Monsters And Us

Chapter 9: Birthday Gift

I started walking home when I saw a strange truck in our driveway, it had 2 doors, forest green paint that looked brand new but even though it had new paint the truck seemed old compared to the newer models. I walked into the house and heard laughter coming from the living room and just as I was halfway up the stairs I heard my dad yell for me from the living room. I sighed deeply and went back down the stairs and to the living room where I saw Oliver’s Dad sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand and our dog Kai, who is a fluffy Alaskan Malamute with one blue eye and one brown eye and was about a year old.

“Annabel, how was your second day of school” Dad asked,

“It was ok”

Kai walked over and nudged his head against my leg before laying down with his head on my feet, I hear the door open and see Kai’s ears perk up as he quickly gets up and runs to whoever is at the door, I turn to see it’s Oliver, he was kneeling down and petting Kai.

“Dad, I couldn’t find the seat covers and phone stand you said were in the truck”

“Well thanks Oliver for spoiling Annabel's gift”

He looked up at his dad to see me standing there, he stuttered nervously and chuckled, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, and walking past me and sitting on the couch next to his dad, Kai ran after him and laid his head on his lap and he continued to pet him.

“Oliver it’s in the back seat on the floor, it probably fell under the seat. Did you actually look or just text your little ‘Girlfriend?’ Never mind, I’ll just get it.”

Oliver tried to speak but his dad was out of the door before he got a single word out and there we stood in awkward silence that made me want to run to my room, lock the door and crawl into bed.

“So, Oliver it’s been awhile huh” My dad said to break the awkward silence,

“Yeah, 5 years right?” he replied,

“Yeah give or take, so you have a girlfriend eh? Sorry for prying”

“Yeah I guess, I mean I don’t really like talking about it with people”

Just before my dad responded Oliver’s dad opened the door with the “surprise” gifts for me in a grocery bag and set it on the table and got each of the nicely decorated boxed out of the bag and set them on the table, one small red box with a gold bow on it, a medium sized green box with silver bow and ribbon, and a large bright orange box with a yellow bow and ribbon on it. He smiled and handed me the small box first and I sat on the love seat and began carefully unwrapping it. I hear the door open again and hear my brother whining about how boring college is as he walks into the living room and sits down on the couch next to Oliver not noticing them before looking around and noticing them.

“W-what’s going on here? Did someone die?”

“No Silas, Mr. Arden brought over some birthday gifts for your sister.” Dad replied,

“So whose truck is that outside then? Olive Branch is that yours?”

Oliver shook his head and I continued opening the box, and saw a small black cell phone holder inside, the type you stick into the air conditioner to hold it, Silas grabbed the medium sized box and handed it to me and I opened it and saw a few items in it, seat covers that were black and white, a phone charger and an adapter that lets me charge the phone using the cigarette lighter port, and seat belt covers featuring the superhero, batman. I went to grab the large box and see Oliver reaching for it and before we could react our hands touched, and for a second I felt his warmth radiating onto my hand and we pulled away. Silas grabbed the box and handed it to me while saying,

“Jeez you two should get a room or something” he said jokingly,

I took the box from him and began opening it and I look inside and see a few items, the first item on top is a plush of a wolf that was grey on the top of his back, tail and head, and tan on his legs, belly and mouth and had brown eyes and a black plastic nose I smiled and felt it’s soft fur and put it next to me almost in a sitting position. The next items were two candles, one was the scent of caramel latte and the other was blueberry muffin scented and I started wondering if Oliver got me the items in the large box because his dad seemed confused by the large box.

“Oliver did you get the large box? Because I don’t remember buying those items.” he whispered to Oliver,

Oliver nodded his head and I continued on getting the items out, the next item was book 1 and 2 of attack on titan and a little Levi figurine, and the last two items were 2 pairs of socks, one with pikachu on it and the other had eevee on it. And the last item was a dvd bundle of season 1 and 2 of attack on titan, I smiled and thanks Oliver and his father for their gift,

“Oh wait you have one more gift, though we couldn’t exactly fit it into a box.” Oliver’s dad said,

They stood up and asked me to follow them outside and they stood by the forest green truck which now had a bow on it, my dad and brother came out as well to see the big gift they got me.

“Wait...that’s your truck?” my brother said while looking at me shocked,

“Yep this is your ‘new’ truck Annabel, well not new but Oliver fixed it up for you with new parts and a new interior.”

