"This is ridiculous, I think we should just give up." Haven sighed in defeat. She was sprawled out on the floor next to her mother, the pair in the Eldridge household's living room.
"We can do this. Let me read the instructions again." Casey reached for the instructions to the bookshelf that the mother and daughter were trying to assemble.
It was a Saturday afternoon and Haven's mother had insisted on trying to put together the bookcase she recently purchased for their living room. Since her father was away on a medical conference, it was just herself and her mom home for the weekend, and so Haven had felt obliged to go along with the bookshelf building. Haven was happy to help, although she knew that the two were going to struggle with the building task.
"We have already read them five times! I still have no clue what this thing is and where the hell it is supposed to go." Haven gestured towards the conspicuous looking wooden plank that was shorter than the rest in her hand. It really didn't look like it belonged with the other pieces of the bookshelf they were supposed to construct.
Haven's mother flicked through the instruction booklet again. Casey easily ignored her daughter's complaints that she had been saying for the past twenty minutes.
Haven sighed and stood up from her place on the floor. "I am going to get Dad's toolbox from the garage, I have a feeling we may need it."
Casey waved Haven off, her eyes trained on the booklet that was supposed to be helping them yet seemed to make everything more complicated.
Haven made her way down the hall to the garage. She instantly went over to her dad's toolbox that was resting on a desk that he used frequently. Haven never really knew what her father did in here. Chris was cooped up for hours on end and insisted that it was for work—although Haven had no clue as to how it had anything to do with his career in medicine.
Haven nearly picked up the tool box when something caught her eye. The cabinet that was normally locked shut to her left was ajar—something glimmered from behind the doors. If curiosity really did kill the cat, then Haven was dead as she couldn't help but approach the cabinet.
It was a black cabinet that stood taller than Haven. She had never really thought much about what was behind the locked doors but she would never have guessed what lay behind the doors.
Six bows aligned the doors and a massive cardboard box of arrows was placed in the middle of the bottom shelf. On the other shelves was archery equipment—quivers and gloves were the only things that Haven recognized. A few colorful targets were rolled up and leaned against the back of the cabinet.
Haven's face scrunched up in confusion. Neither of her parents had ever expressed a hobby or interest in archery and even if they did it seemed like six bows was a bit obsessive. The arrows that were in the box all had different colored bands on the tip of them, they seemed to be color coordinated for some reason.
Haven slid her hand over the bow closest to her slowly—the sleek metal felt oddly natural to the girl.
She had no clue why, but Haven gained an immediate interest to grab the weapon. Haven was curious as to why they sat in her garage cabinet and the brunette wanted to test them out.
Haven looked to the left of the open cabinet to see that several more lent against the walls of the garage. All of the black pieces of furniture were locked up.
Haven never really went into the garage and when she did it was only because her car was parked in there. She had never taken notice of the black cabinets backed up against the stark white walls. Curiosity built up inside the girl—if arrows were in that cabinet then what was in the others?
Haven grabbed her phone out of her jean pocket and typed out a message to Bella.
To: Bella
Hey, you don't happen to be free now do you?
After she sent it, Haven looked up again. She was confused as to why all of this archery equipment was placed in her house. A ding rang in her ears and Haven looked down at her phone to see she had quickly received a reply.
From: Bella
I am stuck running errands with Charlie, sorry :(
Haven groaned audibly at the text. She knew there was only one other person she could trust and the brunette would have to travel to get to them.
Haven swiped up a bow, glove and target quickly. She also loaded a quiver with a few yellow and green labelled arrows. Haven had no clue what the coloring meant—she just hoped it wouldn't kill her or someone else.
Haven loaded the equipment in to the boot of her car—which resided in the large garage—and grabbed the tool box as she walked back down the hall to her mother.
Casey Eldridge had her brows furrowed in confusion. She held up two planks of wood and tried to look at the instructions provided. Haven walked over—her tongue held with questions that wanted to spill—and dropped the tool box beside her mother.
"Bella just texted and said that she needs my biology notes, could I go give them to her? It will give you some time to read through the instructions and try to solve the Da Vinci code." Haven already had her keys in hand and was ready to race up to her room to grab something that briefly resembled biology work.
Her mother looked up from the mission she was on. When Haven referred to the bookshelf being like the Da Vinci code she was very accurate. "That's fine. Maybe by the time you come back it will be done."
Haven laughed while she surveyed the situation around her—not one part of the bookshelf was assembled, planks of wood and screws lined the floor. "Let's not be too optimistic."
She then raced to her room and grabbed the closest stack of papers that happened to be sitting on top of her desk. It wasn't long before she was on the road to La Push, hoping that the person she needed to find wasn't too busy.
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Haven's maroon colored car rolled smoothly onto the dirt driveway. Spying the familiar red house ahead settled her curiosity for the time being.
For the duration of the car ride to La Push Haven went through a million scenarios in her head of why her parents would own so much archery equipment. No reason seemed plausible to Haven.
What worried her the most was the amount of other locked cabinets in the garage—she counted four—and what those contained.
A figure opened the front door of the house. Jacob walked over to the familiar BMW with a puzzled look on face at seeing the brunette roll up. Haven noticed he wore a grey v neck which contrasted well against his tan skin, it also made his biceps stand out which was a bonus.
Haven got out of the vehicle swiftly and she was met by Jacob a few seconds after. She could see the confusion going through his mind which shone on his face. Haven nervously pulled at her leather jacket—she just hoped that Jacob trusted her enough to help test this out.
