My breathing was under control and I had pulled all the twigs and whatnot from my hair by the time I walked through Sam's front door. I waved to Emily, who smiled back. Then I turned around, pulling my hair back and froze. Crowed around the dining table were five huge men. One was Sam, but I didn't know the others. They looked alike with the same dark skin and black, cropped hair. They might as well have been brothers. They where all ripped, wearing t-shirts and jeans, and tall, the shortest was at least 6'5". When Sam looked at me they all did, stopping their conversation immediately. I held my hair in my right hand, pulling around my neck as I looked at them quizzingly.
"Um, may I help you?"
They continued to stare at me, until I noticed Sam's face. He was not happy. At all. He nodded coolly to me.
"Natalie, where were you?"
I breath caught in my throat at his harsh tone. Another involuntary shiver ran down my spine and sent my arms crawling in goose bumps. I managed to speak, though my voice sounded strained.
"Oh, just out and about." I looked around the table, feeling uncomfortable as the others stared at me. "Not to seem rude, but who are they?"
At that the others around the table cracked a grin, and I noticed the atmosphere dramatically lift. Wow. Talk about your mood swings.
"These are Paul, Jared, Quil, and Embry." He gestured to each of them with his hand open. "Natalie, you didn't answer my question; where were you?"
"I told you; out. Does it matter?"
His eyes narrowed, but I could tell he was being patient, for now.
"Yes it does. Now tell me."
I tried not to grin. People who try to order me around end up very angry, very quickly. But I knew Emily would be upset, and I just got settled in. I put up my hands as a sign of defeat.
"Okay, okay, calm. I was just wandering around in the forest."
All the guys around the table visibly stiffened and Sam was on his feet in a startling fast movement. His hands were gripping the table so hard his knuckles where turning an unnatural white. His eyes were furious but guarded. As if he was hiding a secret.
"Don't go out there again, you hear me?"
I gaped at him, all humor gone.
"Why not? It's just a forest, bears are out of season, and I never have any food on me anyway."
"It's dangerous. You are not to go out there."
"Bull. I can handle myself."
One of the guys -Quil?- muttered, "I hope so." under his breath. Sam whipped his head around, glaring at him, and growled -yes growled- at him. Quil immediately shut up. Sam took a few deep breaths and looked at me again, his face hard and serious.
"Listen to me Natalie, you are not going out there without an escort by one of these guys here. You understand me? End of discussion." He sat down again and looked at the guys as a signal for me to leave. I felt Emily's hand on my shoulder and shrugged it off angrily. I felt her flinch back, but I was too furious to care. I leaned against the wall and listened to the guys talk.
"You'll never guess who's back Sam." It was Paul who spoke in a whispered tone, as if he wanted Emily to hear, but not I.
"Yeah, I never saw it coming!" That was Jared, a little louder, probably comfortable with me there, though they were all ignoring me.
"Jake's back!" That was Quil, just as loud as Jared, his excitement breaking through with each word.
"What? Where is he?" Sam was surprised, and I heard Emily gasp happily.
"Talking to Billy, but he should be here soon." It was Embry, his voice calm but excited.
I rolled my eyes and pushed off the wall, walking to the stairs. I flung open the door when I got there and closed it silently. With an aggravated yowl I flopped on the bed again, glaring at my ceiling. I grabbed my phone off the desk, and sure enough, there was another text from Pat.
I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that!
I know you're still touchy about him,
but seriously. I didn't want to tell you
this but Taylor has another gf. I'm
really sorry Natalie. I think he's just
trying to get over you but I'm not sure.
Maybe you should move on too.
I closed the phone angrily again and stared at my ceiling, then the wall. I didn't hold back as tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes. Figures as much. I sighed deeply. I don't want to believe it though. I flipped open the phone and went to the picture section, flipping through it until I got to the section I had in Montana. There was a couple of Pat and I, my aunt Nancy, a guy named Dexter, and a lot of Taylor and I. Kissing, holding hands, just hanging, the works. The last one I saw made my heart ache; Taylor and I laughing as he had his arms wrapped around my stomach, his face right next to mine. It was my favorite one of us. My second favorite picture was my background, which was Pat and I having a good time as always.
