like you do | leah clearwater

the calm

It was late afternoon when Juliet got the call. Since it was the first day of Spring Break, she'd been extra busy all day, but had hit a lull when the phone rang on the wall behind her.

"Olympic Books and Bakery, how can I help you?" She repeated, like the thousand times she had before.

"Jules." The voice on the other end put her on high alert. It was Charlie, no doubt, and he'd been crying.

"Dad, what happened?" She asked quickly.

"Harry had a heart attack." Charlie sounded like he was fighting back tears. "I'm headed to the hospital now."

"I'll meet you there." After a mumbled goodbye, Charlie hung up the phone. Frantically, Juliet gathered her things, made sure the store was clear of customers before rushing out the front door, locking it and taping a small note to it.

———————

Juliet walked into the waiting room, not surprised to see so many familiar faces sitting in the small area. They'd been given a private waiting room, though it was nearly full already. Charlie was sitting on one side of Sue, with Billy on the other. Seth was next to Charlie, though he looked more out of it than anyone. Standing close to the door was Jake, Embry, Paul and Sam. Despite her eyes frantically searching every single face twice, she couldn't see Leah.

"Where's Leah?" She asked Embry in a hushed voice.

"Sue said she needed some time alone." It was Sam that spoke. Juliet was too worried and upset to get mad at him.

"I don't care, I need to see her." Juliet insisted. "Sam..." He sighed.

"I don't know where she went." He said. "Sue said that she wanted time alone, to think, and that she'd come here soon. Let her be, Jules." Juliet huffed, turning away from Sam and the other boys and walking over to the open seat next to Seth.

"Hey Seth." She said lightly. "Do you need anything?"

"No." He finally tore his eyes away from the wall he'd been staring at and looked over at Juliet. "No, I'm fine."

"Just let me know, okay?" He nodded as he pulled his knees up to his chest, his eyes wandering back to the wall.

——————

Juliet had sat, nearly frozen, for three hours. No news from the doctors, and no Leah. Juliet worries had only multiplied over time, and it had finally become to much for her. She got up, moving towards the door. She was nearly out the door when Sam caught her arm.

"Let her be, Juliet." His voice was low, so no one else around could hear. "She just needs time."

"No." Juliet insisted, narrowing her eyes at him. "She's my best friend, Sam. If she wants to be left alone, she can tell me herself. I'm going to find her." She shook of his hand and continued out the door, and into the rain. As she drove down the highway to La Push, she wracked her brain about where Leah could possibly be. She started with the Clearwater house, no luck. First Beach, absolutely nothing. The corner store, the library, the cliff she liked to sit on and watch the waves from-all came up empty. No one had seen or heard from her at all, it seemed.

Her worry only grew by the minute, and the darkness had started to creep into the orange and pink sky. So, she went back to the Clearwater's, parked her truck, and decided to go looking in the woods. Armed with only a small, fairly weak flashlight she had in her glove box, she started walking out into the woods. At first, she was following a deer trail, hoping to see Leah sitting on a fallen tree or a rock just off the path. But the time darkness had fully set in, she still hadn't found anything. Her biggest problem now was getting back out.

The woods never scared Juliet, not at night or anything. She grew up playing in them, she had no reason to be scared. But now, when she felt slightly disoriented, the nearby howl of a wolf set her nerves on fire. Luckily the trail hadn't been too muddied by rain, meaning there were distinct enough footprints for her to guess her way back. Her eyes were trained on the ground, as was her flashlight, as she tried to move as quickly as she could. Any branch snapping or bush rustling made her jump and increase her pace. She had stopped at a small fork, trying to decide which way to go when a branch snapped in front of her. She looked up, and jumped in shock.

A grey wolf was standing in her path, larger than a regular wolf but not as large as Charlie had described the aggressive wolves to be. Juliet stood frozen, staring at the wolf who simply stared right back. After a few seconds, however, it shook its head and turned, taking a few steps down the trail before looking back Juliet. When she didn't move, it whined, and nodded it's head back up the trail.

"You want me to follow you?" The words slipped from Juliet's mouth without a thought, as if she was talking to a real person. She gasped lightly when the wolf nodded, and began walking again. Despite everything in her screaming not to follow it, to run the other way, she did. She stayed about ten feet behind it, her flashlight never leaving it's body. Finally, the trail began to slope upwards, and Juliet realized that the wolf had led her out of the woods. The wolf stopped in the tree line, sitting down next to the trail and looking at her. Cautiously, she walked forward, and was surprised to see her truck and the Clearwater house in front of her.

"Thank you." The words, again, had slipped without thought. She looked down at the wolf, who was already looking up at her. She felt as though she recognized it, it's gaze felt so familiar. She couldn't shake the feeling, she also couldn't shake the sudden feeling of longing she felt. She wanted to reach out and touch the wolf, and the thought of it stalking back into the woods made her anxiety flare up. Her brain was going a mile a minute, but she knew she needed to get away-to go home and think. She finally tore her gaze away from the wolf and started towards her truck. When she'd gotten in, she glanced in the rear view and saw the wolf still sitting there, watching her.