Chapter Sixteen

Tragedy

January 2005 La Push, Washington

Well, I if had thought that things were dull at the Reservation and that after the reconciliation with Charlie, life was going to run smoothly, I was severely wrong. About three weeks later, a series of incidents would change our lives forever, although I was unaware of the significance of it at the time.

It was my birthday and I was fifteen. It would be a birthday I would never forget.

The day began normally enough, for a Sunday. My father had woken me from my slumber, as usual, and had been keen for me to open my birthday present. It was an envelope containing the money Charlie had given him for the truck.

"So, you go and buy yourself another project to work on. But use it wisely Jacob, there is no more cash available for spares or repairs," he told me gruffly, but with kindness.

I was elated. I had been wondering what he had done with the money and hadn't like to ask. Sam had driven the truck over to Charlie's a couple of weeks ago and Charlie had given him a ride back. I had been at school at the time so I had not witnessed Charlie and my father squaring up the deal. I had been afraid my father had found some other use for the money, or even worse, feared that my birthday present would be the keys to some other ancient piece of junk.

Quil and Embry called round a little later with their birthday present for me. It was a new alarm clock. It was kind of a private joke.

"Well, you will have no excuse for being late for school now," Embry said, laughing.

"Yeah, just don't treat this one with the same contempt you treated the last one," Quil added.

I was notoriously bad at arousing from sleep and I had accidentally broken my last alarm clock, hurling it at the wall in annoyance one morning.

"Thanks guys," I mused. "Hey, do you want to come with me? I am going to see Rob about that Rabbit later; see how much I can haggle with him for it. I've got enough money to buy it but I need some left over for spare parts."

"Yeah, sure," Embry said.

"I can't Jake, sorry. I promised Seth I'd do something with him later. He's desperate to get out of the house." Quil added.

"How are you going to get it here?" my father asked.

"Rob's got a mate with a trailer. He said he would arrange it." I told him.

"Oh, so you already got as far as discussing the transportation then?"

"Well yeah, just in case..." I replied, feeling a little embarrassed now.

My father laughed and then grunted. "Go on! Get out of here before I change my mind!"

So Embry and myself headed over to the outskirts of Forks on our ancient push-bikes where we found Rob Stone out in his garage polishing the chrome on his new motorbike.

"Wow! Cool!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's pretty neat isn't it? I have decided to abandon four wheels in favour of two," he grinned.

"You're lucky. My mother would never agree to me having a motorbike," Embry said, dejectedly.

"Well, my father has agreed to me buying your VW, at last," I told him, grinning.

"Oh great!" he exclaimed. "My father will be pleased. He had to loan me the balance on this beauty. I can pay him back now."

Rob lifted the covers from the Rabbit which was parked in the back of his garage, behind his motorbike. "Here she is."

"Cool!" Embry exclaimed, his eyes green with envy. "She's a beauty Jake."

The bodywork was in amazing condition for its age, but Rob had wrecked the engine. There had been a water leak and the head gasket had blown. It would be easy enough to fix, but I needed some money to buy the parts. I had to get it home first so I could begin working on disassembling the engine. I didn't know what I would need to repair it at this moment in time. I reminded myself of the words of caution from my father earlier. I was going to have to eke out the cash.

Eventually I managed to haggle with Rob to accept fifty dollars less than he had originally wanted for it, and he would arrange for it to be delivered for free. I had pointed out to him that he had been trying to sell it now for getting on for six months. There were few people around with sufficient skills to repair it. I was hoping that with the fifty dollar saving I had made, I would have enough left over to buy the parts I needed. Rob agreed to have it delivered sometime during the week.

As Embry and I set off from Rob's house to begin the fifteen or so mile cycle ride back to La Push, we became aware of a significant police presence in the area. We counted eleven police vehicles at various stages. They were stopping passing traffic and asking questions. They didn't bother with us though. We were just a couple of Native kids on our push bikes. It wasn't just the police presence that was unusual though. Harry Clearwater's car sped past us, taking a corner way too fast and ending up on the wrong side of the highway, almost knocking us off our bikes as we cycled back towards la Push. There was someone with him but the car had gone by too fast for us to see who it was.

"What's up with him?" Embry asked.

As if I knew. "Don't know..." I shrugged. "Come on, let's hurry back. It must be important. Harry normally drives like an old man."

"He is an old man!" Embry teased.

"Yeah!" I agreed. "Something's wrong though. I know it."

My father was waiting for us in the doorway to our house when we got back, an anxious look on his face. We dropped our bikes and ran the last few yards.

"Thank goodness you are safe, I've been so worried." He exclaimed.

"Why? What's up?"

"Emily has been attacked by a bear. Her face is torn apart. A bunch of tourists have also found a body in the woods north of here, the police say it is likely a victim of a bear attack."

"Emily? Where's Sam? We just saw Harry...is he taking her to the hospital?"

"Yes, Harry's taking her to Forks. Sam's disappeared. Emily doesn't know where he is. She thinks he may have gone to look for the bear."

"Can we help?" Embry suggested.

"No, there's nothing we can do but wait. You'd best run along home Embry. Your mother will be worried about you. News travels fast around here and she will have heard about Emily."

"Bear? I didn't know there were any bears around here. Besides, don't they hibernate this time of year?" I asked, thinking aloud. I couldn't easily come to terms with this. Something didn't seem quite right.

"Yes, that's what is so strange about it all," my father replied, but he seemed as if he was miles away, like he was deep in thought about something.

I spotted Quil and Seth down near the Clearwater's house and so Embry and I headed over to speak to them.

Seth was clearly disturbed about something. Poor Seth had been through such a lot lately. I wondered what part he played in this particular incident. He always seemed to be unwittingly caught up in any drama that unfolded.

