Breathe

"How are you doing, Sarah?"

I coughed. Rubbing my nose, I pressed the phone against my ear. "Fine. Peachy."

"How is your family?"

"You could hardly call them a family. Liz doesn't even talk to me anymore. I don't know what I did. Dad is always working, and Brenda is just.. Brenda." Lying on my bed, I stared up at the ceiling. Anthony and Julia had called earlier, cancelling our plans to go to the mall today, saying that they were exhausted and wanted to stay in today. Jacob was still busy fighting off whatever the hell was in the woods. I had no one.

"Have you been taking the medication Dr. Ma gave you?"

Dr. Ma was my pediatrician, whom I had started seeing after I moved here.

"Yes. I don't see the point in taking it, though. I'm fine."

"How have you been sleeping lately?"

I blinked, taking a deep breath. Lately? Terrible. I felt as if I hadn't slept in a month. It's not a feeling I wasn't used to. "I don't think you could call sleeping at all. It's like, I lay in bed, eyes closed, but my mind just keeps going on and on about the things that have happened to me that day."

At least I was honest. Dr. Quintero probably wouldn't like it too much if I lied about it.

"What's on your mind?"

"A lot of stuff."

"Sarah."

"There's a boy. He lives almost an hour away, in La Push, but he .. is amazing."

"Does this boy have a name?"

Of course Dr. Quintero, I'll just give out everyone's name so that you can analyze them, too. I could hear the faint scratch of her pen.

"Jacob."

"How does being with him make you feel?"

It took me a minute to find the right words. "Happy. Alive. I get butteflies whenever I'm around him."

"Anything else on your mind that's keeping you up at night? Have you made any new friends?"

"Yes. Ophelia. She's nice."

"Tell me about her."

I rolled over onto my side, and stared at the clock. Four fifty-seven pm. "She's polite, and she's really smart. I like debating with her, because she knows a lot of random things that most people wouldn't even think about knowing."

"Your mother told me that your friends Anthony and Julia came to visit. How was that?"

"Exciting."

"That's good. Well, Sarah, I will check up on you again next week. You're making great progress."

"I guess. Bye."

Shoving the phone into the cradel, I sighed, and buried my head into my arms. Dr. Quintero had called about a week after our last session and decided to break up our sessions to once a week again for some odd reason. I think she missed hearing about my problems.

Pulling Jacob's hoodie tighter, I rolled over and wrapped my arms around myself, closing my eyes.

*

It was dark, and my shoes were getting soggy. I needed to get out of here but I didn't know where I was. There were trees everywhere. It was hard to see what was in front of me, and so I kept tripping.

The only thing I felt that I could do was cry.

After I found a dry tree trunk to sit on, I buried my face in my hands in exhaustion. It felt as if I'd trekked two hundred miles in one day. I had no idea how I got here, or what time it was. But it was dark, and I couldn't move.

"What a pretty little girl you are."

I looked up. Right before me stood the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. He had jet black hair, with porcelain pale skin. His red eyes stared at me hungrily. When he reached for me, I jumped, falling backwards off of the log.

"Oh, don't be afraid. It'll only hurt for a moment." He grabbed me, and pulling me over the log and against him, he inhaled deeply, as if he was smelling me. I closed my eyes. "I can only assure you that I'm doing you a favor. If it had been anyone else, this could've been much more painful."

I decided that if this was the end, I'd like to know where I died. Opening my eyes, they immediately shot to the figure who was standing a little less than fifty feet away. Jacob?

"Jake, run!" I shouted.

The man brought his attention to the direction in which I yelled. One second, Jacob was heading toward us. The next, a giant wolf. The man dropped me, and I fell to the ground.