Shifting Moon

Life is just that, a life, and it means nothing if you don't make it worthwhile and live for something. But therein lies the question. What do you live it for?

The car ride to the airport was quiet as we had the windows down. Trying to bask in the heat of the day, absorb as much of it as we could to help keep us warm in the perpetually cold and rainy town, I had agreed to exile ourselves to. Knowing the weather I was headed towards, I didn't have my usual shorts on but instead a set of loose-fitting jeans. Light enough to be comfortable in the winter weather here in Phoenix, but the locals looked at me weird for wearing them.

I wasn't crazy enough to be wearing the parka I had stowed away in my carry-on luggage, so at the moment I was relaxed in my sleeveless thin white shirt. My sister was wearing the same, but her shirt had white lace and eyelets along the front in some random fashion I didn't get. I called her my sister, but we were closer to cousins by blood than true brother and sister. She must have felt my eyes on her as she turned to look at me. "It's ok, I'll be right next to you." She said with a sorrowful and worried look in her eyes.

Anyone watching us would laugh at her gesture of comfort. Bella was all of 5ft 4in and 97 pounds soaking wet, so it was laughable to see her trying to comfort someone my size. At 17 years old I stood at 6ft 2in and looked like I weighed in the 200-pound range. My body was abnormally large and muscular for my age, to the point that I have had ladies in their 30's ask me to meet for drinks at a bar. I had anger issues and the best way for me to work those out was by pushing my body to exhaustion and I did that with weight training. Combining that with an appetite that nearly drove my aunt Renee to food stamps, you have a very good idea of what a gym body looks like.

In my stronger moments, I had tried some combat sports like the local Karate and some MMA classes also but those all ended in disaster. Because of my anger issues, I was hesitant to spar with other people and they tended to take this as a sign of cowardness. Put my size and obvious reluctance to fight together and what local bully wouldn't want to show off by dominating someone so large yet cowardly? The wind from the open window pushed my hair into my eyes so I brushed it back with my hand in irritation. My hair was another thing I hated for its ability to draw attention. I was 17 years old and yet I had white hair. My eyebrows were dark, so everyone assumed I was trying to be a wannabe Eminem. No matter how much I tried, no dye would adhere to it, so it stayed white.

The few times I had to go to court over my reactions to the bullies who thought I was an easy target; the judge didn't take well to my obviously dyed hair. Thankfully Bella had been smart enough to bring my medical records to the courtroom to prove that it was a genetic thing. The other lucky thing was that most of these bullies wanted their friends to record their "Brave act" of pushing around someone so large, so in both cases that went before a judge, there was video proof of them starting it. The bad part was it also showed my brutal reaction in the end. I didn't just defend myself, I lost myself and nearly crippled them. Court-ordered anger management wasn't necessary because I was already attending them voluntarily. The group discussions about my anger and all the Woo SAA's of deep breathing just didn't help me very much.

I was drug out of my introspection by my aunt, "Bella, Thomas... You guys really don't have to do this if you don't want to. We were doing just fine as we were, weren't we?" As she talked, Phill pulled into the drop-off lane at the United section of the airport.

Bella stared at her mother's childlike eyes, and I could see her muster up the lie. "I want to spend some time with Charlie mom. It's not much longer and I will start college and my own life. I don't think I will have much time to see him after that all starts. Besides, you should spend more time with Phill on the road now that you guys are married. He sounds really hopeful that the Twins AAA league wants to sign him." After Bella's answer, Renee turned to me.

"What about you Thomas? You could stay with us. Phill says you have the making of a great baseball player if you work at it a little."

"Actually, Aunt Renee, I am really looking forward to the small-town experience. Maybe if I'm in a less crowded area I will learn to relax a bit more, get a grip on my anger issues, and maybe work through my trauma."

"Oh Thomas, if only you could see that your heart is so much stronger than these muscles you have built up like a wall around yourself."

