The Girl Named Bambi

Ch 3

My pulse began to race and I had to try so hard to convince myself to let my hand raise ever so slowly toward the doorbell. I was almost there, but I was still having regrets and worries. I laid a finger on the rectangular button and, with all my might, mustered up the courage to press down ever so slightly. As soon as that was over with, my hand shot to my side. Jacob rubbed my shoulder, trying to make me feel better. The door swung open. 

"Jacob, who's the lady friend?" A guy almost as tall as Jacob asked. His skin glowed the same tan as his. He had similar kind, brown eyes. His were the same size as Jacob's. But this boy had short, curly hair. He couldn't have been my brother. I saw the teasing look in his eyes. Jacob sighed. 

"Quil Ateara at your service," the curly haired boy grinned and winked. He stuck out his hand and I met it in a shake. 

"Bambi." I simply introduced myself. My knees were still shaking and I weakly smiled up at him. He began to smile all over again. Another boy came to the door. He was a tad shorter and skinnier, but really tall and muscular still. His big, dark eyes matched mine, and his short, dark brown hair waved a little bit. Just like mine. His nose was small and almost rounded, like a child's. Just like mine. His small smile was secretive and mysterious. Just like mine. His face was slightly heart shaped, emphasizing his features. Just like mine. I knew it was him. I squeezed Jacob's hand and didn't say anything. 

"Get Tiffany for me?" Jacob spoke suddenly, shattering my slight daze. My eyes darted to Embry, my brother, just as his eyes darted to me. 

"Hi Embry," I said feebly with a small smile and blinked back the tears I knew would come sooner or later. I chose later. 

"Mom! There's a girl here to see you," Embry shouted across the house. A shorter brunette woman, about the age of 45 opened the door and looked out at us. 

"Jacob, hi. And who are you?" her brown eyes shone and her white teeth sparkled as she looked into my eyes. I couldn't control myself. 

"Mom!" I cried and threw myself into her arms, as tears flew from my face. 

"Bambi? Sweetie is that you?" she asked, astonished. All I could do was nod. She hugged me back, and we held each other like that for a while. Embry an Quil both stood with dropped jaws. 

~~~~~~~~~~

After the long hug, we released each other and I smiled a huge smile. 

"Please, come in," she motioned me into the  large house, decorated with things you'd find in a magazine. 

"Tell me everything, honey," she insisted, and put on a pot of coffee, got me a blanket, and a pair of her pajamas to change into. As soon as I came out of the bathroom to change, Jacob grabbed my arm gently. 

"Thank you so much!" I cried and threw my arms around him. He lifted me up and held me with his hands on my waist. 

"You're welcome," he said kindly and said, "I gotta go now. See you around." I was sad to see him go, my only friend. But I kissed him on the cheek really fast. 

"Keep Kahn safe!" I called after him as he was treading down the front walk. I turned and went back into the living room with the soft leather couch. Tiffany was waiting for me. 

"Start from as early as you can remember," she requested and handed me a cup of coffee to match hers and Embry's. Quil had gone with Jacob. 

I told her the tales of being passed around from parents to parents simply because I wasn't anything special. I finally got to one stationary house when I was eight, and my agent used to check in every month, until she was sure I was happy. An I was. Until the very first night. I was only nine, but I swore I'd remember this forever. I came home from third grade that one night, happy and a little late because my teacher wanted to talk to me after class. 

"You're late, Bambi." My foster father had looked at me with the most wicked, sinister grin. I didn't know what to think. 

"I'm sorry, Jeff. It won't happen again." I had shrugged it off. It had never been a problem before. 

"Do you know of the inconvenience this caused us? Do you know of the consequences of being late home?" he had began to shout and rant. His anger fumed from his ears as he picked me up by the collar of my tiny pink polo and shook me senseless. He continued to knock me around until I began weeping and crying and pleading for him to stop. He fueled on this. He threw me down on the ground and began to kick me. I squealed and shouted, screamed for help... And from then on, things like that happened quite often. By the time I was eleven, they happened daily. And once, when I was thirteen, I attempted to sneak out to a concert with the boy I'd liked. His name was Max. My foster mother had caught me halfway out of the window. She'd pulled me out by the waist and slammed the window shut, closing it on my fingers. I'd wailed out in pain, until I noticed she had scissors in her left hand. My cries were silent. She pulled me up and pushed me against the wall to my bedroom. The scissors were brought to my neck. 

"Please don't," I whispered helplessly. She giggled and dug the blade into the soft flesh of my throat and made a wildly deep and long gash. I thought I was going to die. 

She took me to the emergency room claiming I'd hit my head in the shower and the razor cut me on the way down. They bought it. I got sixteen stitches in the delicate skin there. It's been tender ever since. I looked up at the ceiling to show off my scar to Tiffany. 

I then told her the tale of my last and final beating. They'd ganged up on me together. Jeff and Nancy. I was punched in the stomach and kicked on my back and legs over and over again. Bruises had just started yellowing as I rose up, punched my foster mother in the nose, and kicked my foster father in the crotch. They both doubled over in pain, and I sprinted into the kitchen, grabbed her wallet, and left. I hadn't known what to do. So I ran all the way to the bus station and caught a bus to a place I'd heard my agent talking about where my dad came from to drop me off at the orphanage. La Push, Washington. As you can imagine, the money in a woman's wallet was barely enough for a four day bus trip from Texas to Washington, and one meal a day. I walked the streets as soon as I got here, trying to figure out where I was, which was when I came across Kahn. We walked for a while, and that's when I'd met Jacob. 

I looked up, now out of my narrated trip down memory lane, and saw tears streaking down Tiffany's face. Embry had turned away from me, and looked back into my eyes. His were bloodshot and his face stained with tears.  I began to cry too. Pretty soon, everyone's eyes dried, and Tiffany declared it time to sleep. Embry took me by the hand up into his room, where he brought out a sleeping bag for himself and pointed to the bed. 

"All yours." he proclaimed, and I was too exhausted to argue. I flopped down onto the large, squishy mattress. I fell dead asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.