New Years Eve
Thank God Gaia was home, I had missed her so much, and I was even more shocked to hear that her dad had accompanied them back and would be staying until the sixth.
I shoved my hair beneath a beanie as I simultaneously shoved my feet into the new winter boots my dad had gotten me for Christmas. After both of those were on, I grabbed my purse and chapstick before shrugging on the heavy winter jacket. The temperature had dropped significantly as a snowstorm from the top of the mountains slipped its way sneakily towards town. I ignored this fact and grabbed my book while I was stepping from my bedroom door, heading straight down the stairs and out the back door. Dad was at work with Maddie until noon, and that left me dead determined to get over to Gaia's on foot. I figured this way was safer, and it saved gas. Besides, when the snow wasn't almost waist deep in some drifts, the walk was pleasant and at most fifteen minutes as the crow flies, however the snow made things much more difficult.
I desperately wanted to get to Gaia's however, because the dreams were back. I had nearly forgotten about them, they had all but stopped after my encounter last year with the rabid nurse. Naturally, my first reaction was to call Edward, but he was out on a hunting trip and I didn't feel like relaying all of the information to someone else again. Gaia, however, was still new to all of it and could serve as fresh eyes. I grunted as I shoved myself through another drift, not even to the tree line yet. I knew that once I made it to the tree line it would be easier, as the snow was only ankle to mid calf deep in its thickest spots.
As I broke through the scraggly dead bushes and ferns that poked through the tops of the snow, I began thinking about the dream again.
"Hold on Arabella! Hold on!" The voice called. I could feel that we were moving, faster than a human speed for sure, but I couldn't move. Anything I saw was a quick flash, the flutter of golden red hair or the blur of a tree. I fought against the dream, unwilling to experience it to any degree, then found myself in the clearing again. I was staring at myself with red eyes and bloodless skin once more.
"I never wanted this." I said with shock, backing towards the edge of the clearing as a brilliant ray of sunshine broke through the clouds.
"Oh, but you got it." The vampire version of me said with a malicious smile. "Tick tock sweetie. Tick. Tock." She waved her fingers one at a time as the dream dispersed slowly into black.
I had sat up with a short scream, lucky to be home alone for the night again, and looked around my room. Nothing was out of place, nobody was there, and just like nearly every night since last March. I was alone. Some part of me itched to reach for my phone and call Edward, knowing full well that he would be over in mere minutes. I inevitably didn't call, however, resigning myself to laying in bed and scrolling through my phone endlessly until the light of the morning shattered through the window and refracted against the sun catchers that hung from my bed canopy.
Now I stared at the light that filtered through the pine trees. The Cullen's would be trapped today by the sun, the idea was a small comfort to me. It meant that I could think about my dream freely without the surprise guest of Edward traipsing into the corners of my mind.
My knees ached from the cold and the tiredness of being up since two in the morning dragged on my eyes. I sank down for only a minute, with hopes to stretch my legs that were stiffening pulling me down as well. I decided I would press some fresh snow to the back of my neck to shock my system and wake myself up again, but I stopped before I could do it as a ray of sunshine broke through the trees and warmed my face.
Turning my head up to welcome the rare occurrence, I closed my eyes and sighed in content. The smells around me were comforting as I mulled over my dream some more in the blanket like warmth.
"Come on little bird! Hurry up!" The laughter had called ahead of me as I raced after the figure with swishing red hair. "Just a little further! You're almost there!"
"Wait up! You're too fast!" I called breathlessly, my legs pushing harder as I weaved my way through the forest, full swing spring blooming all around me.
"Oh come on little bird! You know how you can go faster." The voice taunted. "Just run!"
