Ty Blossom

As the bear-sized wolf stared you down, you wished you could turn back time to a week ago, showing your parents the appreciation they should have gotten for even suggesting an alternative. 

Your heart crashed against your ribcage, blood whirring in your ears as fear froze you in your place. 

You were completely at the wolf’s mercy. This was his terrain, his home, an area he knew like the back of his hand. Even in open air, there was nowhere for you to run. For every four steps you could take, he would get to you in a single leap, his claws and teeth ripping into you before you could think to scream for help. 

If you weren’t imagining all the ways he could make you his next meal, you would’ve laughed at the irony of it. Even if you would scream for help, it was of no use. Of course you liked to hike as far away from human civilization as possible, trying to capture nature in its rawest, untouched form. 

Before anyone would even realize you were away for an unusual amount of time, you would be long gone. If you were lucky they would find some of your remains, leaving at least something behind for your parents to bury or cremate. 

Oh god my parents, you thought to yourself, tears blurring your vision. They were gonna be devastated. Your heart twisted at the thought of them blaming themselves for your irresponsible actions.

The ashy grey wolf raised his head, snapping you out of your never-ending self pitying thoughts and you flinched.

Slowly, he inched towards you like you were an unsuspecting prey. Remaining nearly motionless, he must have assumed you didn’t notice him and tried to come as close without warning you of his presence, before finishing his plan of attack. 

In an act of pure desperation, you dropped to the ground, making yourself as tiny as possible. You pulled your knees to your chest and wrapped your arms around your head, the straps of your backpack uncomfortably tight underneath the grip of your armpits. Like you had been running a marathon, your chest rapidly rose and fell as your body trembled in fear, your lungs feeling like they could explode at any moment. 

“Please, please, please. . .” You cried in a whisper, repeating your pleas like a mantra, hoping that a god, the universe or whatever deity was out there would forgive you for the simple sin of disobeying your parents. Surely this wasn’t what you deserved.

The ground beneath you shook with every step the creature took. His paw brushed along your arms as he towered over you, his heavy breathing coating you in warm, moist clouds. 

You sobbed as you tensed all the muscles in your body, bracing yourself for the razor sharp teeth biting into you, hoping he would nick a major artery or accidentally break your neck to make your inevitable end quick.

You waited and waited, counting down to the moment you certainly knew the wolf would make a move.

But it never came. 

From above you, the creature made a strange high pitched squeaking sound. He lowered its snout and nudged at your arms. Confused, but still terrified you refused to give into his unclear request, clamping your arms even tighter around your head. 

To your surprise, you were still intact as the wolf backed away, his high pitched whining continuing. It was only when a heavy thud shook the ground that you felt you could breathe again, your lungs desperately gulping for air.

You loosened your grip and slowly peeked between the gap of your arms to look at him. The large creature laid down a couple of feet to your side, his head facing you. His big brown eyes sadly stared into yours like you had hurt his feelings. It reminded you of your aunt’s dog when you didn’t want to play with him. 

He wasn’t whining. He was crying.

Your eyebrows furrowed together. Did you scare him? Was he empathetic to your fear? Either way, the wolf’s unusual behavior was even more shocking than the expectation of him tearing you apart. Whatever his reasoning was, it seemed like he had no intention of hurting you.

Still, you didn’t take any chances, trying to remain as still as possible.

Saturated from rainfall hours before, the dirt beneath you clung to your clothes, wetness seeping through the layers. 

At a certain point you weren’t sure how much time had passed, but with each passing moment your body recognized it wasn’t in danger anymore. The thumps in your chest returned to their normal rhythm, blending into your body until you couldn’t feel them. Your trembling gradually dissipated and your sobs died down. 

And with yours, so did his. 

It had been long enough for you to realize he wasn’t going to leave you alone. It was like he was waiting for you to do something.

You gathered the courage to move, keeping an eye on the grey furred wolf as you relaxed your limbs. Still shaken, you lowered your arms and carefully stretched legs to their natural position while pushing yourself in a sitting position.

Your chest still felt tight and you pressed your hand against your heart, starting a sequence of deep breaths —in through your nose, out through your mouth— to help regulate your system. 

Like he was trying to be mindful of your state, he cautiously rose on his legs, his standing height even more terrifying when you were sitting on the ground. But you didn’t panic. If he wanted to harm you he would have already done so and probably without crying. 

He observed you closely, making sure it was okay for him to come closer and you let him. You weren’t sure how to communicate with a wolf, how to tell him you would rather not want him to come closer, but as long as you weren’t his lunch, you would just play along until he hopefully got disinterested in you and moved on.

The wolf sniffed at your hair, face and arms, testing the waters as you stayed stiff. Without warning, he licked at your face with his large tongue. You could tell he was trying to be gentle, his touch tickling you. You squirmed away with a laugh falling from your lips and you held one hand out to him. Your other hand wiped his saliva off your face. “No, no, that’s enough.” 

