Equinox

Say Something

Mike didn't have football practice as their coach hadn't come to school in a few days which left the team a little worried as their Homecoming game was supposed to be this Friday. Angela didn't even want to think about the dance that was happening the next day after the game. Edward and his siblings weren't at school and all her calls and texts were ignored. She didn't even know what to think anymore after Tyler told her that Dr. Cullen surprised the hospital by going on a last minute leave from the hospital to deal with a family emergency.

Angela didn't want to go home after school, finding that time to herself gave her room to worry and think about the death of the security guard and the timely absence of the vampires next door. She hated how conflicted she felt. Thankfully, Mike understood she needed a distraction and drove them to Kalaloch beach. La Push was considered unsafe and people were avoiding the area but they didn't really feel like surfing.

Kalaloch beach was famous for the Tree of Life, a massive Sitka spruce that clung between two coastal bluffs by its winding thick roots. It baffled locals and tourists for how it stayed alive and never toppled over despite the storms it weathered through. Angela had always loved the tree even when it confused her as a child and she wondered why it didn't simply collapse without something to anchor it. She found herself visiting the tree every year, always fearing she would find it no longer there.

Tyler and Eric had insisted on coming along as they decided to show more of Forks on their channel. Eric was filming themselves in front of the massive tree and showing off how impressive it was. Angela and Mike watched them from the beach a few feet away, shivering against the cold sea air. She wished she brought a thicker coat.

"That tree is a beast!" Eric zoomed out the camera to capture the whole tree. "Look at it just clinging on for dear life."

"That's a buff ass tree," Tyler agreed. "That tree could go against the Hulk and win."

Mike shook his head. "It's just a tree."

"No, it's not, Mike Newton," She chided. "That tree is a glitch. It shouldn't exist but it does."

Like vampires. They should only be myths in books but they were real.

"It does look like something you'd see on Middle-earth," Mike observed. "Tolkien would've loved this tree."

He was secretly a huge Tolkien fan and he made her pinky swear to never tell a soul lest he haunt her from the grave for her betrayal. Not that she would ever tell. Nobody would believe her. As far as people knew, Mike Newton only liked Die Hard and sports films.

"It reminds me more of Yggdrasil, actually."

Mike raised his eyebrows at her. "Why does this feel like you're about to give me a history lecture about something obscure?"

"Shut up," She smacked his arm. "And listen. Yggrasil is a tree in Norse Mythology..."

"Uh-huh," Mike dutifully nodded. "Go on."

"They called it the World Tree because it connected the nine realms together," She explained. "One of which is our world, Midgard."

"Like a massive highway?"

"More of a nervous system or a bloodstream," She looked up at the Tree of Life and its massive branches and its green leaves at the top of it, alive and healthy despite the odds. "At Ragnarok, Yggdrasil safely hides two mortals in its trunk and they would repopulate Midgard."

"Ragnarok?" He recognized the word. "The end of the world, right?"

"Yes," She further added. "The thing about Ragnarok was that the more they fought to keep it from happening, the more they ended up making it a reality."