Friend Of The Dead

The Arrival

Edited.

The airplane was stuffy and stale, and the person next to her kept sneezing and sniffing. Sophie prayed to God that she wouldn't get a cold on her first day in Forks.

Ah, yes, Forks, Washington. The small cloudy town infamous for being named after a utensil. It baffled Sophie why they thought it reasonable to name an entire town Forks. She pondered this thought as she munched on the cookie the flight-attendant had given to her. It wasn't very tasty, and it was kind of hard to chew, but Sophie wasn't one to waste food, so she soldiered on until the entire thing was devoured. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice that they were landing until a flight-attendant alerted her.

She buckled herself in and sighed, popping her earphones in her ears and blasting Imagine Dragons so that she wouldn't feel uneasy. It was probably unsafe, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Usually, she had her mom or sister to alert her of this stuff, this time, it would be Sneezy Smurf next to her. It was a fitting nickname considering his nose was blue.

She guessed it wouldn't be so bad, in fact, she might even enjoy her stay here. Sure, it wasn't as warm as Phoenix or Arizona, the town barely had any sunlight, but then again, Sophie didn't like warm weather. It made her all sweaty and itchy and uncomfortable. Maybe Forks would be a blessing. If she remembers correctly---which she without a doubt does----It rained regularly in Forks. And God knows how much Sophie missed the rain.

It took some time to convince her mother to let her go and live with her sister and father in Forks. Bella moved there about a year ago or two ago, and despite the huge accident she was in and the depression phase she went through, she still stayed. Bella was brave, she moved back for Charlie's sake, and for Renee, she wanted her and her new husband to enjoy some time together. But Sophie was a coward in this situation, she backed out because she couldn't imagine going back to the place that is filled with memories of her.

But she got herself together and managed to find the courage. The only problem was her mom. Renee didn't want her going back to such a traumatic town, she feared for her sanity and her health. It took a long time and a lot of begging to finally be allowed the pass.

It was a hellish week, for sure.

Charlie was more than happy to have her back. She did stop visiting a while back, and she hadn't seen him since. He'd lost both of his daughters, and now he was getting both of them back. The joy in his voice over the phone when she told him still brought a small smile to her lips. At last, she was getting a break from travelling and the sun.

Don't get her wrong, she loved it with her mother and Phil, but all he seemed to be able to talk about was baseball. She shouldn't be so hard on him since that was his profession, but with all her effort, Sophie just couldn't understand baseball. It was a game full of rules and players and more rules. It gave her a headache just thinking about it. Phil tried to explain it to her many times---with enthusiasm oozing out of him---but she just didn't get it and wasn't interested.

So she would finally get a break from baseball talk.

At last.

Plus, it really wasn't that bad. Living with her sister again meant finally having a home-cooked meal and not takeout---since Renèe couldn't cook for her life. And living with her father meant finally spending some time with him. She was after all a Daddy's girl at heart.

Sneezy next to her started unbuckling himself, so she started doing the same. She put her earphones and books and sketchpad back in her carry-on bag and began her descend off the plane. She stretched her legs and cracked her back, her joints were stiff with sleep. Finally, she got all her bags and began searching for her father. Charlie said he would be picking her up in his police cruiser, the same one he's had for years. It didn't really bother her, but she just hoped that he wouldn't turn on the sirens to avoid traffic.