Meet Me at the Borderline // Jacob X Edward

4: Caught in a Web

It took a week for Jacob to even comprehend what had happened that day. He couldn't sleep for three nights until exhaustion overtook his body.

He stayed up all night that day he met Edward, staring blankly at the popcorn-textured ceiling until he gave in to his rage and messaged the vampire when midnight struck. He threw his phone across the room when he got his reply. Billy came in to investigate the loud bang that ricochet off the wall. Jacob brushed it off as that he had just dropped something, earning a "Go to sleep, you have school in the morning," from his father before he was alone again.

Jacob tossed and turned in his bed, which didn't feel right anymore, in a desperate attempt to just forget. He had managed to doze off for an hour before his father was shaking him awake, rushing him to get ready for school because he had overslept.

He skipped breakfast that morning. His justification was that he didn't have time to eat. He only ate half of his food when lunchtime rolled around. He lost his wolfish appetite—cringing at the thought, now knowing it was quite literally in his DNA.

Jacob hardly paid attention in class and didn't feel like goofing around with his friends. He couldn't look at them the same way. He knew what they were. What they would all grow up to be.

Jacob was told not to say a word about what had happened the day before to anyone. So he didn't. He wasn't sure he could muster up the courage to confront them about it anyway. He dismissed his lack of personality with the excuse of feeling ill.

When school ended, Jacob walked home with the others. He left halfway to go into the woods, explaining that he had forgotten his homework at the den. His friends didn't offer to go with him—Jacob was grateful for that—they all had their own plans for when they get home and said that they'd join Jacob at the den over the weekend. He'd tell them that he was too ill to see them over the weekend.

He picked up his homework—thanking whichever God was listening that it didn't rain overnight and that the homework wasn't due in till tomorrow—and put it in his backpack. He stood for a moment, considering.

His feet seemed to move on their own, guiding him back to the borderline. It took him fifteen minutes to find those godforsaken X's.

Jacob brushed his fingers over the indents, "Sharp nails, huh?" he said sarcastically to no one.

He took a good few steps back until he was two metres away from the invisible line and stared out beyond the maze of trees. Still brown and falling into a dormant state.

Two minutes.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

Jacob sat down and pulled his knees up to tuck them under his chin, hair falling in front of his face, shielding him from the cool air growing nippier by the day.

An hour.

Jacob closed his eyes.

Another hour. The subtle sounds of nature lulling him into a tranquil state. Overcast grey sky turned to deep mauve purple. His limbs felt heavy, and bones weary.

Jacob unwrapped his arms from his legs and placed his backpack under his head to lie down on his side. Within a few minutes, he had fallen asleep.

Blissfully unaware of those haunting spider-yellow eyes.

﹌﹌﹌

Softness was the first thing Jacob made out as he awoke. Eyes not open yet.

He was in his bed. Not quite sure how he ended up there. He blinked his dreary eyes open, rubbing the sleep away with the heel of his palm. He lethargically stretched out in his bed with a yawn and swivelled around within the cocoon of pillows and sheets.