"Hey, you two, what's up?" I called out.

"Hey Jake! Did you get the Rabbit?" Quil asked. Seth continued to stare at the ground, kicking stones around with his feet.

"Yeah, Rob's going to have it delivered later on this week. Terrible news about Emily. What happened?"

"Seth and I found her wandering around close to the edge of the forest earlier, her face covered in blood. She couldn't really speak much. She had been crying and was in pain from the cuts to her face. All she kept saying was Sam, Sam, Sam."

"We took her to my mum and dad," Seth muttered. "What else could we do?"

"Yeah, we couldn't leave her like that." Quil added. "Sue tried to fix her up the best she could. She cleaned the wounds but they were too deep. So Harry took her to the hospital."

"So where is Sam? Dad says he has disappeared. Fancy leaving her in that state. So much for his love for her." I snorted. I didn't much like Sam any more. He had changed; he was unpredictable and unreliable.

Quil continued. "Once Emily calmed down this morning she told Sue they had an argument. They heard about the bear attack up at Ozette Lake and apparently Sam went off on one, saying he was going to find out what was really going on. Emily had gone after him, pleading with him not to go, and that was when she got attacked. She wouldn't say how she got away, all she said was that Sam managed to distract the bear and it ran off, with Sam in pursuit. Sam apparently told her to go back to the village and get help."

"Well I still say he should have stayed with her and brought her back. I can't believe he left her wandering around in the forest with a cut-up face like that." I was furious with him. Wait until I saw him; I would tell him so. He might be twice the size of me but I wasn't afraid of him.

"Yeah, I agree," Seth told me. "Mum and Dad couldn't believe it either."

"What about Leah?" I asked Seth.

"Oh, well she was predictably scathing about the whole thing. She resented Emily being brought to our house for comfort and treatment but then when she realised the extent of Emily's injuries, her anger turned towards Sam for leaving her in that state."

"Look, I'd better get home and let mum know I'm ok," Embry said, suddenly remembering my father's advice. "I'll pop back later."

We watched Embry racing off up the hill towards his house, which was at the other end of the village, near to where Emily and Sam had set up home. It was the area where the newcomers lived. Embry's mother was also from the Makah tribe, the same as Emily, but Embry had lived here all his life and assumed himself to be one of us, even though he would never be true Quileute.

Harry returned about three hours later with Emily. He helped her out of the car and escorted her to my house. Quil, Seth and myself who had been watching out for their return, caught up with them and followed them in.

"Do you mind Billy?" Harry asked as he helped Emily sit down on the sofa. "It's a bit, er...crowded over at our place."

We all knew what he meant. It was actually far more crowded in here now that the three of us had arrived, but we didn't have a bitter and twisted ex-girlfriend hanging around. Harry and my father seemed to be exchanging glances.

"Sure, no problem, make yourself as comfortable as you can," my father told Emily. "Jake, can you get Emily something to drink. Are you hungry Emily?"

She shook her head. I saw for the first time the damage to her face. There were three long cuts from her right eye all the way down her cheek to her mouth virtually. She noticed me looking and put her hand up to shield it.

"Sorry," I muttered and then I went to fetch her a can of soda, remembering to give her a glass to drink from. Girls didn't seem to like drinking straight from the can.

"You were gone ages. I was beginning to worry," my father told Harry.

"We had to wait while the hospital called another Doctor in. I refused to have Emily treated by Dr Cullen. It took them ages to find one. I'm afraid I had to cause a bit of a scene."

"Oh dear, I hope Dr Cullen wasn't aware of this," My father responded.

"No, we asked the receptionist not to mention it to him. We just told her it was personal. She was a little bewildered by it though and she was adamant that Dr Cullen was the best doctor the hospital had ever had. However, he was busy dealing with the body of the dead man anyway, and the police. Chances are we would have had to wait a while for him to finish in any case."

My father grunted. He was obviously not pleased with this news. No doubt he was worried what Charlie would say if he heard about it. "Did you hear any more about the um...the bear attack?"

Harry shook his head and again gave my father a strange glance. Then he turned to Emily. "You stay here with Billy for a while, just until you feel a little better, or until Sam gets back," he told her. "You'll be safe here. I'd better get home now and let the others know. Are you coming Seth?"

Seth followed him out. He seemed pretty shaken by today's episode.

Quil and I felt a little awkward hanging around so we left soon afterwards too. Besides, I didn't want to be caught staring at her face again.

It was going dark outside by now. I wasn't sure what Quil and I were going to do. My fifteenth birthday was almost over. It hadn't been one of the best. I cheered myself up by thinking of my new project which would arrive soon. I could bury myself in that for a while at least.

I was wondering how long before Sam would return. I didn't really want to go home until Emily was gone. It was a bit awkward and hard not to stare. Some birthday this has turned out to be! I thought to myself as I looked longingly at my home, suddenly resentful that I felt I couldn't be inside it. I observed Harry popping back in, presumably to see how the patient was recovering. Several minutes later, he left again, escorting the weak and shaken Emily back to her own house.

"Hey Jake, I'm gonna head home now. Looks like the coast is clear for you to go home too now," Quil nodded in the direction of Harry and Emily as they walked slowly through the village, Emily leaning heavily on Harry.

"Yeah, sure. See you tomorrow then," I replied.

Just then a wolf howled in the distance. Its eerie cry echoed mournfully through the trees.

"Did you hear that?" Quil asked.

"Yeah, that's unusual. I don't think I've ever heard a wolf around here before," I replied.

"First bears and now wolves. Whatever next?" he mused.

Many thanks for reading my story. It is almost at an end now. Please continue to add your reviews, they are most welcome.