I smiled at her, "Thanks, Aunty!" Then I took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping out and after I closed it, I walked around to the back and helped Phill pull the luggage out of the trunk. "Here you go, big guy." Phill said, handing me the last of the luggage. We both knew it would be a few moments before Bella could Calm Renee down enough for her to escape the car. "If you ever decide you want to get into sports you be sure and let me know. You are any coach's dream."

I smile at him, "Thanks, Uncle Phill." My words surprised him for a moment and then he chuckled. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I guess I am your uncle now. Funny, you think I would feel different."

"If you would take the advice of a snot-nosed kid Uncle Phill, if things don't pan out with the Twins, I recommend you look into Coaching. You have an inspirational way about you. Makes it easy for people to trust your words and work hard for you." Taking a deep breath, "Also, please cherish her. She went through so much for me that I can never make it up to her."

The opening of both passenger doors interrupts our conversation as Renee and Bella make their appearance. "Bella took charge of the situation, and we said our goodbyes yet again with promises to write emails and call every day. We all knew that it wouldn't happen as often as we wanted because life would move on for us all. I hugged and kissed Renee and shook Phill's hand and then I proceeded to put on my JBL headphones. I had made my own playlist with a lot of slow instrumental music playing over the sounds of nature and fixed my eyes on Bella's back as I entered the busy airport with the headphone's volume maxed out.

In classical Bella fashion, she managed to trip over the rail for the sliding doors and almost fell on her face. I reached out for her shoulder and steadied her as a reflex. The move was so common that we really didn't even pay much attention to it. Bella had stopped thanking me for such things a while ago, so she just kept moving with a purpose towards the check-in counter to drop our luggage, minus our carry-on bags that is.

I kept my eyes on her back and tried not to look at the crowd of people. The crowds made me nervous and anxious. Once I started letting that affect me, I knew anger would follow, and being my kind of angry in an airport was a surefire way never to fly again. Like a horse being led around by its halter I stayed within 2 feet of Bella and didn't look around. Bella was the one responsible for finding our gate but first, there was the hurdle of the security check. Keeping my issues in mind, Bella had made our flight for the time with the least passengers so there was as little of a crowd as possible. I filled the little grey tray with everything I had on me including my headphones and tried to concentrate on the ground as much as I could.

Once I got through the personal metal detector, I was quick to get my headphones back on. With short glances around me, I found Bella putting her shoes back on and followed her to our gate. Everything went well on our flight to Seattle and again our flight from Seattle to Port Angeles on a smaller plane was peaceful. I had relaxed more on the little plane with only 6 other passengers than at any point in the day so far. With a sigh, I noticed it was raining as we went to get off the plane and both Bella and I dug out our parka with a resigned sigh.

We both accepted that wet was going to be the new forecast for as long as we were in Forks Washington.

Port Angeles Airport was so small it didn't have a dedicated arrival terminal, so people got to experience walking down the ladder on the runway and waiting for the luggage to be taken out of the belly of the plane. As Bella reached the bottom stairs, she was so busy looking at the man in a small-town police uniform that she missed the last step and practically fell into his arms. "It's good to see you, Bell's," he said as he caught and automatically steadied her. "You haven't changed at all. How's Renee?"

"Mom's good. It's nice to see you too Ch... Dad."

I had noticed Bella's slip up as I'm sure Charlie did as well, but he chose to ignore it. Knowing it wasn't Bella's fault that they didn't form the family bond when she was still young. Charlie and Renee went through a very messy divorce before Bella was even old enough to remember her father. Charlie wanted full custody of Bella when the divorce happened, but Renee had the courts on her side as the mother. Charlie had to admit that she wasn't neglectful towards Bella and without that fault, the courts were always on the side of the mother in custody cases.

Renee wasn't the only one at fault though, Charlie could have left his job as a police officer in Forks to move closer to Bella so he could see her more than 2 weeks a year, but he felt a responsibility towards the people of the town he grew up in. It was a simple story of the choices made when young.

Looking at me I can see Charlie's eyes widen. "Wow Thomas, do you ever plan to stop growing? You look like a beast kid; you are going to be bigger than your dad before you hit 18 at this rate."

