flare | JACOB BLACK [2]

~ NINETEEN ~

~~

Portland, Oregon

I was so young yet, I knew this was the worst moment of my life. And it would always be the worst moment of my life. I had just turned 15, less than a week ago.

"How long do you have left?" My dad asked my mother. He was as shocked as I was but he wanted answers.

"Six months, a year at the most." She replied.

Just a minute ago, my dad and I were laughing. We had no idea my mother would walk in the door with this kind of news.

"So, you're just gonna die? Just like that?" I blurted out. I was angry. Of all things to destroy us and it was a disease, something that we had no power to change.

"Avery, please." My dad said.

I had nothing else to say. Nothing I could say would fix this. So, I left. I walked out of the house and down to the sidewalk. I knew who to see. He lived three blocks away. I could easily walk to his house but, I was so angry and sad and frustrated that I just ran. I ran till my lungs burned and I struggled to breathe and I cried till the tears stained my shirt.

It was well into the evening but, he didn't sleep. I pounded on the door and was anxious to see him.

"Avery?" He asked me, bewildered.

"Evan, Evan. I need to talk to you." I said, out of breath.

"Okay, come inside."

"No." He knew what I meant. We needed to talk in private.

Evan was the first vampire I ever knew. He went to my school and had no idea about werewolves. So he didn't hate me and I didn't have the heart to hate him. He and his "family" kept themselves very low-key. They barely interacted with others and never hunted all together. He never told me about his time before becoming a vampire but, I never asked.

As we walked to our usual spot in town, I told him about what my mother had said. About how she was going to die. Before we got to where we were going, he stopped me. His blonde hair blew lightly with the wind.

"Are you going to ask me to--?" He asked.

"Yes, I want you to turn her."

Evan said nothing for a moment. The moonlight hit his face so beautifully. I would be a liar if I never said I had feelings for him. He was perfect and I was the opposite. All I wanted in my life was perfection. But I was young, I didn't know perfect wasn't a real thing.

"Avery. You know I can't. That would be breaking a rule, most of them actually."

"What rule? No one is telling you what to do." I was desperate. I just didn't want my mom to die, not when I could stop it. "Evan, I'm asking for one thing, please."