Alright, since chapter one was so short and left on such an...err bad note, here's chapter two on the same day! Yay for quick updates! I respond to reviews/questions, so fire away. I definitely won't be giving anything away though!
-Steph
Chapter Two: The Gang
A pounding is all I could feel in my head. Opening my eyes, I found myself laid out on the side of the road. Scanning my surroundings, I found myself to be alone. The woman was gone. Getting to my feet as quickly as possible, I pushed off a bout of nausea and dizziness. I took off running as fast as I could, which ending up being a pathetic half jog. I did not want that psychopath coming back to make sure I was dead.
It was still dark when I got back to Grans house, but I could see the beginnings of the tell-tale orange on the horizon. How long had I been knocked out? I fell onto the porch swing, trying to catch my breath. My whole body was shaking, shock I think. My fingers were slightly numb, and I absently rubbed my hands together.
My mind raced as I tried to put together what the heck just happened. My head still pounded, and reaching up, I winced as I came to a sore spot. Looking at my fingers, I was slightly shocked to see blood. That must've been when she slammed my head...I froze a little. Did that really all just happen? Did some beautiful psychopath really try to kill me in Forks, one of the most boring small towns on earth?
I shook my head. This had to be a dream. There was no crazy lady, and there was no wolf, and I was hallucinating. Yeah, shock from everything lately. My mom, loosing my long-term boyfriend, moving halfway across the country. I probably tripped on a rock and hit my head and it was all a dream.
There definitely wasn't a random wolf out there saving damsels in distress.
After another twenty minutes of trying to convince myself of this, I got up on shaky legs and slipped into the house as soundlessly as possible. Padding up the stairs to the bathroom, I turned on the light and locked the door. With a little bit of trepidation, I looked into the mirror.
My eyes immediately zeroed in on the bloody gash on the top left of my forehead. There was a line of dried blood going all of the way down my face. I let out a soft gasp as I inspected it. Looking over the rest of my face it seemed unaffected until looked down to my neck. My reflections eyes widened, and I pulled the front of my sweatshirt down. A ring of dark purple bruises necklaced my pale skin.
"Shit," I muttered, leaning in closer. Well that slashes a hole in my rock theory...
Deciding my only hope at accessing my injuries fully was a shower, I quickly shed my dirty clothes and climbed in. The steamy water helped my muscles loosen, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief. If Gran asked why I was showering at four in the morning, I'll just tell her I couldn't sleep. After scrubbing my head with a relaxing lavender scented shampoo and conditioner, I made quick work of washing my body. There was a couple of developing bruises, but nothing nearly as bad as my neck. After cleaning myself and bandaging up my forehead, I decided it was time for bed. I definitely needed to lay down. My mind continued to try to make sense of what had happened throughout the entire night, allowing my sleep deprived mind a mere two hours of relaxation.
It wasn't until I heard Gran start moving around that I finally decided I needed to get up for the day. I pulled on a sweatshirt and a pair of yoga pants. My neck barely showed, but it was enough for me to throw a scarf on , just to be safe. It was a bit of a weird combination, but I still wasn't fully believing my memory, and I really didn't want to give poor old Gran a heart attack.
Assessing the cut on my forehead, I established it could be covered by a cleverly placed beanie. Once I had finished, I looked odd, but unharmed. With a shrug, I exited my bedroom in search of food. After a quick breakfast with Gran, in which she delicately informed me only hoodlums wear sweatshirts and beanies, I told her I was going to go up to my room and finish settling in from the big move. In reality, I sat on my laptop for the next six hours looking up red eyes, and red-eyed creatures. I found things for demons, possessions, and other unbelievable things. Definitely not something I wanted to bring up to Gran. Or the Forks Police Department, for that matter.
A knock sounded on my door. "Yeah?" I asked, quickly exiting out of the web browser.
Gran poked her head in, a grin on her face. "Oh, good. Looks like you've settled in nicely," She said, giving the room an appreciative glance. I looked around, and nodded. I had hung up some photos of my Charlotsville friends, and a couple posters of bands I liked. I also had my laptop set up on the desk in the corner with my calender taped over it.
"I was just coming to remind you that we have dinner with the Davidson's tonight," She said, pulling me from my inspection.
I nodded again, even though I had completely forgotten. "Alright, I'll be ready." I said.
Gran chatted with me for a bit before she left to get ready. Apparently Mr. Davidson is quite the looker, and even though he's decades younger and married, Gran said you can never be too done up.
