Beautiful Things Can Come From the Dark

Birds chirped cheerily and sunlight lit the small yet homey room as Cambria groaned and turned over in bed.

“Five more minutes mom.” She mumbled, and in the quiet that followed, Cambria remembered, her mother was dead.

Bolting up from the comfortable bed, Cambria looked around the unfamiliar room trying to figure out where the hell she was. Flashes of last night resurfaced; those men, the doctor, her new name, her wrecked car.

“Quileutes, that’s right; Sam, Paul, and the other one.” She attempted to run a hand through her messy blonded hair and figured it was a lost cause trying to make it look presentable. “Fuck it. So where the fuck am I?”

Cambria sat on the corner of the bed, staring at the door; nervous anticipation settled in her stomach. Answers were beyond that door. She tried her best to put on an aloof façade as she turned the door handle, all she really wanted was to turn around, crawl into the bed and cry. “Grow up Shi-… Cami. You’re an adult now; adults don’t cry.” With her new mantra in place, she squared her shoulders and opened the door. Deciding it was rude to pry, Cami walked down the short hallway, passed the closed doors, and towards the stairs.

The sight that greeted her was one she wasn’t expecting; the three men that saved her last night were wrestling on the family room floor, a lovely young woman stood off to the side. She was the first to notice Cami’s appearance on the stairs.

As the woman turned to face the stairs, Cami saw the angry pink scar; it covered an entire side of the poor woman’s face. Cami blinked once slowly, very careful to hide her shock, but let a slow timid smile take over her face.

The woman smiled back warmly maker her entire face light up with light and love, making it one of the most beautiful faces Cami had ever seen.

“Good morning sleepy-head.” The woman teased lightly. “I’m sorry if the boys woke you up. It doesn’t matter how old they get, they will never surpass the maturity level of 12 year olds.”

The men immediately stopped rough housing. Paul and the other man shot easy smiles at Cami, waved to Sam and the scarred woman and walked out the front door.

“I didn’t mean to scare off your friends.” Cami said voice full of regret as she continued down the stairs.

“Oh, dear it wasn’t you! I just figured it would be easier for you if there wasn’t as much noise. Goodness, where are my manners, my name is Emily.”

“It’s nice to meet you Emily.” Cami made sure to remember her manners as well, and turned to Sam. “Thank you Sam, for saving me last night and giving me a place to sleep.”

Sam smiled the same easy smile that Emily, Paul, and their friend had, it made Cami feel light and happy on the inside; she was tempted to return it with one of her own.

“No worries Cambria, I’m glad you slept as long as you did. Dr. Cullen was adamant that sleep was important, but to watch you and make sure you weren’t suffering from concussion symptoms.”

Cambria blushed at the thoughtfulness, not knowing what to do with all the attention she mumbled, “Thank you, but it wasn’t necessary, like I said last night it really doesn’t matter what happens to me.”

Emily tsked loudly. “Nonsense! I bet you’re hungry, what would you like for lunch?”

Cami glanced up at the clock and grimaced when she saw it was quarter to one, she really did sleep all day.

“If it’s not too much to ask, I would really like a grilled cheese and a glass of milk.” She asked eyes downcast and a blush prominent on her cheeks.

“Of course! I think I’ll have one with you.” Emily smiled again, this time reassuringly and turned to Sam. “Do you want to go let Jake know our guest is up and will probably by down that way shortly?”

Sam nodded and headed for the door, thought better of it, turned around and gave Emily the tenderest kiss that Cambria had ever seen. She was amazed at the palpable love in each of their eyes.

Emily winked at Cambria and led her into the kitchen, it was lunch time.

After lunch was cleared up, Emily showed Cambria to a bathroom where and gave her some old sweats and a large but thick hoody to change into. ‘They might be a little big,’ Emily had said. ‘But they’re better then your dirty ones.’

