Eyes of Fire [Sam Uley]

SIX|Forks: Day 5

It was only Olivia's fifth real day in Forks, when she first discovered that something was off.

It had been bugging her for a little while, there was clearly something about Forks that she couldn't quite seem to put her finger on.

But it was really the "struggling to keep it together" tone in Quil's voice when he spoke to her on the phone at Charlie's house for their daily phone call, that really was her first clue that something was really wrong.

"Quil, what the heck going on over there?" Olivia asked after there had been a sufficient amount of silence on her brother's end of the line, that she was beginning to be concerned about his well being. Her little brother, he never shut up for long and whenever it was that he did, he usually was in a lot of trouble. "Quil, what's wrong?"

"Sam's been missing for three days." Quil blurted out and Olivia felt like she had been sucker-punched and she felt like the wind had been totally knocked out of her.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?" Olivia asked and by his silence on the other end, Olivia had connected the dots quickly as at the connection, her anger was rising. "It was Leah, she told you not to tell me."

"I really wanted to, but, then she told me that if I told you, she would tell Mom and Grandpa that I was just like you." Quil said and Olivia's fists were clenching tightly with rage, around the phone and the other was around the rolling pin in her hand.

"I'm coming down there to help with the search, right now." Olivia's tone of voice was cold and she slammed the phone down onto the hook. "Charlie, I'm headed to La Push!" She hollered.

"Is there somethin' wrong?" Charlie asked and Olivia sighed, hesitating on telling him for a moment.

"Sam Uley is missing!" She replied with the truth, unwilling to lie to her new temporary guardian and she grabbed her jacket quickly, pulling on her shoes and she was tying them up quickly.

Charlie came out of the living room with his badge and his gun, as he was shutting off the TV.

"Get in the car, kid." He said and real quickly, she looked over at him with a nod of appreciation for it, as Charlie was calling it in after she had written down a bunch of description factors for Sam. "Exactly, how well do you know this kid again?" Charlie asked as he was driving off, down the road to La Push.

"Since the Ateara family chose to adopt me. So I think I was... five?" She was uncertain and she tried to think of the time that far back. "Four or five years old, I think. He is seventeen and I'm roughly sixteen." Olivia said.

"Roughly?" Charlie asked.

"Uh, I was dropped off at the orphanage without a birth certificate so, nobody really knows when my birthday is. I let Quil pick a random date and that's my birthday in every person's mind." She said and Charlie continued driving in silence.

After they reached La Push, Olivia directed him to Sam's house where everyone was gathered around.

Olivia got out of the police car and everyone turned to look at her. "Quil told me, after he admitted that Leah's threat was to tell his parents that he was just like me." Olivia said loudly as their entire community was there and all to help find Sam as Carmen walked through the crowd as she was hugging her tightly.

"I'm glad you're here." Carmen murmured and Olivia returned the hug quickly with a nod, before they broke apart and they were all now organizing search parties.

"Three days?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, three days. I don't know what happened to him, Liv. One day he was fine, complaining about being too hot and the next day, he didn't show up to school and-and I couldn't even find him anywhere. I feel terrible, Livvy, I was at Billy's for dinner. Sam said that he felt sick, so he didn't come to their dinner and then he was asleep by the time I got back. Or, I thought he was."

"Carmen, Carmen." Olivia said and she caught her friend by the arm as Carmen's entire body was trembling with emotions. "Carmen, stop. This is not your fault, okay? And whatever is going on with Sam, we will find him. I promise, we will." She said as Carmen looked at her with tears falling. "Come here." Olivia said and she hugged her oldest friend tightly as Carmen looked down with terror in every one ounce of her bearing.

"What happens to me if we don't find him? What happens if we don't find... I can't lose my big brother, I can't be alone..." Carmen had been clearly holding it in for awhile and she was sobbing.

"You won't be alone, Carmen, I promise." Olivia murmured softly as she held her friend. "I'll come and live with you, okay? Georgia be damned, I will come and live with you. How long has this been with you?" She asked and Carmen swallowed her next round and she sighed.

"Since our old man left?" Carmen hesitantly admitted and Olivia looked at her, before she hugged her again.

"Sam is not your father. You know that better than anyone, he stepped up when there was nobody else who could. Sam stayed here with you and your mom, when your stupid gene donor just ran away from you, Sam, your mother and all the responsibility of a family. He will come back to you and your mom, Carmen, I know it." A moment later Carmen had her control back and she sighed.

"Sorry." Carmen whispered.

"Sometimes Carm, we all just need to let it out and just cry." Olivia said and Carmen sighed quietly, before she was nodding. "Let's keep going until we hit the border to Forks and then, I think that we should go loop back around to First Beach."

"I'm sure glad now, that we did so many damn hiking trips for Phys-Ed class." Carmen had managed to crack a joke at the situation and at the joke, Olivia laughed now at the words from her and they kept going.

It took forever, but they had finally made the full loop as then, when they were going to the Uley house, the two of them came face to face with Leah.

"This should be good." Olivia muttered under her breath and she was staring at Leah, who was lunging for her and Olivia avoided it with a quick jump as then Leah was just spinning around angrily to look at her. "What are you so angry at me for?!" Olivia called.

"Once they adopted you, everything changed! It's all your fault!" Leah was snapping at her and Olivia flinched, stunned at the harsh words.

When Leah lunged straight at Olivia again, Olivia didn't even move to get out of the way as Leah hit her hard.

Olivia hit the ground first and now the two of them were wrestling hard, as Leah kept swinging at Olivia, who was covered her head with her arms and she wasn't hitting back.

Leah hit her hard in the ribs and Olivia kicked her in the side, as Leah's shout was clear. Olivia flipped them over and Leah was flung away from her, as Olivia was shaking her head at Leah's anger.

"I have done absolutely nothing to you and you know it!" Olivia said and Leah was getting up again now, her hand on her side and now with all of her anger quickly fading. "Everyone blames me because they can and I've never fought against it, just because I knew I couldn't possibly win." Olivia said and she shook her head. "You all might think that I don't belong here, I am fine with it. Because the people in La Push who do, make it totally worth it to be here and even, just to see all of the miserable looks on your faces."

"Well said." Carmen murmured and Olivia sighed, feeling the energy and the adrenaline fading from her as she sighed.

"Now I have to go to sleep, we have school tomorrow." She said quietly as she walked over towards the parking lot, where Charlie was waiting.

"I thought that you were doing homeschooling?" Carmen asked and Olivia looked over at her.

"Yeah, I am. Charlie's a real tough teacher." Olivia said and Carmen was laughing at her, before Olivia walked to Charlie's police car.

"If you wanted to do extra work tonight and go look for him again tomorrow, you can." Charlie said once they got home and Olivia was looking at him.

"Thanks Charlie." Olivia murmured quietly and she was quickly walking into her room, as she was shutting the door behind her and she locked it.

Olivia felt tears prickling in her eyes and she shuddered, sitting quietly on the edge of her bed.

Olivia was wiping her eyes fiercely and she squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm not wrong about Sam, I can't be wrong... Can I?" She whispered.