I gave up my pointless google searches, and instead took a shower and put on some makeup. After I somewhat successfully covered the cut on my forehead, I was able to forgo the beanie. I switched my sweatshirt for a high necked shirt, a dressier scarf, and some hole-less jeans. That would be as dressy as I got for Mr. Davidson.
Two hours later Gran and I piled into her red Oldsmobile. She refused to take my mothers car that I had driven here, saying hers was "Old but reliable.". I was leaning more towards the old description. With a screeching protest, we stopped in a handicapped parking space at, "The Lodge,". Gran gave me a sly grin and said, "I may or may not have fudged to the doctor about how bad my knee was."
I rolled my eyes, getting out of the death-trap of a car. Gran excepted my help getting out of the car, if only to play up her knee injury. We had arrived after the Davidson's, and we spotted them seated in a booth near the back of the restaurant.
"Oh, Kim!" Gran yelled, waving at the woman in question. Kim waved us over.
"Oh Clarice, how are you!" She exclaimed as she got up to hug Gran. She then turned to me. "Oh you must be Carrie! You're even more beautiful than Clarice said!" She exclaimed. I smiled politely, returning her pleasantries.
"Unfortunately my husband George, and Ashton, my son, couldn't make it," She explained. "But Davie made it," She finished happily.
Gran looked a little more then disappointed, but waved it off and struck Mrs. Davidson up into a conversation about some plumbing problem Mrs. Denvers down the road had. I turned to my right where Davie sat quietly. He was probably 14 or 15, dark black hair, tan skin, and dark brown eyes. His mother shared his Native American traits as well. He gave me a smile and introduced himself as Gran and Mrs. Davidson talked among themselves.
"I'm Davie," He said. "I hear you're going to be staying with Ms. Benson for awhile," He continued conversationally.
"Yeah, my moms in the clink," I joked with a wink. Davie laughed.
"Ah, the daughter of a hardened criminal. I may just like you," He joked back. I rolled my eyes.
"How old are you anyway?"
"Fourteen. I start high school this year," He stated proudly. "And yes, I am single,"
I barked out a laugh, my eyes rolling on their own volition.
"Sorry dude, I'm three years too old for you," I quipped. Davie shrugged good naturedly, then moved on.
"Hey, a guys gotta try."
We both laughed and conversed easily for a while until our food came. I had ordered a burger and fries, and Davie had followed my lead but had added bacon to his. We ate in relative silence as his mom and Gran continued to chat about church gossip.
Davie's cellphone dinged, and he replied to the text quickly. He looked up at me and smiled.
"Hey, you seem pretty cool. A couple of my friends are going to that new movie out in Port Angeles. You wanna come?"
I hesitated, my mind immediately going to the red-eyed maniac. I started to wheedle my way out of it when Davie raised his hands up.
"Hey, no pressure. I just assumed you haven't made any friends yet, and not all of my friends are 'Three years too young.'" He said with hand quotes.
I rolled my eyes, giving him a friendly punch in the shoulder. It was unlikely I'd be attacked by a red-eyed psychopath two nights in a row, right?
I finally relented, telling him why not. He grinned and we easily chatted the rest of the night. It was weird how well we got along, considering he was a lot younger than me. I had an almost brotherly connection to him. When our dinner came to an end and Gran insisted she pay for the whole thing, I exchanged numbers with Davie and told him I was gonna run home for a sweatshirt. He said they'd pick me up there. I guess that means one of them is sixteen if there's a driver.
When I got home I made quick work of finding a sweatshirt that matched my scarf. After changing out of my jeans and into a much more comfortable pair of yoga pants, I pulled my long blonde hair into a pony tail, and lightly lined my blue eyes with some eyeliner. Hey, one of them was close to my age right?
A car honked twenty minutes later, and I yelled out goodbye to Gran before hurrying outside. A beat up red Grand Am idled by the curb. With a grin I hurried to the back, sliding in quick. Inside was a small herd of people. I recognized Davie up front right away, but the driver and two passengers I was squished against were a mystery.
"Hey Carrie!" Davie piped from the front. "This is Quil," He jabbed his thumb at the driver, an admittedly good looking guy my age. "And that's Brady right next to you, and his twin Collin," The other two were more towards Davies age.
I said hello and gave them a wave. Brady and Collin started arguing with each other about some video game while Davie and Quil bantered about some girl Davie thought was cute. Ali something.
"Okay seriously Carrie," Quil said, obvious amusement lacing his voice. "This girl has all but confessed her love to him, and the kids still not sure if he should ask her out!" He crowed. I grinned, looking to Davie. He rolled his eyes, an easy-going smile on his lips.
