Night Call

"I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my system blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive."

Imagine Dragons - Radioactive

We walked further into the forest in silence, sounds of the wildlife creating a harmonious hum and peaceful setting. Jacob walked a step behind me kicking the large rock through the leaves scattered on the ground. The smell of rain grew stonger as the darkmess in the overcast clouds darkened - the moisture in the air palpable. I inhaled deeply. The sweet smell of nature bombarding my senses.

The leaves on the ground rustled and danced into the air as a chilly gust of wind swept through. More leaves cascaded from the disturbed trees in mounds, falling to the floor in a fluid motion - like a feather in the sky. I looked up and watched their slow descent focusing on the colors and how they changed shades. Leaves of earthy green, brown and a fiery mixture of red and orange adorned these lost pieces of nature.

A tiny, fingernail sized leaf caught my eye. I held out my hand and watched as it fell into my palm, resting in the center. It was a piece of a whole; broken and torn at the edges. It's color was unique. The edges of the leaf were a brownish-gold that faded into a orange. As it neared the middle it turned into a deeper shade of brown that swirled into the center becoming a deep green with specks of yellow.

It was brittle.

I flexed my finger and watched as it cracked along the edges and broke into pieces, the center being the only part to remian a whole. Another gust of wind blew across the forest sweeping my hair wildly and sending the pieces of broken leaf flying above. Looking away from the sky I continued to walk; the moment was not one to be wasted. As I wandered through the trees I picked counted rocks, gazed up at the clouds and felt the bark of the trees, tracing the ridges, feeling the aged cracks and holes.

It's a shame Stephanie Meyer never focused on the forest and delving into how beautiful it was; it's a world of its own just waiting to be explored and discovered. The colors, smells and sounds alone provided enough detail and imagery to fill a book. The amount of untold beauty baffled me. Words alone could not describe what I'm feeling.

I could feel Jacob behind me, watching me stare into the trees and look around - he watched as I picked up leaves, tossed sticks and examine rocks.

With a sudden halt in my steps and grinned. Before stood a large tree that protruded from the ground, roots curving and branches winding in smalls arches. The trunk pierced the sky seeming to almost touch the clouds. The curved branches tempted and welcomed me to climb them - so I did. Careful not to injure my broken arm I grasped a thick, leafless branch with my right hand and hulled myself up. using a opening in the base as a step.

"What are you doing!?" Jacob cried out in alarm from behind me. I smiled at the sound of his voice and reached for another branch above my head and looked around for another opening to put my right foot in. "Are you climbing the tree?!" He gasped.

"No." I smiled and pulled myself up, feeling a thrill echo throughout my body in waves. The excitement began to rise as I stepped on thin branch near my right foot and raised myself high distancing myself from the earth.

"You are!" He accused. "Don't climb the tree, you're gonna fall!" I turned my head and sent him a wicked grin, enjoying his horror-stricken expression.

"I won't call." Retorting nonchalantly I rolled my eyes and refocused my attention at the task at hand. Now that I was gaining altitude I lent forward and shifted my weight balancing myself against the tree so I wouldn't fall back as I reached above me.

"What'd you mean you won't fall?! You're climbing a tree... with one arm!" He spotted and cried. "Get down!"

"Geez, you're worse then Bella." I laughed and dismissed his demand and continued to climb - leaning forward and reaching up, pplacing my foot wherever there was a space.

"Evelyn, I'm serious."

"Me too!" I snickered earning an irritated sigh from down below. "Now, shut up so I can climb. You're distracting me." I was now several meters off the ground and well into the trees; the splinters of the branches dug into my skin. The scent of the trees invaded my nostrils soothing my eased mind and arousing the thirst for adventure and stimulation. I wrapped my arm tightly around a branch and turned my head back to look down at a furious Jacob and smiled down at him. "You should come up here." I breathlessly suggested.

"Noo, you should come down here!" He retorted with a frown the irritation and anxiety evident in his voice. I'll admit that I do feel slightly bad for worrying him but I'm having too much fun and needed to satisfy the urge to climb and move. I had no idea where the sudden burst of energy came from but knew that it needed to be obeyed.

I ignored him and contiued to climb.

