Like a Leaf in the Wind

Choices…we all have choices and sometimes they are stolen from us. Whether the theft is intentional or not it makes the consequences of those choices harder to endure.

Chapter 1:

I loved the fresh air and greenery that Forks, Washington afforded me on this fine summer day. I needed to relish in this rare appearance from the sun.

My parents apparently had the same urge because my Dad was out fishing with his best friends Billy Black and Harry Clearwater.

My mother, the ever enduring artist, had her easel set up in the backyard with sheets of paper spread along her rose bushes. Her smock was covered with an array of colors as she continuously painted her abstract portraits of her flower garden. She was remarkable in her ability to capture her youth with effortless activities like painting. The free-spirited pleasure she enjoyed from such a simple act was contagious and I wanted take some outdoor photographs to inspire my artistic side.

I grabbed my camera suddenly feeling elated that I could take nature pictures in the sunlight, "hey Mom, I'm gonna take some pictures in the woods for a bit."

Renee looked up from her masterpiece with a gleam in her eyes, the sun filtered through her hair as it hung in disarray…she was angelic, "Ok Bells, have fun!"

I smiled back at my mother; she was our own personal sun.

I had an old t-shirt and jeans so I threw on some tennis shoes and walked towards the woods behind our house. I wanted to get some wildlife shots so I knew I had to follow the trail behind our house for a while.

Thirty minutes of taking pictures and I still hadn't seen one animal. I did get to capture the way the light played on the leaves as it filtered through the trees but I wanted at least one shot with an animal in it. It's summer, it's not like the animals were in hibernation.

There a loud inhumane growl followed by pained howling. Maybe I could get some animals fighting. I didn't have a taste for violent photographs but I was so interested in getting at least one picture of an animal that I discarded my reasoning and left the trail heading towards the sounds. They were growing inordinately louder as I approached…it sounded like several wolves and bears were fighting.

I was so close now and I could see a beautiful meadow; yet the very scene before my eyes was grotesquely violent for sure an ethereal location.

There were no bears but there were wolves…mutant wolves to be correct. The impossibility of the situation was staggering and yet it became even more ridiculous as I gazed at the objects of their anger. They were people…sparkling people. What the fuck? People don't sparkle. I must have fallen and hit my head in the woods. This was a dream…that was the only logical explanation. And if I was correct in my assessment that it was a dream then I wanted to see how this confrontation turned out.

There were seven sparkling people and five mutant wolves. A giggle threatened to escape my mouth as I complimented myself on my creative abilities. My dreams or hallucination, if that's what this was, had never been this far from reality.

All seven people formed a v-shape and crouched into an attack position mimicking the wolves' stance. The fur on their backs was raised as they prepped for attack. I could hear silent murmurs from the blond gentleman at the apex of the v-shape. A large grey wolf in the middle of the line of wolves started to shake and unexpectedly transformed into a man. To stay that I was stunned was an understatement. He had been a wolf not to long ago but now he was nude and his brown skin and muscular form was rooted in the place of the grey wolf. The wolves were men…werewolves of sorts. He was communicating with the man who had been murmuring earlier.

This was getting out of hand. Maybe I had a concussion and blood was slowly seeping into my brain causing this full blown hallucination. My shock at what seemed to be a confrontation between the sparking people and werewolves had turned into amusement. Soon I felt a laugh bubbling from my center and I couldn't take it anymore.

I laughed… loudly and clearly. I laughed because this was too funny. I laughed because what else is one suppose to do when werewolves and sparkles collide in a meadow?

I laughed so hard that tears were streaming down my face, I doubled over and stumbled falling headlong into the meadow. All the while my laughter only increased. I could not stop.

This was too impossible.

I sat up panting only to peer through my tears-of-laughter vision to find wolves and sparkly people all stoically staring at me. That brought on another peel of laughter that had me falling back and rolling on my sides. The only sounds echoing through the forest was my laughter. It bounced of the trees; it bounced off my on-lookers and it echoed in my ears as it vibrated my body. I hadn't laughed like that since I was a little girl.

I don't know how long I laughed but I needed to stop before I urinated on myself. I stayed on my back catching my breath, staring at blue skies with lovely white puffs of clouds passing by. The sun warmed my skin and I didn't want to look into the meadow again until I had myself under control.

I purposely turned my back to the beings in the meadow as I stood. I dusted myself off and slowly tuned around to appraise these creatures once more.

The amusement left my eyes the instant I saw a large russet colored wolf approaching. Its intense gaze held me rooted. He seemed so focus on me that I almost didn't hear the naked man who used to be a wolf.

"Shit! Jake's imprinted."

I squeaked at the deafening growl emanating from one of the sparkly people closest to me.

"She's mine!"

"Oh no, she's Edward's mate." There was horror encompassing the female speaker but I was too rigid with fear. It had just dawned on me that I may not be unconscious; I just walked in on something I shouldn't have. These thoughts were sobering as I slowly backed away from the approaching wolf, never taking my eyes away from it.

I knew then that I would not survive this. This was bigger than me; I was insignificant in the grand scheme of things and my existence had never felt more trivial than this moment.