"I'm running as fast as I can!" I had no idea who the owner of the voice was, or why they called me little bird, but I felt so pulled towards the name that I didn't fight it. I gathered the blue satin fabric of the dress I wore more tightly in my hands and leapt over a small log in my path. "Oh please wait up!" I called as I pinned my eyes on the figure. She started to turn, the edge of her face being revealed slowly to show-
The snap of a twig under my own foot brought me back to the freezing present, and that was when I made the incredibly stupid realization. "Where am I?" I turned around and began following my own tracks back the best I could, but unfortunately there was a large patch I had passed through where no snow touched the ground and my tracks disappeared in the soft pine floor. I had no idea how I had gotten here, as I had no recollection of standing up from the tree I had sat against halfway between Gaia and I's house.
While chewing my lip nervously, I pulled my phone out of my purse, which was still thankfully slung across my body, to share my location with Gaia. Of course when I went to do this, I had no signal, and could not even load the map to see my location. "Great. I'm gonna die out here because I'm an idiot. Nice to know my spot in the horror movie list." I grumbled as I began looking around for familiar surroundings, but I might as well have been on the other side of town. Confusion and worry began mounting in me as I felt the cold slowly seep into my jacket.
I spun in a circle, discerning where I had come from but not where I had originated from to enter the soft pine needle flooring. Eventually I did a metaphorical spin the bottle and chose a random direction to walk in. "Either I find a house or I find more woods. It could be worse." I grumbled and trudged out further in the direction I hoped was Gaia's house, every once and a while glancing up to the sky to see if I could tell the time of day.
"How the hell is it noon?" I gasped as I finally pinned the sun's position in the sky. Directly overhead. "It was barely eight when I left." I quickly pulled my phone back out and looked at the time to confirm. 12:04pm stared back at me in the center of my lock screen. Then it struck me that my dad would come home and realize I had left out the back way when he saw my car but not me. "Shit. I'm gonna be grounded." I grumbled, kicking a small pile of snow as I continued to work my way through the trees.
Apparently I shouldn't have spoken that something could be worse, because I found myself frozen with my hand against a tree as a grizzly grumbled about, huffing angrily as it had obviously exited its hibernation about two or three months early. How far from town am I? My stomach churned as I remained motionless in hopes I would go unnoticed. The thundering of my heart would almost certainly attract the attention of the angry bear, or maybe it was the panicked breaths I took as I slowly tried to back away. Wait if I just make solid decisions, Alice will see me! I hoped desperately.
I decided with absolute certainty that I would back away but remain facing the bear, who hadn't noticed my presence yet. While extending a hand behind me, I glanced nervously behind me every few seconds to ensure I wouldn't run smack into a tree. While my eyes were still pinned on the bear, I felt my hand brush something that made me jump and spin. My heart had almost exploded over a patch of dead moss on a tree, and breathing a sigh of relief, I looked back to the bear.
Unfortunately for me, my sudden startle had attracted the grizzly's attention, and it now bared its teeth at me. My stomach dropped as I frantically tried to remember what I was taught. "If it's brown, lie down, if it's black, fight back." I spoke in a shaky calm. "I don't think that applies to you buddy." I spread my arms out in front of me and angled my body sideways. "I think that's just the ones that don't look like they might want to eat me."
Bile rose up in my throat as my panic built, a small burp escaping my lips as a warning that I would puke soon. I continued my slow backup, attempting to avoid eye contact and seem as non-threatening as I could. It wasn't until I crumpled against an ice cold rock, and then the rock hugged me, did I realize I might survive. "Oh dinner." Emmett's voice said with a laugh. "You shouldn't have!" The bear growled (do bears growl?) and prepared to charge.
I glanced up in fear and saw Emmett giving me a huge smile, and seconds later Edward, then seconds after that Jasper, ran up. Emmett swung me away from him, setting me down gently before charging the bear. Before I could see the fight however, Edward swept me up in a huge embrace and I felt the blur of his run. "We were hunting when Alice called." Edward huffed as he slowed to a stop, once again nowhere I had ever seen in the woods. "Ara how the hell did you get out here? We are miles from town."
"I..." My mind reeled as I thought about what had led up to this, all the while I searched Edward's eyes desperately. With a shake of my head and the slow welling of tears in my eyes, Edward sighed and pulled me into a tight hug. After a few seconds I felt a calm wave of energy pass over my spine and stop my shaking.
