I'm so sorry for not updating for weeks! D: I was occupied with so many stuff recently (I was updating my other fanfiction too. Hehehe...). My long holiday is coming soon, right after next week's exams. I can update lots and lots during that time.
Okay, enough ranting from me. I have already PM those who asked me questions. Thank you guys so much for asking and reviewing. I am so happy that I am flying over the moon. :)
Aiden's POV
I stayed outside Raine's house, watching guard in my werewolf form. The night darkness kept me hidden well among the trees. Thank god the back of her house was facing the dense forest, it made things a lot easier for me. But it made things a lot easier for him too. My car was parked somewhere close by and I made sure that Raine wouldn't be able to see it.
I wasn't going to let her out of my sight when the vampire was still walking around Forks alive. Sleep meant nothing to me at this point of time.
I carefully pondered over the whole entire situation while watching the house closely. That vampire, who was stalking Raine a few hours ago, truly puzzled me. I simply could not understand what he was doing.
He could have killed her straight away without making any noise. Vampires have strong agility, great speed and strength. No humans could fight back against them. But why? Why was he holding back and letting her be aware of his presence? I bet he has a hidden motive. But what was it? I thought hard about it. Was all this merely a game to him?
A slight breeze ruffled my fur. There was a rustling sound of trees and a loud thumping sound to my right. My body straightened up and my sharp senses immediately told me who it was.
Seth. I greeted him using my mind. I received his response instantly.
Hey, Aiden.
A large sandy colored wolf with brown eyes emerged from the trees and his oversized paws landed on the forest ground lightly that was soft to the human ears but loud to mine.
Seth was a great friend of Jacob's and we all belonged to the same pack. Jacob was twenty one years old, while Seth was two years younger than him. In the past, all the werewolves used to belong to one big pack, but ever since the Volturi came to Forks to hunt down Jacob's old flame, Bella, our pack broke up into two packs because there were disputes among them. I wasn't there when it all happened because I was only fourteen and hadn't phased into a wolf yet, but my dad told me all about it.
I felt really bad for Jacob when I heard the one that he loved actually picked the Cullen vampire instead. It was the worst pain anyone could face. But now he has finally found someone precious to love and protect her. He has imprinted on Renesmee, a half-human, half-vampire hybrid.
The funny thing was, Renesmee was Bella's daughter. Complicated, yeah? But let's not go into the details. It would take me forever to finish the story. I was already content knowing that Jacob was doing fine.
Did you manage to find him? I asked Seth.
He shook his furry head. I trailed his scent and it seems like he went out of Forks. Confusion flashed in his eyes.
He's a funny one. My head turned back to look at Raine's house, up the small white-paned window on the second floor where I knew she was sleeping in her room. I'm sure that the vampire would be coming back for her. I swore to myself that I would keep him away from her.
Look, I gotta go tell Leah and round up the rest of the pack. We'll keep watch around Forks. Seth moved towards and bumped me with his shoulder. Don't worry, Aiden. We'll keep her safe for you. Jacob isn't back yet, but we can definitely manage one puny vampire by ourselves.
Yeah, he was right about that. Thanks a lot, Seth. I bumped back into his shoulder. And sorry for making you come all the way here.
He rolled his eyes. No biggie. After giving me one last look of assurance, he turned and left, running into the depths of the forest. I went back to look at the house.
I was determined to get my hands on the vampire first, before he gets to Raine.
Raine's POV
I ran in the darkness, my heart thudding fast and hard against my chest. My footsteps echoed in the basment and the foul smell sent a wave of nausea over me. I didn't know where I was heading to. However, I did know one thing; the voice in my mind was screaming four words at me repeatedly.
GET AWAY FROM HIM.
Unable to see where I was going, I smacked into a pillar suddenly. I nearly fell backwards as a flash of pain shot through my head. My hands flew up to steady my head and I stopped for a second to get back to my senses.
Dammit, where was the stairs?
