Samuel just stands there in the forest, unmoving. His green eyes wide open, not taking in anything and his body frozen in shock. He doesn't want to turn around and look because he knows what will await him. The still limp hand in his, a constant reminder. And, although a constant voice in his head screams for him to keep on running and not look back, he can't help it. Ever so slowly, his eyes slowly shift to the side and his head turns until he is staring at the one thing he doesn't want to accept in all of the world. He wants to scream or cry, to run, to really do anything except just stand there. But he can't. He can't move or look away. All he can do is stare at it and die inside.
XXxxoxxXX
Samuel awakes to the sudden pain of his body hitting the floor as a result of falling out of the single bed. It takes him a few minutes to figure out where he is and that he is no longer dreaming. No, that wasn't a dream. Samuel shakes his head to get rid of the haunting images and tries to focus on what is happening here and now. That's when he hears it. A small whimper that has him bolting upright. It's Bella. She's thrashing around in what appears to be a nightmare. Standing upright, he moves over to Bella's side. Shaking her shoulder gently she starts to stir, but doesn't awaken fully. Sighing, he grabs both of them and shakes her almost violently, calling her name out loud when she suddenly lets out a scream "No!" and bolts upright off of her bed. Her forehead colliding with the worried Samuel's. Well, at least now he knows how Charlie feels when he wakes him up in the mornings, he thinks as he rubs his head. Bella apologises as she tries to regain control of her breathing. Samuel simply laughs, waving it off and heads downstairs to grab a drink after making sure she is alright now.
As Samuel walked out of the kitchen, glass of water in hand, he bumped into Charlie. After making sure he doesn't drop his glass Samuel looks up at Charlie. A fishing rod in one hand, tackle box in the other and wearing a ridiculous outfit. Samuel takes a random shot in the dark and asks, "Going fishing?", quirking an eyebrow in question. Charlie simply laughed in response.
"Yeah, I'm just on my way out to go fishing with Billie again. What about you? I never see you awake this early unless I've had to wake you up. Does this mean Bella's up as well? I noticed you stayed with her last night." As if to answer his question the sound of the shower radiates through the house. "I'm take that as a yes." Samuel and Charlie both smile at this.
"Have fun." Samuel calls, leaning on the front door's frame, while he watches Charlie pack his things into the cruiser.
"You to. Don't get into too much trouble with the boys in Seattle today." Charlie jokes, refiring to Samuel's plans to go into Seattle with Jasper and Emmett, tuxedo shopping for the Spring Dance next week. Samuel just laughs and waves goodbye to Charlie when he drives off. Closing the door behind him, Samuel lets out a sigh of relief and lets his smile fall. He didn't want to make Charlie worry about him when he had done so much for him already. For now he will just put on a happy face for him until he figures things out himself.
Bella takes forever in the shower, but eventually relents and gives Samuel his turn. The shower is great for him, allowing him to relax and let all of the tension out for a short while. To just forget for the moment. Upon exiting the bathroom, fully clothed and ready for the day, Samuel goes to check on Bella to see how she is faring. He goes to knock on her door when it opens at his touch. Well so much for knocking, he thinks as he fully opens Bella's door. He goes to call out to her, to inform her of his presence when he sees that she is on the computer. Curiosity spikes in him and he takes a step forward to see what she is looking at. It is then that he wishes he didn't. One glance at the page and he suddenly sees flashback of when that was him, sitting there for days on end looking up all kinds of monsters, just trying to find the one who took his life away from him. Too shocked to say anything he just stands there watching as she flicks from page to page until there is it, the page printed firmly in his mind with one word screaming out at him. Vampires.
He feels sick. Not able to hold it in for much longer, he rushes out of the bedroom and right back into the bathroom where he empties the contents of his stomach into the sink. Why? Why was Bella looking at that? He couldn't understand it at all. Peering up at his reflection, he closes his eyes. He looks like s**t and feels it to. He contemplates calling Jasper to cancel their plans when he realises he can't to it. He needs Jasper right now as he opens his eyes to stare back at his ghostly pale reflection. Strengthening his resolve, he quickly washes his face then leaves to call Jasper.
Samuel hangs up the phone feeling relieved that Jasper and Emmett are already ready and on their way to pick him up. It's then that Bella marches downstairs with purpose. "I'm going out for a bit." is all she says as she grabs her raincoat and marches outside, not bothering to explain anything to him about where she is going or how long she will be gone for. All it does is make Samuel worry for her more. The sooner he sees Jasper, the better.
XXxxoxxXX
Upon hearing a knock at the door, he runs, grabbing his keys and wallet, whips open the door, only taking a second to see who it is before embracing them. Jasper freezes upon contact, too shocked to do anything for a second or two until he notices Samuel's roller-coaster of emotions. Scared, sick, anxious, tired and weak, but most of all relieved. Steadying himself, Jasper lightly wraps his arms around the shaking boy clinging to him. Just as Jasper is about to send calming emotions to him, Samuel begins to calm down himself. That is until a thought enters his mind giving Jasper sudden whiplash as now the most predominant emotion Samuel feels is embarrassment. Samuel quickly detaches himself from Jasper, a faint blush dusting his cheeks. "Ah... Sorry about that Jasper. I don't know what overcame me." Lie. Samuel knows exactly what happened, but is too proud to admit anything. Jasper just nods his head, a small, crooked grin gracing his face.
