Status: Completed.
Ash Over Seas
Dreams came around you in a hazy rain; you opened your mouth wide to feel them fall
“Hello?”
My voice rang out into the dark forest, nightfall coming fast around me as the stars began to peek out in random patches through the cloudy sky. The thick branches overhead blocked out most of my vision and I concentrated on my immediate surroundings.
I heard something move to my right and I immediately snapped my attention in the direction of it, my trained eyes scanning the forest until they came to rest on a familiar figure.
“Cormac!” I breathed in relief as he strode from the forest. He was roughly three inches taller than me and much broader. His reddish brown hair was messed around his pale face and a light dusting of freckles trailed across the bridge of his nose. His brown eyes stared back at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. I had to admit that he was very attractive for a human. I stepped forward into the clearing we had come across. The moon bounced off our skin, making us look like full vampires in the night. Somehow I didn’t think Cormac would have minded that.
“Woodbury,” he replied softly, his tone as mysterious as his face.
“How have you been?” I asked, striding forward to greet him warmly.
He accepted me into his arms willingly and I found myself oddly comforted by him. My eyes peered over his shoulder as I noticed we weren’t alone. I frowned as I noticed a doe standing, watching us from the edge of the clearing with large, thickly lashed eyes. She was beautiful and part of me wished to reach out to her until Cormac finally spoke of his own accord.
“You’ve been avoiding me, Woodbury,” he said, his voice now clearly colored with warning. He wasn’t happy with my actions.
“Cormac, I… I’ve just been so busy,” I replied. “It’s hard moving to another country.”
“That’s no excuse,” he growled, pushing his body away from me and grasping my upper arms as he looked deep into my eyes. His face was filled with disgust and, superior strength or not, I withered under it. Something about him intimidated me, though I couldn’t place what it was, and this rapid change of atmosphere was making me uncomfortable.
My eyes searched frantically and landed on the doe once again, who also seemed frightened by the boy grasping my arms in a death grip. I could feel the circulation leaving them and I sent a pleading glance in the doe’s direction, only to have her take off into the woods. I was on my own.
“Cormac, I—“
“NO,” he bellowed, clearly furious now, like he had been many times before. I’d always heard that the Irish had short tempers and from my experiences, I would never doubt it. His rant continued as his grip tightened even further.
“You just up and fucking leave London and you expect me to just be okay with it! What the fuck, Woodbury! I’ve been here for you through everything! How can you just throw that away?!”
“Please, stop. Let go,” I said, struggling to free myself from his grip. He ignored me.
“And now here you fucking are, getting off with that bastard Indian,” he snarled.
I was taken aback, so much so that I temporarily forgot my now numbing arms.
“Jacob? Cormac, I’m not doing anything with him!”
“DON’T lie to me!”
“I’m not—“
There was a resounding crack as his hand slashed across my face.
I jolted up from bed, hand immediately flying to my cheek, almost expecting to feel a welt, but there was nothing there. The only thing unusual about my waking was my speeding heart and ragged breathing. The sweat dripped down my face and back as I shivered, trying to shake the images. I had never had such a violent or strange dream in my entire life. And I’d certainly never dreamt of Cormac.
The only dream I’d ever really had of that intensity was when Atticus and I were younger and I’d dreamt that the Volturi had killed my father. Of course, that had never happened, but they had stopped by apparently and my father had sent our entire family to stay with my friend Lena for a week while he dealt with them. I sat back, temporarily distracted as I realized I hadn't thought about Lena in a while. I immediately felt guilty for neglecting her, she was probably furious.
Lena was my best friend from London, a human also who did know my secret and never thought anything different of me for it. She was a natural beauty with her loosely curled chocolate locks and her olive colored eyes that contrasted beautifully with her fair skin. Even with my vampire inheritance, she still gave me a run for my money. I vaguely wondered how she was doing and made a mental note to email her soon as I slipped out of bed and wandered into my bathroom, splashing cold water over my face and pulling on a jumper.