I blush at his words. "I... I don't know Uncle Charlie. Not like I can control my height." I truly wasn't ashamed about my size; I just didn't think it mattered that much. Plenty of guys at my old gym were bigger than me. Little did I know how much I would stand out in a small town like Forks.

"Well, if you grow much more you won't fit in Bella's truck, I bought her."

Bella took a surprised breath at this revelation. "You didn't have to do that Dad; I had some money saved up to get me a vehicle."

We were interrupted by the arrival of our luggage. Though it didn't take long to find ours. The lack of heavy clothing in Phoenix limited our ability to prepare for the cold winter of Forks. We planned to go shopping not long after we came to Forks to fill out our wardrobe.

As we loaded the suitcases in the back of Charlie's cruiser, Bella started asking about her new truck. She wasn't too pleased to hear it was an early 60's vehicle but I could see Charlie's thought processes on the whole thing. As accident-prone as Bella was, it was just good math to put her behind the wheel of something that would demolish a new age Fire truck and maybe bend her fender in the process.

It reminded me of an old episode of a show called Night Court where a female attorney had gotten in a wreck in the vehicle her dad had bought her and demolished the garbage truck that hit her, but all that happened to her vehicle was that it unstuck her gas gauge. We settled into a mildly uncomfortable silence as Charlie drove us to our new home. Unfortunately, nothing slowed traffic like a police car, so our silence was a long one. After a time, I broke the silence. "Listen, Uncle Charlie, I can't thank you enough for making room for me. You really didn't..."

Charlie interrupted the speech I had been working on in my head for the past 20 minutes. "Shut up Kid! You are Family and that's all that matters. Don't ever think of yourself as a burden to me." This took me by surprise as I knew Charlie had just as much trouble expressing his true feelings as Bella did. "If you can't rely on your family, then what use is this word anymore?" Silence fell once again after Charlie's impassioned speech.

I started looking out the car window more as I saw Bella do the same. The trees were close to the road, and everything was green and wet. The canopy of the forest made by the trees was intercepting the rain that fell, taking what it wanted of the water before letting the drops fall to the ground. The brown trunks were marred at intervals with moss growing. My first thought was that it looked foreign but after looking for a time I found it strangely inviting and calm. Before I knew it, we pulled up to a little white house with a red truck in the driveway.

As we got out, I went to the trunk for the luggage and Bella gravitated towards the truck and I could tell that she liked it despite herself. She wasn't dumb enough to not realize that she was clumsy and more steel around her was a good thing, well for her anyway. I was happy as well, it meant we didn't have to get a ride to school in the police cruiser come Monday. I carried Bella's suitcase into the house as well as my own with no effort and put it in the room Charlie told me was hers. It looked rather childish in its furnishings, and I knew Bella wouldn't stand for that for long. Resigning myself to helping her make the changes she would want eventually, I went to the door opposite of hers and looked at what would be my sanctuary against the world for the foreseeable future.

After we got ourselves settled in our individual rooms both Bella and I went downstairs and started to rummage around the kitchen. The prices for food in the airports were too frightening to consider and me being a heavy eater, my belly was beginning to act like my throat had been cut. Bella and I both went through the cupboards and to our mutual horror we found them mostly empty, except for some spices that had expired 8 plus years ago, and only the coffee was well stocked. We both cast Charlie an accusing stare as he blushed. "I thought we would go to the Lodge and eat tonight, and I would take you both shopping tomorrow."

Bella laughed. "Dinner at the Lounge should be fine, but we will definitely need to stop for some food tonight or Cereal killer here will be unbearable tomorrow come morning." Seeing her point at me I blushed. "We can't all live off a single package of pop tarts for the day like you Bell's. Besides, breakfast is the most important meal of the day until it's over, then the next one is the most important meal."

Bella just shook her head. "Whoever convinced you that second breakfast was a thing better hope I never find out who he is. I promise extreme violence on his head and shoulders if I find him."

Charlie just watched us with a lost look on his face. "I will drive, you just give me directions on what we want first."

