Almost Impossible Chapter 22

Chapter 22

When I woke up, the sun was shining dimly into my room. I blinked my eyes a couple times before I glanced at the clock and was relieved that it was just barely noon. I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about what I was going to do. My days seemed only to consist of being at Jake's house or running around with the pack. I was in need for a little change, though had no idea what there was to do anymore.


I thought about all the things I had done before the huge change had happened, but so many things had changed, before and after, I had no idea what to do. I didn't have work anymore since I had let Mrs. Newton know that I was going away. Even though the plans had changed, I didn't go to try and get the job back. I was so happy about graduating, so happy to be leaving with Edward soon after, that I had never thought about what would happen if all that had changed. I never let the thought enter my mind.

It's not that I didn't want to spend my days with Jake, I did, it was just that we never really spent time alone. To be truthful, it was quite annoying to have the pack constantly with us. It was bad enough having them know all your thoughts and feelings, but to be in on every moment, nothing left personal, that was really getting to me. The more I thought about it though, the more I was hopeless. At least until the Volturi have come and gone, the days would be boring, repeated, and crowed.

With that, I gave a heavy sigh and forced myself out of bed. After the night before, I was in need of a nice hot shower and a nice big… lunch. The new schedule was really going to take some getting used to.

***

After I had taken my shower and finished cleaning up the kitchen from lunch, I decided to head over to Jake's house. I didn't feel the need to call; with the schedule lately, they should have known. I grabbed my keys and made sure I locked the door on my way out. As I got into my truck, something was off, but I couldn't quite place what it was. I ignored it while I climbed in and drove away.

I got halfway to La Push, when I had an odd feeling of being watched. I slowed my truck, my face prickling as the cool air stopped blowing across my face, I glance in every direction. I listened carefully, but I still couldn't hear, or see anything. A shiver ran down my spine, causing my body to shake with it, though I wasn't cold. Something was definitely off.

A light breeze picked up and though before I could only smell the scent of the forest, something now struck my nose sharply. Something sickly sweet. An unfamiliar smell of something that could only be recognized as one thing. Before I could gather all of what was going on, I slammed my foot on the gas and forced my truck to go as fast as it could, pushing it to its limit. It groaned and jolted as it tried to keep running and I feared for my life that it would die right here, right as they were waiting.

In what seemed like forever, I finally arrived at the house. I had never wanted to enter that old front door more than I had at that exact moment. I got out of my truck and ran, not even paying attention to the door that I had left wide open. I ran straight into the house and was terrified not to see anyone there. My breathing got heavy as I started to panic. Immediately I thought the worst and the tears broke loose, as terror sunk deep.

"Jake!" I screamed, running into his room. Nothing.

I stopped for a moment in the middle of the kitchen, listening, but couldn't hear a thing anywhere.

"Jake!" I screamed again. This time I ran out of the house, suddenly not caring what could be out there to waiting for me. But again, nothing.

I ran to the garage, but he there was no sign of him. I thought hard about what he could have been doing, but couldn't remember a mentioning of plans for the day. I couldn't think of anything else, so I phased, but before I had taken my clothes off.

Damnit! I thought, as I watched my clothes fall to the ground.

What's going on Bella? Seth asked.

Where's Jake?

He's cliff diving with Embry. What's wrong?

Something… Something close by, I said, thinking through everything that had happened since I walked out of my front door.

I haven't been over in that area today. It was by your house? Uh, why don't I get Sam. I'm not too far from there.

I sat in Jake's back yard as I waited for Seth to come back with Sam. I felt that I wasn't alone, so one of the guys must have been sleeping and I knew it must have been Paul with the images of attacking and killing vampires in his dreams. I laughed lightly, but it was barely funny since such a thing could be happening so soon. Within five minutes I was joined by Sam and Seth.

What's going on Bella? Seth says something about someone being near your house and then following you here? Sam said.

I'm not sure really. Something seemed off outside of my house, but I ignore it. Then on the way here I had an odd feeling of being watched, when I stopped my car I smelt it and didn't waste no time getting out of there. Though I think I about killed my truck.

Ok, I'm on my way over there now. Seth how about you run over and get the rest of the guys. Paul! Wake up, Sam ordered.

