Twilight 月 Incandescent Moon

Chapter 10: Life Goes On

(song - Dance of Death, Shiki Tv Noir soundtrack)

Chapter 10 - Life Goes On

　

　

　

It had took almost a month and a half before the adults would let us have another get together at First Beach again. This time we had to promise that there would be absolutely no alchohol, that everyone would wear seatbelts in the cars, and we would come back before ten o'clock. That's what the main chatter was about when everyone arrived at the beach.

It was now April and it was slightly warmer now. My February check up, which took place a week after Maddison's death, proved to show no signs of my heart tiring out. Neither did March's. When my heart would start to tire, I would appear physically tired with the lack of oxygen getting pumped to my organs. That was the first sign that my death was coming. However, I didn't feel a bit tired at all. I was still bouncing full of energy, even if I didn't show it. Seth Clearwater was the hyperly active one.

Speaking of Seth, last week I had gone shopping for a swim suit with Anna and Mickie. They were feeling up to swimming now that the waters were warmer and we had gone together to a store in town. Anna's was a bikini the same color as her lip gloss she constantly applied to her lips to keep their fullness. Mickie chose a Disney Mickey Mouse themed swimsuit, red shorts with white dots on them and a solid black bikini top. My swimsuit was a dark purple bikini.

Anna, Mickie, and I took off our cover-ups that we had worn on the way down. Mine had been an oversized T shirt that was long enough to be a short dress on me. I hadn't been able to buy one from the store because of my lack of money. Unfortunately, that twenty five bucks had come from Mickie from buying my kitten drawing and I had used it to buy the swimsuit, so I wouldn't be able to develope my photos anytime soon.

We went out and walked on the beach towards the Quileute boys who always seemed to be here before anyone else arrived. My friends went on ahead and got in the water as Seth walked over to me.

"Ready for your swim lesson?" He asked with an excited grin.

He was just so darn innocent.

"Yeah..." I agreed reluctantly.

"Oh, cheer up! It's easier than you think!" He said while leading.

I followed behind him to the water's edge where I entered and walked along the bottom. Seth had to take it slow for me, because I was really unsure about my swimming skills. Once I'd edged out into water deep enough to pratice in, he told me the first thing I needed to do was learn how to float on my back.

"...My back?" I repeated confused.

"Yeah! Humans are made of sixty percent water, so you'll float." Seth informed me.

I turned around and leaned back into the water, half afraid that I'd sink to the bottom. This might seem silly, but I'd never gone swimming before so I didn't know what would happen when I laid back. My old suspicion of the werewolf vampire thing came back when Seth had mentioned the word human, like he wasn't including himself.

"I can't." I said before I'd leaned all the way back.

"Oh, it's easy." He promised me.

"Not when the water's this cold." I complained."How can you even stand it?" I asked him.

He shrugged."I guess I'm just warm blooded."

"Well, in that case I'm cold blooded." I said, crossing my arms and hugging myself in attempt to get warm.

"Not likely." Seth replied with a laugh.

"Hey! What's that suppose to mean?" I asked.

"There are things that are even colder blooded than you." He teased.

"Like what?" I asked innocently.

I didn't realize how big an impact my words had on him before I read his face. All of his earlier brightness had disappeared and been replaced by a look of seriousness.

"I thought you knew." He said seriously.

My heart rate picked up at his words. He wasn't possibly suggesting that vampires were real.....Was he? I shook my head no.

"That Trent Walker's the coldest blooded person around!" He joked, a big smile coming to his face.

He litterally scared me there for a second."Oh, yeah!" I laughed along with him.

"Remember the first time we were here at First Beach?" Seth asked me.

"Yeah." I replied, still laughing a little.

"Do you think that the legend is true? You know, the one about my clan?" He asked with curiosity.

"Well," I began, choosing my words carefully. His words had put me on edge again. This was a sensitive topic for both of us."I believe there is some truth to every myth." I told him.

"What part did you think was true?" Seth smiled.

"I think that your ancestors being as hairy as wolves scared the invaders into thinking you were ones!" I joked.

"Hey, that's not funny!" He complained, but laughed along with me."What about The Cold Ones?" He asked.

"I'm sort-of pale being an albino and all, maybe they saw one of my ancestors and mistaked them too!" I shugged and laughed again.

"Maybe so." He laughed along with me.

Maybe so. The way he had said that sounded like he wasn't convinced. As if he believed his tribe's old myth better than what reality was really about. Or what it seemed to be. All my past suspicions came back to me. Jacob and Billy's conversation, the story on my first night at First Beach. I was even beginning to suspect that that night, Seth hadn't rode in a car back home but rather turned into a giant wolf and ran instead. It was all crazy talk, but the way that he reacting around it didn't make sense.

We stopped laughing and looked at each other.

"I don't want to do this anymore. I'd rather learn in a nice pool." I told him.

"If that's what you want...." Seth said, disappointed that I was too afraid.

We waded back to the shore and started to get out. When the cold wind hit me, I became freezing cold.

"Nevermind, I want to go back in." I said quickly, going back into the water. It was warmer than standing out in the open.

Seth laughed at me from the sandy beach. Eventually, I did get out but I couldn't put my T-shirt pull over until I was dry. I enjoyed the afternoon from on the land and later I joined everyone at the camp site. This time, someone brought skewers---pieces of chicken, beef, and vegetables on a stick---to grill. They tasted great. I'd never had them before and it was a huge change to what we had been bringing.

As always, we finished up with marshmellow roasting and story telling. The Quileute boys stayed quiet and let other people tell theirs. When this was finished up, everyone went home. This time Anna dropped me off first before taking Mickie home.