"Well Dad, I want to spare you the pain of shopping with a Hungry Thomas, so I suggest dinner first and once you see him eat you will understand. Unless the grocery store closes soon, if it does, we need to stop there first." Bella tells Charlie.

We head towards the Lounge for dinner, and everyone greets Charlie as a friend and looks at Bella and me as if we are juicy gossip. Bella orders a burger and Charlie orders a steak. I order both a steak and a burger then the smell of fish enters my nose, and I can't help but ask for a side of the catfish I smell cooking. Charlie hears me order and says, "Slow down Thomas, we will hit the store after dinner, no need to order enough to take home for tomorrow."

Bella chuckles, "Sorry Dad, but that is a normal dinner for him. I was surprised he didn't ask for more considering he hadn't eaten since we left home this morning. He will eat almost double what we eat each day."

I turned a deaf ear to Bella's accurate explanation of my appetite. I take a deep breath and let it out as I suddenly realize that I don't feel smothered by people here. I still look for every exit as is my normal when I enter a room, but I don't feel the pressure of the other people in the room. I begin to think that I am safe and can relax a little. But then I feel my body tighten up and my nerves go tight, being relaxed is not an option.

(Later that same night)

People were screaming and crying all around me, I had blood covering my hands as I kneeled on the cold floor. Looking through my spread fingers I could see the white linoleum floor with more blood pooling from the body in front of me. The stench of urine hit my nose as I lost control of my bladder. A pair of black boots entered my sightline at a slow measured pace, the right foot stepped into the pool of blood that I had been focusing on. Tears began to flow as if the boots stepped on something precious to me.

"Damn, you are one fat kid, what's the matter, can't run any further? He he, did your parents leave you behind because you were slowing them down? Or is this your mommy's blood I'm standing in?"

I looked up and saw a man wearing a mask with a skull pattern on it. My eyes shifted away from his face as he brought his rifle up to his shoulder. My time playing Call of Duty allowed me to identify it as an AR 15, my eyes focused on the dark hole of the barrel and waited for the flash that would tell me I was dead.

"One more dead white boy for the cause!" As the man spoke, I closed my eyes and heard a loud bang.

I jolted awake and stared around blankly as I didn't recognize my surroundings. My pulse thundered through my ears and sweat ran down my body. Taking some deep breaths, pushing down the panic, I began to focus and remember where I was. I looked at my phone and saw the time was just after 4am, I pulled on a pair of shorts and made my way to the bathroom as quietly as I could.

Closing the door, I turned the light on and hovered over the sink staring into the mirror there. My sky-blue eyes were bloodshot from the tears they shed during my dream. My face was all sweaty, so I turned the faucet on and splashed the cold water on myself in hopes of clearing the last of the dream from my thoughts as much as removing the sweat and tear stains from my face. Looking around the bathroom I realized that I would be needing to share this one bathroom with Bella and Charlie. "This is not going to be fun." Realizing I said that out loud I just shook my head and used the towel to dry my face and decided to start my day.

Trying to be as quiet as I could in a strange house, I went to my room and put on my morning workout jumpsuit I had previously reserved for deep winter in Phoenix. Making my way downstairs I turned on the kitchen light and found the skillet in the bottom cupboard. Frowning at the dust that covered it I quickly washed it and placed it on the stove. As I opened the fridge to pull out the eggs, I saw Charlie stumble into the kitchen covering himself with a new-looking bath robe.

"You ok Thomas? It's awful early in the morning."

"Yeah, I'm ok Charlie, bad dreams. I decided to get up as my alarm would be going off in a half hour anyway."

Charlie chuckled, "Took me a few minutes to remember I had you guys here, thought someone broke in. Wait, you usually get up this early?"

"Yeah, got to get my morning workout in or my day feels wasted. I will have to do a bare-bones workout until I can find a gym. You want some eggs?" I offer as I pull out my usual three-egg pre-breakfast starter.

"Sure, I'll take one. Since I'm up this early, maybe I can get some fishing in. Should we wake Bella up for breakfast?"