"Edward, she's probably freezing, you need to take her back to the house." Jasper's voice carried to my ears.
"How long have you been out here?" Edward whispered as he picked me up effortlessly, adjusting his grip to allow my hands to numbly grasp his sweater.
"Eight." I spoke back through chattering teeth, which of course earned me a bewildered look and a quickened pace. "My dad."
"Gaia called Alice when you wouldn't answer your phone." Edward said with a short tone. "She's going to tell your dad that you are over there."
But her dad is home too!? I thought desperately, knowing he would never lie for me, and knowing even better that my dad would contact him to catch up after more than a year of distance.
"She said he's been catching up with the fire station crew all morning." His voice was unreadable, making me wish I was like Jasper and could get a gauge on his emotions. Unfortunately for me that wouldn't be the case.
A few minutes of running later Edward burst into his home and set me down on the couch. I didn't even have time to attempt to pull my snow covered boots off with numb fingers before Edward was doing it for me. Next went my purse and coat, then a heated blanket that smelled like rosemary and orange wrapped around my shoulders. Esme then marched into the room with a steaming cup and pressed it into my hands, a look so scolding I would believe I had melted away into nothing beneath it. Edward disappeared with my cold damp winter clothes, and Esme settled next to the fireplace that was rarely lit and began to build a perfect fire.
After a few minutes of shivering, Carlisle came into the room with an equally disapproving look about him. "I'm going to check for frostbite." He spoke with soft eyes, like he couldn't stay mad at me due to my pathetic appearance.
"Is it r-rea-really that cold out?" I chattered out, my body finally feeling truly cold as the environment warmed me up.
"I think you just answered your own question." He laughed slightly, picking up my hands with a gentleness I wouldn't credit to someone with his strength. It wasn't before he moved on to the second hand that he spoke. "Why did you wander so far Ara? You hike, you know the dangers."
"I didn't do it on purpose." I whispered, my teeth chattering having ceased. "I fell asleep apparently."
"Are you saying you sleep walked miles in the cold?" He froze and glanced up to meet my eyes.
"It's not the craziest thing I've done." I gave a half hearted shrug.
"Ara." Carlisle chastised, concern etched deep in his face like a chisel had been used to chip away at his marble facade.
"Carlisle." I matched his gaze, his eyes a cool amber against the pale gold of his finger length hair. "I'm fine. It's nothing."
"If I had a dollar for every time you said that when it was the opposite." Jasper chided as he walked through the door. "I'd be able to pay for your therapy and mine." He raised an eyebrow as Emmett came through the door beside him, a wide grin on his face.
"Hey. I brought dinner, don't harass the host." I teased back, trying to ignore the disapproving look I was receiving from Carlisle as he dropped my hands gently back onto my lap.
"You're lucky. No frostbite, but I won't be surprised if you have a horrible cold." Carlisle sighed, he gave me the most fatherly look I'd seen in a while, then excused himself back to what he had been doing before I had arrived.
"Wouldn't expect much less from this year." I strained a smile and curled the heated blanket around my body tighter.
"Uh oh. Incoming!" Jasper said seconds before Alice stormed into the room.
"Arabella Viviana Jacks!" She scolded, and my face dropped as I stared back at her. "What makes you think you can be so brash as to confront a grizzly bear!" Her voice reached an octave I thought only achieved by dolphins, and her face was twisted with anger as well as a few other emotions. When I glanced over at Jasper for help, she snapped her fingers at me and pointed. "Don't look at him, look at me, he's not going to help you."
Is this how my mother would be right now? I thought desperately. Edward, you want to step in? I shifted my eyes to Alice and attempted to keep myself together. When I realized no help would be coming for this particular bear I now faced, I sighed and admitted defeat. "I didn't come up to it on purpose."
