—
"HE wants to talk on the phone, like, right now." I pace Bella's room. "What do I do?"
"Uh, talk to him?" She answers matter of factly while scribbling something down on a creased and stained piece of paper.
"But what if it's awkward? And what if I make a fool of myself!" I exhale sharply. "You talk for me, pretend you're me."
Demetri had suggested we speak over the phone after I got home from the fire last night, I agreed, because I'd like to speak to the man outside of texts, but now I'm shitting bricks.
Bella scoffs. "That'd be a disaster. Just be yourself. Your overly talkative, inappropriate joking self."
"Okay, okay." I inhale and exhale. "I'm calling him." I open his contact and hover my shaky thumb over the call button. "Oh lordy, my heart is in my ass."
"Oh, just hit the button already. You're stressing me out and I'm not even apart if this." Bella reprimands me with a slight attitude hinted in her voice.
"Woah!" I hold my hands up in mock surrender. "Whats with the sudden 'tude?"
Bella sighs and droops her head down. "Sorry—it's just this thing with Jake." She eyes the crumpled and worn note that she was previously scribbling in.
"You could go see him, you know? You don't have to keep passing notes back and forth. Talk to him." I advise.
Bella shrugs. "He doesn't want to talk to me. Edward coming back really messed things up between us and I..." she sighs gruffly. "I miss him, he's like my best friend."
"Go see him tonight, then. Who's gonna stop you?" I ask.
"Edward." Bella responds quietly.
I shake my head. "Edward shouldn't dictate who you're friends with. He left you and—"
"Ellie, please, it's complicated." Bella interjects. "More complicated than you know."
I scoff—like I don't understand complicated with my vampire soulmate dude. I open my mouth to argue, but decide its best to just let it go. "Whatever you say, Bells." I turn around and exit her room, not wanting to argue her point and risk letting anything slip up—like me knowing about vampires.
I enter my room and sit at my desk, I place my phone down and just stare at the screen. To call or not to call. To get to know my soulmate or not.
I sigh and pick the phone up with hesitation, my thumb slowly inches towards the button and without another thought, I hit it, and my heart rate skyrockets.
It rings twice. "Ellie? Hello." Demetri speaks and I want to melt. His voice is smooth and deep and causes butterflies to erupt within my already nervous stomach.
"Yeah, hi." I respond, and I hope the shakiness of my voice is just in my head.
"How are you today? I hope you slept well?"
"I'm doing fine today, except for Bella being a complete bitch—" I stop myself with a timid laugh, "Sorry, you're probably not interested in hearing me complain about my sister, huh?" My face burns. I've already embarrassed myself and we just started talking. God.
"Nonsense, everything you say interests me." The silky smoothness of his voice only makes his words sound so much better. My knees feel weak—thankfully I'm sitting.
"Ha, smooth." I compliment. "And to answer your other question; I slept well, besides the dream I had where I turned into a turtle and was run over by a bus."
Demetri laughs through the phone, its melodic. My heart thumps.
"It's not funny! I woke up in a cold sweat, thinking I was a dead turtle."
"I apologize, it sounds truly terrifying."
"Pfft. Anyways, how have you been? Sleep well?" Wait... I'm pretty sure vampires don't sleep, right? Or do they? In coffins? During the day? Hanging upside down? Maybe I should do some research on these things.
"Uh, I slept wonderfully! Felt quite replenished this morning when I awoke." Demetri staggers as he tells me about his sleep, and he doesn't sound too convincing.
"That's great! You didn't dream about turning into a turtle, did you?"
"Sadly I did not, maybe next time."
"Consider yourself lucky, it was actually a little scary. I now have sympathy for turtles and their little legs. Aw, I wonder how many die just flailing around on their backs." Am I rambling? About turtles? Oh well, it feels nice to just talk.
"You have an active mind, don't you?" Demetri asks with obvious amusement.
I smile to myself. "I have been told that I do, yes."
"I must say, it's quite refreshing."
"Whys that?" I ask and my fingers tap my desk.
"Most people I spend my time with are... extremely serious." I hear him sigh. "They certainly do not talk about turtles being stuck on their backs," He laughs and the sound makes my stomach flutter. "I don't think they could if they tried."
I nod along. "Well, I'm glad that someone actually appreciates my ramblings, they're an art and only few see the true beauty of them."
Suddenly, my phone screen is lit up with an influx of messages from my roommate.
annie 🩶: Ellie
annie 🩶: Have you heard from Riley?
annie 🩶: He was supposed to be home from break a week ago and he said we'd meet up today
annie 🩶: I haven't heard from him
annie 🩶: I think he's missing or something idk.
Riley, Annies long time boyfriend. He's nice and I consider us friends, so I do feel worried.
I read the texts with my head tilted to the side. I hurriedly respond, my thumbs tapping against the screen loudly.
"Is everything okay?" Demetri speaks up.
"Umm.." I drone while still typing. "Yeah, yeah. My friend is just... panicking."
i'm sure everything is fine!!
maybe he just got held up at the airport? phone died?
I send the texts and cross my fingers that they say the right things, because what do you even say when someone suspects their boyfriend has gone missing?
annie 🩶: His parents just called asking if I'VE heard from him, so I don't think so
annie 🩶: Can I call you?
ofc, gimme a sec
"Well, I hope all is well." Demetri says sympathetically.
"Thanks, but I think I have to go now." I tell him and hope my voice doesn't sound as disappointed as I feel.
"Oh." Now he sounds very disappointed. Is it bad that it makes me happy? "Very well. I hope we can speak again."
"We definitely can." I assure. "It was nice talking to you, Demetri."
"You as well. Goodbye, love." And then the line goes dead. My cheeks burn.
I stare at my phone with a giant smile, feeling like a complete ass, but it doesn't last forever, because soon Annie is calling me.