What? Oh, damn , the dream was just getting good too, Paul complained.

I can see, I mumbled.

I wondered why he didn't just howl to get their attention, but I realized quickly that that would warn whoever was watching me. I kept thinking over everything, thinking maybe I had overreacted, Sam filled Paul and Quil, who had just joined us, in on what was going on. I thought over the panic I had with not seeing Jake at his house. Somewhere deep down I knew he was ok, but I needed him, because I wasn't, or might not have been.

I sat there behind Jake's house, still not moving, but watching as Seth ran to get him. I watched the worry flicker in Jake's eyes as he watched Seth run up. They got the point, even without words, that they were needed. I watched as Jake ran faster than I had ever seen him in human form. He knew.

The scent is faded, but it is here Bella. You did not over react; this is new, Sam confirmed, interrupting my focus. He ran toward my house, where the scent had led. They were following me.

What happened? Jake's worried voice echoed through my head. I watched as he ran in the direction of his house and listened to the rush of his panicked thoughts.

Vampires, Paul said, sounding excited. They were following Bella.

What! Jake shouted as he reached me. He nuzzled his head against mine. I could sense the anger and sadness as I watched his thoughts run wild. It was odd being so close like that in wolf form, but I still could not pay attention. I'm so sorry I wasn't watching Bella. I should have been there, but figured since Paul was close to you, you would be fine. He growled in Paul's direction.

What? I didn't see or smell anything. It was all fine when I fell asleep. I was only out for maybe fifteen minutes, Paul defended himself.

Doesn't matter… I should have been watching you, Jake said guiltily.

It's ok Jake, I'm fine. How were you supposed to know, how was Paul? They snuck by. I tried to make Jake feel less guilty, but I couldn't. I was too worried that they were still close by. I laid down on the ground, worry causing my body to lose it's strength. Jake hovered over me, comforting me and it helped.

They appear to be gone. Possibly they were just watching you. But why? Sam thought.

Why didn't that bloodsucker warn us? Paul snapped. I had no response.

It took a while for the whole pack to search the area. Jake stayed close to me and I was grateful. I hated having him so far away, not knowing where he was when something was wrong. It was a horrible feeling.

I'm so sorry Bella, Jake whispered, moving his massive head against mine.

It's ok Jake. It's ok now, I told him.

I think I'm going to be sick, Leah quietly said.

Oh shut up, Jake told her.

Well the area seems to be clear now. We've gone out as far as we can go and there appears to be nothing. There scent cuts off and we lost track, but it was far enough away to stop searching for now, Sam told us.

I should go see Alice, I thought.

Uh… Yeah, maybe you and Jake should go. I could tell Sam didn't like the idea.

Damnit, I said as I thought about my clothes. Jake laughed a little.

Come on. I'll grab you some from my house, He said.

Alright.

Jake and I took ran over to his house and I waited outside while he got me some clothes. Once he came back out, he had me stay phased so he could just tie them around my leg. After that, we were on our way over to the Cullen's once again. The run over was somewhat quiet, none of us had much to say, we just thought about it all silently. I was too focused on my own, worried, thoughts to pay attention to what Jake was thinking.

When we got to their house, Alice was waiting outside with Edward standing behind her. I closed my eyes and kept them closed as I phased, keeping on focus on the real issue. I did notice he looked a little better than the last time I saw him.

"Bella, what's going on?" I heard Alice ask as we walked out of the trees. She was eyeing my clothes.

"You tell me," I snapped.

"What are you talking about?" she seemed confused. Had she not see them?

"The vampires in the area that were following me. You didn't see them?" I said a bit calmer, but not fully believing.

"What? No," She said as she glanced at Edward, who looked just as confused as she did, but a little more worried.

"What happened?" Edward asked. I was getting tired of hearing that.

"Some damn leeches were following her today. Were outside her house when she woke up and followed her to the res," Jake said angrily.

"I haven't seen anything," Alice whispered. I could tell she was starting to focus.

"When?" Edward asked.

"About an hour ago," I told him.

We stood there in silence for a minute, waiting for Alice to see something. After a few minutes of nothing, I got uncomfortable and walked to sit on the porch.