Cursing under my breath, I moved around the pillar and started running straight ahead. Ignoring the throbbing pain from my head, I stretched my hands out, just in case I rammed myself into something else again.
"See? You can run, but you can't hide from me."
A chilling voice from behind sent me running even faster like lightning. Please no, I prayed in my mind.
I DON'T WANT TO DIE HERE!
I spotted a dim green light at the far end of the basement. It looked very much like an exit sign from wherever I was. I headed straight for it since it was my only hope and chance, before that man caught up with me.
When I was closer, there was a stairs leading up to an exit door. YESSS! I shouted in my head. Adrenaline shot through my body as I thought that I was a step closer to safety.
I was halfway up the stairs when I felt a hand clasped around my ankle and pulled me back downwards. I fell down before I could even grab the handrails. A million thoughts flooded my mind as I panicked and started shrieking in terror.
No... No... NO!
"NO! LET GO OF ME!"
I shot up in my bed, breathing heavily through my nose. My forehead and pajamas were soaked in my sweat. I looked around frantically to see where I was. Realizing that I was in my room, I relaxed a little.
Thank goodness, it was all just a dream...
But my hands and body were both still shaking. I couldn't believe that my past was coming back to haunt me again. These dreams...they were making me reliving the horrible memories. It must be have been triggered after that whole stalking thing by an unknown person.
This situation gave me a sense of deja vu since it was quite similar to what happened in the past. But of course, it must be a completetly different person this time.
I stepped out of my bed, knowing that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyway. I switched on the lights and moved towards my window to draw the curtains. I couldn't stand looking at the darkness outside.
I was surprise that my aunt or uncle didn't walk into my room to check on me. I didn't hear my cousins crying either. I sighed in relief, grateful that my screams didn't wake the whole house up. It was probably partly because my bedroom door was closed. Frankly, I didn't want to tell anyone about my dreams. My mom would panick if she hears about this.
I dared myself to look out of the window and glanced up at the night sky. I couldn't see the moon at all. Maybe it was hiding behind the clouds. My hands reached for the curtains and I started to draw it.
A glimpse of movement among the trees caught my attention. I stopped whatever I was doing and squinted my eyes. Seconds passed but I could no longer see whatever that I had just saw. Were my eyes playing tricks on me?
It couldn't be that stalker right? I drew the curtains swiftly as my brain went into panic mode. I climbed back into my bed and hid myself under the safety of my covers.
Oh gosh, what if he breaks into the house?
Ridiculous thoughts went through my mind at once but after a while, I calmed myself down. I was actually kind of overreacting over here. There was no way that stalker would have followed me all the way back to my house since Aiden accompanied me all the way home.
Aiden... I have this itching feeling to call him just to hear his comforting voice. But sadly, I didn't have his number. And besides, I shouldn't depend too much on him either. Tessa's words kept replaying in my mind over and over again.
I lay in my bed, restless, until morning came and it was finally time for me to get out of my bed. There wasn't much to do on a Sunday and I stayed in my room all day - finishing up on assignments, staring at the walls, hanging around the house and watching television.
Even my bubbly cousins, who tried to convince me to play with them, weren't able to shake off my feeling of anxiety and paranoia.
The dreams continued to haunt me for the next few nights. My horrible eyebags reappeared once again and I'm thinking that I have really turned into a real-life walking zombie. I was zoning out in classes and I jumped at every single person who tapped me on the shoulder. Sometimes, I would catch my friends exchanging worried looks among themselves when they thought I wasn't looking.
I wasn't my own self at all, and I hated being like this. I didn't know why, but I kept having this strange sense of foreboding that something bad was going to happen soon.
"Raine... Hey Raine!" Lisa threw a pillow straight in my face to get me back to Earth. With a loud "oof", I rolled my eyes and glared at her. The pillow dropped to the floor and I snatched it back up and hugged it to my chest. I was intending to throw it back in her face when she wasn't looking.