Breaking open the eggs and starting them cooking I just laugh at Charlie's suggestion. "I'm not touching that door with a 10-foot pole this early in the morning. She is not what you would call a morning person. Besides, this isn't breakfast, this is my pre-workout meal."

Charlie just smiled at my comment. "If you are looking for a workout spot, I can offer the gym at the station. Not sure you will find another place open this early in town. I can let them know you will be there."

"That would be great Charlie, I will find it during my morning run. I'll also scope out the best route to school while I'm at it." As I was cooking, I started to stretch out my thighs and calves. As soon as the eggs were done, I put them on plates and quickly washed the pan as I waited for the eggs to cool off enough to eat.

Getting the eggs down quickly I left the house and pulled up the hood against the drizzling rain and started to run.

-(Charlie POV)-

After Thomas left, Charlie was sitting at the table still working on the egg in front of him. He stood up and started his coffee machine and thought to himself. It's been three years, and he is still having nightmares. He had heard Thomas calling out for his mother in his sleep, it had startled him awake after years of being in the house alone any noise did. Going through that at such a young age it's no surprise he didn't like being in crowds. First, his mom's boyfriend pushed him to the ground so he could escape and then he and his mother were trampled by the crowd trying to flee the gunmen. Finishing his egg, Charlie put the plate in the sink and walked to his room to get dressed for fishing. He paused at Bella's door and for a moment he thought about waking her to ask if she wanted to go with him. Thinking about Thomas's reaction to waking Bella, he wisely decided against it.

Loading his fishing gear in his cruiser, Charlie planned to park just off the main entrance to the city and fish in a nearby stream. His cruiser parked there would slow traffic even if he wasn't in it. The locals knew it was the car doing all the work, but they would just laugh about the car working hard while their Chief was chasing fish. You can't hide much of anything in a small town like Forks.

Charlie was reaching for his cell phone to call Harry Clearwater to invite him to fish and maybe this time he could talk him into sharing the recipe for the fish fry batter he made when it lit up with a work number. "Hey Jeff, what's got you calling me so early? I was just about to go fishing."

"Hey Chief, we have gotten a couple of calls about a giant man running the streets with a hood on. Old Matilda called it in and said he was lurking around her property. I called the Cullen's because their kid Emmett is the biggest guy in town, but they say it aint him. Think maybe we got someone broke down and looking for help?"

Charlie sighed at himself for forgetting to tell Jeff that Thomas was going to show up to use the gym. "NO, Jeff. It's my nephew out exorcising. He is one of those fitness buffs and before I forget again, I told him he could use the gym there at the station so he will be there after his run. Don't let his size fool ya, he is a great kid so long as he doesn't get riled up. He will probably be a frequent visitor while he is here."

"Ok Chief, I'll let people know. You sure he is just a teenager? The way folks were talking he could probably give some of those men at the Quileute reservation a run for their money. Going to cause quite the stir at school."

"You will see for yourself when he gets there, from what I hear he takes his workouts very seriously. Talk to you later Jeff, tell Ken when he takes over about Thomas and let him know I'll be fishing so only call if it's important. Don't want the ringer on this phone scaring my fish away."

-(POV Shift)-

The rest of the day passed with the three new roommates learning to get along as they each did their own thing. Thomas found the gym at the police station to be barely passable and planned to use his own money to pick up some better plates for the bench, and the curl bar was bent so it needed to be replaced. Still, it was nice enough and both officers Jeff and Ken seemed like nice guys. It was weird to hear that there were only 2 deputies and one chief for the town, but Ken said they could reach out to the park rangers if needed, other than that it was an hour's wait for someone from Port Angeles.

"You're a long way from Phoenix Thomas," he spoke out loud as he ran a couple more miles after his evening workout. As he passed the hospital, he caught the scent of something sweet in the air. The smell caused his nose to crinkle, and he sneezed. For some reason, his instinct went into overdrive, and he became hyperaware of his surroundings. He was on edge more than normal but didn't see anything near him. Thomas decided to go with his instinct and head back to Charlie's to get ready for his first day of school tomorrow.