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❝ Well, you are correct Mr. Pale Face. ❞
forks, washington ( olympic national forest )
THE FOLLOWING morning, I had the same routine I had yesterday except I did not plan on going down to La Push today; instead, I decided I would explore the woods that surrounded the small town of Forks.
Dressing into some hiking clothes and a rain jacket, I grabbed my backpack with my stuff before heading out the door and in the direction of the forest; I walked until I saw a sign that read 'Bogachiel Rain Forest Trail.' Green scenery came into view as I went deeper through the trail, making sure to take water breaks in between.
Panting, I made my way to an open field full of flowers and decided to lay down. After a couple of minutes, my panting turned into slow breaths as I found myself slowly relaxing. I closed my eyes, spreading my limbs out into a star, and felt myself drifting into slumber. I don't know how much time passed before I was woken up by something wet hitting my face. Frowning, I peeked one of my eyes open and noticed the grey clouds starting to form in the sky.
"Damn," I muttered, realizing it will start pouring rain soon and I had to walk all the way back. I quickly got up, grabbed my backpack, and walked back towards the trail that led me to the field.
I didn't even make it halfway through the trail when the rain began pouring down hard, soaking my clothes. Groaning, I started running, hoping to find some sort of shelter to keep me away from the rain. My legs started burning due to the lack of exercise which caused me to stop and bend over, panting, trying to catch my breath. Suddenly, a shadow appeared above me and the rain stopped pouring down on me; I looked up to find a black umbrella being held above me. I followed the hand holding it up to see a very pale, handsome guy with golden eyes that had me captivated― well his whole beauty had me captivated. How can someone be that beautiful?
"Thanks," I stood back up.
"It's no problem," he smiled at me, making me swoon internally, "I'm guessing you're not from around here."
"What makes you say that?" I ask.
His smile didn't falter as he answered, "Your face tells me that you didn't know it was going to rain. Everyone in Forks knows that there is always a 90% chance of rain which makes them carry an umbrella around at all times."
I smiled up at him, since he stood well over 6 feet, "Well, you are correct Mr. Pale Face."
"My name is Edward. Edward Cullen," the guy held out for me to shake.
I took his hand in mine, holding in a gasp at how cold his hand felt against mine, "Nice to meet you, Eddie, I'm Nora Morozov."
He chuckled at my nickname, "You're Russian?"
I continued walking down the trail with Edward holding the umbrella between the both of us, "That I am."
In the back of my mind, my consciousness was screaming at me for walking next to a stranger that could easily kill me and dispose of my body in the forest. I ignored the thought and continued walking next to Edward. If he did end up killing me, he would be doing me a favor.
"So what made you move to the small town of Forks, Washington?"
I shrugged, not wanting to answer, "Nothing special. Just looking for new scenery, I guess." There was no point in telling him the actual reason was that my parents dragged me everywhere they went for their business.
"Have you lived in Forks your whole life?" I asked this time, not wanting awkward silence to fall between us.
"Not exactly," he answered, still staring straight ahead, "My family and I moved back here at the beginning of the year."
"Why?"
Edward smirked. "New scenery, I guess." I rolled my eyes at him.
The rest of the walk out of the forest was spent with small conversation. He asked me a question, I answered. I asked him a question, and he answered.
He attends Forks High School, all of his siblings―including him― are adopted, and his father works at the hospital. I found it strange how they were all adopted by one man. What made it even weirder was the fact that the siblings were dating among themselves. Wasn't that incest? Of course, they weren't related by blood... but still.
"Well, I should get home. I don't want to catch a cold," I said, exiting the forest with Edward.
He nodded, extending his arm out to hand me the umbrella which I immediately refused. "No, it's okay."
"You're not waterproof," Edward rolled his golden eyes.
"Neither are you," I retorted.
"I have a car."
I looked behind him and lord and behold, a silver car sat by the entrance of the trail. I gave him an impressed look while lifting my thumb, making him laugh. I took the umbrella beginning to walk away from the pale stranger, calling out a goodbye, "Bye Eddie."
"Goodbye, Nora."
***
"I don't want to." Was my response to my mother's begging to come up to Seattle to sit through some boring meetings with their partnering company.
On the other side of the phone, my mother let out a sigh, making me smile in satisfaction. "Nora," my mother began, "You're going to need to start learning what we do if you're going to take over our company when you're older. All of our achievements and inheritance will fall on you. You will be responsible to keep the company going after we are gone."
Rolling my eyes, I stopped paying attention to the rest of her speech. She always did this to make me bend to her wishes and take control of the family business. We weren't even a family.
"I gotta go," not wanting to hear more from her, I hung up the phone before she could go on another rant.
Collapsing back on my bed, I closed my eyes. Frustration bubbling inside the pit of my stomach. Before I knew it, silent tears began flowing from the corner of my eyes and onto my bed. This made me sit up, furiously rubbing my eyes to stop the tear flow.
"God," I muttered under my breath, head hung low, "I'm so pathetic..."
