Disclaimer: The line "Pain is just a message. Ignore the message." is the written work of James Patterson from his series Maximum Ride. It was not originally written by myself, nor do I claim it as mine.
Chapter Seven: Attack
My driveway is long and curves multiple times. It takes two minutes if you run but about seven minutes walking to reach the main house. Sam dropped me off ten minutes ago, and I'm not even halfway. Damn leg.
I find myself heading west into the forest towards my parents' cottage. I used to sleep there when I was little, but a few years ago I decided to sleep in the big house instead. Who wouldn't? I got to sleep in late before school. Plus, breakfast was made for me every day. Thank you, Esme, aka Grandma.
I should've just called my mom and told her to come to the big house. My leg definitely isn't benefiting from the hike, but I really need to talk to her about Jake. She's the only one who won't totally freak out. My dad, Emmett, and Jasper were out because they'd get super overprotective right away. It would be too weird to discuss stuff like this with Carlisle. Esme would be too attentive. Alice would freak and want every detail. Rosalie would just go on and on about how I deserved a person, not a dog as a boyfriend. Mom was the only one who would just listen and give simple advice. Man, I hope she has advice for this.
Jake and my mom were best friends before I was born, once upon a human Bella life. She'll understand. I mean, at least she'll understand about the whole possibly in love with my best friend, Jake, thing anyway.
I wonder how I should bring it up. I'll just be straight with her, probably. She's cool about this kind of thing. What about the kissing thing. Should I tell her Jake and I kissed? She'd want to know about my first kiss, but maybe this wasn't the time. 'Hey, Mom! I need some advice about Jake. I made out with him, by the way.' Just seems too… I don't know. I think it would scare her, honestly. A lot of change for one day. I might as well ask for condoms, too, if I'm going to tell her that.
My thoughts are interrupted by a ripping sensation through my arm. I raise my forearm in front of my face. There's deep scratches that no tree or bush could have made. Blood rushes from the cuts down my arm. "What the fu-?"
Something impacts my body, and I flail to the ground. I hear my shoulder crack before the searing pain takes over. I cry out as I try to rotate off my shoulder and onto my stomach. I stay low as I look around for what attacked me, but nothing's there as far as I can see. Was it an animal? It was strong, and fast to move out of sight before I saw it. Vampire? It must be. I sniff the air. I don't smell vampire, honestly, and a vamp wouldn't be able to rip my skin like that and not lose control and just bite me.
"Hello?" I question cautiously, afraid something awful will come tearing into view. I hope it's Emmett just messing with me, but why would he tear up my arm? Dad would kill him. I know it's not him, but I silently wish my instincts are wrong. I wish this wasn't some unknown killer. Dread sweeps through me as I remember something from earlier.
Blood red eyes in the forest. Fuck.
"Shit!" I mumble under my breath. I quietly reach for my phone, knowing that if something really is attacking me, it won't let me call anyone.
Sure enough, I was right. Sharp teeth, or what I assumed were teeth, ripped into my hand and thrust it forward hard enough to fling my phone into the underbrush. By the time I turned around to see my attacker, it was gone. Motherfucker! How fast did this bitch move?
Even I'm not sure what happened next, and I was right in the middle of it.
I remember being propelled through the air. I yelped as I hit a tree and slid down, my skin scraped against the rough bark. My head was throbbing and my lower back and arm were in immense pain. "Pain is just a message. Ignore the message," I mumbled to myself as I stood up and looked for my attacker.
Nothing was there.
That, however, meant absolutely nothing in this sick game.
Something, or someone, clamped onto my shoulder, spraying blood. When I started to scream, it shook me and threw me against another tree. This time, though, I hit it head on and fell back to the ground. If I were completely human, I'd be dead by now.
Open your eyes. Open your eyes.
I didn't like the red screen behind my eyelids. Creeped me out. But wait… my eyes were open which meant blood was dripping down my head and blocking my vision. I had two reactions to this:
This was not good. I've never bled so much in my life, not even counting my periods.
Gross!
I tried to brush it out of my eyes, but my arm refused to move. Well, fuck. I was going to die. Dying didn't scare me, but I didn't even…didn't even tell Jake…Everything faded out just as I heard a deep growling say "Filthy vampire. You're not worthy of being an alpha's imprint."