My Adventures with the Cullen Family

Running

Alisha had no idea where she was running to, simply that she wanted to get away. Freak, her father's voice berated her, useless, worthless, good-for-nothing weakling. What man would want someone as odd as you?

She ran faster, trying to outrun the years of abuse and ridicule, both from her father and her schoolmates. She had never had much money, since her father was too lazy to work, so she'd had to endure ridicule from her peers about her patched and faded clothes. You look like something that came out of a ragbin, one of the girls mocked. Go back to the gutter where you belong, a boy jeered.

Alisha had spent most of her life trying to forget those memories, burying them deep in her mind, never forgotten. She was usually able to cope, put on a brave face and move on, but it was different now. Now, she'd found someone she loved who she wanted to love her in return. Knowing that she wasn't good enough, in her mind anyway, caused her to run, not caring where as long as it was far away from him. Embry.

Tears blurred her vision again, and she hastily wiped them away. She'd been running for several hours and the sun was setting. Alisha debated on continuing to run, as darkness was no obstacle for her, but decided that what she wanted most was to sleep. Sleeping, she could forget about this whole disappointing day and pretend it never happened. She could pretend she was part of the perfect family and had the man of her dreams interested in her.

She paused and looked around, knowing she was miles from civilization. Spotting a cave, Alisha made her way towards it, gathering some wood for a fire. She didn't need the warmth, but making shapes in the buring flames would distract her until she was tired enough to sleep. Suiting action to thoughts, she quickly had a fire going in the cave. She idly began shaping the flames into different animals, stopping when the fiery wolf made her think of Embry. She turned away from the fire and willed herself to sleep, to forget all of this had ever happened.

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Embry followed his nose, tracking his mate's distinctive scent. Well, she might not be your mate anymore, since you screwed up royally. Embry winced. He hadn't meant anything by that comment, but Alisha seemed to think he was mocking her, which was the last thing he would ever want to do. Why would I want to mock the girl of my dreams? She's hot, she seems smart, and she's obviously fast if she can outrun me. She was perfect, and I might have lost my chance. If I find her, I can try to explain, but what if she doesn't let me explain, or I can't find her? No, don't think like that, focus on finding her. With renewed determination, the black wolf sniffed the ground, picking out his mate's unique lavender and vanilla scent and following it. I'll find you Alisha, and I'll prove that I love you.

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The Cullens and wolf packs were about an hour behind Embry, as it had taken some time to get coordinated. Carlisle thought it would be best if they all went after Alisha, since it would be child's play for her to evade one or two people. It would be much harder for her to fool an entire group.

Bella was seething with jealousy. She runs off like a spoiled brat and everyone is chasing after her? What's so special about Alisha anyway? She's not an better than the rest of us. Maybe she's running to go join the Volturi, tell them that she'll help them attack the Cullens. I'm sure she has some power that would make us join them, and if she sides with them then they'll be able to tell her to use them. She's probably leading us all into a trap.

Preoccupied with finding Alisha, none of the others noticed Bella's jealous thoughts, giving her plenty of time to plan on how to get rid of the other girl, without chasing her right into the Volturi's waiting arms, and without any of her family being any the wiser.