The Movement of the Earth

Chapter 1: Rescue

"You watch me bleed until I can't breathe, shaking falling on to my knees. Now that I'm without your kisses I'll be needing stitches. Tripping over myself, aching begging you to come help. Now that I'm without your kisses I'll be needing stitches."
--Shawn Mendes (Stitches)

1. Rescue
My routine for the next week was fairly straight forward.

Wake up. Realize I'm breathing. Sneak into Charlie's room and make sure he's breathing. Check cell phone to see if Jacobs called.

Take shower. Eat. Get dressed. Drive to school. Sit through class. Make small talk with Angela, Mike, Jessica and Eric. Check cell phone to see if Jacob has called.

Come home. Do schoolwork. Eat whatever Charlie has made for dinner. Assure Charlie that dinner was delicious. Check cell phone to see if Jacob has called.

Go to room. Change in pajamas. Call Jacob. Get no answer.

Climb under covers. Think about giant wolves. Think about Victoria. Think about Edward. Think about large gaping wounds. Curl into a ball. Go to sleep. Dream about injured howls and meadows and blood red eyes.

Wake up several times a night. Check cell phone to see if Jacob has called.

Repeat.

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Friday afternoon, as I was driving home from school, it hit me out of the blue and I literally slammed on the brakes coming to a screeching halt.

Jacob wouldn't avoid me like this. It was completely out of character. Even if he had given up on me, even if I'd hurt too badly for us to be able to continue to be friends, he wouldn't flat out refuse to take my calls. It wasn't in his nature. I knew him too well for that.

Add in the short, unhelpful answers from Billy... the way Charlie had said he was arguing with some of the boys from the reservation...

It was Sam Uley. Sam had finally gotten to Jacob.

A wave of anger and self-loathing washed over me, searing the wound in my chest like cold salt water. Stupid stupid stupid. Why hadn't I seen it earlier? It was embarrassingly obvious. If I had thought about it instead of just obsessing over how much I missed him... if I had tried harder- if I had realized--

A sedan behind me leaned on the horn, sending a piercing blast into the misty air. I shook my head and pressed on the gas, lurching forward with a jolt, then pressed harder on the petal forcing the trucks speedometer to the trusk's absolute maximum-- sixty five miles an hour. The engine groaned in protest.

I was going to Jacob's, I decided absolutely. I would sit in front yard until he showed up. I'd stay all night if I had to. I would find out what happened, what Sam Uley had said to him, then I would drag him out of there the way I should have the minute he told me about the cult. And, if I had to, I run Sam down in the street, maybe even back over him a few times. That's all there was to it.

It wasn't too late was it? It couldn't be.

My mind was so preoccupied that the trip I'd been so determined to take seemed to only take a few seconds. Before I was expecting it, the forest began to thin, and I knew I would find the first few small houses of the reservation. I wondered which one of them belonged to Sam Uley. I wondered if it would be better if I went there first. I still had my pepper spray in the glove compartment.

Focused on feverish thoughts of righteous vengeance, I nearly drove right past the boy walking on the right side of the road.

For a second my breath caught for a second. Jacob? Was it Jacob? No, I wasn't that lucky, this boy was too wide, hair too short. It took me a minute to recognize him as Quil Altera.