Bad Decisions (Sam Uley)

Chapter Seven

Hannah was scrambling backward trying to avoid Sam who was walking towards her. She tripped on the loose stones and crashed down. Sam held a hand out to her, suddenly standing over her.

"Hannah, what's wrong?" Sam asked and Hannah flinched away from his hand. He frowned as she pushed herself up and put distance between them.

"Don't touch me, please." She begged and Sam swallowed but stepped back, his hands shaking.

"Hannah, I won't hurt you," Sam assured her but Hannah shook her head. He was lying.

You promised I could be rough Han.

They were all lying to her and suddenly Hannah understood her mother. A flash of clarity opened her up to her mother's way of thinking and she could almost see the benefits of doing what she had done.

"Hannah, where are you going?" Sam asked. He was scared, he was following her while she walked away from him. She was heading towards the forest, away from her house. She had to get away.

"Leave me alone Sam." She sighed and pushed through the trees, stepping over fallen branches.

"To wander through the forest? What is wrong with you?" Sam asked and pulled on her hand to turn her around. He was gentle with her and Hannah faced him, staring him down.

"He said my name, Sam. He said Han, he wasn't supposed to know my name." Hannah told him and Sam frowned in confusion.

"The guy you were having sex with?" He asked and Hannah nodded, she needed understanding.

"Yes, he said Han. He shouldn't have known I was Hannah. Don't you understand?" Hannah asked but Sam frowned.

"Who was he, why do you always smell like him?" Sam asked and Hannah wanted to claw at her skin. She didn't want to smell like him.

"I'm leaving. I just have some small things to clear up and then I'm moving away." Hannah told Sam and his face fell.

"Hannah, what, no," Sam said and she watched his hands begin shaking together.

"What did you expect, a fairytale ending? I don't love you, Sam. I never will." Hannah told him and the shaking moved up his arms.

"You have to feel something for me, this can't all be one way. You're supposed to be feeling the pull by now." Sam yelled and Hannah backed away from him slowly.

"I feel nothing for you. Whatever you've imagined between us is not real." Hannah wanted to hurt him. She had all this pain inside her for two years and she had no one to use it on but here was someone who wouldn't run from the pain she was throwing at him.

Sam stepped forward, his whole form shaking and she mimicked him, getting closer.

"You have to feel something, anything. You're fighting it, why?" He asked and Hannah glared at him, opening up all the hurt she had felt. Sam would be strong enough to hold it all, he could take some of it from her.

"Because I don't want to be with you. I'd rather die." She spat. In her defense, she hadn't meant it. She didn't realize he was going to grant her request for him. His shaking became vibrating and he seemed to fall forward, replaced by a hulking mass of fur and the last thing she saw was claws.

~@~

Hannah woke up to a white ceiling and the first thought that ran through her mind was wondering why she hadn't gotten out of her bed once her father was asleep.

She couldn't feel the weight of his arm and she turned cautiously but froze when pain flared through her body and she choked, crying out.

Her right eye was pulled down along with the right side of her mouth, a heavy was weight keeping them in place. She found pulling against them only caused her pain so she focused on what didn't hurt.