Up; high and higher I climbed the tree, the sound of Jacob's worrisome shouting becoming more of a distant cry as I continued to reach for the heavens. The wind picked up again, my hair lashing about wildly - flailing like the snakes of Medusa. Strands of brown hair flew into my mouth poking the back of my throat. I coughed and gagged at the odd sensation and spit them out, shaking my head around to whip my hair behind my shoulders. I couldn't though; Alice's haircut left my with short hair that hung just past my shoulders. There wasn't enough length to keep it back. Another wall of relentless wind hit me sending my hair into another frenzy. I tried again and again to shake it all back into place to no avail. That's it! I swatted strays of hair away; as I did I made the mistake of releasing my grip on a branch - my only grip on the branch.

I fell.

Ever been on one of those rides where they take you up and drop you all of a sudden? That's what I felt. A drop in the pit of my stomach that sent me reeling inside and a surge of dread that hit me like a tsunami. I could hear everything around me - the gasp that left my lips, blood rushing in my ears, twigs snapping, leaves rustling and my heart hammering; but the worst of all was the sound of Jacob screaming.

Before I could fall any farther my survival skills kicked in and I began to reach out for anything to grab; anything to halt my terrifying descent. The branches and twigs that were once friendly and welcoming scraped and scratched my hand raw. I lent forward as I fell and a large branch collided into my stomach, abruptly stopping my fall.

"EVELYN!"

I groaned and wrapped my arm around the tree tightly. Chest heaving, heart pounding and head spinning I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the world around me to still. Now that I was in a closer proximity to the ground the sound of Jacob's cries were much more prominent. I waited until my breathing and heartbeat was steady before peeking back at him and smiling sheepishly.

"... I'm okay!"

"GET YOUR ASS OUTTA' THAT DAMN TREE!" He stood with his back straight and alert with his hands balling in his short hair almost looking like he was about to rip it out in rage and panic. His expression was as furious as his stance and he glared up at me, his brows furrowing and the corners of his mouth pulled into a deep frown.

"... okay, I will, just let me- "

"NOW!"

"I AM!" I shouted back at him and with a huff began my tentatively slowly descend down the tree. It was harder then I expected to get down. I looked down then peeked over my shoulder to see how much closer I was to the ground followed by more looking around for a place for my foot and then searching for another branch to hold onto. With one hand it felt nearly impossible. When I first climbed the tree I gained momentum and was climbing almost two branches at a time for every 30 seconds. Now that I was trying to make my way down I was going about 1 branch every minute and a half. Below me I could hear Jacob become impatient.

"I'm serious about you getting down."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Yelling at him would do me no good.

"I know and I'm trying, but it's harder to go down with a broken arm then up!" I huffed and shook my head mumbling under my breath.

He sighed deeply. "... need help?"

"No," I shook my head, "I got it. It's just gonna take a while." I brushed off his offer and continued my climb. Look around, grab branch, get grip, look around, double-check, place foot, lower and repeat. Every branch I climbed down was a small victory for me, but the victory didn't help me move any faster. Thankfully I was now only about 15 feet from the ground. One foot at a time, step by step I was slowly nearing the forest floor. My right hand stung when I grabbed another branch. "Damn."

"Are you okay?" Jacob must've heard my hiss of pain.

"Yeah - I'm good."

"Are you sure? I can help you if you can't get down, you know."

"I know, thank you, but I'm perfectly capable of climbing down a tree."

He then began to mumble to himself again. "... Bella's gonna kill me." Was the only thing I was able to hear. I wanted to laugh. Bella? He should be glad Alice can't see or else Emmett probably would've broken the treaty and crossed over the line to kill both Jacob and I. Him for letting me climb the tree and then me for even climbing it in the first place. Blood would most definitely be shed and the battle would be epic. It would be, as spoken by the wise Bill and Ted, 'most non-triumphant.'

Taking much longer then anticipated I finally reached the bottom and stepped off the the tree planted my feet firmly onto the ground. Before I could do anything Jacob was standing before me, towering over me glaring down fiercely.

"Are you crazy? You could have died from that fall and you almost did! Do you know just how much trouble that could've caused?" He shook his head in disbelief. "You have gotta' be one of the most reckless, irresponsible and insane people I have ever met!" I dropped my head in shame as he went on. "You know, Bella is pretty reckless, but she never got herself almost-killed 3 times in 3 days."

I didn't mean to let go of the tree and fall. I honestly wanted to climb it in good fun - nearly dying wasn't my intention.

"... sorry."

"Sorry? Really, sorry?" He mocked incredulously.

I snapped. "Yes, sorry! I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to fall it just happened!" With that I stomped away and began to make my way back to Sam and Emily's but Jacob's voice called out to me.

