "You seeing things again? Come on—it's waffles."

I shuddered at the dream and jogged down the stairs, dodging a couple shoes and a big stuffed bear. As I entered the kitchen, all I saw was chaos, but apparently that was Jaime's typical morning.

Dan was working the waffle maker, batter all over his clothes and in his hair. Freesia grabbed some syrup and butter from the fridge, slamming the door closed with her slipper-clad foot. Jaime was clearing the breakfast table by shoving everything into a huge trash bag and dumping the thing on the floor and Alex was pouring milk into five tall glasses; the jug was the size of his face.

"Morning, Cara," Freesia called. "Did you sleep well?"

"Definitely," I lied, and Jaime gave me his BS look.

"I hope Momo didn't bother you," she added, giving the cat a stern look as it jumped onto the counter. "She tends to sleep on people."

"Why Mr. Momo?" I asked, sitting down.

The feminine werewolf set a heaping plate of M'n'M waffles in front of me. "I've had the thing since I was nine. I thought it was a boy when I got her, so, hence Mr. Momo." Alex handed me my milk and Freesia added, "Eat up. Last night you looked like you were half-starved."

"I was," I mumbled, gently picking up my fork.

Dan glanced up from his Waffle Mountain five minutes later. "Guys, I know it's crazy, but something weird was up last night. I just had this feeling, you know? Like we're being watched."

"Yeah," said Freesia slowly. "Me too."

My fork clattered to the ground as Jaime and I exchanged glances. No way, his eyes were saying. Not possible. I wasn't so sure. Maybe it wasn't Lucas, but there was something up. I was gonna find out what.

I pushed my empty plate away from me ten minutes later. "Thanks guys. That was great, but I'm gonna take a walk. I'll be back in a few."

I pulled on Freesia's boots and a jacket of mine, jogging out to the forest behind the house. I glanced into the trees, my breathing stopping. There was nothing sinister about it, nothing scary. But I knew that the forest had something to do with what the pack was nervous about. I couldn't quite place what it was—I had no clue to what I was looking for.

I began to run—it made me feel better. I hadn't been able to do so in so long, and the trees rushed past me in a blur. Or, at least a blur to a human. I didn't want to be a vampire right now. Knowing me, I could accidentally kill Alex, forgetting who he was. I wanted supervision when I went hunting next. Just in case.

I didn't know the area well—I didn't really bother to. I leapt over a fallen tree, but my ankle twisted on impact with the ground. I cried out as I fell, and tumbled to the dirty trail. I pushed myself up—only a couple bruises and a strained ankle, no biggie. But as I glanced around me, trying to decipher where I was, I caught a glimpse of the trees waving with some… invisible wind.

I screwed my eyes shut, bringing my hands to my head and tucking my face behind my knees. Calm down, I told myself. Probably just an animal. No more hallucinations, you got your sleep, you're fine.

I opened my eyes and slowly lifted my head. When I peered past my knees, I saw the knife. Right in front of me.

I yelped, going to swat it away, and it vanished. Shaking, I got to my feet, ignoring the pain in my ankle, and backed away from where the knife had been. I turned and ran, faster than I ever had before as a human. I ran back to the edge of the woods.

When I was free from the place, it felt like my heart was no longer constricting in terror. I stumbled through the door of the house and saw Jaime pulling on his jacket. We just stared at each other for a long time, and I knew he knew—just like that.

"I was just coming to look for you," he said slowly, beginning to take the jacket back off and hang it up. "You were out there a while."

"What time is it?" I asked quickly, glancing behind him at the grandfather clock. Twelve thirty. I'd left three hours ago. Had I knocked myself out when I'd fallen?

He didn't say anything, but took my arm and steered me to the bathroom. "Take a look at yourself," he demanded, and I flicked on the light and stared into the mirror.

The girl staring back at me didn't look like Cara Cullen. Her hair was long, frizzy, and matted. Her skin was a sickly pale, not the gorgeous kind. Her arms and waist were skinny, and her cheek bones more prominent then normal. Her green eyes had that deep, haunted look about them, the pupils wide and scared. The flaming red scar on her collarbone slashed up to her neck, and I screwed my eyes shut at the sight.

