Silent Love

Mandy drove her manager to the airport and waved him off. She couldn’t help but pump her fist in the air and grin when she saw him disappear out the door; she really was going home, for the first time in four years.

She hurried out of the airport and got into the rental car, just in case Manny changed his mind. Her heart beat faster as she drove the familiar roads that led to her hometown. Mandy hadn’t talked to her parents or sister in weeks and they had no idea she was coming home; she hoped they would be pleasantly surprised by her return.

A smile spread on her lips and her eyes were wide as she spotted the ‘Welcome to Forks’ sign. Just as she was about to pass it she heard a sizzling sound from the right-front tire and the car came to a startling stop. She got out of the car and checked the wheel. It was flat.

Mandy had no idea how to change a flat tire and searched her bag for her phone. So much for surprising her parents. But to her luck, the phone battery was dead.
“Damn it,” she cursed and banged her fists against the top of the car.

She sighed and opened the trunk before she pulled her suitcase with wheels out. Mandy was no lazy girl; she would walk. Her house was only on the other side of town. She kicked the flat tire as she passed it.

Mandy felt at ease when she walked past the first buildings and saw smoking men standing on the outside. People started noticing her as the houses got closer each other. Some recognized her as Mandy Myers; some recognized her as Amanda Myers, she waved to everyone who waved at her none the less.

She started jogging when she reached her street and spotted the familiar house down the road; nothing had changed, except the way she looked at it. She left it with her mind and heart set to reach a dream; she felt like the town was holding her back. Now she looked at it with grown eyes, memories of a happy childhood and hopes for a great future. This was the house she was ready to fly from four years ago, now she was happy to land there.

She decided against knocking on the door and showed it open. She dropped her suitcase in the front room before slipping her ballet flats off and walking silently into the living room. Her mother sat with her back towards the door and Mandy felt tears prick her eyes when she saw the familiar blond hair.

“Hi, mom,” she said in a whisper and stepped closer to the couch.
Her mother turned her head and stared at her eldest daughter with tear filled eyes before she stood from the couch and rushed to wrap her arms around Mandy.

“Amanda, you’re home!” She said through tears, “I can’t believe you’re home Mands, she whispered against Mandy’s curls as she brushed her hand up and down on the back of her head.
“I missed you,” Mandy said and let tears flow freely for the second time the day. She realized now who she got her over-sensitive side from.

“Oh, how I have missed you too, Mandsy May,” her mother said and kissed her temple.
A sob escaped Mandy’s lips at hearing her old nickname – only her mother called her Mandsy May, but she’d hated it before. “I love you, mommy.”
“I love you too, Amanda,” Her mother laughed softly. “I love you.”

A noise from behind Mandy made her turn. It had been a cry silenced by a hand. Mandy was tackled in a hug by a much shorter girl, her younger sister Amelia.
“Aimee!” Mandy exclaimed and wrapped her arms tightly around her.

~~~

Her homecoming had been a pleasant surprised. After crying with her mother and sister for nearly an hour her mother, Ruthie, called her father and told him to take his lunch break and come home; the mystic call made him anxious and he drove to their home quickly. When he’d seen Mandy standing in the middle of the living room he had wrapped his arms around her and just held her for ten minutes, without saying a word.

Mandy borrowed one off her parents’ car when they let her go. She wasn’t ready to face her friends in town just yet so she drove the fifteen minute drive till La Push.

She parked the car outside the small faded red house and got out. She deeply drew in the fresh ocean air mixed with the smell of a nearby pine before she exhaled and let her shoulders drop. Mandy walked over till the small door and knocked twice before she entered.

“Hello?” She called.
“I’m in here,” She heard a familiar deep voice call from the kitchen.

“I was expecting you, why haven’t you come earlier?” Billy Black asked Mandy grumpily without lifting his eyes off the paper. “Jacob was afraid you’d left.”
“No, I’m right here, Billy,” She smiled and walked over till the man in the wheel chair and bent down to give him a hug. Billy wrapped one strong arm around her and held her close.

He’d missed the blond girl he looked upon as a daughter. Billy had seen her grow from wearing diapers to starting junior high, and now he saw a beautiful young woman stand before him.
“You are as beautiful as ever, Amanda,” he told her, using the same words his son had used to describe her beauty.

“Thank you Billy, you look good as well,” She said and sat down in a chair next to him.
He nodded. “Of course I do. I’m wheeling myself down to the store and up to the Clearwater’s every day.”
Mandy laughed. “Yeah, how are the Clearwater’s?”

A saddened look crossed Billy features for a second before he spoke. “Harry died earlier this year. Leah and Sam broke things off two years ago and they both are still in town.”
Mandy was taken off guard with the information, and she was upset no one had mentioned the death off Harry, he had been a fine man. Nor could she understand why Leah had stayed; she’d been so eager to leave.

“I didn’t know,” She said silently.
“No worries, kiddo, we know you have been busy,” Billy said and smiled weakly.
Mandy cleared her throat. “Is Jacob home?”
Billy shook his head. “Jake come and goes as he pleases. I saw him yesterday when he came to get the Rabbit, that’s when he told me he was meeting you.”

Mandy frowned. “Do you know where he is?”
He shook his head again. “He mostly hangs around Forks these days I think.” In the woods to be precise.
“How strange,” she mumbled. Jacob never really liked Forks; he’d only been there for hers sake. “I think I’ll head down to First Beach. It was good seeing you Billy,” Mandy hugged him again.

Billy took a hold off her hand when she pulled away. “I hope I’ll be seeing you around for awhile?”
“Until new year, I hope,” she smiled at him.
“Good, it’s been pretty darn empty here without you, Mandy,” Billy smiled a wrinkly smile before he let her go and she disappeared out the door.

Mandy let the car be and walked the short walk to the beach. She sat down on a boulder and closed her eyes as the sea breeze blew her hair like crazy. She missed the rain in Forks, but she hoped the heath-wave would last for the rest of the summer.

She had almost fallen asleep when she heard high-pitched, fake and girly screams. She opened one of her eyes and spotted two tall, muscled boys. Their tan chests were exposed because they only was wearing cut of jeans. Their hair was dripping from just getting out of the water. Cliff-diving, Mandy assumed.

“Look! It’s Mandy Myers!” The bulkiest one of them squealed in the fake girly voice.
“No, kidding, Sherlock,” the other one said as they stopped in front of her.
Mandy grinned and jumped from the rock so she could throw her arms around their necks.

They wrapped their strong arms around her for a second. Mandy stared into their faces and saw the same childish joy that had always been Quil’s most prominent trait and Embry’s calm features that hid his true foolish personality.

“Hey Embry, let’s kidnap Mandy Myers!” Quil said in the same girly voice.
Embry winked at her before he responded to Quil’s suggestion. “You take the feet, I got her arms.”

Mandy was lifted off the ground and she screamed in laughter as they jogged off the beach.