I shook my head sadly and closed the phone. No use making me upset over something that happened in the past. I kept telling myself that, but the tears came anyway. It wasn't like normal, where my eyes would go red and puffy, but they were tears all the same. A soft knock on the door made me jump. I stared at it, but didn't attempt to get up and open it. The door cracked open a little bit. Sam's face popped through.
"Natalie, dinner." He then noticed my tear strained face, and his eyes flew up horrified. "I didn't make you cry did I?"
I shook my head and wiped them clean. A small smile spread across my face.
"No. I just found something out that upset me, that's all." I shrugged and took a deep breath, flung my legs over the side of the bed, grabbed the cell off the desk, and walked past him and down the stairs. I could feel the worry radiating off of him and tried to ignore it. It wasn't any of his business.
I rounded the corner and stopped again, noticing the guys still at the table with it set and loaded with food. I glared at Sam lightly.
"Is this normal for you? I thought this was dinner, not a circus."
Sam chuckled uncomfortably and nodded.
"Yeah, you'll be seeing a lot of them." I sighed and shook my head, but went over to the empty chair in between Quil and Embry. Their plates were already covered with food and they were shoveling it down faster than I thought possible. I grabbed a few choice items and settled down to eat when Quil elbowed me in the side playfully.
"I heard you liked cars, 's that true?"
I nodded and relaxed. Whatever they were worried about before didn't bother them now.
"Yeah. I worked with my step-cousins at an Auto Shop for a while. I earned enough money to buy two used cars, and then I fixed them up as good as new. If not better!" I took a bite of mashed potatoes, watching his reaction. He seemed like he already knew the answer, but wanted me to say it anyway. I glanced at Sam accusingly. He grinned loosely and continued eating.
"Really? Cool. Jake works with cars too." He took three mouthfuls of meat, potatoes, and stuffing all at once, and it was gone before his next words were out of his mouth. "So, you know what school you going to?"
I gaped at him as he shuffled more food into his mouth so the question didn't really pass through until he raised an eyebrow at me.
"Oh, uh, I think I'm going to..." I looked at Sam.
"She's going to the one here...for awhile." He narrowed his eyes at me. "They didn't really like your permanent record. So they're going to see how you react before completely accepting you in." At this the guys stared at me, intrigued.
"What 'da do?" That was Embry, joining in the conversation. His plate was empty...for now.
"Well..." I trailed off, pausing for dramatic effect. "I tend to end a lot of fights. And some bitch framed me for drug usage. I proved innocent, but it still stayed on there for some reason. Bastard school people."
Paul looked at me with new light in his eyes as he asked,
"You get into a lot of fights?"
I licked my spoon clean and pointed it at him.
"No. I end a lot of fights. People pick 'em, I end 'em."
A chorus of 'whoa ho' and cheers like that where heard all around the table, but I still caught Sam and Emily's disapproving look. I stared down at my food and continued to answer simple questions. But I couldn't take it any more as Quil stuffed himself with his third plate of food.
"How can you eat so much food? Do you even taste it?" The table burst into a howl of laughter and Embry smacked my back. They eventually calmed down, but still, my question went unanswered. I decided to shrug it off for now.
"So, how are you in school besides the fights, like, what grades do you get?" That was Jared, and he seemed interested in my answer.
I shrugged again.
"Strait 'A's." His spoon clattered to his plate and the others gaped at me. I looked around, but only Emily and Sam had calm faces, and even they seemed surprised. "What? It comes natural to me. I may be a bad ass, but that doesn't mean I can't be smart."
I thought I heard Sam mutter 'that explains it', but I ignored it.
"How can you be so smart?" That was Paul, a new look of disgust but interest on his face. I thought carefully before answering.
"Well, my mom was like genius smart and my dad wasn't stupid, so I guess I got it from them. My mom had a difficult problem to deal with, so if she didn't catch on quick, she might as well never catch on at all." I stared at my plate; now empty, and idly played with the scraps I missed.
"What was wrong with your mom?" It was Quil who asked, but I could tell the others where burning with curiosity. Even Sam seemed more attentive. I hesitated again, this time longer.