Oddly enough, he listened. Or at least it seemed like he did, because he didn’t lick you again.

Instead he dipped his head down and your eyes widened. When you didn’t do anything, he nudged his head towards you. Not only did he empathize with your fear, he wanted to show you he wasn’t something to be feared.

Hesitantly, you reached for the top of his head and you raked your fingers through the strands of his fur, giving him a firm rub. He gave you a huff of approval and a soft smile tugged at your lips. “Maybe you aren’t as scary as I thought.” 

Growing more comfortable, you used both hands to pet him, sleeking the fur on the top of his head back with gentle strokes. “Now I’m kind of embarrassed that you saw me react like that. That was a major overreaction.” You chuckled.

Eventually you found your bearings, the grey wolf, you named Wolfie for convenience, comforting you with his head rubs until you felt comfortable enough to move freely around him. 

He helped you up, letting you use him as leverage to get on your feet. You dusted off the dirt as best as you could, but the brown stains would raise suspicions from your parents about your whereabouts. If they ended up giving you a hard time about it, you knew you deserved it. Even if Wolfie didn’t eat you, he scared you badly enough to not go against your parents’ wishes for at least the next five years. 

The grey wolf’s head cocked up, his ears perking at a sound your human ears didn’t seem to pick up on. You followed his line of sight, deeper into the woods, not finding what he was looking at. Suddenly he turned to you, prodding his nose into your side, shoving you from your place. 

“Hey!” You exclaimed, regaining your footing. 

He stomped one of his paws against the ground, giving you another push in the direction you came from. 

He wanted you to leave the woods.

“Okay, okay, fine, I’ll go.” You said sheepishly, adjusting your backpack on your shoulders. You headed towards the nearest road, guessing that with all the noise of manmade vehicles it was probably the easiest way to stay clear from any other animals who would definitely harm you if you came across them.

“Thank you for not eating me.” You shot him a glance over your shoulder as he watched you walk away, hoping he would somehow get what you were trying to say.

You met him through Bella one day when she wanted to hang out with you at home, knowing how tough it was for you to be out in the public's eyes. After one introduction, you fell in love with him and quickly too. Your first date with him was a movie night, and you explained to him your condition. Jacob was understanding and promised to be there for you and help you through the tough times. It's been a year since you and Jacob got together, and he was proud of his decision to stay with you.

Once you finished your shower, you dressed for the day, headed to the kitchen, and made a cup of iced coffee. You sipped the cold beverage and sighed in contentment at the flavors. You catch up with homework on your laptop before replying to your teacher's message to check on you to start the day. The rest of the day, you lounged around the house watching tv or tending to your cat Midnight. It was a gift from your parents on your birthday.

As you enjoyed the comedy show playing on the tv, you stood to your feet and began bouncing on your feet and shaking your hands profusely. You paced as your tics progressed, your neck turning at a 90-degree angle rapidly. Sometimes your episodes caused you pain and discomfort, and you often wished there was something you could do for the tics to stop, but there wasn't. As you calm down, the sound of your doorbell alerts you that someone was here. Walking to the door, you opened it revealing your boyfriend, Jacob.

Excitement coursed through your body as you jumped in his arms. He laughed, holding you with your back pressed against the door.

"I see someone missed me." Jacob smiled, setting you down to your feet.

"Of course I missed you." You smiled back, placing a kiss on his lips.

"So, what were you doing before I got here?" Jacob asked as he closed the door and followed you to the living room.

"I did my homework, watched some tv, and had an episode." You listed off as you sat next to him on the sofa.

"Are you okay?" He questioned, brushing a strand of your hair from your face.

"Yea, I-I'm fine." You nodded, staring at him.

Jacob could see it. Another episode was coming, and he wrapped you in his arms and held you as you. Your body shook in his arms as he tried to hold and comfort you through another episode. You feel him kiss the back of your head as your body slumped over his lap.

"It's okay. Breath for me." Jacob's soothing voice coached you. Your face screwed up painfully as you held onto Jacob for dear life, not wanting to let go. In a way, his warm body brought you comfort.

As your episode passed, you sat up and looked at him dazed, and he kissed your forehead. You leaned into his touch and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry." You apologized for no reason.

"Stop apologizing. It's not your fault." Jacob said, rubbing his hand on your back soothingly.

You nodded and cuddled up to Jacob's side as he held you close to him. Time like this made you grateful that Jacob was in your life. You didn't see yourself with anyone if it's not Jacob Black.

"I'm tired." You whispered, snuggling up into his warm body.

"It's okay. I'll be here when you wake up." Jacob replied, kissing your forehead lovingly. You smiled up at him and pressed your lips to his sweetly.