"Did I forget that we were supposed to be working on the bikes today?" He looked to the passenger side where Bella usually got out but it seemed like it was just Haven. "Where is Bella?"
"You didn't forget. It's just me today and we won't be working on the bikes."
Jacob rose a brow at the girl, confused but not opposed to whatever Haven was to say. He was more than happy to spend time with the brunette without Bella.
"How well do you know that forest?" She gestured towards the forest filled land that backed onto the Black's section. Haven began to walk around to the back of her car, Jacob followed close behind.
"Pretty well I guess. Why do you ask?"
Haven popped open the boot and revealed the archery equipment that she placed in there. "You up for some archery?"
---
Due to the pair having to trek far in to the forest with Jacob's guidance, Haven had time to tell the dark haired boy about the discoveries she had found in her garage.
"Maybe they are holding on to them for someone?" Jacob offered his best reason. They stepped in sync over the branches and uneven terrain of the forest floor.
Haven thought about this before she shook her head. "I don't think so. It all looked pretty established in the cabinet—the hooks looked like they were specifically made to hold up the bows."
The two came to a stop. Haven surveyed the thick tree ahead and shrugged her shoulders, she presumed that this would do.
"Haven, have you ever shot an arrow before?"
The brunette walked over to the tree with the target in hand. She used the pins on the target to tack it to the trunk. Haven looked over at Jacob as she answered his question, "Never in my life, but I'm curious. Besides, it looks fun, right?"
Jacob had a hesitant look on his face. "Sure, if you don't kill one of us."
Haven narrowed her eyes at Jacob now in mock offense. "Such little faith in me."
She hastily placed the glove on her right hand. With the bow in hand, Haven took a green tipped arrow from the quiver hitched on her back. When he saw that the brunette was ready to take a shot, Jacob took a step away from Haven.
Haven narrowed her eyes and put the arrow on the string almost naturally. Her eyes aligned the bow in her hand with the target up ahead and she let out a breath. Haven slowly pulled the string of the bow taut, she continued to eye her target intently. Her body positioned itself to a side stance—almost off of instinct.
Haven let the arrow fly and it sailed through the air towards the target.
Her eyes had fluttered shut once the arrow had left her bow. Jacob let out a low whistle beside Have. "You're hilarious. Thanks for lying to me before."
Haven turned to focus on the boy beside her, his comment confused her. "What do you mean?"
"You must have done this before. There is no way you can be that good if you have never fired an arrow in your life."
With that being said, Haven looked at the tree to see that her arrow had indeed landed on the bulls eye mark. If she thought she couldn't be more confused then Haven was very wrong. "I promise, I have never done this before."
Jacob watched the brunette beside him. He easily believed what Haven had just reiterated to him—that she hadn't ever shot an arrow before this. He had no doubt that she was telling the truth but that didn't mean that Jacob could offer an appropriate explanation for her perfect shot. "Maybe it was beginners luck. Try another one."
Haven hastily pulled out another bow from the quiver, the tip painted yellow this time. She once again got into a stance that she didn't know, it seemed as though the brunette's body positioned itself. Haven lined the arrow up to the target and let it go.
A bang sounded and sparks flew once the arrow impacted on the trunk of the tree. The vibrant colored sparks flew in all directions from the target, so bright that the pair had to shut their eyes to deflect the persistent glow. Jacob immediately moved to shield the girl next to him with his arms—he tucked her into his side as his eyes almost burned at the light.
Once the flashing had stopped, the two turned around with bewildered expressions plastered on their faces. Haven felt adrenaline push through her veins, the explosion pushed her body into overdrive.
Jacob focused on the girl next to him, concern filled him. "Are you okay?"
"I think so—it just gave me a fright," Haven answered. She looked to the tree ahead to see that the target had disintegrated into basically nothing and the bark on the trunk was singed in charcoal.
"You need to ask your parents about these arrows, Haven. That explosion was not normal," Jacob warned. His body was still on high alert from the explosion that occurred dangerously close to them both.
The pair walked up to where the arrow impacted. The green tipped arrow still stuck out of the tree while the yellow tipped one was burnt off at the arrow head—both of them had survived the blast but the yellow one looked a lot more worse for wear.
Haven looked between the two arrows and things started to fall into place in her head. "I shot the yellow tipped one last, right?"
"Yeah," Jacob confirmed. He didn't move his eyes off Haven as her face twisted in thought. He knew she was about to be onto something.
Haven wriggled both of the arrows out of the trunk with slight difficulty. She looked between both of the colored tips. "I think the colors indicate what type of arrows they are. Yellow for electricity. Green for neutral."
Her mind thought back to when Haven saw all of the arrows in the box—there were at least five different colors on the tips. If Haven's theory she conjured up herself was correct then that meant there were many more arrow types in her garage. The damage they could do, if they were like the electricity one, may be deadly.
"Why would your parents need arrows that make sparks fly?" Jacob wondered aloud. That was the million dollar question. It was one that they both couldn't answer, much like why the Eldridge parents had any archery equipment at all.
"I don't know. In the cabinet there were at least five other colors. They all probably do different things."
Haven was just as confused about it all. None of it made sense—not one part. Her parents were in the medical field. They hadn't mentioned archery a all. They had no use for electricity laced arrows.
"This doesn't make sense," Jacob commented, his thought presumably much the same to Haven's. It really didn't make any sense at all.
Haven huffed in slight defeat. She could semi work out the arrow types but not why her parents owned them. The brunette knew there was only one way to know and that meant telling her parents she snooped in the cabinets. "Tell me about it."
To figure it all out, Haven would have to ask her parents.
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