The Immortal Children

Biggest Fear

The second I was released I took off. I ripped myself from Seth's arms and bolted into the woods. I heard the animals pursuing me but thrust a firewall behind me. I heard a startled cry and then nothing but the crackle of fire. They weren't dead. No, they were just delayed. But it was enough for me to get away.

I followed my own sent back to the Cullen's house. I let out a breath of relief when I saw the mansion in the distance. It was ok. They couldn't get in here and if they did, Chris, ash and I could easily fight them off together.

If Chris and Ash even wanted anything to do with me. I couldn't wipe their expressions from my mind. Chris's heartbreak, Ashlynne's disappointment and anger. What if they hated me? What if they never wanted to see me again? I stood outside of the Cullens house for at least 15 minutes. Maybe I should just leave. Maybe they would be better off without me anyway.

But... I can't do that! While my siblings seemed to trust the Cullens, I don't! I can't leave them alone with this new coven. Am I really so selfish that I could even consider that? I'm all they have. Well... All they had. Now they seem determined to let the Cullens into their lives I wasn't the only one they looked up to. I could only pray that their loyalty still lied with me.

I was yanked from my thoughts by a sound. A sound that made me freeze for a moment, praying that it wasn't what I thought. But then I heard it again and there was no way I could deny it.

Wolf howls. Closing in from all sides.

I didn't dare move. They were close enough that it would give away my location. If I moved I died. If I didn't move... I died. There were no good options. I looked around me cautiously. I heard the growls rumbling from every direction but saw nothing. The logic of if you can't see it, it can't see you just didn't seem possible right now.

Do you remember when you were a child and slept alone in a dark room? Do you remember how you would hide under your blankets, praying that no creatures of the dark would reach out and touch you? You wouldn't move at all and hope that your lack of movement made you a noticeable. And even at that young age you understood that the monsters could still see you beneath your blanket, but moving was out of the question. Because you knew that the second you moved, the second you peeked out from your sanctuary of blankets...

The monsters would pounce.

Welcome back childhood nightmare. Here I am again. Except now it was all too real. My mind was tripping over itself, desperate for a plan. Maybe the Cullens will come out? But... what were the chances of that? In the trees, the birds had all stopped singing, seeming to sense that dangerous was present.

I slowly lifted my hands to my mouth and let out a bird call. But not any bird call. But not any bird call...

It was a bird call that mom had taught me and my siblings while we were camping a year back. For a moment, everything was still. Then the wolf seemed to freeze and there was no more rustling of leaves or snapping of twigs. They had heard me, and they knew that it wasn't a real bird. Then I saw a curtain Flicker . I stared at the house, hoping and praying that I hadn't just imagined movement. Then, Ashlynne's face appeared in the window. We stared at each other for a second then I felt a slight pressure inside of my head.

Her Telepathy.

I opened my mind to her willingly, and showed her the many things that happen, skipping over my minor meltdown. Her eyes widened when she saw the Wolves turn into men in my mind. When she saw that the Wolves have followed me she got a terrified look on her face. She made eye contact with me and began to think, ' are you -'

But I didn't get to hear the last of the thought. Suddenly a black wolf tackled me from behind. I was surprised when it didn't try to eat me or something, but its claws bore into my chest, pinning me down. Its not attacking. It's just frustrating me but, why... Why weren't they killing me? Maybe they were planning something and I really didn't want to know what. And apparently Ashlynne didn't either because I heard a shattering of glass and then the wolf was thrown off of me. I jumped up and glanced to my right. Ashlynne's was a few feet away, the window she had been looking out of shattered behind her.

I sprinted to her as the pack began to regroup. I grabbed her arm and try to drag her back into the house. But, now that I was once again in my sisters mind, I felt something that I had never felt in her before.

Fury.

Ashlynn was feeling the same protectiveness of me that I always felt for her and Chris. I felt her earlier fear. When she had heard what I had said she had been shocked that I could ever feel bad about myself, because in her eyes I was her perfect older sister. I was her role model, the person she tried so hard to be. And she's been so angry at the fact that she had missed it, Ashland hated herself for letting me feel that way. So... Her anger had not been aimed at me.

And then... After I left. Her Terror, her horror at the thought of me not coming back. She had no idea how close that had been to being a reality. How close I'd come to leaving. But... I would have come back. I would ALWAYS come back. Because...

Mom was right.

Family is Forever.

We think together. We hunt together. We stick together.

And if we can't win this fight against the Wolves...

We will die together.

For some odd reason or another, that thought calmed me. I realized my biggest fear as we turned to face the wolves. As a human I had been weak. Pathetic, even. Afraid of so many things. Heights, spiders, snakes, needles, and even though I would never admit it, I sometimes kept the light on as I slept. Those fears had all been a irrational and I didn't even understand them now. But now, as I once again looked death straight in the eye, I realized what I truly was terrified of.

Dying alone. Just like mom.

'Never 'ashlynn thought to me.

I smile. For the first time in what seems like eternity, I was being comforted by someone who actually cared about me. As the wolves closed in on us I thought back to ash, 'mom would be so proud of us.' And though I didn't say it aloud, the words seemed to echo through the trees. And I swear it felt like mom was standing right next to me. It felt like mom was inches away, brushing my hair for my face or rubbing my shoulders comfortingly.

It felt like... Even if Ash wasn't there... I wouldn't be alone anyway.