As you drifted off to sleep, the image of Jacob came to mind.

You woke up on the sofa hours later, but Jacob wasn't right there next to you. In a panic, you sat up and searched the house for him. He wasn't in the kitchen or the downstairs bathroom, so you made your way up the stairs when the sound of the front door opening and shutting made you aware of where he went, but it still made you want to ask questions.

"Where'd you go?" You asked as he sat what looked like grocery bags on the kitchen table.

"I went to the store and got us essentials for milkshakes." At the sound of that, your face lit up with excitement.

"Oh, did you get strawberry ice cream?" You questioned, bouncing on the soul of your feet.

"Of course I did. You know that I know your favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry." Jacob flashes you a million-dollar smile making your heart swell with love.

"Well, get to making the shakes." You grinned, waving your hands at him in eagerness.

Jacob let out a chuckle before grabbing the ingredients for the strawberry milkshakes. As you stood there watching him, another episode began to happen. You turned to the wall and repeatedly started hitting your head. With his fast reflexes, your boyfriend caught you before you could do more damage to your head. Now your head was pounding from what happened that you winced and glanced up at him.

"Your forehead is red. Let me put some ice on it." Jacob said, giving you a small smile.

You gave him a nod as he grabbed an ice pack from your freezer and gently placed it on your head.

"Thank you. You're a good boyfriend." You praised, sighing as the coldness from the ice hit your swollen head.

"It's one of my many talents." He replied, making your heart swell.

As Jacob returned to making the milkshakes, you couldn't help but think how you got so lucky with a partner like him. He's sweet, caring, compassionate, and would fight anyone who dared to make fun of you when you both are out in public. There was never a time when he stood for you against the cruel outside world. Jacob came toward the table and handed you a glass with the pink beverage and whipped cream. You smiled, tanking him, and took a sip. The cool drink hitting your tongue made your tastebuds erupt. Strawberry milkshakes were your favorite thing to consume.

You had them all the time when you were younger and seemed to never grow out of them. Milkshakes were the best during the summertime, but Jacob knew it would make you feel better after having an episode. Both of you made small talk as you sat in the kitchen, enjoying each other's company and presence. After you enjoyed the drinks, you helped Jacob clean up. Although he protested, he agreed after you pleaded with him.

Now you sat on the sofa next to Jacob watching a film, but you couldn't focus on it because of another episode. Your body tenses, and you feel Jacob pull you into him and play with your hair. Letting out a deep sigh, you hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Jacob, from the bottom of my heart." You smiled up at your boyfriend with love and adoration in your eyes.

"What are you thanking me for?" He questioned, arching an eyebrow at you.

"For being there for me whenever I have an episode or panic attack." You replied, smiling at him.

"You don't have to thank me, sweetheart. It's my job as your boyfriend to be there for you and support you through any and everything." Jacob explained, running his finger over your eyebrow soothingly. "Especially with your condition. It worries me when you're alone sometimes. I think you'll end up injuring yourself one day."

"One of these days, remind me to thank Bella for introducing you to me." You let out a laugh making Jacob genuinely smile down at you. Love clouded his eyes as he stared at you.

(Y/N) sighed relieved when the last school bell of the week echoed through the classroom. All her classmates, including her, starting packing their bags in a hurry wanting to get home as quickly as possible while the teacher was trying to remind them of the homework they were supposed to hand in by Monday.

(Y/N) yawned as she walked out of the classroom, trying not to get too annoyed by her loud classmates who were already planning on what they were going to later that day. Usually she would tag along, but the lack of sleep was catching up to her and there was no way she wasn’t going straight to bed when she got home.

Dragging her legs through the hallways, she got to her locker where she only had to get her phone. She didn’t even want to turn it on, knowing it would be getting blown up by texts of her boyfriend trying to get her attention. She normally wasn’t one to ignore people because she liked communicating her feelings, but after doing it one too many times she was sick of her feelings being ignored.

It had been almost four whole days since she talked to Seth and she would be lying if she said that it was easy. It was suddenly really quiet around her when she was doing her homework, there was no one to listen to how her day went or to annoy her when things were getting boring. She wanted to pick up her phone whenever he called, texted or left a voicemail but she knew she would just be forgiving him before the cycle continued.

Without alerting any of her friends, (Y/N) decided to leave school not having the energy to explain to them why she had been off the last few days. She walked through the exit door, but stopped in her tracks. From the top of the stairs she could see Seth standing on the parking lot, his hands deep in his pockets as he awkwardly smiled at the students who stared at him. It wasn’t everyday they saw someone new at their school.

She cursed to herself. There was no way she could avoid him, she would have to walk past him and ignoring someone who was right next to you was much harder than simply ignoring a text. As she made her way to the bottom of the stairs, she could see his gaze fall on her. She hated to see how his eyes lit up when he finally saw her again, it was so hard to stay mad at those eyes.

