Hide & Seek

Nothing made sense anymore.

My best friend, who was supposed to be dead, was alive, and a fucking monster! God this gave me such a headache.

I knew skipping the rest of school would only earn me another week of detention, but I couldn’t care less. I raced home faster than I had gone to school. The roads were clear, I noticed with a bit of surprise, as I hit the town’s limits and pulled down a winding gray paved road. There was a pregnant silence in the car and the forest surrounding the house as I idled the engine to my yellow Porsche.

My mother’s car was missing from the driveway, the sun shining through the small sliver between the many tree branches hovering just beside the house. Something white flashed in the corner of my eye. I looked. Nothing.

Something else flashed; I snapped my head to the other side. Only a dark green forest with rays of light passing down from the top could be seen. I clutched my bag to my chest, digging for my pepper spray. I knew it more than likely wouldn’t work on what I thought I was seeing. But I couldn’t take any chances.

Slowly, I slinked toward my house, hearing the jingle of my key slid around in my bag with each step. Another flash; with the only reflex I had at the moment, I held out my hand, my finger pushing down on the top of the pepper spray bottle just enough to where I didn’t waste any of the much-needed weapon.

Nothing.
Silence.
Dark forest.
Creaky old house.
Hand holding pepper spray.

Breath, Copper, breath. Nothing is going to jump out at you and—

I screamed. I screamed like a little girl as a hand grabbed my shoulder. Spinning around, I poised the pepper spray to have a full blast in the offender’s face, but it stopped me before I could. Standing there was my worried looking mother, gripping her hand over the spray so it wouldn’t get on her face.

I cried. I cried as I feel into her arms, dropping everything.

Blakely Acres just stood stock still for a moment before holding me like every mother should hold her crying child.

“Shh, shh, everything’s okay, Copper. Nothing’s going to get you.” Her words didn’t make me feel even the least bit safe. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you at school?” I couldn’t tell her about the weekend. I couldn’t tell her anything. I couldn’t tell her the truth.

I just kept crying, holding onto her tighter. Mom sighed, rubbing my back and stroking my short hair. Slowly, she worked us back into the house and onto the couch in the front room. Turning off the TV-scene with a snap, she soothed me more, trying to get something out of me.

“Is it a boy?”

Oh how right you were mother! Yet so wrong…

I simply nodded, not knowing how else to answer the question, hiding my face in her shoulder as more tears came. I don’t think I’ve ever cried this hard before. “Do you think you can calm down long enough for me to go to the store to get some hot cocoa and ice cream?” I nodded again, not able to make coherent sentences. Mom pulled away from me, standing to walk away. The only other time I had felt this alone was when I learned of Tobi’s disappearance.

Mom walked into the kitchen, disappearing for a second, before reappearing with another confused expression.

“Hey, Copper, have you seen my jacket? You know the purple one with the black buttons?”

My eyes widened. It was mom’s jacket I had worn Friday going out into the forest. It wasn’t my scent… IT WAS MOM’S!

Jumping up from the couch, I wiped my tears and fixed my ruffled clothes. I had to keep her away from outside where her scent could be smelt if the wind blew, but I couldn’t leave her alone. They could attack her while I was gone! What to do, what to do…

“Actually, mom, I feel better. No need to go into town. I just need a little fresh air.”

Blakely Acres was surprised by my sudden change of heart but nodded nonetheless, shrugging to herself as if trying to answer her own question.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Cop? I remember the first guy I cried over,” mom started to give me one of her ‘back in my day’ speeches, “and ended up almost running away from home to join the circus.”

Laughing slightly, I shook my head. “No, mom, I’m fine. I’m already over it. It was never meant to be.”

“Well, don’t stay out there too long. I don’t want to have to go and call a search party,” Blakely joked, turning back around to go toward the stairs and more than likely up to her study/bedroom to start working on her book again. “After all, I’ve been getting these really good ideas for my book. I don’t want anything to make me forget them.”

“Why don’t you just write them down?”

Mom smirked, “I am writing them down. Just when I write them is the only difference.” She gave me a playful wink and disappeared to the first floor. After a few moments of hearing her chair squeak as she sat down and the familiar clink clank of her KeyTouch as she started to type again.

I raced through the kitchen and out the back door, taking off toward the forests. I didn’t waste any time getting back the trees to the wide, shallow river. Ducking underneath a few low branches and making sure to jump over the many protruding thick roots. Before I knew it, I was sliding to a stop, cold water splashing on my jeans and soaking through my shoes.

Staring across the waterway, I stared at the cottage. It felt so… perfect. Like it was meant to be there; something you would only find in a Vay-K Catalogue. It was the exact same from my dream too. I ignored the wet rocks sticking up against the surface of the water. It gurgled and cooed at me like an infant; almost in a soothing way. I wadded through it, soaking my pants even more, past the knee and making my teeth clatter from the cold.

Once reaching the other side, I stepped up to the cottage.

There was a flash of white and black.

Spinning, I was faced with an incredibly handsome man. Pale skin that contrasted greatly with his dark clothing and hair. But his eyes were what made me want to scream like never before.

Scarlet.
Maroon.
Burgundy.
Crimson.
Carnelian.
Red.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” His voice was laced with silky sin. My throated knotted up, my heart rang in my ears, my body numbed. “A nice little snack to keep me filled until I find those pesky Cullens.”

Cullens… who the hell were the Cullens?

He bent forward, brushing his cold, marble lips against my cheek, reaching for my ear. “Before the night’s over, babe, I’m gonna do real bad things to you.”

And then I screamed.

But it was drowned out by a thunder of growls.

Take about five grizzly bears, multiply the volume of their growls by about ten, and then put it on speaker.

My throat closed, I feel to the forest floor and curled into a ball, not knowing what to do. I didn’t open my eyes as I heard a shout of curses, barks and more growls. Then… the high bell-like sound of marble being crushed. I didn’t open my eyes, I just curled closer into a ball. I was going crazy. I was being attacked by mythical beasts almost every day.

“Copper?”

I knew that voice… Looking up, I was met the familiar soft brown eyes of Tate Winchester. Stuttering over my words, I sat up and pointed at the large dog-like creatures. No, not dog – a hybrid-wolf-horse-thing!

“H-holy J-jesus, M-m-mary and Joes-sph! What-t the he-hell are thos-s-se!?”

That’s when I noticed Tate wasn’t wearing a single thing.

“And why don’t you have any fucking clothes on?!”

Tate simply smirked, continuing to squat as she covered her breasts and hide her lower privates with her bend knees.

“It’s a real long story that I don’t think is appropriate for right now. Come on, jump on Arty’s back and we’ll take you back to the reserve.”

To put it simple and as less of a cliché as I can, I fainted. Because, seriously, if you just found one of your friends buck naked after seeing a destroyed pile of rocks that used to be vampire while being surrounded by about eight hybrid-wolf-horse-things – don’t tell me you wouldn’t faint either.

What's next? Finding out Puff the Magic Dragon is real? Stumbling across Tinkerbell having tea with a Unicorn? Accidently mixing up a witch's potion with Chemistry Lab chemicals?

This was just too much.