Forever and Always

Analeigh’s POV

Mom pulled to a stop in front of the house and broke a little too hard jolting my sore body making me gasp in pain. Mom looked over at me sharply and seeing me wincing she grimaced and gave me an apologetic look
“sorry honey” I smiled slightly and shook my head
“don’t worry Mom, it just hurts a little still” Mom frowned
“it shouldn’t you know, he really did a number on you” I rolled my eyes
“thanks Mom, maybe we should get into the house, you know everyone will be coming round soon to investigate the new person” Mom chuckled
“yeah they will won’t they” we got out of the car and Mom stood there a moment with her eyes closed breathing in the smell of wet earth and pine. I watched as a smile came to her face then she breathed out and said softly
“ahh to be home” I smiled to myself and moved around to the back of the car and pulled the tarp off the bed of the truck to reveal boxes of stuff that we had brought with us, it wasn’t much mind you as we didn’t bring the furniture, that was sent over a couple of days ago.

I went to grab a box but Mom slapped my hands away making me gasp and step back to see her glaring at me with her hands on her hips. I sighed
“Mom I have to help, you can’t do this all by yourself and I can carry things, these aren’t heavy plus it’s only quick movements that hurt” Mom eyed me suspiciously but sighed to herself knowing that I would do it anyway and nodded. I grinned and grabbed a box and lifted it carefully out of the truck then turned and walked into the house.

The house is more like a large cabin like all the other places on the Rez. It’s made of brick and has wood siding to give it the cabin look. It has a kitchen with enough room for a table in fact the kitchen is the first room you enter as you come through the front door, then there is a sitting room and two bedrooms of equal size then a bathroom which fits a bath and shower plus a sink and a toilet. We have a wrap around veranda that has a covering so you can sit out on it in the rain as it does rain here a lot. There is a dirt road leading from the front to town and around back there’s a dirt path leading into the forest surrounding the entire reservation, every house it seemed lived on the edge of the forest. We actually live a couple of miles from anyone else as does everyone else though; we all have a lot of land for our own. We hadn’t moved into the place we had when I was younger, too many bad memories though I liked the place, it was near Paul’s house, now if you take the path through the woods you would come to Billy Blacks house, he has a son called Jacob who was in the year below me in school. I didn’t really hang out with him as I hung out with Leah and Paul instead.

When all of the boxes were unloaded Mom told me to sort my stuff out in my room so I went and did just that.

Stepping into my room again I smile like I always did when I saw it, the window is what drew my attention. I’m at the back of the house so my window looks out into the forest and you can see all the trees and quite far into the trees.

Looking around I saw the boxes I piled just inside the door then looking at the room more fully I saw that my bed was built and set against the wall opposite the window while my wardrobe was set up on the wall left adjacent to it while my desk and bookcase was on the wall to the right of my bed. I smiled then moved over to the boxes deciding that I should unpack.

I opened the first to find my music collection and some books but I left them and hunted for my pillows and quilt cover first. I found them in the third box and pulled them out and set them on the bed after putting a sheet on the mattress then laid the quilt on with my pillow and about 6 cushions I loved though they were mismatched but I saw them and loved them so I bought them, plus Mom made me two of them. I then moved back to the second box which contained my clothes and moving over to the wardrobe I unpacked them all and hung them up putting them in a system of tank tops, t-shirts, long sleeved t-shirts, jumpers/cardigans, dresses, shirts, trousers/jeans, night wear. I then found the plastic storage box containing all of my underwear and slid it under my bed where it was easy to reach. I then moved to my most important box and pulled out my laptop and my iPod with a docking station which I often kept it on; I set them up on my desk before I then moved back to the first box and started pulling the books out and placing them on my book shelf. As I went through them I found that I still had some I had bought for College, I had gone there to study Math as I’m pretty damn good at it, it’s one of my talents and about the only subject in school where the teacher loved me, the others all hated me for being too loud or hyper.

I was getting to the bottom of the box when I heard a howl outside. It made me jump as my head whipped towards the window at the sound. I slowly got to my feet and shuffled over to the window to look outside. There was nothing there, no shadows or animals that I could see, I relaxed a little seeing nothing but the sound was real, it sounded like a dog or a wolf.

I was still stood there looking out when I heard a knock on the front door that made me smile. I knew they would be here soon. I turned away from the window and the potential animal and walked over to my bedroom door and opened it then stepped out to hear Mom calling from her room
“can you get that honey! I’m kinda busy right now” it sounded strained and kind of muffled and I knew that she was either under her bed or in her closet; I laughed to myself then walked down the hall and into the kitchen.

