Cozy • An Embry Story

.40

Embry's POV

"Embry! Wake up!" Someone rolls me over, hard. I get a mouthful of grass, spitting it out as I sputter awake.

"Did I miss school?"

"You haven't been in school in years, Em." Jacob stands over me with his hands braced on his knees to keep balanced. His face is etched with both concern and confusion, looking at me like I just fainted. It is a very real possibility that I did faint. I don't remember falling asleep. The last thing I can recall is shifting back after a patrol with Leah to wait in between shifts. Looking around, I make sure that I'm still in the same part of the woods between my house and Jacob's. I had sat down on a patch of grass by a tree for a break, not even bothering going home when it was only an hour in between.

I don't even remember falling asleep.

Groaning, the exhaustion goes from a thick groggy feeling behind my eyes to a heavy weight on the rest of my body. As if every moment I've been tired is sitting on me to keep me down. Checking my phone, I try not to be too mad at myself at Winnie's missed call. We were suppose to talk last night too, but she was already asleep by the time I finished patrolling at one in the morning.

"Sam said you had a shift with Leah, right?" Jacob recounts, helping me up.

"Yeah," I mumble, rubbing the sleep off my face. It sucked having to patrol with Leah. Even though she tried her best to keep her mind clear and present, she had thoughts of her lunch with Winnie from the day before. She hadn't even been thinking about Winnie. Leah had been trying to keep her mind off her brother Seth, but Winnie was a background character to whatever last encounter they had yesterday.

Everyone gets to spend time with my girlfriend but me.

"I brought you some water." Jacob offers a spare water bottle. That's Jacob, always thinking about everyone else.

"Thanks," The grogginess clears way with a deep sip and a good stretch. "Oh my god," I nearly spit out the water. Heaving, my stomach lurches as the rest of me reacts. My nose burns, till the stench reaches the back of my eyes and stings them. The smell lands at the back of my tongue, and it feels as though the smell has a grip around my throat.

"I didn't have time to shower." Jacob admits with an apologetic look. He reeks of death and expensive perfume. The metallic scent of blood is only a top note to rot and Chanel Number Five. If I don't think too much about it, I can pretend it's the smell of rotting fruit as long as I ignore the fresh smell of blood.

"The Cullens?" I brave a cautious breath through my mouth, the unmistakable stench of a leech offending my nose.

"Yeah," Jacob doesn't meet my eyes, busying himself with undoing his shoes. "I went to see Bella."

"Okay," There isn't much to say other than that. While I don't personally have anything against Bella, it's hard to look her in those metallic eyes and pretend she's still Bella. I was on good terms with the Bella who was clumsy, awkward, and well—alive. I haven't really seen Bella much since after her death, nothing short of avoiding her and the rest of the Cullens.

I can't help but notice how she doesn't move. All of them go absolutely still between the necessary movements, walking a few feet or grabbing something only to go completely still again.

People's hands aren't still, the chest rises with breath, and the scariest one; none of them blink. That's what freaks me out the most. Not one of them blinks. Eight pair of lifeless eyes staring back at us in the most unnatural shade of yellow that don't blink. When the Cullens do remember to, it's almost like watching a porcelain doll shut its lids, unnaturally slow and timed.