Finally, after how many months, I got the fourth chapter done! It's not very long, but oh well.

Read, Review, and Enjoy! Thanks! :)

*** Chapter 4- So Close ***

Chapter 4 - So Close

Half an hour. I've already been in the shower for half an hour. Partly just standing there, thinking. I've tried to scrub away everything that's happened, but my skin's raw, and the memories are still fresh in my mind.

As are my bruises and hole in my leg.

I don't know what to think. It has been proven, or at least I think, that Seth is mad. Whether it be at me, or at the situation in general. Obviously, he knew a little something about the Gatekeepers. Most likely more than me. The thought of him being mad at me hurt. A lot. Usually, I thought it very easy to get people mad, as I didn't think before speaking. And usually, I didn't particularly care. Not in a mean way, but if they were mad, let them be mad. They'd get over it. But Seth... Seth is something special. I don't know why. It's like a certain pull was compelling me towards him at this very moment, but it was even stronger. Stronger, because I needed to apologise. Apologise for what? For being a Gatekeeper? For being something I don't know I want? For something so entirely out of my control, out of my understanding? No. I didn't need to apologise. If he got so upset, that means he knows something. A big something. So that must mean he knows I didn't have a choice. I didn't get to choose my life. Who I am. What I am.

But what if he wasn't upset? What if I set off a signal?

I gasped. I may as well have said "Oh hey, look at me. I'm a Gatekeeper, see? The Old Ones are looking for me!"

What if he was one of them? What if he ran off, not out of anger, but in a hurry to tell the Old Ones where I was?

Quickly, I shut of the hot water that had once given me such a relief. Now it seems like I'm standing here, waiting to be caught. I stepped out of the shower onto the cold floor, and saw that Sue must have reached in while I was in the shower. A huge fluffy white towel sat neatly folded on the ceramic counter, beside my freshly cleaned jeans and a new tank top. She must have hand washed my jeans, what washer and dryer works that fast?

Quickly, I dried myself off, and took longer than I had the patients for to get my skinny jeans back on. My leg still hurt a lot, but at least the bleeding subsided for now. I threw on the rest of the clothes and wrapped my wet hair up high with a smaller towel. I took a deep breath. I had to face them, see if their against me.

Slowly, and painfully, I walked down the hallway towards the top of the stairs. On the top step, I stopped. I listened closely to who may be waiting for me downstairs. I heard Sue talking to someone. I heard forks scrapping plates. I heard a chair screech as it slid across the floor, and a sink turn on. I didn't hear Seth, whether it was him she was talking to, or someone else, I didn't hear anyone but Sue.

The stairs groaned as I slowly stepped down the first two. Sue was there in a flash on the first creek. I realised, Sue couldn't possibly be one of them. She shows too much emotion. Sympathy, kindness. Audrey Chung showed nothing. All the people I saw that were under the control of the Old Ones showed little to no emotion. No life. Sue was full of life. She was full of happiness. I wonder if she heard what I was. I wonder if she cared, or even knew what it meant. Either way she's here right now, and I'm extremely grateful for it. She held my arm and I held onto the railing as we slowly made it down the stairs. I suddenly felt vulnerable. I couldn't run if something went bad, and sure couldn't fight back. Just have to hope for the best. I guess.

"You spent a long time in that shower, Scarlett, your dinner is gonna get cold" Sue said, scolding, but smiling all the same. This woman never stopped smiling.

"I'm sorry" I said "It was calming, I needed it" I told her truthfully. She nodded, and we walked to the kitchen.

Turning the corner, I hesitantly shifted my eyes and saw that it was Quil Sr., and two other boys who looked like Seth. But no Seth anywhere. The fact made my heart drop. Where was he? Was he really one of them? Was he off telling the Old Ones where I was?

I sat down at the kitchen table across the two boys and Quil Sr. Sue came over to put a steaming plate of spaghetti in front of me. She sat down and joined the club of 'Let's All Stare at Scarlett'. They were all very intimidating, so I kept my eyes down and fiddled with my fork. My eyes took in how huge the quantity of food there was on my plate, and I knew, no matter how hungry I was, I would never be able to finish it. I spinned my fork in the corner of the pile and lifted a small bit into my mouth. I still had that annoying feeling of people staring at me, so I set my fork down and looked up.

"Okay, what?" I asked to no one in particular.

Everyone continued to stare at me, but didn't seem to find the correct words to say. To ease the tension, I pointedly looked at the two mystery boys across from me. They got the idea and fumbled to introduce themselves.

The first man stuck out his hand. He seemed quite older than Seth, but they still looked the same. It was impossible to pinpoint an exact age for any of them.

"I'm Sam Uley", he said, straight, business-like face and shook my outstretched hand.

"Scarlett Adams", I replied. I wondered if I should have started with Sue and Seth, telling them a fake name. Oh well, too late. And they'd probably figure it out sooner than later. I looked over at the other man.

"I'm Jacob Black" he smiled and shook my hand in a tight, rough grip, as well. His, as well as Seth's and Sam's skin was abnormally hot.

After introductions I took another bite of my food. It was delicious.

"Um, thank you Sue. This is wonderful", I tried my best to smile at her.

"Of course, Scarlett! Make sure you eat it all, you're all skin and bones!" She replied, smiling widely back. She couldn't possibly be one of them. I ruled that out for good.

Sam, I didn't like the look of him. He didn't smile. All he did was stare blankly at me. I stared back, challenging him. I wasn't going to let him intimidate me.

"Sam. You're scaring her. Stop", Sue scolded him, very seriously. He continued to stare for a little while longer, as did I. Finally, he dropped his gaze as Quil Sr. took a breath to begin speaking.

