SENSELESS : Jacob Black

27

Jacob throws me my hearing aid.

I catch it in the air. It's a natural reflexive movement. Speaking is not. There are no words to choke on. My head is clogged, filled with thoughts that drown in dirty water.

"That thing was ringing like crazy while we ripped Kamiko apart," Quil complains. He puts a hand to his head. "She almost got away because we were all so distracted."

"She's gone now," Embry says.

"We literally tore her a new asshole," Quil groans, hitting his head with the base of his palm. "It kills."

"We did not literally do that," Embry rolls his eyes, and I only let myself glance at him. All of my attention is on Jacob.

I let them round up in the kitchen. They begin to pull out, bread, meat, and cheese. They are making sandwiches. I'm no stranger to hunger, especially not after violence. I nearly died though, and they are acting like nothing is happening. It's dark out now, a bit late for dinner, but they are endlessly hungry. I've let them consume me, feast on me until they've stripped all of me from my bones.

I need to get out of here.

Heading into the bedroom, my mind is still empty. I quickly pack my fall wardrobe. The t-shirts won't be useful in the coming months, and hopefully, with something on my resume, I'll be able to find a job far away from here. I'm 18 now, so I could park myself in my home town and the people who raised me couldn't drag me back.

My fist curls around my broken hearing aid. Eventually, I'll be able to save up to fix my hearing aid. In the two months that I've been here, I've saved enough to cover first and last months' rent in a new city while I look for a job, or live in a motel, or something. Anything that isn't here. I've started over before. I can do it again. Even with just one ear.

When I exit the room, everyone stares at me. I make my way towards the door, and for once, even Quil seems to be without words.

I walk past them and their eyes follow me. A fawn at the hands of wolves. It could only end in my consumption.

After I shut the door behind me, I stand and look at the two cars in the driveway. One is Embry's, and I assumed Jacob drove the other before his condition. However, he's not blind. He's never been blind. He faked it, with some sort of light-filtering contacts I assume. Why didn't I notice how suspicious his sudden blindness was?

As I pull out my phone to call a cab that will drop me off at the bus stop, Jacob exits the house. I close the flip phone, turning to stare at him.

"I didn't take you as the kind to run away without saying a word," he says.

My whole life, I was taught to use my body. Books were secondary, I probably read at a third grader's level. All of my skills have taught me how to be a killer, an investigator, to find secrets where people are trying to hide them.

I turn my back to him, to avoid slapping him across the face, "you don't know me."

"I'd like to know you," he says. "You're probably confused-"

"You pretended to be blind because you knew I was your imprint, somehow, and the ruse is up," I tell him.

He sighs, stepping around to get in front of me, "Alice had a vision."

Alice has been stepping on the heels of my shoes at every step.

"Cedar is going to bring back the rest of the convent to hunt you down," I tell him. "I'll be gone."