My Forever Girl

Naira’s P.O.V.

“How are you feeling”, my mother asked, setting a cup of tea on my nightstand. For three days since Ms. Call’s funeral I have done what Embry has asked; I’ve given him his space. For three days I’ve stayed right here in this bed worried sick about him.

“I’m fine”, I lied. I was the complete opposite. The only time I’ve left the comfort of my bed was to ask my father if there’s been any word on how Em’s doing. He hasn’t phased since before the accident, and even though Quil knew he was at home, Embry has refused to open the door. “Has anyone heard”, but I didn’t have to finish my sentence; my mother sadly shook her head no.

She gently took my hands within hers as she softly spoke, “I think we should just let Embry be. He’ll come around when he’s ready”. She placed a kiss on my forehead and gave me a warm smile, “Do you think you’ll make it for the New Year’s Eve party tonight”?

“I don’t know, it doesn’t seem right without Embry”.

“You just think about it. If you don’t come, I’m sure everyone will understand”, with that she gently closed the door once again leaving me with just my thoughts. I just couldn’t see how they could still have this party as if something horrible didn’t just happen to one of our own. I couldn’t stand the thought of going to this party when Embry’s at home all alone. I have to do something. I can’t just sit here either, ever since the funeral, Chelsea’s words are all that have been on my mind. I’ve been obsessing over whether there was any truth behind her words. If it was true, I couldn’t see how Embry would ever forgive me, hell, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I should have done more to save her. I should have run after her and grabbed her before she had a chance to jump. Chelsea’s right, it was my fault. How am I ever going to face Embry again knowing he sees me as his mother’s killer?

Jayden’s P.O.V.

“Jayden slow down. Do you want to get a ticket”, mom’s nagging me in one ear.

“Hurry Jayden, the longer you take the more alone time Embry gets with Naira”, the sound of the owl’s voice is buzzing in my other ear.

Beads of sweat were forming on my forehead as I took on the task of trying to stay in my own lane while flipping through the contacts in my phone to get to Naira’s number. It had been three days since I’d heard any news on Naira’s condition. Three days I’ve been worried sick. Three days I’ve been going insane.

“Three days she’s been cuddled up next to him”, the owl added.

“What the fuck”, I slammed the phone shut and threw it to the backseat; no answer.

“Hmmm, I wonder why she didn’t answer”, the voice chimed in again; the voice that only I seemed to be hearing.

“Jayden, for God sakes, please slow down before you kill us both”.

“Don’t listen to her Jayden, the faster you go, the quicker you’ll get to Naira”.

My head felt like it was about to explode. I can’t take it, “BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT UP”. Instantly I could feel his presence vanish, leaving the atmosphere inside the car feel a little less heavy and depressing.

My mother sat as close as she could get to her side of the car, looking at me as if I was some unknown creature. “Jayden what’s going on with you”, she asked timidly. “You don’t look so good”, she added as she attempted to lean her arm across the console and feel my forehead.

“I’m fine”, I replied angrily as I batted her arm away, “I just need to get to Naira”.

“Honey I’m sure she’s fine”.

Maybe she was fine. Maybe I was the one who needed saving. I mean, I’m getting updates on my girlfriends whereabouts from a talking owl that only I can fucking see and hear; anyone else in my situation would be taking a nice little vacation to a room with padded walls wearing an uncomfortable white jacket.

“Jayden, I’m worried about you. I think when we get home you should get some much needed sleep. You look like you’re…”

My foot slammed on the breaks interrupting whatever she was about to say. “JAYDEN”, she screamed bracing herself against the dashboard, as she looked upon me with wide, horrified eyes.
“WE are not going HOME. YOU are going HOME and I’M going to La Push to be with Naira; a place where I should have been this entire time”.

“I-I-I don’t understand”, she stuttered.

“Ha”, I laughed sarcastically, “I know the feeling. I don’t understand any of this. It was completely confusing coming home to someone who didn’t give a shit about me for 20 years, but all of a sudden decided to play mommy.”

“Jayden I..”

I ignored the fact that she was trying to speak. At this point there was nothing that I wanted to hear from her. I was on a roll, “And then you drag me to the fucking desert to meet some crazy old man that just so happens to be my grandfather. Let’s not forget you hate the man and accused him of killing his wife. What kind of whack job family am I from? It really wouldn’t surprise me if my father turned out to be some kind of psychopath”.

The car fell silent as I slowly tried to calm myself down. I had no idea where all this anger had suddenly come from, pent up emotions from all the years of being her fucking doormat to walk all over on.

“Jayden, I’m so sorry”, she finally whispered.

I refused to stare into her watery eyes; she was not going to guilt me into feeling sorry for her, not this time. If it wasn’t for this pointless trip, I’d be with Naira. If I was there she would have never had this accident. I would have been there to keep her safe. “Don’t bother with the apology. I’m taking you home, and then I’m done with you and your psychotic family”.

Naira’s P.O.V.

We’ve always had a party to celebrate the New Year, but this year it seemed inappropriate. It was impossible to have a good time with everything that had happened lately weighing heavily on our minds. To be completely honest, the party, if you could even call it that, was a bust. It was only 10:30 and a majority of the group was sitting around in their chairs on the verge of falling asleep.