Oliver’s dad opens the door to show 3 seats all black leather and Oliver's dad motioned for me to get in so I got into the front passengers side and he put the middle seat down to show armrest, and a pop out cup holder. I was always awkward when it came to receiving gifts from people so I mainly just smiled a lot and thanked them. It was a nice truck and I was happy I wouldn’t have to take the school bus anymore but I haven’t gotten my driving permit for Washington state yet but planned to soon.

“But Mr. Arden I don’t have my driving permit yet.” I said to him,

“It’s ok Oliver will help you learn to drive, he’ll have you driving within no time.”

Oliver smiled awkwardly at me and Oliver’s dad gets out of the car and Oliver takes his place and he starts the car, Silas quickly opens the passenger side door and pushes me into the middle seat and my arm accidentally hit Oliver’s arm, I pull my arm quickly to myself and apologize to him and elbow my brother’s side.

“Ow what was that for?” he yelped,

“Really? You had to push me into him.” I whispered,

Oliver started the car and we began to drive off through the town revisiting old places such as an old diner we used to go to as kids, The Blackbird Coffeehouse. Oliver parked into the parking lot and we got out, the rush of traffic behind us made me have flashbacks back to when I was 12 years old running down the sidewalk after Oliver and running into the Coffeehouse to be greeted by the sweet smell of pastries and coffee and warmth. We walked into the building and got hit with the sweet smell of salted caramel pecan pie and brownies and of course the homey smell of coffee.

“Get anything you want Annabel my treat for your late birthday” Oliver said smiling at me.

I looked at the menu over and over again thinking of what I wanted to get and I didn’t want to get too much and look like a pig so I decided on getting a 20 oz. Hot chocolate, and a small slice of rustic quiche, Silas got a tropical bliss smoothie, triple berry pie, and an Orchard Ham Sandwich on a panini bun and a 20 oz. Latte and waited for Oliver to make his order he also got a 20 oz. Hot chocolate and also got a chipotle turkey sandwiches and 3 gluten free lemon vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. We waited at a table while they got our food and drinks ready, Silas was by the counter talking to a girl who had short brown wavy hair, pretty tanned skin, and from what I could see she had green eyes, and wore a v neck black shirt and I assume a white apron under the counter.

“So Annabel, how have you been?” Oliver asked me,

“I’ve been ok.”

“Good...good”

“And you?”

“Meh, I’ve been better.”

“So you have a girlfriend?”

“Yeah...well sort of, she sort of attached herself to me and you know how I am, I can’t say no. But you’d like her, her name is Peyton and she goes to your school.”

He’s dating the girl who called me a fatty I thought to myself and just smiled back at him.

“So you're officially back to Port Angeles?”

“Yeah, though I’m hoping it’s permanent.”

“Yeah that’d be awesome I remember your dad’s work transferring him everywhere, so where else have you located besides Twilight land and here.” he said with a chuckle,

“Well, in Washington, just Forks and here, then after here we moved to Texas for half a year, then Delaware for 3 months, New York 3 months, Forks until I was 15 then California till I was 16 and now back here.”

“Wow that’s confusing so Fork, Port Angeles, Texas, Delaware, New York, Forks, California and then Port Angeles?”

“Basically”

“How was Cali?”

“Hot and full of assholes” I give a small chuckle

“Guess you dealt with some assholes huh, anyone in particular?”

“Just an asshole I dated in Cali who dumped me on my 16th birthday.”

“What’s his name? Want me to beat him up?”

“Isn’t that my brother’s job?”

“Well we’re friends right? I’m sorta like a brother to you just from another mother and father.” he let out a laugh that was so loud it got the attention of my brother Silas for like a second before he went back to talking to the waitress.

“So what’s his name?”

“Carter Fredrick”

He grabbed his phone and started typing and I was curious about what he was typing then my brother sat back down at our table and put a piece of paper in his pocket which I can only assume is the waitresses number, a few minutes later the same waitress my brother was flirting with brought over bags of food containers and smiled as she handed it to Silas I assume it was our food and she handed us our drinks.

“Enjoy your food and drinks” she said while smiling at my brothers

Oliver took the bags and headed out, while I followed him my brother following behind while crinkling the piece of paper in his pocket as we got back into the truck and were off to another mystery location somewhere in the woods, when we stop in a parking lot and see a little sign that read Peabody Creek Trail with a warning that says beware of bears, mountain lions and wolves and Oliver parked the truck and we got out with our food and started walking down the path and to the picnic area where we sat at a metal table and started eating our food. I sat down on the cold seat and shivered as my legs touched the seat but was happy to have hot food that might help with warming me up from the cold fall weather and opened the container and the smell of the cheese and ham filled my nose and I slowly took a bite enjoying the flavors of the mozzarella and ricotta and ham all joining together in that one single bite and the hot chocolate was amazing. It took a few minutes for us to finish our food and we decided to put the trash in the car in case of bears and Oliver grabbed a few bottles of water for us while walking the trail and we were off down the trail. By about the halfway point my lungs were burning and my legs were aching but I kept it to myself so people don’t think I’m lazy and Oliver stayed with me the entire time, I don’t know why he’d want to be dragged down with me while Silas was way ahead of us and stopped. We finally caught up to him, and I began chugging the cold water and breathing heavily trying so hard to control my breathing and heart rate.

