True Desire. [Seth Clearwater]

Ghosts of days past.

Friedrich Nietzsche said, "When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago."

Riane

Everything I thought I remembered about La Push was distorted by the years I spent absent from it. Before I left, I had given each tree in the forest and name and could map the entire thing with my eyes closed, but now, as we drove past, all I saw when I looked at the forest was empty shades of green. And instead of welcoming me home, their branches swayed with resentment, like they knew I abandoned them. The school I grew up going to was all but a run down old building that, if it hadn't had a sign that said school, you wouldn't know what it was. 

"It's definitely not wall street, thats for sure." Luke chuckled, he wasn't used to the quietness that came with a small town, he was born in New York but moved to Vegas when he was younger, only to move back to New York; so the closest he has ever come to a small town was through movies. I could tell he felt out of place and for that I felt sympathetic, and then I reminded myself that he was the one who begged to come here. And maybe, I had hoped, if I could get him to hate this place, then he would want to go home early. 

I was thankful that we got a cab because if either of us had been driving then we would need to rely on me to navigate, and honestly, I don't think I could have done that. When we got to the house, dad, Jacob, Renesmee, and Emily were waiting outside. The Cullens and Jake moved away a long time ago but always come to visit for the holidays so the Cullens could see Charlie and Jake could see dad. It was nice to see Emily as well but I was slightly annoyed that the Cullens came back into town so early in the season just so Renesmee could see me. All I told my father was that I was bringing an outsider so everyone needed to act normal. 

As soon as the cab stopped, Renesmee yanked open the door and pulled me out, right into a hug. She looked so different, so mature and so beautiful. 

"I missed you!" She cried. I smiled sadly and hugged her back just as intently. I mumbled something similar, only because she was crushing me and I couldn't get that many words out. Jacob put a hand on her shoulder, trying to gently pry her off of me so he could hug me himself. We grinned at each other, the way siblings do when sharing a secret from their parents and hugged, I hugged him a little longer than I did Renesmee because well, he's my brother. Emily came in for a short hug as well as dad with a sad smile and an "I missed you kiddo."

Luke was helping the cabbie with our bags, paying him and probably wondering why I hated this place so much when it was clear I didn't. When the cab left, he stood back a bit, giving me and my family space to say hello. I turned and ushered him over.

"Luke this is my father, Billy, my mother figure, Emily, my brother, Jake, and my best friend, Renesmee." I introduced, pointing to each person as I said their names. "Everyone this is Luke Collins, my boyfriend." Luke smiled warmly, extending his hand, the others shook his hand with surprise and fascination. 

Dad lead us inside, showing us where we would be staying. And I had hoped that now he met them, we could have dinner, I would use up a whole 10 minutes tomorrow showing him around and we could leave. I unpacked as Luke looked around my old room in awe. My father, with no sense of design and even less care, left it the exact way it was when I left. This was a treat for Luke, as I never liked delving into my past because that's not who I was anymore, so why did it matter?

"Okay we are so bringing this back to New York." He said, I turned around to see him holding up an old picture of me and Seth playing in the mud.

"No." I chuckled, already irritated with him. 

"I don't care. I'm keeping it." He said, moving to put in in his pocket but I snatched the picture from his hand, throwing it to the bottom of a drawer and shutting it, hard.