I immediately pick up and don't even get the chance to say hello before she starts talking.
"Oh my God, Ellie, I think I'm going insane!" Annie shouts. I turn the volume down on my phone.
"Just... calm yourself down and talk to me." I tell her.
I can hear her take a few long, deep breaths. "Okay. I'm just so worried about Riley, you know?"
"Of course, it's completely understandable."
"We've never gone this long without talking, and I don't want to seem like a psycho and blow his phone up.. but what worries me even more is the fact that his parents haven't heard from him... I mean they think he maybe lost his phone but I don't know..."
I nod along to her words. "I'm sure that's all it is, Anne." I assure, or try to, at least. "You'll hear from him in no time."
BY the time I'm off of the phone with Annie, and I've talked her down enough for her to agree to just relax for a little, the sun has fallen beneath the tree line and it's dark outside and chilly, night air blows in through my open window.
I lie in my bed with my heavy eyes fixated on the ceiling, I hardly did anything today, but I'm exhausted.
Talking to people really wears you out.
My eyes begin to flutter shut, but are snapped open as loud stomping emits from the stairs, followed by the aggressive closing of Bellas bedroom door.
I sigh heavily and swing my legs over, slowly pulling myself out of bed to see what her problem is now.
I shuffle out into the hallway and stand by her door, my fist taps on the wood. The door flings open and there stands Bella, looking particularly upset; cheeks red, eyebrows furrowed and lips turning down into a slight frown.
"Woah, Bells, you good?" I ask, scrutinizing her expression.
"Yeah." She sighs gruffly. "I'm fine."
"Really? Cause you're making your angry face." I point out.
She attempts to smother her expression, but it hardly wavers. "My truck is just acting weird, and I wanted to go somewhere." She explains, but her tone indicates something more has happened.
"Oh, okay." I nod. "Well, Goodnight."
A tiny smile graces Bellas face. "Goodnight, Els." She shuts her door and I make my way back to my room.
When I enter, I walk towards my window and place my hands on it so I can slide it shut, but as I do so, I see something standing in the brush and trees—a pale face and red eyes.
A quiet, startled gasp leaves my lips. I lean forward, hoping to maybe get a better glance, but it's gone.
"I'm just tired and seeing things." I whisper to myself. "Just tired." I repeat as I lock my window and make sure it's closed.
I creep towards my bed and climb in. I lie here, feeling paranoid and like someone is in the shadows, leering at me.
I sigh to myself and close my eyes. I try to think of other things, like the drive home I'll have to endure in a few days, but my paranoia soon seeps back through. I begin to think about my family instead, but they slowly fade away and morph into thoughts of Demetri somehow, and I'm too tired to even stop them from happening, so I end up lulling into sleep thinking of Demetri. Wow.
WHEN I awake the next morning, I'm frightened, because I ended up dreaming about Demetri. It was a good dream, but still! I have never dreamt of anyone before but now, out of nowhere, I'm dreaming of hot vampires?
I get out of bed and attempt to get ready, but my brain is just muddled with thoughts of him and it continues to replay the dream, giving me butterflies.
Ugh. I feel like a sappy nerd obsessing over him. I've barely talked to him and I already feel like this? Is this just what having a 'soulmate' feels like 24/7?
I am eventually able to get dressed and brush my teeth, so I hurry downstairs in search for something to eat for breakfast. When I reach the kitchen, dad sits at the table with a newspaper in his hands and a worried expression on his face.
"What's up, dad?" I ask while scouring the cabinets for cereal.
"All these missing people..." He trails off and flips the page.
"Missing people? Where?" I ask as my fingers finally grasp a box of Honey Nut Cheerios.
"You haven't heard?" Dad asks me now, sounding completely bewildered.
"Uhh, no?" I respond with my eyebrows scrunched together.
"In Seattle." He answers.
I pause for a second with my hand on a milk carton. "Oh? Is it bad?"
"They're saying it's the highest numbers they've seen in a long time." I can hear the paper crinkle again. "It started back in January but more people have suddenly gone missing just this month."
Riley. I think back to my phone call with Annie. It has to be a coincidence, right? Riley can't be one of the missing people.
I sit at the table, my mind still racing. "You leave in a few days, don't ya?" Dad asks.
I collect myself before answering. "Yeah, four days."
Dad suddenly begins to look very worried. "Don't worry, dad. I always lock my doors and am extremely cautious when walking around town, which is rare." I try to assure him, but a worried parent is usually very hard to reason with. "Annie and I are always together, not to mention Riley is normally with us..."
Dads head perks up. "Biers?"
"What?" I stare at him, dumbfounded at the mention of Rileys last name.
"Riley Biers? You're talking about that kid, right?"
I tilt my head at him, still confused. "Yeah? Why?"
"His parents called up to the station this morning... said he's been missing for about a week now." Oh no. That can't be good. "That's where I'm headed. Hopefully he shows up soon."
I stare at my bowl of cereal, hoping Riley isn't one of the victims of these sudden disappearances. "I hope they find him. His poor parents." I sympathize. I wonder if Annie knows they're going to the police.
"Yeah, me too, kid." Dad agrees and scoots the chair back, he stands up and heads for the front door. "I should be on my way." He tosses his jacket on and slips into his boots.
"Okay." I mumble. "Be safe."
"Always am." He says before the door shuts.
I sigh and begin to eat my cereal, but the paper catches my eye so I grab it and read the title, feeling a pit grow in my stomach the longer I read it.
SUDDEN SPIKE IN MISSING PEOPLE HITS SEATTLE. TWO BODIES FOUND MILES AWAY FROM EACH OTHER.
Is my city even safe anymore? Should I even go back? These thoughts bounce around my head as I place the newspaper back down, the pit in my stomach now huge.