Lisa pulled a face at me. "I've been calling your name for the past five minutes," she complained, slightly irritated. "Stop spacing out and start dressing up, girl."
Oh yeah, I was supposed to be putting on a dress and makeup for the party tonight at Drake's house. I wasn't in a mood for all this partying and fun, but I couldn't possibly back out after promising my dear friends.
"Hey, which one do you think looks better on me?" Lisa held out two dresses in front of her - a strapless black bodycon dress and a sparkling blue mini dress. I pointed to the blue one, it would definitely look good on her. With a satisfied look, she muttered happily, "I thought so too." She tossed the black dress on the bed and turned back to the full-length mirror.
I dragged myself reluctantly over to the mountain pile of clothes on the bed and started looking for something that would suit me. Brynn said we could select any of her clothes but I didn't expect her wardrobe to be three times bigger than mine.
Guess I have to go shopping soon.
Brynn walked through the bedroom door with her arms full of makeup products. Melinda followed closely behind her, eating salad from a bowl. I gaped at Brynn as she dumped all the stuff on the dressing table.
"Whoa, that's a lot , Brynn," I exclaimed. I didn't own much makeup products myself, just a couple that I rarely used. I felt a little (a lot) boyish right now.
She turned and gave me a teasing smirk. "I snuck it out from my mom's room. There's mine too. You guys can just use it if you want."
"You're such a sweetie, Brynn!" Lisa squealed in delight and twirled around the room. Brynn laughed at her as she picked up an eyeshadow palette. Melinda set her bowl down on a table and starting looking through the clothes.
"Here." She handed me a cherry red flare dress. She noticed that I was the only one who hasn't decided on a dress. I took it from her and examined it carefully.
Lisa snorted at me. "Stop giving that weird look. You're gonna look fabulous in that dress." I wrinkled my nose, doubting her words. Melinda and Brynn agreed with her and they all started to pester me to change. I put up my hands in mock surrender.
"Okay, okay. I'll go change. You guys better change too," I said. I still doubted that I would look good in a dress.
We closed and locked the bedroom door. All four of us turned away from each other while holding our dresses in our hands. "When all of us are done changing, we'll turn together, alright?" Brynn said. The rest of us muttered an "okay" back to her. I could tell they were all excited. To be honest, I was a little excited too. I couldn't wait to see how fantastic they would all look like.
"Time to change, girls."
I pulled my top over my head and removed my jeans. I could hear the rest were doing the exact same thing. I felt the smooth fabric of the dress between my fingers. It was really gorgeous and I didn't wanna wreck its beauty by my boyish figure. I couldn't believe how much I'm regretting right now for not eating the right food like what Melinda did a while ago.
Oh well, here goes nothing.
I put on the dress carefully, afraid that I might torn it or something. When I was done, Lisa spoke out loudly. "Are you girls ready?" she asked eagerly. We replied back "yes".
"Okay, on the count of three. One...two...THREE!"
We spun around at the same time and my jaw dropped at the sight of them. They were all looking extremely gorgeous! Melinda was wearing a one-strap shimmering metallic dress and Brynn... Wow, she looked like a model that has just walked out from a Cosmo magazine. She was wearing a stunning backless dress that I wouldn't imagine myself wearing that. And of course, Lisa was just beautiful in that blue dress like what I expected.
As for me, well, I have no idea how I looked like...
They all stared at me silently for a couple of seconds, examining me from head to toe, before launching into their high-pitched screams. I covered my ears immediately because I was afraid that my eyedrums would explode.
"Raine! OH MY GOD, RAINE!"
They couldn't stop squealing and squealing as they ran towards me. 'What? What's wrong? Do I look weird-" I asked them but they dragged me towards the mirror. I stood before the mirror and looked at my appearance.
My dress fitted around my curves perfectly. In fact, I looked very, very different and lady-like. It was as though the dress was made perfect for me. I stared open-mouthed into the mirror in shock.
...Was that really ME?