"I'm glad to see you're still in town." Sam said as he stood in front of me in the mom and pop store on the Rez.
I walked passed him and headed out of the store. The rest of the pack was there waiting. I ignored them and kept walking.
"Hey, it's not like we want you here. If you want to go you can leave." Paul said as he walked backward so he could face me.
"Lani, I don't know your past but we're here for you. We're family now." Sam said stopping me with his hands on my shoulders.
I looked at him with disgust. I took the pencil from behind my ear and wrote on a new notepad I had just gotten.
Lani:
I have no family; I don't want family.
"You may not want it but it is your duty." Sam said as he looked at me with a sense of authority.
Lani:
My duty is to live my life the way I want to.
Sam started saying something to me but I continued ignoring them and went to the studio. They had stopped following me half way there. After looking through the help ads from the paper I bought at the store, I took out my sketch pad. Immediately my hands started moving in swifts soft motions. I looked at the finished product and saw that I had drawn the face that had haunted me for three days now. I looked up as the door opened. There stood the guy that rented me this place. I glared at him as he motioned toward a box he brought with him. His kids were standing behind him.
"I need to fix something with the light fixtures." He said. "Nice picture, boyfriend?" I glared and he raised his arms in surrender mode. "By the way, I'm Neal. This is Takoda." He said motioning to his son. "And this angel is Chenoa." He said as his little girl hid behind him. He didn't wait for me to give him my name, and started working with the light.
I went back to sketching as he worked. While Takoda helped Neil and Chenoa watched me. I looked at her and she looked down. I tore a piece of paper and handed her color pencils I had. She lay on her tummy and set to work. I received a coy smile from Neil and looked away indifferent. I was transfixed in my sketches that I didn't notice that Neal had finished. I looked up and saw that he, and the kids, were gone. I furrowed by eyebrows as I looked at the icicle Christmas lights hanging around the room. What the hell. The lights started flickering as Neal opened the door and gave a smirk, his children squealed behind him looking at the lights.
"I realized you wouldn't hear if someone knocked. I read online that those who are deaf use lights to know when a timer goes off, or the doorbell rings, so I put a light-bell in."
I looked at him confused. Why would he go through all that trouble? Weirdo. I couldn't help but keep looking at them, though. I glared back at him.
"Hey, my studio, you're just renting, wildcat I can do whatever I want to it."
Lani:
Wildcat?
Neal looked at the piece of paper I was holding and shrugged. "It was either that or smart ass, but since I have kids I opted for the former."
"What's smart ass?" Takoda asked. Neil paled a bit and I couldn't help but give him a wicked smirk with my eyebrow raised.
"Come on, let's go eat." Neil said ignoring the question
A few hours later the lights started to blink. I reluctantly got up expecting to see Neil, to my surprise Charlie stood in front of me.
"Hey, kiddo." He said awkwardly with a grim smile. "Can I come in?"
I don't know what it is about Charlie, but ever since I was little I was always drawn to his oddness toward people. It made me feel like I wasn't alone. Thus, I let him in and tried to keep my brave face on. The problem: that I had seen Charlie at breaking point when his parents died.
I remember that day clearly because it was during the last summer, 1991, that I had come down to visit Billy and Sara; I was five, turning six that December. I remember him sitting at Billy's table and Sara bringing him coffee, while Billy tried to reassure him.
SUMMER OF '91
"I have nothing, Billy. Nothing! Renée's gone, my daughter…" Charlie put his head in his hands. "Now the ones that kept me from following them are gone and it's too late to follow her now." Charlie heaved a big sigh as he finished.
I had been standing behind the wall leading toward the kitchen peeking at them. Charlie looked up from his hands and saw me. Blood shot eyes and tears were what I saw and my heart lunged toward him. I ran up to him and hugged him not sure if it would work, since it never worked with my father. I was afraid it would have the same result but at the same time I knew that I was safe with Charlie. I had always wished my father was Charlie.
"Don't cry Uncle Charlie, I love you."
"Awww, thanks lovebug." He said holding me tightly. "I love you too," He loosened his grip and looked at me, wiping the tears I had for him. "I feel better already. You have the magic touch." He pinched my nose with a little smile. He wrapped him arm around me as I sat on his lap and I leaned into his chest. I never knew comfort and safety as that of Charlie. I had fallen asleep in his arms. The next day my father came to pick me up and that was the last I had seen of anyone in Forks, or the Rez.