"What the hell happened to the fearless girl I knew?" Jaime asked quietly. "Cara, I know what was done to you scared the living shit out of you, but you can't let him control your life. He's gone and he's not coming back. It's over. You ended it. Take comfort in that fact and relax for a change. Freesia and Dan and I are here. Do you really think we'd let anything happen to you? We'd smell a bad lee—vampire," he corrected himself, "a mile away. You're safe. We got your back."

"Thanks," I choked out, still not opening my eyes. "I feel like I'm in some overrated horror movie sequel where the bad guy comes back from the dead."

"Well, that's not what it is." He patted my back, and walked out, and I opened my eyes and saw what I used to be, with Matt in the mirror behind me. He didn't move, he didn't say anything. He wasn't even looking at me. He was looking at the me in the mirror, and they were both smiling. His hand was on her shoulder and I almost felt it—almost. It was picture perfect, no one moved or made a sound.

So I glanced behind me, even though I knew how absurd I was being. He wasn't there, I told myself—I knew that. He was trapped in my mind or in the mirror, smiling at the old me from a year ago. Short hair, gold eyes, healthy beauty.

So when he wasn't where I wanted him to be, it was no huge surprise.

And when I glanced at the mirror, the picture was gone, and I was staring at the long-haired, pitiful girl again. But this time, her haunted green eyes changed. There was a fire in them, and I knew why.

OOO

"Freesia? I need a haircut."

She glanced up from her magazine, pulling her reading glasses past the brim of her nose and giving me a once over. "That you do," she agreed, placing the magazine on the coffee table. She hadn't mentioned anything about whether Jaime had told her what had happened to me or not. I don't think she wanted me to feel like everyone was taking pity on me. I was thankful for that.

She took me to the kitchen and brought out a pair of scissors, and before I'd even registered the fact that the weapons were black, I felt the familiar tug at the back of my scalp as she began to chop it off.

"You remember what I looked like... uh…"

"Before?" she supplied. "Of course. Don't worry; it'll look just the same. I promise."

And it did. When she was done, my face looked almost a thousand times healthier. The light was back in my eyes. "Thank you," I said mutely. She grinned at my reaction and washed off the scissors. "How did you do it so well?"

"I have a part-time job at the salon fifteen minutes from here." She glanced back at me, gave me a strange look, and added, "I thought that's why you asked me to do this."

"Well, no. I couldn't ask Dan or Jaime. Awkward and fruity as hell."

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm glad you asked me," she continued, placing the scissors in a drawer and walking over to me. "Seeing my boyfriend try and cut someone's hair would be a horrible sight. He'd probably chop your head off on accident."

I laughed, feeling my hair again. "But he's more than that," I blurted suddenly.

"Who's more than what?"

"Jaime's more than just your boyfriend, right? He's like your soul mate. What is it you guys call it?" I turned to her, placing my hands on the counter behind me.

"Imprinting," she told me ruefully. "I'm not sure if a wolf can imprint on another, but apparently it can work. Not that I had a choice. It's weird—the feeling I mean. It's like you lose sight for everyone else and can only focus on that one person. It's like they hold all the meaning in the world to you. It's like… like they have some glowing golden light behind them and a halo above their head." She laughed, shaking her head.

"It's like love," I told her, and she nodded.

"You've ever felt something like that before?"

"Oh, yeah." I crossed my arms and leaned my head back, taking a deep breath. "And I was stupid enough to mess it up."

OOO

Again, guys. IMPORTANT:::: if you guys want outtakes, give me some POVs and some scenarios you'd like to see. And don't tell me you don't know, because I know you've thought about something you'd like to see in this story. I only have one rule: no lemons, smut, etc. I don't do that, and I don't intend to. Fluff is fine, anything beyond a bit of play is bad. No go.

Mr. Momo is the name of my friend's very female cat. I couldn't resist.

Nothing else to say.

Lot's o love, Jamie