"Wait!" He ran up next to me and began to walk. "Why are you mad?" I chose to ignore him. "Are you seriously gonna' ignore me?" I didn't look at him. "Okay," he chuckled, "I get it - you're sorry, but why are you mad? Shouldn't I be pissed off because you fell out of the tree when I told you not to climb it?" I scoffed. "And you know it's true." He added with a grin and nudged my shoulder with his arm.

I glanced at him.

He wore a crooked smile and stared down at me.

I gave in and smiled back. "Cause." I looked up at him. "I feel stupid for falling."

"Yeah... it was pretty stupid." He nodded in agreement.

"Why aren't you mad?

"Oh, I am. Just not as much as when you did fall. " he chuckled darkly and scratched his head. "I thought I was going to have to get you down myself... I still feel like I wanna' kill you, though." I shook my head and laughed. It's amazing how much can happen in a short amount of time. In not even a whole 2 hours Jacob and I seemed to be getting along, then he became angry when I climbed the tree and nearly fell, and now here we are continuing where we ended.

"I still think you're stupid. And reckless. And I'm still mad!" He declared. "... just so you know."

I looked up at him and laughed.



We emerged from the woods side by side. The first thing I noticed was a large group of boys standing outside in front of Emily's porch. It was the pack. They all stood together shirtless in their cut-off jeans. Even though I've already met them all I still felt myself creep behind Jacob. They were rowdy, laughing and playful jabbing at each other like always.

"Hey, there's Jake!"

"And he's with E-ve-lyn!" They all laughed and cat called, Embry randomly trying to grab Quil in a head-lock. My face heated up and I scooted further behind Jacob as we approached the house trying to hide behind his giant frame. Jacob peeked over his shoulder and laughed at me, his grin pulling into a large smile. Embry, who finally had Quil in a head-lock, released his friend and howled with laughter as he greeted us.

Around him stood all the guys including Sam; he saw me trying to hide behind Jacob and raised a brow. Seeing his raised eyebrow irritated me for some strange reason and brought the feeling that I needed to prove something - so with my chin out I emerged from behind Jacob and gave everyone a smile.

"And she's out!" Jared exclaimed throwing up touch-down hands.

"Why were you hiding in the first placed?" Questioned Quil.

"Yeah, we're not gonna bite!" Paul came up behind Jared and playfully shoved him to the side, a devious smile on his face, his smile baring an uncanny resemblance to a snarl. Jared glared over at Paul and gave him a shove back before looking back at me with a large grin. They reminded me so much of a band of dogs, besides the fact that they're wolves. The remind me of those dogs that get excited whenever their owners come home and wait at the door barking, snarling, jumping and whinging - fighting even. It was just so funny to me.

"Hi Evelyn!" Seth grinned from behind Leah who, like always, stood in a huff with her arms crossed. She was like the Rosalie of the wolf pack.

Sam stepped forward and gave me a small, friendly smile and then looked to Jacob giving him a nod in acknowledgement. "Hey Sam." Jacob returned the nod.

"What happened out there?" He questioned us.

I looked to Jacob who looked back at me both of us seeming to stumble over our words.

"Er... well, you see-"

"The thing is- "

Sam crossed his arms and gave us a lazy stare, raising an eyebrow. Jacob and I glanced at each other nervously. Under Sam's stare I felt like a scolded child as I tried to shy away from his gaze - which is pretty amusing since I'm not even part of the pack and shouldn't feel like I was caught by my parent. Regardless, the authority and air Sam carried himself with was intimidating enough to sway me away from any kind of argument.

He shook his head and exhaled deeply through his nose. "What happened?"

I inclined my head and began to play with my hair nervously; with shifty eyes I shrugged my shoulders. "... I fell."

"Fell?"

I looked back at Jacob who gestured for me to continue. "Yeah... from a tree." Everyone besides Sam, Jacob and I burst into a booming laughter, nearly all of them doubled over in hysterics. Jared was bent over holding his stomach as he laughed with Quil standing next to him with his elbow on Jared's back and face buried in his hands. Even Leah seemed to find it funny.

"I don't think I even wanna know." Sam shook his head. Jared gave Seth a playful shove nearly knocking him into Sam's back to looked over at the and gave them a stern look. They immediately stopped what they were doing and simply stood around chatting calmly. He then looked back to Jacob and I. "Paul, Jared, Leah and I are going to do a quick patrol. The others are going to stay here with you. And Evelyn," he looked down at me. "Be careful." Behind me Quil snorted as Sam, Leah, Paul and Jared ran into the forest to phase.