The clock in the kitchen read 11:09 as I slid into the table next to Atticus, who was already busy filling out applications on his laptop. He had glanced briefly at me when I entered, muttering a quiet hello as I grabbed some toast off a large pile, likely made by my father.
“You're up late this morning,” the lanky boy murmured as I took a bite.
I shrugged. “Long day yesterday.”
He looked up, searching my face. I never could put anything past him and I knew that he knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth, but he didn’t press it so I decided to continue with my façade as I flipped open my MacBook.
“I saw Bella at the market yesterday,” I said idly as I typed in the address for the common application site. “After picking up Pan and Ari from school.”
“And?”
“I dunno, just saying. She was with Jake.”
He scoffed and I noticed the corner of his mouth twitch as he shook his head.
“You talk about him a lot.”
“I see him a lot,” I replied defensively. “It’s not my fault I ran into him.”
Atticus just shrugged and turned back to his screen. I sighed, beginning to fill out the form for myself.
“Have you narrowed your universities yet?” asked my father as he strode gracefully into the room.
I shrugged. “I think I’m going to stay in America. I like it here; I want to stay for a while. And I’ve heard they have some good art schools here.”
Atticus, meanwhile, had decided he wanted to return to Europe, his primary choices consisting of France and Italy. It made me sad to know that we would be separated after this year, but I knew that we were family and that it wouldn’t really be goodbye.
“You're both going to need to get your portfolios finished soon. You’ve been working on them?”
After a nod from me and a grunt from Atticus, he seemed appeased and disappeared from the room once more. I could feel my brother’s eyes appraising me once more, searching for a sign of weakness but I ignored him, knowing that discussing my dream with him was silly. He would likely just wave it off anyway; telling me it was rubbish to dwell on such things.
But something inside me told me that this wasn’t going to leave me so easily. I wasn’t sure how, but something about the dream had felt unnervingly vivid, and as I turned back to my computer, I could almost feel the lingering touch of his hands gripping my arms as a shiver ran up my spine.
My voice rang out into the dark forest, nightfall coming fast around me as the stars began to peek out in random patches through the cloudy sky. The thick branches overhead blocked out most of my vision and I concentrated on my immediate surroundings.
I heard something move to my right and I immediately snapped my attention in the direction of it, my trained eyes scanning the forest until they came to rest on a familiar figure.
“Cormac!” I breathed in relief as he strode from the forest. He was roughly three inches taller than me and much broader. His reddish brown hair was messed around his pale face and a light dusting of freckles trailed across the bridge of his nose. His brown eyes stared back at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. I had to admit that he was very attractive for a human. I stepped forward into the clearing we had come across. The moon bounced off our skin, making us look like full vampires in the night. Somehow I didn’t think Cormac would have minded that.
“Woodbury,” he replied softly, his tone as mysterious as his face.
“How have you been?” I asked, striding forward to greet him warmly.
He accepted me into his arms willingly and I found myself oddly comforted by him. My eyes peered over his shoulder as I noticed we weren’t alone. I frowned as I noticed a doe standing, watching us from the edge of the clearing with large, thickly lashed eyes. She was beautiful and part of me wished to reach out to her until Cormac finally spoke of his own accord.
“You’ve been avoiding me, Woodbury,” he said, his voice now clearly colored with warning. He wasn’t happy with my actions.
“Cormac, I… I’ve just been so busy,” I replied. “It’s hard moving to another country.”
“That’s no excuse,” he growled, pushing his body away from me and grasping my upper arms as he looked deep into my eyes. His face was filled with disgust and, superior strength or not, I withered under it. Something about him intimidated me, though I couldn’t place what it was, and this rapid change of atmosphere was making me uncomfortable.
My eyes searched frantically and landed on the doe once again, who also seemed frightened by the boy grasping my arms in a death grip. I could feel the circulation leaving them and I sent a pleading glance in the doe’s direction, only to have her take off into the woods. I was on my own.
