Sleeping Dogs

Chapter 8: Ignorance is Bliss

Chapter Eight:
Ignorance is Bliss

At 3PM the next day, Seth Clearwater picked up Caroline to take her home.

"You're kidding," she deadpanned when her cousin tried to explain that Jake was busy but would come see her tonight. "No fucking way. This is unbelievable." She threw up her hands and stared at her cousin in disbelief.

"There's a lot going on right now, Care," he started.

"I was kidnapped!" Caroline tried to keep her voice down as she got into Seth's old truck. "I was given the promise of a damn explanation and you better have a good one." She knew it wasn't Seth's fault per say, but he definitely wasn't innocent in this.

Seth sighed as he started the engine. "Jake will come over tonight and -"

"Tell him not the bother," Caroline spat. She got out of the car and slammed the door roughly. "I'm walking. Goodbye, Seth." She said with such finality that she knew she had hurt his feelings, but right now she found she didn't fucking care.

She ignored her cousin's protests and stomped down the street towards Forks. It was an hour long bike ride she remembered, but she had no idea how long it would take to walk there but she figured even a couple hours wouldn't be long enough for her to cool down.

Seth drove alongside her for a couple of minutes, begging her to go with him. "What if it rains?"

Caroline shrugged. "Then I'll get wet."

"You'll get sick and Jake will be pissed at me."

"Funny," she frowned, glancing at him. "I don't really think my wellbeing is much of his concern."

"And Jake's wellbeing?"

Stupid question, she seethed. "Not particularly my concern, either. I'm really fucking tired of this push and pull we've doing. It's giving me whiplash and I have no interest in continuing it. So if you would please," Caroline stopped and turned to face him abruptly, irritated at his fast reflexes for stopping at almost the exact same time. "Leave me alone."

She started walking again and was pleased when she couldn't hear his car rolling behind her.

Good riddance. She didn't need them to help her solve whatever puzzle Ranger Daniels had given her. They clearly weren't interested in answering any of her questions. As far as she was concerned, they were a dead end.

She thought back to the night she met Ranger Daniels outside the Aquatics Center. His dirtied clothes, his dark eyes, and his bloodied shirt were clear indicators that she was playing with fire. She had so many questions for him, but no way to contact him. The number he had called her from was out of service.

Thirty minutes into her walk and it started to sprinkle lightly on her. Springtime in Washington was always rainy, but she had hoped she would make it home before then.

She was glad she had borrowed a jacket from Emily before she left but she kind of wished she grabbed a thicker one. She pulled up the hood and started jogging. It was a 15 mile walk and she had covered some ground in her angry stomping, so she had probably 12 more miles to go. She wished she had had the foresight to grab her wallet before she was abruptly taken from Charlie and Sue's home. She was getting thirsty and would have liked to buy a water bottle but without her wallet she was SOL. Another thing to add to the list of things Jake did to piss her off.

Jacob Black was a lot of things: a hothead - but he was working on it, incapable of sharing his feelings in a constructive way - also working on it, in a constant state of stress - not much he could do there, and a slight tendency to be an asshole. But for all his downfalls, Jacob Black was not a pushover.