PRESENT
I looked at Charlie as he surveyed me. He looked away and glanced around the studio.
"Nice digs." He said.
I shrugged, but when he looked at me I turned away. I walked toward the window and looked out. Neil was playing with his kids in the backyard. He had just scooped up Takoda and lugged him over his shoulder as he ran after Chenoa. I turned around and saw Charlie watching me. He dropped his hands from his side and sighed looking down. He had said something but as he looked up I pointed to my ears and shrugged. That had done it. He reached out and grabbed my arm pulling me toward him. He hugged me so tight I had stopped breathing for a bit. Weird thing was, I didn't try to fight it. So much for putting aside my emotions. Damn the man that haunted my brain. I blame him; he let something loose. Charlie let me go and I felt a bit disappointed even though I had kept myself from hugging him back. He had his hands on my face and made me look at him, his eyes teary.
"We need to ta…" His left hand touched my right ear and stroked it. "We need to have a conversation." He corrected. "Do you mind going to Billy's?"
I tried turning my head but his hands were still cradling my head.
"Tell me what happened." Without knowing it I had begun shaking. Just the memories of it all started to unleash the wolf inside. Charlie wrapped his arms around me once more trying to comfort me as I tried to keep the wolf at bay. When he finally let go, I went to a notebook and started writing.
Lani:
How can you still hold me?
I killed two people.
Two people who you were close with.
Why can't you all see the monster that I am.
Anger flashed on Charlies face.
"You're not a monster, Lani. I don't know who…" He stopped and turned around. He was trying to calm himself down before speaking again. After a couple minutes he looked back at me. "By the time we thought something had happened to you, it was too late. I went to the house and neighbors told me that you and your father hadn't returned since this one day. They told me about it. That there was so much yelling, crying, and anger coming from your house and they were scared for you. They watched as he dragged his bloodied daughter to the car and threw her in and never saw either of them again." He balled his hands into fists and then loosened them. "They didn't bother calling it in because they thought someone else had. Twenty-six people heard the commotion, zero called the police." He sighed letting out his anger. "I went to file a report at the police station in Hayfork when a Dt. James came up to me. holding a file. He said it wasn't the first time that Mark had hurt you, but that it may have been the worst time, maybe even the final time."
He walked toward the window and opened it needing the fresh air.
"We made it our mission, Billy, Sara, and I, with the help of Dt. James to find you. Then I got a call. Dt. James said that Mark had been spotted in Nevada. Before I told Billy or Sara I wanted to make sure it was accurate. I made a call to the station there and they sent some cops to investigate. Mark must have seen them coming from the window and packed you up because they never found either you or Mark. A few weeks later I got another the call but this was the real deal. A deputy had found you battered and bruised at Summitview park in Yakima. They arrested Mark and he gave me the information to come pick you up." He looked at me tears in his eyes, but he was holding on to not cry. "Lani, I was relieved to hear we finally found you. I called Billy and Sara, but Sara was the one that answered her cell phone first. I was going to head out from the station and she was heading out from the store to pick you up. However, we never made it out. I came across the crash just outside of Forks."
Tears stung my eyes as I remembered that day. I was sitting in the police station, waiting. Waiting.
"When they got her out of the car she was barely alive. She saw me and was filled with fear as she said 'Lani.'" Charlie looked down and took a breath before continuing. "We meant to pick you up that day and I'm sad that things turned out the way they did."
I tried to breathe as this new information hit me. Charlie gently pulled my arm but I pulled it away from him trying catch my breath. He tried again but this time more firmly as he pulled me toward him and I sobbed in his chest hitting him, and not too lightly. I tried to remember that he was only human as we slowly fell to the floor and he rocked me back and forth as I stayed in his arms.
I slowly opened my eyes as it dawned on me I had fallen asleep. I laid my hand over my eyes processing the information again. I felt footsteps on the hardwood floor and uncovered my eyes.
"Here, drink this." Charlie said as he handed me a glass of water. "Nice drawings." I gave a slight nod and drank the water. He continued to look through my sketch pad and then stopped abruptly. "I didn't know you knew Emmett Cullen." I raised my eyebrow at him. He turned the sketch pad to reveal the picture I had drawn of the man that haunted me and I gasped. "Hey, you alright?"
This was bad; I was dreaming and pining over a vampire, my mortal enemy.