My mother had really bad eyesight since she was a kid, and she became blind just before high school. I unfortunately inherited something like blindness from her. Sometimes I wake up blind. It eventually becomes fuzzy, and after that I'm able to see better than before. She called it 'blind spells'. I'm only blind for a few minutes; the longest was five. It happened a lot when I was a kid, but it hasn't happened in along time, and I still have 20/20 vision. I don't know if I'll become blind when I'm older, or if I grew out of it. But I didn't want to tell them that. The last time I told someone that, which was my aunt Karen, she didn't let me go anywhere without someone else, afraid what might happen if I randomly had a blind spell somewhere. The thing is, it only happens after I sleep, or keep my eyes closed for a really, really, really long time. Like a couple of hours. And I hadn't had a spell in six years. For some reason, the question aggravated me. I glared at Quil, my temper rising.
"It doesn't matter now does it? She's gone and I want to remember her by what she did good, not what was wrong with her." I hissed, my voice rising as my temper flared. I obviously caught everyone off guard, because they stared at me like I grew a second head. I stood up and grabbed my plate, pushing my chair out. I looked at Sam. "May I be excused?" He nodded slowly, still trying to figure out what happened. I stalked over to the sink and washed my dishes quickly, put them out to dry, then stomped up the stairs and to my room. I flung the door open, grabbed my jacket and went down the stairs again as I slipped it over my small body.
As I went to the door I heard Sam ask where I was going.
"Out." I answered simply. He said something about staying away from the forest, but I only caught half of it as I slammed the door behind me. Part of me wanted to walk down to the beach, but it was too cold, too late, and too long of a walk. So I settled for lying on the hood of Sam's ancient car. My legs dangled off the edge, and I had my hands behind my head. Clouds covered the sky and tempted to dump rain on me, but I didn't care. All I could think of was my mom.
Eleanor Campbell was a wonderful woman, my hero, my mother. She always knew what to say to cheer me up, give me hope, or comfort me. She was my best friend as well as my mother. She was my savior. She taught me how to fend for myself, and how to count on my other senses besides vision. She was also an amazing cook; she knew every spice by scent, or if need be, had brail on it. We depended on each other for survival, and nothing could tear that from me, not even the men people set up for my mom to date.
Eleanor had a heart of gold and never lost her temper in front of me. At least, never that she didn't apologize for. The only time she ever lost her temper was when a man other than my dad walked through the front door. She'd tell the gentleman politely that she was still married and planned on keeping it clean. Once they were gone, she dialed up her friend's number and argued with her about my dad. I was very confused and one day I asked her why my dad wasn't with us. She told me that he was away on a very important business trip and he'd be back as soon as he could. I mainly grew up with my mother, though I do remember a little about my father. I remember his facial features; his eyes, his smile, his hair. And his laugh. I will never forget his laugh. So light with humor but so deep and husky in pitch. He was a Native American; though I'm not sure what tribe he belonged to. He had short, black hair and the deepest brown eyes. He looked not a day over twenty, though he was going on thirty.
I remember asking my mom how she knew he loved her, and that he would come home; she said something about it being true love, an imprinted love. I was confused, but she told me that I hopefully would never find out what she meant by that. I'm still confused about the 'imprinted' part, but I think I get the jest of what she meant. She always told me about how great my dad was, about how he would never leave someone in trouble and was always giving. She told me he was a generous, loyal, kindhearted soul, and that I should be proud of him, even though he wasn't with us at the time. Tears leaked out of the corner of my eyes as I thought of them. I never knew what happened to my father, and my mother was dead.
Thinking about them made me rebellious. I don't know why, but it did. I snuck a glance at the house. The blinds where closed and nothing seemed to stir behind them. I carefully slid off the car. I didn't know what to do, but it had to be rebellious, stupid, or just plain insane. Then it clicked. The forest. I risked glance at the window and then to the opening of the trees. They seemed to be calling me. With on last look at the house, I crouched down and ran as fast as I could manage while being quiet to the first of the trees. As soon as I got there I regretted it. The haunting feeling from before crept into my blood, chilling me to the bone. I impatiently forced the feeling back. It was only a stupid forest! I just about waded in, but decided it wasn't worth it and headed back to the house. I could think of a hundred excuses not to go in there at the top of my head, but I couldn't let myself think of the real reason why I wanted the shelter of my temperate home. The reason the forest scared me so. Something was unnatural about that place.