I pushed my chair away from the table and began to walk out on to the porch. The ice cold air felt good on my abnormally hot skin, if I didn’t know any better I would have thought I was changing into one of them.

I caught movement off to the right of me. An owl was perched on the railing staring back at me with these intense hazel eyes. It was the same owl I thought I saw at my window on the night of the accident.

“You know, I think you’re bad luck. The last time I saw you something terrible happened”. The owl cocked its head like it actually understood what I was saying. I pushed down the urge to cry and shooed the pest away.

As I stared up at the sky blanketed by a billion stars, I drifted off into my own little world that consisted of just Embry and me happily together. Nothing terrible ever happened there, Ms. Call was still alive fast asleep at home while Embry and I laid out on the beach star gazing, only breaking away from finding the Little Dipper to kiss as the alarm clock on my cell phone struck midnight. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I was ripped away from my fantasy world and pulled back into reality by the constant call of the owl that landed on the rail right beside me.

“What do you want”?

I stepped back slightly as the bird shuffled forward. I was officially creeped out. The owl lowered its head for a moment, and then took a couple steps back to reveal a silver chain. I cautiously walked over and picked it up to get a better look. My heart grew heavy as the familiarity of it dawned on me. This was a pendant Ms. Call always used to wear, there was never a time you’d catch her without it. She cherished it; it was a Christmas present to her from Embry and me years ago.

“Where did you get this”, I glared angrily at the owl.

The bird flew into the sky and circled around a few times like it was waiting for me to make my next move. I peeked inside the house and saw that nothing had changed, the men were still in the living room watching something on t.v. while the women were in the kitchen chatting. I clutched the necklace tightly within my hand and decided to do the dumbest thing I ever could have done; I stepped off the porch and entered the woods following the creepiest owl I’d ever seen, to God only knows where.

My mind was racing with different theories as to how this animal came across this. Did she lose it while her body was thrashed around by the waves, and it just happened to wash up on shore now? Why would the bird bring it to me? I couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right here, but still I kept moving forward through the forest.

I abandoned my thoughts of how the bird came to find this necklace, and began to focus more on where I was going. I had lost track of time, but by my sore feet I could tell I’d been walking for some time. I was just about to give up when I saw a light up ahead, it must be a field. As I got closer I noticed it wasn’t a field, it was a cemetery. I was never the type to be afraid of a cemetery, but being led here at night had me spooked.

My heart rate sky rocketed when I noticed movement just to the left of me. There was a figure kneeling down by a headstone. Instead of running away out of fear, I was being pulled towards it.
When I got close enough I could finally tell who it was, “Embry”, I whispered. He jumped at the sound of my voice; he should have heard me coming a mile away.

He sniffed and cleared his throat before he spoke, “What are you doing here Naira”, his voice cracked; he’d been crying.

My eyes began to water, “Do you mind if I join you”?

He silently moved over, making enough room for me to sit next to him on the cool damp grass. For the longest time we sat in silence, he was staring at the headstone, and I was watching the tears fall from his eyes. I just wanted to be able to take away his pain, it killed me to see him like this.
“It’s my fault she’s gone”, he whispered, breaking the silence.

“Embry no”, I began to protest.

“It is”, he repeated, wiping the tears from his eyes. “She was sick.” He paused, but this time I did not interrupt. I thought back to Christmas day when I had seen her, sure she was acting weird, but she looked fine.

“She had Dementia”. He banged his fist into the ground, “I should have taken her to the Doctor sooner. It just started out small; misplacing things, forgetting to close the front door, stuff like that, but then she started wandering out at night and seeing things. I couldn’t just brush it off as nothing anymore, so I finally took her in to get checked out”. More tears came falling down his face, “I should have checked her into the nursing home like they suggested, but I thought I could handle it. Now look what happened.”

As he closed his eyes, his sobs became louder. My heart was breaking, not just by his words, but also by how vulnerable he looked. I’ve never seen Embry cry, and I never want to see it again. I felt so much pain seeing him hurt and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Before I knew it my own stream of tears were pouring down. I pulled him close to my chest and soothingly began rubbing his back. His arms laced around my waist as he finally let it all out, something that had been way past due.

“You can’t blame yourself Embry”, I spoke through my own sobbing, “She wouldn’t have wanted to be in some nursing home, she would’ve wanted to spend what little time she had left at home with you.”

“But I wasn’t there for her, not as often as I should have been. I was always too busy with the Pack, and too worried about coming up with some excuse as to why I missed dinner or didn’t come home that night. I should have just told her the truth. NO, I cared too much about keeping the secrets of a tribe that didn’t give a damn about us.”

I smoothed back his hair and placed a kiss on the top of his head, “I think deep down she knew, and she was, AND STILL IS so very proud of you. Every time you walked into the room, or someone mentioned your name, her eyes lit up and you could just see all the love she had for you. She knows you love her too, so don’t ever doubt that.”

The sobs lessened, but neither of us budged. I hope my words helped him, even if only a little.
We stayed like that for countless moments until he finally pulled away to look me in the eyes, “Thank you”, he spoke sincerely.

“Don’t! I want to be there for you like you’ve always been for me”, I replied with a weak smile.

He stood up and offered me his hand, “Come on, let’s get you home.”