Once they were gone I turned around and stuck my tongue out at him. He returned the face and span around tossing his arm over Seth's shoulders pulling him into a head-lock like Jared had him. "Come on, lets see if there's anything to eat!" He laughed and ran up the porch dragging a stumbling Seth with him.

Jacob shook his head with a smile and followed them and the others up the porch and into the house. With a grin as large as Seth's I followed them along into the house. Inside Quil released Seth and sat down at the table. I sat at on one couch and Jacob sat down on another and watched everyone.

Emily emerged from the kitchen with a tall glass of water in her hand.

"Is there any food?" Seth asked as he sat down next to Jared.

"There was." Seth perked up. "Before Sam and Jacob ate it all this morning." He deflated at her words. Seeing him so distraught over food was a sigh for sore eyes. He literally reminded me of a puppy that was denied scraps of food from the table. "But I can get out some stuff and you can make yourself a sandwich." He nodded feverishly.

Once Emily had everything placed on the table they dove into it and began to make loads of sandwiches. Their eating habits were nearly as disgusting as Jacob's and Sam's.

"So," Jacob spoke up, "are you gonna tell them?"

"Tell them?" I tilted my head. "Who?"

"The Cullens. Are you going to tell them about you falling out of the tree?" I looked down at my hand and made a face at the scratches and small splinters that were still in the skin.

"I might not." I rubbed my hand against my thigh and hissed at the stinging.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," I shook my hand and looked at it. "I think I just got some splinters." I cringed and picked at them. The skin around the splinters was red and the skin felt raw and tender to the touch. "First my left arm now my right hand. What next?"

"Here, let me help." Jacob stood up and disappeared into the hall, returning moments later with several things in his large hands. Instead of sitting on the other couch he sat down next to me and placed everything down on the seat. He picked up a pair of tweezers and held out a open hand. I looked down at his waiting hand then up at his face.

"What?"

"Give me your hand."

"Why?" I raised a suspicious brow.

"You have splinters, right?" I nodded. "Well, I'm trying to help you get them out." With that he grabbed my wrist and pulled it onto his lap and began to look over it. Without warning he plucked a splinter from my palm making me yelp in shock. I tried to jerk my hand away but his grip kept me in place. "Sorry." He pulled out another.

"It's okay... "

I watched as Jacob continued to pluck splinters of all sizes from my hand. His hot hand left prints and trails wherever they touched, scorching my skin. He touch was gentle as he traced over my open palm searching for splinters - the tips of his fingers caressing my flesh. My cheeks heated at the feeling. One by one my hand began to clear of splinters until they with all my might I did my best to hold back a smile because A) I still couldn't believe where I was and with who and B) I was slightly ticklish on my palms.

"I'm sorry." I blurted out.

"Sorry for what?" He asked without looking away from my hand. He placed down the tweezers and picked up a paper towel and plastic bottle of alcohol. He poured some alcohol onto the towel and dabbed in onto my skin. I cringed at the stinging.

"I'm sorry for climbing the tree." I apologized through gritted teeth.

"It's okay... " He attention was on my hand. "You didn't kill yourself, that's what matters." Once he was finished he put down the towel and began to pick everything up. "That should do it."

I examined my hand that was now splinter free. Red welts hand taken the place of the splinters and the punctured skin burned with an ache. This is definitely going to need some checking up on by Carlisle.

Carlisle!

Oh man, I completely forgot about Carlisle and calling him to let him know I was awake and well. I dug into my pockets and pulled out the small pre-paid phone he got me. I excused myself and stepped out so I could speak in private.

I found Carlisle's name and pressed the call button. Seconds into the first ring the call was answered and Carlisle's angelic voice called from the other side. "Evelyn?"

"Carlisle! I'm so sorry I meant to call sooner!" I apologized again and again.

"Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I nodded. "I meant to go home last night but I fell asleep and didn't wake up until a while ago!"

"It's okay Bella told me last night, I'm just glad you called." He was calmer then I expected him to be. "Are you coming back today?"

"Yeah, I'm actually gonna have Jacob take me back in a little bit. Do you think you can meet me at the line?"

"I'm at work right now, but I'll give Alice a call and have her meet you there, okay?"

"Uh... sure."

"Great, I'll see you at the house. Be careful, Evelyn." He warned before wishing me well and hanging up. I hung up the phone and played with the plastic device in my hand mulling over my thoughts. Since when was Carlisle so okay with everything? And how does Alice know I was going to be here if she can't see me with the wolves?

Not wanting to hurt myself my delving into these questions I shook the thoughts from my head and placed the phone back into my pocket. It was time to ask Jacob for a ride home and face the music.

Edward.