Give Me Love

I rose from the wooden floorboards and felt desperation cloud my judgement as I frantically raced out of my room, of the house, and into the woods; I hadn't even stopped for shoes or my cell phone. I didn't feel the brambles reach out and scrape my bare legs, I didn’t feel the dry summer ground pound into the soles of my feet, or the blood run down my knee as I fell and sprang right back up.

I screamed out Seth’s name, then Leah’s and Seth’s again. I screamed that they couldn’t leave me in the dark again. I screamed for Collin, for him to come home and stay home safe. I screamed until my throat ran dry and then some. I ran until my legs gave out and then I crawled until my arms crumbled beneath me.

I couldn’t let this happen.

I laid there, in a crumbled, quivering pile as the near-constant rain of La Push came drizzling down. My mind was with Seth, wherever that was, as I laid there, barefoot in my bikini top and shorts. The chill of the cold rain on my warm skin was numbing, but not comforting.

The only thing I craved was Seth’s warmth wrapped around me, like it had been many times before. The way he hugged me was different than others where, he’d let me wrap my arms around his waist then he’d wrap his arms around my whole body. The unnatural heat of his body would cocoon me and no matter what, I’d always felt safe in his arms.

Until today, when I tried to stop him from leaving me and going to war. Today it wasn’t a hug full of warmth, it was an embrace filled with fear and goodbye.

So I laid there until it became dusk, then until it became twilight. I don’t know exactly how long I’d laid there, but I knew it was a long while because my stomach got to the point where I was so hungry, I didn’t want to eat and so thirsty, I didn’t want to drink. Or maybe that was from my sadness.

Either way, I was there a long time. When my voice came back enough to yell some more, I called out that I wasn’t moving until this war was over. I guess I fell asleep then because the next thing I knew, I was encased in some kind of suffocating purple haze. The intoxicating fog made my head swirl as it pushed itself into my nose, my mouth and down into my lungs. It seeped from my lungs into the rest of my body, sticking itself onto the oxygen floating through my bloodstream and numbing my organs and muscles.

I couldn’t fight it, it was a bodiless enemy. I couldn’t grasp it in my hand, dig my nails in it or shove it away. It pressed against my insides and began to swell, but I felt no pain. In the next moment I found myself empty of the purple fog and in a clear open space. Of course, nothing in this space was defined, as most dreams are, but I knew something about it was familiar. I moved to take a step, only to feel that something was grasping my ankle. My eyes traveled down my leg to see four frost white fingers and one thumb held onto me with a grip like no other. A tried to scream for help but not a thing around me stirred. The fingers dig black rimmed nails into my skin and drew blood. Purple fog colored blood.

I squeezed my eyes shut and willed myself to wake, but the pain of the fingers felt all too real. I moved to scoot out of its reach and ended up toppling forward into two more dead hands, open and ready to grab on.

Then my eyes popped open and I felt the familiar grassy ground under my fingers. My ears twitched as I heard movement far on my left. Some twigs snapped, something sounded like it was crunching the dirt and shuffling its feet.

The steps came closer and a voice called out, “Kara come on, come inside.” It was Collin. The steps came to a halt behind me. “He’s not coming back anytime soon.”

I didn’t move, at this point, I don’t think I could have if I tried. The edges of my vision were hazy and I could hardly make out Collin’s face as he stood a thousand feet high in front of me. I tried to open my mouth to speak but my jaw felt locked shut, and my throat too raw to make a sound. I tried to moved my arm up and shove him away as he bent down and began to sneak his arms under me and lift me in a cradle, but my body wouldn’t let me. “Jesus, what did you do to yourself?”

I assumed he meant the cuts, bruises and welts I’d acquired on my trek because Collin tried not to jostle me as he walked, but it didn’t matter. No physical pain could even come close to the pain I felt in my chest. I drifted off into slumber a couple of times but it still took a long time to reach the house where Dad stood on the porch with Sam Uley. “Oh thank God,” he breathed out, Dad rushed over to Collin and I. “Where did you find her?”

“Out in the woods, I don’t know where exactly. She was just...” Collin’s voice shook with emotion. “Sam we have to do something, this whole situation almost killed my sister!”

“Calm down Collin,” he answered evenly. Sam’s voice was always nearly monotone and serious, that is unless he was talking with Emily.

“She was missing for five days Uley!” I barely had my eyes open but I could see enough to watch my dad take off his sweatshirt and lay it on top of me. “Now I don’t know what the hell is going on because the two of you refuse to tell me. However if my kids are put in danger, you’ll be hearing from me Uley.” I heard Dad sigh in dstress, “Jesus Crist Collin, get her inside, I’ll call that Dr. Cullen guy and see-”

“No,” Sam’s voice interrupted. “She’ll be fine. Don’t call the Cullens.”

“You won’t even look at her, Uley! Don’t tell me how to take care of my kids, you bastard!” Dad never got angry, he was the kind of person who was laid back and hardly ever got involved in conflict. “Collin take her inside now and call Dr. Cullen.”

I felt Collin turn to walk inside of the house, but Sam’s voice made him freeze. “Don’t call them.” A shudder followed Sam’s command and Collin made a whining noise.

“Damnit, Collin she’s nearly blue. Get the hell inside. I’ll call Dr. Cullen.” I could hear my dad strain to keep his temper in check. “And Uley, don’t tell my son what to do either. Now get the hell off of my property.”