Naturally

Naturally (A Jacob Black Fanfic) -11-

The cold wasn't making me delusional, neither was the pain that I had improved on ignoring. I swore the path we were walking on around the reservation was the same path I walked years ago to my mother's house. I should've spoken up when the familiar landmarks I used to memorize my way home kept appearing.

"Why did we have to take the long way instead of cutting through the woods? We're walking in circles." I tried to distract my growing anxiousness with a conversation with Paul.

Paul shrugged. "It would've been too dense and you would have gotten probably more bruises than you already do. It's not the safest path to use, not for mortals. We didn't want to risk you getting hurt, if one of us slipped on ice or tripped over a hidden root." I didn't even acknowledge his consideration for me. I didn't want my feelings for him to change. I wanted to keep my deep loathing for him and everyone else in the pack, especially Jacob and excluding Seth. I bit my lip as we were climbing a dreadfully similar hill I always climbed on my way home.

It was only a matter of seconds before my nightmare materialized. I gasped in surprise and covered my mouth when I should've covered my eyes that were threatening to spill tears. My heart began to pound loudly and my bottom lip wobbled. I bit it to make it stop but it didn't. Only a few yards from us stood an impressive, eccentric all wood three story mansion. I could describe it in detail or summarize it as an oversized cabin. In detail I would say it has a simple shape of a rectangle with a wrap-around porch around it only for the main level. Since it was built on a hill, if you were to look at the back yard the porch would be considered on the second story, above the exposed basement or garage, my mother had specifically designed the lower level to be both. The only way to enter the exposed part of the basement is through one of the three garage doors or the side door that was never noticed behind a shed. Back to the front, the mansion wasn't too complicated. The front is very balanced, massive doubled brown doors in between two long, wide windows. The second floor had the same input, three long windows all aligned with the bottom exterior. The third floor is odd, it only had one long window but then again the attic was one big room, not two or three. Why give it an extra window? 

I couldn't breathe and I thought I would start hyperventilating. I would be back inside the very house I was trapped in six years ago. Memories began to penetrate my mind, one of mom screaming at me and another of me peering out my window behind the curtains from the second story into the blooding chilling darkened forest, waiting for eyes to reflect back at me. I imagined my old self moving aside the curtains in one of the bedrooms on the second the floor looking down at Jacob, Paul, and I. Her eyes- my eyes, all so familiar- were as wide as her mouths and she flared her arms, screaming at me to run. She was scared. I was scared. I couldn't move and soon she disappeared from sight when Jacob reached the porch and climb up in one swift stride.

"Are you alright?" Jacob asked me when he noticed how badly I was trembling. Each step of his towards my old house had intensified my shaking but no matter how shaken I was though my mind retained some consciousness and I quickly thought of an excuse.   

"Why?" I mumbled, staring at the house. My body was consumed with fear and my eyes couldn't get any wider. "No," I tried to scream when Paul opened the door but my voice was gone and all the best I could do to shield my face was to cover my face into Jacob's chest. I was still trembling.

"What's up with you? Are you in pain?" Jacob asked. He was teasing. He sounded more distressed than I was.

I furiously shook my head and he laid me down, not dropped me, onto a plush couch. I peeked opened an eye and took into a new sight. This was my living room, the exquisite, wall consuming fireplace made of only stone and plaster made sure of it but the vibe was different. The color had changed. Instead of a dull yellow the walls had been repainted refreshing shade of green. It reminded me of moss. It gave the room a natural and neutral appeal. I should've felt relaxed but with Jacob looking straight down at me with dark, frightened eyes I was preoccupied and way too tense.