"It's alright, Samuel. Anytime. Now are you ready to get going?" He asks, glancing down and taking his appearance in for the first time today. Jasper frowns upon seeing the state Samuel is in, but Samuel doesn't notice as he is too busy staring at anything other than Jasper. A hand suddenly placed on his shoulder jolts him and grabs his attention. "Are you alright Samuel?" Samuel hesitates before he answers.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Let's go." He diverts. Jasper looks at him and is about to say something more when a loud shout interrupts him.
"Hurry up you two. This is going to be long enough with Alice here. I want to get it over with as soon as possi - Ouch!" Came the boisterous voice of Emmett from the car waiting out the front of the Swan residence. Samuel looks away from Jasper and towards the car where he spots Alice with Emmett's ear in a vice grip.
"Alice?" Samuel questions since he wasn't informed of her joining them.
"She asked and I couldn't say no." Jasper explained. Samuel laughs in understanding since he wouldn't be able to say no to her ether. In fact, he wasn't sure anyone really could. With that they walk over to the red convertible where Alice and Emmett stand awaiting them.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Alice do you think you can let go now?" Emmett pleads. Alice pretends to think about it for a second before releasing him. As soon as she does, two things happen. One, Emmett takes a step back and rubs his ear, while two, Alice lunges at Samuel. Smiling, Samuel hugs her back with as much strength as he can muster.
"Alice, what are you doing here?" Samuel asks with Alice still in his arms.
"I was going to let you boys go by yourself, but then I realised that all of you are disastrous at shopping and I couldn't let you turn up to the dance looking like that." She explains in a matter of fact tone and as though she wasn't single headedly insulting all of their fashion sense.
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Samuel exclaims as he finally lets go of Alice, honestly glad he is able to see her today as well.
"Oh please. Your wardrobe consisted of nothing, but jeans, a few shirts, a jacket or two, only one pare of shoes and a onesie!" Alice lectured, hands on her hips, looking cute.
"That's all the clothes I could bring with me when I moved here that was warm! Besides the onesie is super fluffy and warm." Samuel tries to defend himself, but ends up almost whispering near the end. Alice shakes her head and pulls him towards the car where the two of them sit in the back together. Emmett is already in the front passenger seat and Jasper goes to the drivers seat. When they are all in and Samuel is buckled up, they head off. As the wind blows through Samuel's hair a thought occurs to him.
"Oh yeah, why are we using Rosalie's BMW M3 Convertible if she isn't here?" He asks the general populace of the car.
"When I asked to use Edward's Volvo, Rosalie and Edward threw a hissy fit since Rosalie planned on working on it today. She just told me to use hers to shut me up."
"Rosalie likes cars?" Samuel asks, rather shocked.
"Likes? She loves them. Probably more than anyone else in our family. She's always working on them to improve their performance." Emmett explains with a goofy expression on his face. Samuel smiles at seeing how in love he is with Rosalie. He made a mental note to bring up cars if he is ever alone with her.
XXxxoxxXX
Throughout their shopping experience in Seattle, Emmett continued to provide entertainment for everyone. Whether it was by cracking both appropriate and inappropriate jokes or seeing big bad bear Emmett try on tux after tux, it was all hilarious. Thankfully, by the end of the trip all three of the men were carrying large bags holding their tuxedos for the dance along with a lot of random items Alice managed to persuade them into buying. The funniest of them all being Emmett, who single headedly managed to carry over ten shopping bags without breaking a sweat. How he managed to do it, Samuel had no idea, but he wasn't complaining since it meant he only had to carry four himself. Jasper carrying six with ease and still managing to look dignified, while Samuel failed miserably and Emmett had no chance what so ever. Alice leading them all, practically dancing from shop to shop. A massive smile on her face. By the end of the day Samuel was exhausted and almost happy to be home if it wasn't for the fact that it meant he had to leave Alice and Jasper again.
XXxxoxxXX
The smell of smoked fish greeted him at the door, causing him to pause and take time to gather himself. The scent making him sick. Holding his breath, Samuel runs upstairs, drops his bags on the floor and throws open the window. Reaching his head out, he takes in a deep breath to calm his stomach.
When Bella knocks on his door to let him know dinner is ready, he excuses himself, saying he had a large lunch when he was out, when the truth is he was only able to hold down half a smoothie before throwing the rest in the bin. Bella believes him and heads back downstairs again to have dinner with Charlie.
That night Samuel is reluctant to go to sleep, instead choosing to stay up for as long as he can, reading and doing homework.
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A/N: Thank you to Sorafallenangel11 (Fanfiction.net) for reviewing the last chapter. This chapter is for you. smile
Please review people. It honestly gets me to update faster... as in instead of waiting a few months for the next chapter it may only be a few days like this one. It all depends on the reviews and motivation I get. Seriously it only takes one review per chapter for me to update! Also if you see anything wrong such as spelling and grammar please let me know and I'll try to fix it. I don't have a Beta reader yet so I would love it if you could be my Beta readers in a way. razz
Well, until next time! <3
