"I take back what I said the first time we met. I never could have been more wrong."
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"Every thing about you - every thing you do, or say, or even when you scrunch your nose when you don't really like something - just ma...
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IT WAS 4 O'CLOCK THE NEXT morning; Jake had dropped me off at around 1, and I had fallen asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. But my cellphone was ringing aggressively and it shook me awake. "Hello?" I grumble groggily.
"Josie?" My father returns. I open my eyes wide, looking around to make sure that I really made it back to my bedroom. Sure enough, my crisp, white walls look back at me.
"Dad?" I ask again, confused. "What's up?" I grumble again, looking to my watch. "It's four in the damn morning." He chuckles a little bit, strangely awake for the hour. It takes me a few too many moments to realize that he's got the night shift tonight.
"I need you to wake up sweetheart, and get to the station."
"A-Alright," I stutter, pulling myself out of my bed and hardly caring that my blankets are strewn all over. "But Dad, I still don't have a car."
"Shit. Right. I'll come pick you up on the way to the airport."
"AIRPORT?!" I exclaim, waking up quickly from shock. "Dad, what the hell is going on?" He lets out a deep sigh.
"I'll let you know once I get there," he mutters. "I'll see you in a few minutes, Josie."
"Okay," I puff out.
"Pack something for tomorrow. We won't be gone long." I don't even get the chance to respond, as the phone call ends abruptly.
"Alright then," I growl, shoving myself up from my seated position and shoving clothes haphazardly into my bag. When Dad's cruiser honked twice, I grunted out a few more choice words while I ran down the stairs. But I knew my dad, and I knew he wouldn't do something like this unless it was entirely important. As I got into the car and shut the door behind me, I saw an expression on his face that caused worry to flood my bones.
He didn't say anything until we were already down the road, the car in motion, and the doors locked. "We're going to Phoenix."
"That's funny," I laugh out in disbelief, switching between looking at him and at the early morning light on the road. "Now where are we really going?"
"I'm not joking Josie," he replies sternly. "Bella got hurt. She fell down a flight of stairs, and broke her leg. She lost a lot of blood."
"Dad," I state calmly, my hand on the side of the door.
"Y-Yeah?" he stutters.
"Stop the car."
"What?" he asks me, shocked. Clearly, he had underestimated my feelings toward my sister, and her loyalty to this family. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with her or the toxic air that she brought into every room.
"Stop. The damn. Car."
"Josie-"
"STOP THE CAR, DAD!" I shout. Above us, there's a loud clap of thunder. He jerks the car over to the side of the road, and I swing the door open. Feeling for any drops of rain, I'm pleasantly surprised when no water falls on me. I slammed his door shut and began walking in the opposite direction, back towards the house, not caring that my small carry-on bag still sat in bis back seat.
"Josie! Get back in the car!"
"Like hell I will," I cackle. "Go and see your perfect Bella, Dad! And act like she's the saint that's done no wrong... let alone shatter your heart and ruin your confidence and self-worth no less than 48 hours ago!"
"JOSEPHINE!" He shouts angrily into the early morning air. "God dammit!"
"Not holding you back, Dad!" I call back to him, turning to face his cruiser while walking backward. "Do whatever the hell you want!" Although I couldn't hear him anymore, I could imagine him cussing and slamming his hand aggressively against the wheel. I had pissed my father off enough with my stubbornness to expect how he'd react. I had also pissed him off enough to know that by the time he got back from whatever "Good Samaritan" mission he felt obligated to go on, he'd be over it.
I let out a content sigh and started the walk back to the house. Leaves crunched beneath my feet, and the bird and crickets that lived just inside the forest called out to me, singing a happy tune. I carried on my way, hardly paying mind to anything other than the nice breeze and the moderately damp air on my skin. The smell of the forest and the sounds of nature pulled me into a world of calmness and serenity. It brought a sense of completion to my tattered soul, and mended what had broken in the past year.
Suddenly, everything stopped. The birds stopped calling and the crickets stopped chirping. It was as if every living within had dropped dead simultaneously. Slowly, I stopped as well, my eyes wide and alert, examining the low-lighted area around me. A chill ran up my spine, and a feeling creeped through my bones, bringing dread and despair with it. It was something I could only equate to the feeling of death.
I don't understand what caused me to do it, but I felt myself instinctually pulling off my shoes and stepping onto the soil that lined the side of the road and connected me to the forest. Instantly, I felt a strange pull to the source of the coldness - it was roughly fifty feet into the forest, though it was inching closer to the road where I stood.
An anger suddenly pushed through the coldness, and an urge to protect took over me. I took two sharp, decisive strides into the trees before a set of tires peeled out on the road behind me. "Hey!" A voice called out to me, breaking me effectively out of my trance. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, Swan?" I turn around, a teasing smirk across my lips.
"I could ask you the same question, Lahote," I taunt, walking back out of the forest and towards him, shoes still in hand. "It's early. I'd peg you as the type of guy to sleep in 'til one in the afternoon." He chuckled, his smile never quite reaching his eyes as he pointedly stared into the forest behind me. Death settled back into my body like an unwelcome bucket of water being poured over my head, and I too, looked back into the woods. It almost felt like Death was staring at me, ready to take me into his hands.
But more than fearing it, I wanted nothing more than to protect the forest and all natural life from Death; whether I lived or died trying had become an after thought. "We're not all as we seem," Paul mutters out the open window. "Why don't you get in, and I'll give you a ride back to your house. Then you can tell me exactly what you're doing walking alone at this hour with your shoes off." I blush bashfully and tuck my hair behind my ear, but accept his offer nevertheless.
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Hi! Yes, I'm going to be posting a fuck ton over the next few days, cause I feel so bad, and hopefully I'll even squeeze and extra chapter in early! I have a hell week next week with almost a dozen assignments due (cause that's fucking legal) , and then my family is visiting me next weekend, so I don't know if I'll manage to get something up, but here's to hoping!
