Awakened | R. Hale

001

CHAPTER ONE
Fresh Starts and Fresh Problems

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-Forks, Washington-
-February 2, 2007-
-Aislinn-

Aislinn was entirely numb as she stepped off the plane at the small, dreary airport in Port Angeles, Washington. Though the plane ride was long -- three hours from New York to Chicago, a two hour layover, five hours from Chicago to Seattle, a half an hour layover, and then another hour from Seattle to Port Angeles -- it felt like it only took five minutes. She slept most of the way which was helpful, even though most of the dreams were filled with screams and twisted metal. As hard as Aislinn tried, she couldn't seem to forget. 

But, she managed to make herself function, even if it felt like she was walking through a thick fog, like her mind was stuck behind some thick glass and she could just barely see moving shapes on the other side. But in her chest, the ache was so profound that it was hard to breathe, it had been that way for the three weeks since the accident. The grief was so hard to live with that she was surprised she was still standing.

As it was, she stumbled off the plane and into the airport where she saw only a handful of people milling about; she wasn't surprised considering how small the Port Angeles airport was. She knew she wouldn't see Charlie yet, so she wandered for baggage, barely aware of what she was doing until someone knocked into her without bothering to apologize. It knocked her out of her stupor and she managed to grab her bag just in time before it was swallowed back up into the belly of the airport.

Pulling the handle out, she set it on its wheels and moved towards the double glass doors that went to the main entrance. From there she could see one person waiting, a man with dark hair, a mustache, and a cop's uniform. Uncle Charlie. Or, she supposed Cousin Charlie, but he was old enough to be her dad so she always called him her uncle.

The doors slid open with a small squeak and Charlie looked up, smiling softly as she exited through the metal detectors and gave a nod to the TSA agent standing behind the door. For a moment he looked torn, but eventually he pulled her into a quick hug.

"Hey, Ash," he said gently. "How you doing?"

Aislinn knew he was just trying to check up on her, but the yawning void of pain that his question brought to her made her breathless. She didn't reply for a moment, but took a slow, deep breath and nodded.

"I'm fine," she said, giving him a smile. They both pretended that Charlie didn't know she was lying.

Charlie nodded and then gestured out the front doors where she could see his police cruiser sitting along the sidewalk. It had been a long time since she had been to Washington and visited Forks, but she was sure it was the same cruiser from back then. Usually when they visited, Charlie and Aislinn's dad, Benny, took their families to Minnesota where Benny's mother lived. Benny's mother was Charlie's mother's younger sister and with Charlie's parents gone and Benny's father gone, it was his mother who kept the family together. She had died about five years ago so they drifted apart, keeping in touch mainly by phone and email.

That is, until Aislinn made the choices she did and lost everything. It was just she and Charlie now. She knew Charlie's daughter Bella lived in Forks -- she hadn't seen Bella since she was probably six or seven -- but she lived with her husband and his family now. Aislinn planned to make it as painless as possible for Charlie; she didn't want to disrupt his life. At least she was on her final year of school, she had less than four months left.