As she walked in his direction he nonchalantly joined her, strolling right next to her with a nervous smile on his face. “I know you’re still mad, but I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.” She said monotonously, not even looking up at any given moment.

The corners of his mouth dropped. It was clear she still didn’t want to talk to him so they didn’t, walking in complete silence. His head was spinning, trying to come up with ways to talk to his girlfriend, to make up what he had done wrong, but it was no help. Every time he thought he had found something to break the ice she would shoot him down with her short answers, never really acknowledging his attempts to talk about the mistake he made.

When her house was finally in their sight, he started to become even more anxious to talk to her, because there was no way to break her mental walls she build to keep him out. The chance was even slimmer she would let him into her home.

“Baby.” He gently grabbed her by her arm keeping her from walking to her front door. “Please tell me how to make it up to you.” By the tone in his voice she could tell he was getting desperate, but she honestly didn’t want to hear it anymore.

As he pulled her towards him, she was trying to find words which wouldn’t let her spill any tears of frustration. This was how it went the last few times and she forgave him every time, but she was too tired this time. Tired of the empty promises, tired of silently crying the whole night until it was time to get up for school, the worry in the pit of her stomach keeping her from her well needed sleep, while he slept peacefully.

“Why should I?” She sighed, pulling her arm out of his grip. “You ignored me the first ten times, why would it be any different now?” She didn’t even sound mad anymore, just disappointed and broken, it was alarming.

Only after the new born fight (Y/N) grasped how strong vampires actually were and what kind of damage they were able to inflict on others. The fact Jacob got hurt was imprinted on her mind. Although he was one of the strongest members of the pack, a single vampire was able to crush his bones so what would happen if Seth encountered one on his own? 

She had explained to him multiple times she just wanted him to call her after every patrol so she knew he was safe, but Seth couldn’t help passing out right after coming home. He didn’t even think it was unreasonable what she was asking from him, but his head just couldn’t keep up with it when he come home at three in the morning. 

“I’m sorry, I--” He tried to apologize, but (Y/N) held her hand up to stop him before he was able to finish his sentence.

“No, you’re not.” She slightly raised her voice, annoyed at his attempt to make another meaningless apology. She just wanted to see change. “You would do what I asked if you were.”

She sighed softly, almost feeling bad when she saw his shocked expression. She wasn’t sure if it was because she raised her voice or because of what she said, but he wasn’t used to either. In their relationship they never had any arguments before, let alone a real fight. Seth could only stare at her, not knowing how or even if he should say anything back. It wasn’t like it was gonna do any good, he messed up big time. 

She took a second to keep her composure, looking away before her gaze found his sad eyes again. "Is it really that hard to call-- not even a call, a text would be fine too.”  Tears were collecting in the corners of (Y/N)’s eyes as she realized how seriously it actually was. It felt like he was actively ignoring her needs which weren’t even hard meet. She showed him it wasn’t necessary to do what she asked him by forgiving him every time he slipped up, but she had enough. 

“I will.” He stated sternly, trying to show how genuine he was about keeping his promise that time. His heart imploded in on itself seeing his girlfriend fight the tears which threatened to fall down her beautiful face. “I will call, text, just whatever I need to do to fix this.” He swallowed hard, knowing his words weren’t holding any weight. He had told her the exact same thing just right before she started to ignore him, but he didn’t know what else to say. 

“Even if you fix it, does it mean I have to cry every time I want something to change?” She gave him a sarcastic chuckle through her tame sobs, drying the fallen tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her jacket. “Because if that’s really the case I don’t think I want to be in a relationship with you, Seth.”

His heart sank to his stomach, the blood draining from his face. “No, no. I’ll listen, I swear. I just--” He needed a moment to find the words he was looking for, balling his fists by his side in frustration while he blinked the forming tears away. “I’m not doing this on purpose, I just don’t know how to keep this new lifestyle in balance with my social life-- not that it’s a good excuse, I just need to get used to all this.” He rattled.

“I get it, I really do.” (Y/N) sobbed through her words, her shoulders shuddering. “But I’ve been awake for days at the time with just a few hours of sleep, because I didn’t know if you were okay. It’s just. . . It’s exhausting.”

“What can I do?” Seth repeated once again, his voice basically pleading for forgiveness. A few tears escaped his eyes, staining his cheeks. 

“Just give me space, because I can’t take any decisions like this.” She answered him, referring to her current state of mind. (Y/N) didn’t give Seth any time to process what she had just said, adjusting her schoolbag on her shoulder before she turned around and headed towards her front door again. 

Space, echoed through Seth’s mind as he watched his girlfriend physically and mentally distance herself from him. He didn’t even get a goodbye, the door shutting before he had another chance to say anything else. 

Is this the end of us?