“You okay?” Oliver asked me,

“Y..yes”

“Let’s rest here for now, take in the views, maybe take some pictures of the area since you're into photography right, Annabel?”

I nod and get my camera out of my bag and start looking for the right position to take pictures and take one of a creek and look at the picture and notice something yellow on the other side in the bushes, they weren’t flowers and I decide to look through the viewfinder and see 2 yellow eyes looking at me, I put my camera down and see the eyes have disappeared.

What the f**k was that? I thought to myself as I look closer at the picture and zoom into the eyes and they look almost human and almost drop my camera as I hear Oliver’s voice behind me.

“What’s that?”

I look behind me and tell me it’s nothing just a picture of the creek and quickly put the camera back so it’s showing the ground at my feet and go back to taking pictures and hear a phone buzz and hear Oliver’s voice talking to someone and decide to eavesdrop on him while pretending to take photographs.

“Yes babe...what do you mean? Yeah I know I’m not home that’s cause im…..no I’m not cheat…..Peyton stop it I can’t get a f*****g word in, I’m out with a friend ok! It’s a friend from childhood, yes they’re a girl so what….Her name is Annabel ok? Her brother is here too ok I’m not cheating on you, I gotta go ok? Yeah Love ya bye.”

I walked around trying not to make it seem like I was eavesdropping on him and find a little area by a small waterfall that leads to the creek and sit down by the edge picking up a perfectly oval stone and playing with it between my fingers, feeling the smoothness of the rock’s surface before putting it into my bag and began to look through the woods across the creek and see something on a tree, a marking that looked so familiar, I walked closer and the image became clearer it was an arrow facing the left it looked like it was carved there years ago, I ran my fingers along the carving and started to daydream my mind taking me back to the woods in my dream, they were silent, void of any life when the arrow was point that way almost like a warning.

“Annabel? Annabel?”

I heard a faint voice call out to me from the dark forest, but I saw no one there, only darkness. I look around and I don’t see anyone, Oliver was gone and so was my brother, I was completely alone deep in the forest. It soon became dark and I could see less than a few inches in front of me and was grasping everything in front of me trying to navigate my way through the forest to get to a clearing to find some kind of light. I could feel something watching me but couldn’t see anything, I felt a chill in the air that made my blood run cold, I looked around the pitch darkness and couldn’t even see the stars in the sky it was as if I was in a windowless room covered in all black paint.

“Annabel…”

I heard the voice call out again and I began running towards it before tripping on something and falling to the cold hard ground and hearing footsteps in front of me, and I saw it. Those golden eyes I’ve seen in the picture, and a shiny white smirk looking down at me, it’s two front teeth were sharpened to look like vampire fangs with normal teeth in between them.

“W-w-what do you want?” I asked it,

It didn’t respond just kept smirking at me and lowered it’s eyes to my level and continued to stare at me, it felt like hours for how long I laid there frozen in fear of what this thing might do to me. I felt a coldness grab my neck and lift me up till I was almost standing, I felt paralyzed by the fear and just stood there looking at it. It’s eyes slowly began to turn from yellow to pitch black and almost disappeared from the pitch blackness within the forest, but his fanged smirk still glistened. I felt something wrap around my shoulder it’s warmth radiated onto my body unfreezing me from my position and I began running as fast as I could till I finally was in the moonlight and sighed deeply and looked behind me to see a male figure surrounded in darkness, his face covered by the darkness but his glistening fangs were seen in the darkness. It’s chest was pale in the moonlight and the only visible marking I could see on it was a scar which looked like a burn mark in the shape of an open hand above it’s pelvis and more towards its side and it smirked at me one last time before disappearing into the darkness. I got out of my daze and saw myself lying in a strange open field on the edge of the forest hearing my name be yelled out throughout the forest one voice which was closer sounded like Oliver and I could only assume the other voice was Silas. I sat up still unsure what that dream was and what exactly that thing was and how I ended up so far away from where I originally was.