Every Which Way

The Imprint

Everyone around us became quiet and grew still. I could feel multiple pairs of eyes burning a hole in the back of my head. Then I found myself waving my hand and napping my fingers in Embry's face because he was staring at me so intensely that he wasn't even blinking.

" Embry! Hey Embry!" I was shouting now and the only response I got was, "Huh?"

"Are you okay? You been staring at me for the past minute and I'd like to have my face back now." I tell him, letting out an uneasy laugh.

"Yeah everythings fine. In fact things just got better,"he said as he stood and walked toward the other guys who were laughin' and jumpin' all over him. I swore I even heard one of them say 'Congrats' and I thought to myself what did he do to earn that. I was lost in thought as Leah sat beside me on the log.

"Hey, after this do wanna come back to Sam and Emily's place for dinner?" she asks.

"Naw. That poor woman has enough on her plate as it is to try and feed them. I don't want to be a bother." I reply.

"Come on, it's fine. Plus she'll be happy that we have another girl in the pack." As soon as she said that last sentence she looked as if she shouldn't have said it. Instead of asking questions I just agreed to go with them.

~Time Skip~

We pull up to the Uley's house, and my anxiety starts kicking in. I hate meeting new people most of the time, but I have a feeling that this won't be so bad.

Leah and I walk up to the house, her arm around my shoulder.

"Hey, Em! We got company." she yells to the house.

A woman comes out, looking like she's in her twenty's, and she has three big scars going across her face.

" Hi!," she says in a cheery voice," Who's this?"

"This is Willow. The friend I met online." Leah answers.

"Well come on in," she says.

Leah and I walk in and sit at the table in the kitchen and the boys follow soon after. I feel comfortable around them... Except when I catch Embry staring at me. It makes me feel like they know something that I don't.

"So, where ya from Willow?" Sam asks.

"Savannah Georgia," I say. "It kinda reminds of here, except it's colder here."

"That's what we're here for." Seth said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Seems like you like it here, but what about your parents?" Emily innocently asks.

"Oh, um, I don't have parents." As soon as I say that the room goes silent so I decide to tell them what happened.

"When I was young my parents were killed by something inhuman, but the authorities and doctors tried to convince me it was a person that did this. I ended being put on meds for the "delusions" so I just stopped talking about it altogether. So now I live with my guardians that adopted me." When I finish I'm still sort of smiling, since I told the story so many times that it doesn't effect me anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Willow." Embry speaks up in the dead silence.

"It's ok, my parents weren't the best of people to be honest." I reply. He still has a sympathetic look on his face.

 "What do you mean by something inhuman?" Paul asks. I hear worry and alarm in his voice.

"Well, y'all will probably think I'm crazy, too, but I'll tell you anyway. This guy was pasty as fuck, with blood red eyes, and ice cold skin. I think I know what he was 'cause I met someone else like him not to long after, but it seems I have to go with the the vibe in the room because those things don't exist." I finish.

Everyone looks at each other, seeming a bit worried. I'm the only one in the room who doesn't think it's a big deal.