"So... Ehm, Seth..." He started, and paused, seeing how the name had an effect on me. I tried ever so hard not to show any emotion to it, but watching him, I saw I must have shown something, though, I'm not sure what. It may have been pain, as I seemed to feel it, because he's not currently here. "He came and told us about you. And I must say, I'm completely shocked", he thought for a moment, "I guess I didn't really put two and two together, when you popped up in my attic, out of nowhere."

I felt a sort of relief. Seth went to go tell them about me. Not the Old Ones. I let out a long breath that I didn't know I was holding, and took another bite of my food. It really was delicious, and now I had just a little bit more room in my head to let me enjoy it some.

"So you're a... Gatekeeper?" Sam spoke up. I wasn't expecting someone of his nature, of his personality, to be hesitant like that. I nodded, and he suddenly looked at me differently. A weird emotion of worry, respect, and fear. Not fearful of me in a way, but I knew he was fearful of what I brought.

"You know about the Gatekeepers, the door and everything, right?" I asked, in general again. They shook their heads. "What do you know then?"

"Not much, I can start with that", Quil Sr. began. "We have our tribal legends. The Gatekeepers is one of them, but its not long. We know five children must fight some enemy, and that it happened in the past, its going to happen again. We know they have some sort of ability, and they must all be together to fight said enemy", he continued in a story-telling voice, "we know about the doors around the world, and of course we know about the door in my attic. That doesn't mean we know its use, or anything much about it." he paused, thinking. "In fact, we honestly thought it was just a story. None of us even thought of the possibility that it was remotely true."

"Believe me, I wish it weren't." I said honestly. They all looked at me for more. "I...well... I don't know much more than you do, to be honest. I've been captured a while back by a man named Father Gregory, who told me some of what I suppose I should know. He told me I'm one of The Five. He said that I was basically born to fight the Old Ones-"

"The Old Ones!" Sam said, interrupting me. His face was contorted into a mask of shock and fear. "And here we are, fighting vampires!"

Now my face must have matched his before. VAMPIRES? No, vampires didn't exist! I must have ended up in Loony Town. A Loony Town full of hot guys. Such a waste.

I saw everyone turn to Sam in the same instant. Their faces showed the look of 'You're an idiot, why'd you say that?'. I know, I get that look quite often.

"Don't be silly", I started, though I sound out of breath, from the shock more or less. "Vampires? Like... like Count Dracula?" I tried to make humour, but the situation was beginning to feel more and more real to me. If creatures like the old ones existed, why shouldn't vampires? It just seemed too surreal. Too... out of a story book.

"I... didn't... say...vampires...I-"

Sam stuttered, but was interrupted by the loud boom that the front door made as it impacted against the wall. The sudden loud sound caused everyone in the room to jump about a foot, and made my heart speed up, as if it weren't already.

Looks like Seth was back.

And it looks like someone just killed his entire family in front of him.

The poor boy was a mess. I mean, he was still cute, but a mess. It struck me, that he probably knew as much as the three men in front of me, and maybe Sue. But why was he freaking out, while only they looked about half as fearful as him? Why did this have such an impact on Seth? And the biggest of them all, why wouldn't he make eye contact with me? He wouldn't even look my way.

We all watched as Seth scurried around like an anxious, lost puppy. He went around as if he were searching for something, turning everything over, and shaking everything out. Next, he shut all the windows, and locked them. And slammed the door that he came through shut, and locked it. Then he stood there. Slowly, he turned around, and faced me. He made the most intense eyes contact anyone's ever done to me. Its like he locked me in, just as he's done with the doors and windows. While he was on his rampage, he was shaking non-stop. Like an earthquake was happening, but only he could feel it. But now, as he looked into my eyes, he stopped. He seemed calm. Or, as calm as he could get right now.

"Seth, hunny, come sit down. You must be hungry", Sue said gently, standing up to retrieve a plate for her unstable son. He hesitated. Still staring at me. Then started to walk over to the kitchen table.

He never broke eye contact with me as he pulled out the chair beside me, where Sue just got up from. As he sat down, he nonchalantly scooted it closer to me. I heard the faint bang of the chairs making contact when he shoved it too close. But he made no attempt to move it away. He seemed calmer, just being this close to me. As well, I felt everything inside me loosen up. There wasn't any tension anymore, now that he was here.

"How are you feeling, Scarlett?" Seth's voice surprised me. However calm he's exterior looked, obviously didn't portray how he really felt. His voice sounded weak, cracked.

"I'm... Fine", it sounded more of a question, showing how confused I was. Why was he acting like this? So tense, and afraid?

Sue sat down his dinner plate, and she sat in the remaining chair. Everyone watched me and Seth, as he barely touched his food. I've given up trying to stomach mine.

"Seth, she doesn't know much more than we do. And we don't know a lot to begin with. You can calm down." Sam spoke, with authority ruling over his voice and features, "everything's fi-"

I dropped my fork that I have been fiddling with onto the floor, with a loud clatter.

"Scarlett, where are you"

"Scarlett, it's starting"

"Scarlett, the war has begun"

"Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett"

The voices of Matt, Jamie, Scott, and Pedro filled my head. Their faces, tortured and mangled filled my vision. Coldness overwhelmed my entire being, inside and out. I thought felt Seth grab onto my arms, shaking me, but I couldn't be sure.

"Scarlett, we need you. The war has begun"

And turning my head, the faces disappeared. I looked out the window at the blackened sky. But it wasn't of clouds, this time, it was made of flies. Searching for me. So close.

Hope you liked it! Please Review! Thanks! The next chapter is going to be 'Bon Fire'! :D