"Whatever, Quil, you're just jealous you don't have a lady in your life," He quipped. I giggled, making Quil give me a fake glare in the rear view mirror.
"Oh shut it, both of you." He mumbled. We all talked easily the rest of car ride. I had always had an easy time making friends, but it was different with these guys. It felt like hanging out with family. And the fact that the definitely attractive Quil was single was more than interesting to me . I may have just had my long term boyfriend end things, but there was never any real feelings in that relationship. It was more of a friendship in which we kissed and held hands. Which sounds weird, but...true.
The movie proved to be some gory zombie movie, and it kind of sucked. But the guys commentary made it easily one of the best movies I've been to in awhile. After the movie we decided to head back towards forks and stopped at a pizza place on the way. We had just started eating when the door flung open and a group of rowdy guys entered.
They were all Native American, like my friends, but older, taller, and buff. So buff, I could swear they were pushing something. I heard Davie curse under his breath, and I ripped my eyes from the loud bunch.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Davie just huffed, but sunk a little lower in his seat.
"That's my brother and his friends. They're bad news. Ever since Ashton started hanging out with them he never comes home. I think they have him doing drugs." He mumbled the last part, but I looked towards the group again. One of them had zeroed his gaze in on Davie. He was tall, around six and a half feet. He had the usual Native American features, but his face had a nice symmetry about it. He was definitely tall, dark, and handsome to a T, and he was walking this way.
"Hey Davie," He said. Davie rolled his eyes.
"What do you want Ashton? We're busy." He said, gesturing to me, Brady, and Collin. Quil had gone to the bathroom. Ashton nodded at the boys, but then his eyes stayed on me for an extra second, something like recognition lighting his eyes. He eyed my scarf, and I pulled at it subconsciously. Shaking his head he focused back on Davie.
"Look, I just need you to tell mom I'm gonna be home late. Just tell her it's work or something," He said. Davie grunted.
"Yeah, work." He said sarcastically. Brady and Collin shifted uncomfortably both of them obviously intimidated by Ashton.
Just as Ashton was about to reply, Quil returned, a deadly glare on his face as he sat down.
"Oh are we worthy of your attention now?" He growled. I looked at him in surprise. He had been such an easy-going person all night. "Trying to take more of my friends from me? What, Jake and Embry not enough?"
Ashton raised his hands in a surrendering way. "Look man, I don't know what you're talking about. I just need to talk to my little brother,"
Quil stood up quickly, knocking his chair over. His hands were shaking badly, so he clenched them at his sides. His entire body seemed to be trembling.
"Why don't you just go, before I do something I regret?" He ground out. A knowing look came over Ashton, and the rest of his buddies had come over to investigate.
"Look Quil man you gotta relax," One of them said.
"Oh fuck off Embry! Since when do you give a flying fuck?" He yelled. I sat back, wide-eyed looking at the rest of the people I came with. Davie had stood up to defend Quil, Collin looked uncomfortable, and Brady had a calculating look on his face. The rest of boys Ashton came with looked nervous. Well if this wasn't confusing, I don't know what is.
"Look guys, why don't we just go?" I tried interjecting. The group ignored me. Rolling my eyes I stood up and put my hand on Quil, causing one of the bunch Ashton came with to step forward, almost protectively. "Come on, they're not worth it," I said gently.
He shook his head, a low growl like rumble coming from his chest.
"Quil?" I asked, tentatively trying to get his attention. "Quil come on, I want to leave." My voice came out a little desperate, and that seemed to break his reverie. He nodded, his shaking subsiding greatly.
"Yeah. Yeah I know. Lets go, guys," He said. I nodded, relieved. I grabbed my bag, but as I was trying to leave Ashton grabbed my shoulder. Looking deep into my startled eyes, he gave me a concerned look.
"Hey, be careful. No more night walks, alright?" He said. I looked at him in shock, automatically grabbing my scarf protectively.
"How did you kno-"
"If you want a ride I'm leaving." Quil interrupted, heading to the exit. The boys filed after him, Davie giving his brother a friendly middle finger and shake of the head.
I looked back at Ashton, and asked more urgently.
"It was real then? She was real?" I whispered, trying to keep my voice down. He shook his head.
"Let's go guys," And with that the biggest lead as to what happened last night walked out the room.
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN. And the plot thickens. Haha leave me your thoughts, questions, and opinions! Next up chapter three. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
