The Unknown Banshee

Chapter Five

Serena stared at Paul, watching him avoid her burning gaze. She studied his side profile wandering why he wasn't looking at her. She wanted him to look at her, she wanted to see his eyes again but she was afraid to look and see no emotion so she looked down toward her feet.

"What do you mean it wasn't important?" Serena asked him now avoiding looking in his direction "The drawing was a part of the forest your dad took you too, unimportant to you sleepwalking again" he said coldly and walked out of the house. She finally looked at him and watched as he walked away from her yet again. Her heart was break again watching him leave just like when he did when they broke up.

"Come on, we should get you home" Sam told her once Paul was out of sight. "Yeah" she said not taking her eyes off from where Paul had just left.

On her way out of Emily's place, the feeling of death has gone away, but she felt like she was being watched from the forest surrounding the house. Little did she know after Paul left, he had phased and watched as she got into Sam's truck for him to take her home. He was upset he couldn't protect her and had to watch from afar. Why couldn't he be less angry? Why couldn't he just look into her eyes and be there for her.

When she got home her mother was waiting for her and as soon as she opened the door Mia ran to her daughter and hugged her. She was scared when Sam called her saying she was in the woods and what had actually happened.

"Thank you for bringing her home Sam" Mia told him not looking at him knowing he was right about needing to tell her about what she really was before she ended up in real danger. "Thanks Sam" Serena mumbled in her moms shoulder from still being hugged by her but when she looked into his eyes, he noticed the distant look she had in them, the same look her mother had when she was scared and she couldn't help but notice how similar his eyes looked like, the black wolf she always drew.

"You're gonna come to work with me where I can keep an eye on you and then we will pick up Lena from school together" Mia told Serena once Sam left. "Fine" she told her mother and walked up to change to leave. She wasn't going to fight her mom on this because even she was afraid to be alone and that surprised her Mia because Serena hardly ever wanted to work and not her mother was treating her like a child that needed to be watched all the time.

Mia sighed as she watched Serena head up stairs. She wanted to tel her the truth about her but she didn't want to burden her. So she chose to just keep an eye on her instead of telling her the truth.

Serena never thought she'd be scared to be alone in her entire life. But here she was, in her mothers diner making sure her mother was in her line of sight. She didn't know how she could end up in the woods alone when she intended to go to math. How could she just walk all the way there and why couldn't she remember what she drew. Why did Sam and Jared lie about it. She had so many questions that she knew would go unanswered.

Her mom had gone to the kitchen to wash dishes and Serena was about to follow when she heard the bell on the door ring, signaling a customer was there but when she looked up, no one was there. She got cold, like if she left a window open but there were none. And when she looked out the window that's when she heard it and she heard it perfectly, so perfectly it left her paralyzed in her spot.

The sound of porcelain being ripped apart... the same sound I've heard before. The night my dad died...she thought as she backed away, her back hitting the counter.

Serena absentmindedly put her right hand on her left shoulder where her scars were. She started breathing heavy, chest rising and falling in a fast pace. She was remembering the night her father died. That night they were in the car driving home after spending the day together. Their was someone standing in the middle of the road. She remembers yelling at her father to watch out as the car spun around and rolling into the forest, landing upside down in a dried up trench.

She didn't hear the diner bell ring when Embry walked in, in fact she didn't hear anything but her memory. She had tears running down her cheeks as she was remembering. Her hand that was on her shoulder moved to her chest as she grabbed her own shirt. She was having a panic attack.

Embry had just got out of school where him and Quil went separate ways instead of walking together. He wanted to stop by the Longspear Diner but when he walked in, he didn't expect to walk in and find Serena, one of his closest friends on the floor with tears running down her face and a hand clutching her shirt. Her breath was rapid, chest rising and falling fast, she looked like she was somewhere else. He recognized her panic attacks because he's caught her in one before.

Embry immediately dropped his school bag at the door and ran up to her. "Hey, hey, hey.. it's okay, I got you" he told her as he started to bring her into a bear hug. He all of a sudden felt the need to protect her at all cost. She was protesting the hug but he didn't budge "No, no, no, I got you, okay and we can stay here like this for as long as you need to, but I'm not letting go" he said to her. She stopped protesting as she felt his hug get tighter. Her breathing was starting to return to normal and all that could be heard was her soft crying into his chest as he held her.

They both dropped to the floor as her legs finally gave out and hugged him back. Her crying became louder, that's when her mother came running in after hearing her daughter crying. She bent down and looked at Embry silently asking what happened. He just shrugged his shoulders but she hugged him tighter afraid he'd let go. "I remember" Serena finally spoke barely above a whisper. "I'm starting to remember the night of accident" she said a bit louder for her to be heard. He was about to pull away but she didn't let go "Please don't let go... please" she said as she gripped him tighter. "Okay, okay. I won't let go but how about we get off the floor and I take you home okay" he told her as she nodded that it was okay.

Her mother closed the diner early and drove them both to her house. Embry carried her to her room and laid down with her until she was asleep. He gently climbed out of her bed not disturbing her and headed downstairs where her mother was.

"She fell asleep" he told Mia. "Thanks for being there for her Embry" she told him as she sighed "no need to thank me" he said as he began to rub the back of his neck "she's always been there for me and I'll always be there for her" she nodded in understanding "I should probably head home before my mom starts wondering why I'm home so late" Embry told her as she guided him out. They both waved each other off. Mia then walked in to Serena's room and whispered to her as she moved some hair out of her daughters face "I'm so sorry all this is happening to you and it's all because of me" she wiped her own single tear that slid down her cheek and left her room.

What Serena didn't know was that a certain grey wolf would be by her side, even through her nightmares.