"I can't see anything," She whispered. "None of the Volturi sent whoever it was, but I can't get anything else. I can only see Aro talking to Demetri about coming and looking for someone, but that is it. They look a little confused, and it appears the timing is changing a little. "

"They look worried," Edward added.

"About what? What's happening?" I asked, growing more annoyed with it all.

"Aro looks worried, Demetri looks confused, but that is all she can get. Keep trying Alice."

I wished I had known what was going on. Who was it that was following me and why were Volturi members acting that way. I rested my head against the railing and closed my eyes. Why couldn't they just come get me now? It was all just becoming too much.

When I opened my eyes, I could see Edward looking at me and Jake was looking at Edward. I could tell Jake was holding himself back and so could Edward he looked… amused? I sighed. Some things never changed, even if the worst things were happening.

"Well, guess we should be heading back now," I said. I just wanted to either go to Jake's house or mine and get some more sleep, as long as Jake was with me. "Alice, please let me know if you see anything," I asked as I hugged her goodbye.

"Of course Bella. I can't understand why I hadn't seen anything this time," she said.

"Goodbye Bella," Edward said as he touched my hand softly. I gave him a small smile in return.

As Jake and I got back into the trees, he stopped before he had phased and turned to look at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said with a smile as he turned around.

"Hey Jake,"

"Yeah?"

"Can we go back to your house? I want to lay down for a while."

"Sure," he said, walking over to kiss me lightly on the forehead.

***

"Bella, wake up," a male voice shouted in my ear while he shook me softly. "Bells."

"Hmm…"

"Wake up. It's six in the evening, why don't you come home." I recognized his voice.

"Dad?" I barely whispered.

"Yes Bells. Get up." He pulled back the blanket that was wrapped around me as he pulled me to a sitting position.

"Ok, ok I got it from here," I said with a yawn. I rubbed my eyes while I tried to figuring out what was going on.

I looked around the room and realized that it was Jake's. I remembered after going to see Edward and Alice I wanted to take a nap, so that must have been what I was doing. But, where was Jake? I thought as I glanced behind me to see that he wasn't in bed.

"Where's Jake?" I asked.

"He came out earlier and he stayed out with Billy. I decided that if you really are that tired then you should get home. Are you feeling ok?" he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Yes, I feel ok. I just didn't sleep well last night." Well, that was sort of the truth. I didn't sleep well because I didn't sleep at all. I had to keep finding the right wording so my lies made me feel less guilty.

"Ok, well let's get home then. We can pick up something on the way so you don't have to cook."

And that made me feel guilty again. He was going out of his way to make me feel better, when there wasn't really anything wrong with me and that I was lying. I took a deep breath to calm myself from the anger that was building up again, it was the wrong time to be thinking about that.

"Ok. Sounds good," I said as I stood up.

I walked out of Jake's room to see Jake sitting at the kitchen table with Billy. He looked up at me and smiled, though it wasn't his bright smile that I loved so much, it seemed to grow dimmer with every day that passed.

Jake stood up next to me and I said goodbye to Billy as we walked out the front door. Charlie stayed behind for a minute to talk to Billy.

"Sorry. I tried to get him to let you sleep longer, but he insisted that you needed to get home," Jake said as reached for my hand. We stopped next to the driver's side door.

"It's ok. I probably should have gone home to sleep. I just didn't want to be alone," I told him, squeezing his hand tighter.

"I wouldn't have left you alone."

I smiled and tugged on his hand to pull him closer. I stood up on the tip of my toes to give him a kiss. Of course that still didn't make me tall enough, though I did seem to be a little taller than before, he had to dip his head a little. As soon as his lips met mine, giving me that same unbelievably warm floating feeling, I heard Charlie clear his throat. I pulled away as I giggled and gave him a hug.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I told him.

"Of course." He kissed the top of forehead, as he always seemed to do.

I made myself let go of him and he opened the car door for me as I climb in, closing it behind me.

"See you Charlie," Jake said with a wave and he walked back up into the house.

"Bye Jake."