Coming down from the shower Cambria found Emily sitting at the kitchen table and sat across from her. Emily took this opportunity to study her guest for a moment.

“You know, we don’t usually get strays very often.” She joked lightly, trying to get the girl to smile.

“I bet, and I’m so sorry that I’ve caused you all this trouble-” Cambria was cut off.

“Cami, darling, it’s quite alright. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry if my attempt at humor missed its mark.” Emily sighed dramatically with an equally dramatic smile. “I bet you’re itching to see your car. Come on, lets go see Jake, he’s the local mechanic.”

Emily grabbed Cami’s hand and together they set off, Cami following slightly behind, frowning lightly at the physical contact. Soon they reached the garage and Cami saw a pair of lanky legs jut out from under an old VW. She nodded appreciatively at Emily and unclasped their hands.

“A Rabbit, huh?” Cami asked the half hidden mechanic.

A loud thunk followed by a “Shit!” was the reply.

“Jacob Black! You do not curse in front of a Lady!” Emily sternly scolded.

Jake tolled himself out from under the car and apologized.

“I’m sorry for swearing. Name’s Jake.” He held his hand out, looked down at it and shrugged sheepily, but before he could retract his hand Cami grabbed it and gave it a firm shake.

“I’m Cambria.” She shot a look at Emily. “Or, Cami is fine if you prefer.”

Jake nodded absentmindedly but pointed out, “Your hand is dirty now.”

“I kind of figured it would be seeing as you were working on your car.” No one noticed Emily leave or time passing.

“But, you’re a girl, you aren’t supposed to want to get dirty, at least my sisters didn’t.” He explained as he handed her a disinfecting towel, Cami took the towel appreciatively and shot Jake a smile.

“Thanks, so, where’s my car?”

The car in question was a custom painted dark green 4 door 2008 Toyota Yaris, affectionately named Toya.

Cami let out a startled cry when she saw her ‘baby’. Toya’s front bumper had remolded itself to fit around a decently sized tree trunk, while the hood looked a little munched, but nothing too unsightly.

“The front windshield, water pump, and carburetor will need replacing, but honestly it’s not that bad considering.” Jake quickly reassured Cami when he saw tears threaten to spill over. “I should have it fixed by the end of the week.”

“No, you can’t!” Cami turned on Jake. “That’s way too much work for you and I’d have no way to repay you…Well, I have the money-” she but her tongue when she realized what she was going to say, “But I can’t get to it right now.”

Jake tilted his head thoughtfully, but smiled. “I’m sure we’ll work something out… So, how do you like your stay in La Push so far?”

“La Push? Where’s that?”

“Well, you’re currently standing in La Push. As for where we are located” Jake chuckled. “We’re on the East Coast, way Northern Washington.”

“Oh.” Cami tried to picture how far she’d driven in her half wild state but couldn’t, the only question on her mind was ‘Am I far enough?’ and to that she had no answer.

“Speaking of, I found this in the back seat and thought you might want it.” In his hand was her treacherous cell phone. “It looks like you’re real popular; you have a ton of missed calls and texts.”

Cami made her grimace into a smile, yanking the phone from his hand and powering off the device.

“Thanks.”

“Uh-huh.” Jake replied; his eyebrow raised. “Would you like me to walk you back to Sam’s? I think dinner should be about ready.”

The walk back to Sam’s was pleasant, Jake was telling Cami about some of the mischief he and his friends always seemed to find, she laughed at Jake's antics and found herself truly enjoying his company and was sad to depart when Sam came out the front door.

Cami slipped through the closing door and came face to face with someone she hadn't met yet, but looked vaguely familiar.

"Cami, this is Josephine, Sam's sister. She's going to be having dinner with us tonight." Emily gathered Cami in her arms and Cami fought the instinct to tense up; these were nice people, who had done nothing but help and look after her.

"It's nice to meet you Josephine." Cami said in a light voice, still visibly struggling at the physical attentions.