I walked to the door and opened it to come face to face with a woman I vaguely recognised though I would have thought I would remember someone with 3 long scars down the side of her face, none the less though she was a beautiful woman and looked around 25 plus she was made all the better as she was holding a large plate of muffins. Beside her stood a large man standing at about 6’8 or something with muscles and I mean muscles; he looked kind of mean but he was wearing a smile and his arm was wrapped around the woman in a loving and protective manner. I smiled at them both and opened the screen door as well and beckoned them inside
“hey there, come on it, Mom should be out soon she’s just in her room for the moment sorting something out or most likely covered in a heap of clothes, she’s kinda clumsy” the woman giggled and stepped in followed by the guy who was looking around checking out the house.

Once they were inside the woman smiled and held out the plate of muffins
“I thought I would be neighbourly and bring some food, I’m Emily by the way and this is Sam, my fiancé” I grinned and took the plate off of her
“thanks! I love muffins and these are huge! Well my name is Analeigh and Mom’s name is Niabi” she nodded and I waved towards the table “sit down, make yourselves comfortable, do you live near?” I asked as I moved over to set the muffins on the kitchen side while they sat down in two of the chairs at the table though they stayed close together holding hands on the table.

Emily smiled at me
“yeah we live down the road, you go to the end of the road here then turn right until you come to the next dirt road and follow it then you’re at our place” I smiled back and nodded
“great, I know where some people live now, well I know where a lot of people are but those are the ones who have been here a while, are you guys originated from here?” I asked another question and they both nodded though Sam spoke this time
“yeah we were born here though Emily moved away for a while before she came back, I lived here all my life” I cocked my head to the side and looked at him trying to place his face and name but I couldn’t. I chuckled to myself and said
“I’m sorry but I just can’t place you, I lived here when I was young as well but I just don’t remember you” Sam chuckled
“ahh well I’m 25 and you’re what 18?” I shook my head
“19” he nodded
“19 then so I would have been 6 years above you in school” I nodded then suddenly it clicked in my head
“oh you’re the guy that Leah liked!” the both of them suddenly looked uncomfortable and I frowned “sorry if I hit a nerve but I just remembered where I recognised you from, anyway what are you guys doing with yourselves, you have any friends around here?” they relaxed as I changed the subject and Sam answered again
“there are a bunch of guys that I run with and they often come and stay at our place, we kind of have our own little gang” he chuckled at some private joke then before he continued “yeah they are all younger than me though, there aren’t many still here that are my age, they tended to move away” I nodded sympathetically then Mom breezed into the room and smiled at the visitors
“well hello there, I’m Niabi and this is my home, are you guys ok, do you want a drink or anything?” Sam perked up
“I would like something to drink please” I grinned as did Mom while Emily rolled her eyes then looking at Mom she smiled and said
“I would like one too please but I don’t want to make you do much, you’ve just moved in” Mom waved them off and moved over to the stove where the kettle sat. She filled it with water and placed it on a burner then turned on the gas to boil it before she turned and sat at the table and smiled at our guests.

We talked for a while, everyone having a drink, before Emily turned to why we moved here. Mom glanced at me and I smile back before I answered
“well as I said at the start we lived here when I was little, I was born here and I’m half Quileute from Mom, Mom and dad split and we moved when I was thirteen and we lived in California for a while, you know it’s a real difference from this place, no rain really but then something happened at College, I got attacked by a class mate and beat up quite bad, I was in the hospital for a while but when I got out Mom packed us up and moved us back here. I couldn’t stay in California anyway, it was too stressful so I dropped out and we moved” Emily looked at me sympathetically and Sam nodded in understanding. I smiled at them then looked at my watch and saw that it was late afternoon, Mom saw as well as she asked
“do you guys want to stay for some food?” Emily looked at Sam who smiled but shook his head
“sorry Niabi but I have to get to work and I want to walk Emily, home, make sure she’s safe” Mom nodded and smiled while I grinned and stood up.

I walked over and hugged Emily
“don’t be a stranger though I do have to warn you I may just show up at yours randomly” Emily laughed and Mom rolled her eyes and warned
“she’s not joking, she really does just wonder around sometimes and I don’t see her for days” I looked at her and shrugged
“I can’t stay cooped up” Mom nodded and patted my arm
“yes I know dear” she then looked at Sam and Emily
“well thank you for the muffins and for the company, I hope you come around again and be safe” they nodded then left.

I smiled at Mom who smiled back
“well that was good, they are very nice people” I nodded
“yeah they are” I then looked towards my room “ok well I had better get back to un packing” Mom nodded and I bent and kissed her cheek before I bounded off to my room and carried on unloading books and CD’s then putting up pictures I had of when I was a kid and some I took in Cali with some friends.

Soon everything was sorted and I was exhausted, I stripped off my clothes and just crawled into bed in my underwear and closed my eyes which were too heavy to keep open any longer. As I fell asleep I heard another howl but I didn’t bother to get up this time as I was too tired and plus it sounded far off.