"What was going through your head!" Alice scolded, the tiniest bit of an accent that matched Jasper's slipping out as her anger mounted. I felt my own building deep within, and I also felt the faint glimmer of calmness try to sweep over me, however I pushed back against it, even more angry now as Alice continued her tirade. "I mean honestly Arabella! Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"
"If I was, do you think I would have made a clear decision for you to see!?" I shot back, my face reddening with anger as I jumped up to leave the room. While doing so, I caught a glance of the faces in the room, all of which were shocked. I left the heated blanket behind, regretting that almost immediately as well once the shivering set in. I didn't have shoes or socks, my coat had been whisked away as well, but I kept pace as I marched towards the front door. I heard muttered words from Emmett's mouth as I rounded the corner, only briefly catching them in my fury.
"I think I see the family resemblance now." He had chuckled.
I wanted to bite back a response, but I knew my teeth would chatter as the cold floor numbed my feet. It wasn't until I closed my hand around the doorknob that I felt the gentle hands pull me back. "Don't be ridiculous." Edward's voice purred, pulling me into a hug. I was shaking in his arms, but I couldn't tell if it was from cold or anger, either way he felt warm to me.
He led me back to the now empty living room, sitting me down on the couch and wrapping the heated blanket around my shoulders once more. The rest of the Cullens seemed to have made themselves scarce, leaving me to stare at the crackling fire in my freezing silence. However, that silence was short lived, as my phone's shrill ringtone sliced through the air. I already knew who's contact would be lighting up my screen, and with a quick glance I confirmed my suspicion.
"She will keep calling." Edward said gently as he grabbed my phone from the spot on the couch I had tossed it in the heat of my anger. With swift sure hands he answered the call and stepped away, speaking to my best friend in a reassuring tone. "She's here... no... no..." I stared at the flames still as I listened to only half of the conversation. "Okay, yeah.... Once she's warmed up I can go ahead and bring her by." There was a beat of silence before Edward spoke again. "Okay, I'll just text you... yeah." A few more seconds passed and then he ended the call and returned to my side. Edward placed my phone on the coffee table and then looked at me with gentle eyes.
"No." I shook my head, already knowing he was going to ask me if I wanted to talk about what was going on, and I very much did not at the present moment. Tearing my eyes away from the burning embers beyond the ornate grate, I met his topaz gaze. Just hold me. I thought with a hint of desperation, knowing it was my only way to have a smidge of privacy within these walls. With pursed lips, I looked back to the fire, imbedding the light in my eyes as I felt the couch shift before I was gently pulled into familiar arms.
The intimacy of a simple embrace hurt me the way an old bruise hurts when you poke it, the faint shadow of the injury spiking like it had become fresh once more. I couldn't ignore the irony of being wrapped in his arms when exactly two months ago I was wrapped in the arms of another. I couldn't ignore the bitter memory of the events of earlier in the year either. While the blanket warmed both him and I, the memories were like ice water down my spine. As my eyes occasionally drifted from the fire to his eyes, both of which leaving trailing light shadows behind, I couldn't deny the warmth they both held.
Eventually I gave up on trying to shield my thoughts from him and hide the flutter in my heart that had never really gone away since I first met him. I met his eyes, my brow furrowed and jaw clenched, and just maintained a relatively unblinking gaze.
I wasn't sure when he had started to move, but slowly his hand had found its way up to my jawline, the tips of his fingers tangling in my hair behind my ear as his thumb gently traced the edge of my jaw. I must have been warming up officially now, because his fingers left cool lines in their wake that sent shivers up my spine. A smile quirked at the edge of his mouth, a mouth that I was well acquainted with, and my breath caught in my throat. This man could ruin me for all I cared at this point, there wasn't much left to ruin anyway.
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sorry about disappearing like that, everything kinda just started falling apart for about three weeks, and its not actually back together again but we are going to pretend that it is.
yes i did draw that picture myself, yes there are more in future chapters, take it as my apology.
anyway i rolled a d20 to decide the plot for this chapter and the next so just know that the dice gods are smiling on you, and I won't confirm in which direction that means.
-Ash