I started my truck and pulled away from the Black's house slowly, hoping nothing decided to jump out at me this time, but I was sure the pack was keeping a closer eye out tonight.

Once I had gotten home, Charlie wasn't right behind me so I assumed he had stopped to get something to eat. I sat in my truck a few minutes before I decided to get out. I was curious about how the night was going to turn out, but I didn't really want to think about it. All I wanted to do was go up to my room and go to sleep and wait till I could see Jake again, when I knew I would be safe. At home, I had not only myself to worry about, but also Charlie. My stomach turned and I felt nauseous at the thought of it.

When I finally had gotten enough courage to get out and go into the house, I had just stepped up to the door when I heard a noise over in the trees closest to my house. I started to panic, thinking the vampire could be back, but instead a huge brown wolf slightly stepped out, nodding once at me before he hid himself again. I wasn't sure who it was, but I was grateful. If not for my sake, then Charlie's; I knew nothing could get passed completely unnoticed.

I went into the house and went straight upstairs to the bathroom. I ran some cold water over my face hoping it would help keep me awake a little bit longer. I had no idea how Jake and the rest of the guys kept this up. Up all night and mostly all day, sometimes up for days at a time. I felt such a huge pressure pushing down on me and I knew that wasn't helping. Knowing what I knew and knowing what no normal person could know, it didn't make the weight any less.

I was brought back to focusing when I heard the front door shut and Charlie walking into the kitchen. I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn't alone with my thoughts anymore. I wiped my face off with a towel and ran back downstairs. Charlie already had plates on the table with a box of pizza in the middle. When the scent of it reached my nose, my stomach growled and Charlie laughed.

"Guess pizza was a good choice huh."

"Yep," I said as I walked over to the table and sat down.

"Are you sure you're ok Bells? You've been looking a bit odd lately," he asked.

I was frozen for a moment. Had I really looked that bad? "Yeah, I'm fine. Like I said, didn't sleep much."

"Alright. Look, I know I'm not the easiest to talk to, but I am here if you want to give it a try." He smiled.

"Thanks Dad, but really, I'm fine." I smiled at him before grabbing a piece of pizza.

The rest of dinner was quiet. I didn't know if he was thinking of more to say, or if he was thinking about other things, but I didn't pay no attention. I was thinking about how good the pizza tasted and that I missed the normal times like that.

After dinner I went straight up to my room. I laid in bed for a while, for some reason unable to fall asleep. I went back to thinking about the thoughts I had had that morning about other things to do with my time. I couldn't focus on one thing long enough to be able to read. Listening to music somehow made life away from Forks seem too unrealistic. Like a life without monsters was only something you seen in movies, not the other way around.

It was at that moment that, for some weird reason, I thought of the dream I had a few nights before. The dreams were I watched the future, a future where Jake and I had a child. A future that once again, someone was trying to tear to pieces.

As I pictured it, I studied the faces of everyone around. I could see it all as clearly as I had the first time I imagined it. Everyone was happy, enjoying the little things life had to offer. Family and friends all happily joined, and all in danger of someone lurking in the forest. I focused again as I saw my dad's face when I first noticed the shadow and the scent. He knew.

As I saw that again, I wondered if there would ever be a time when I could tell him. If a day will come that he is allowed to know. I idly wondered if there would even be a future for us past the Volturi's arrival.

I felt myself slowly starting to drift to sleep as the images in my head clouded over, replaced by ones of the clearing in the fall. Everything was a vivid orange and brown, leaves blowing violently with the wind. I could feel myself shiver, not from the cold, but from fear. I watched as a small group of people dressed in dark hooded cloaks walked closer to me. I felt the tears build up in my eyes; I was alone. Why was I alone?

As they stopped in front of me, one took several steps closer, pushing back his hood. I recognized the face of the man standing in front of me and I felt the terror flow through me as I realized he was not a man at all. He was a vampire, Caius to be exact, and there was a sadistic smile pulling into form on his face, as he looked straight into my eyes.

A light tapping noise filtered through the moment and everything slowly faded away. I was seeing my bedroom walls again and I realized the noise was coming from my window. As the tapping had grown impatient, I quickly sat up in bed, but didn't move anymore, I was too afraid.