“Cormac, I—“
“NO,” he bellowed, clearly furious now, like he had been many times before. I’d always heard that the Irish had short tempers and from my experiences, I would never doubt it. His rant continued as his grip tightened even further.
“You just up and fucking leave London and you expect me to just be okay with it! What the fuck, Woodbury! I’ve been here for you through everything! How can you just throw that away?!”
“Please, stop. Let go,” I said, struggling to free myself from his grip. He ignored me.
“And now here you fucking are, getting off with that bastard Indian,” he snarled.
I was taken aback, so much so that I temporarily forgot my now numbing arms.
“Jacob? Cormac, I’m not doing anything with him!”
“DON’T lie to me!”
“I’m not—“
There was a resounding crack as his hand slashed across my face.
I jolted up from bed, hand immediately flying to my cheek, almost expecting to feel a welt, but there was nothing there. The only thing unusual about my waking was my speeding heart and ragged breathing. The sweat dripped down my face and back as I shivered, trying to shake the images. I had never had such a violent or strange dream in my entire life. And I’d certainly never dreamt of Cormac.
The only dream I’d ever really had of that intensity was when Atticus and I were younger and I’d dreamt that the Volturi had killed my father. Of course, that had never happened, but they had stopped by apparently and my father had sent our entire family to stay with my friend Lena for a week while he dealt with them. I sat back, temporarily distracted as I realized I hadn't thought about Lena in a while. I immediately felt guilty for neglecting her, she was probably furious.
Lena was my best friend from London, a human also who did know my secret and never thought anything different of me for it. She was a natural beauty with her loosely curled chocolate locks and her olive colored eyes that contrasted beautifully with her fair skin. Even with my vampire inheritance, she still gave me a run for my money. I vaguely wondered how she was doing and made a mental note to email her soon as I slipped out of bed and wandered into my bathroom, splashing cold water over my face and pulling on a jumper.
The clock in the kitchen read 11:09 as I slid into the table next to Atticus, who was already busy filling out applications on his laptop. He had glanced briefly at me when I entered, muttering a quiet hello as I grabbed some toast off a large pile, likely made by my father.
“You're up late this morning,” the lanky boy murmured as I took a bite.
I shrugged. “Long day yesterday.”
He looked up, searching my face. I never could put anything past him and I knew that he knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth, but he didn’t press it so I decided to continue with my façade as I flipped open my MacBook.
“I saw Bella at the market yesterday,” I said idly as I typed in the address for the common application site. “After picking up Pan and Ari from school.”
“And?”
“I dunno, just saying. She was with Jake.”
He scoffed and I noticed the corner of his mouth twitch as he shook his head.
“You talk about him a lot.”
“I see him a lot,” I replied defensively. “It’s not my fault I ran into him.”
Atticus just shrugged and turned back to his screen. I sighed, beginning to fill out the form for myself.
“Have you narrowed your universities yet?” asked my father as he strode gracefully into the room.
I shrugged. “I think I’m going to stay in America. I like it here; I want to stay for a while. And I’ve heard they have some good art schools here.”
Atticus, meanwhile, had decided he wanted to return to Europe, his primary choices consisting of France and Italy. It made me sad to know that we would be separated after this year, but I knew that we were family and that it wouldn’t really be goodbye.
“You're both going to need to get your portfolios finished soon. You’ve been working on them?”
After a nod from me and a grunt from Atticus, he seemed appeased and disappeared from the room once more. I could feel my brother’s eyes appraising me once more, searching for a sign of weakness but I ignored him, knowing that discussing my dream with him was silly. He would likely just wave it off anyway; telling me it was rubbish to dwell on such things.
But something inside me told me that this wasn’t going to leave me so easily. I wasn’t sure how, but something about the dream had felt unnervingly vivid, and as I turned back to my computer, I could almost feel the lingering touch of his hands gripping my arms as a shiver ran up my spine.