Past & Present Collide (Open)

[caitlintokala]

“This can’t be happening…” What she faced at this moment wasn’t anything she would have even considered a possibility this morning…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caitlin’s day has started just like any other and she had been so glad it was warmer than it had been the past couple of days. Sure, the sun wasn’t out but at least the air was warm. She had figured her regular run up the coast along the cliffs over through the mountains a bit and then back through the forest would be enough time to clear her mind and get her ready for her evening patrol with Sam. However, she had barely gotten up by the diving cliffs when she got a call from Jake to come meet up with him in Forks. She hadn’t thought much of it considering that she had mentioned to Jake that she’d like to meet the Cullens so that she would know their scents from any other vampires that may or may not be in the area. She decided to head down through the forest seeing it was going to be the fastest way to make it to Forks and she had set out immediately.

When she hit the outer limit of town she noted scents that she caught on the air and categorizing them by species. She slowly made her way through the town mostly sticking to the main street but every now and then she would dash through one of the alley’s to take a back road around a crowd if she wasn’t up for trying to maneuver through them. This was fine and she was quickly making her way through to the little café Jake had mentioned they should meet up at. However, as she rounded the corner of another alley shortcut she froze in her steps and couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Erik…” She smiled and started to head for him remembering all the times they had spent together but as she got closer she froze once again. His scent was what caught her off guard and she was suddenly very confused.

“This can’t be happening…” The words passed through her lips without much thought put into them. She was having a hard time dealing with the fact that she saw an old friend standing in front of her and his scent was that of a vampire. She didn’t know what to do or even what to say to him. The last time she had seen him was about twelve years ago and that was when he suddenly disappeared. She just stood there looking at him and slightly shaking her head as questions flooded her mind but she was unable to voice them.

[erikmorris]

“Caitlin…” It was the only word that came to mind and he couldn’t make his mind believe that he had run into her here of all places. The sound of her speaking quickly pulled him out of his thoughts of the past that he had started to drift into. He didn’t know what to say as he heard her name and he somewhat stumbled over his thoughts. Honestly, he had begun to adore her as a young girl and the shock that had become apparent on her face made him wonder if he had done the right thing twelve years ago. As she approached he couldn’t help slightly smiling and taking a few steps toward her as well. However, at the same moment that she froze so did he because as she suddenly had realized he was a vampire, he had realized that she was a wolf…

“Caitlin… I can explain okay, Little One. But we obviously need to have a talk.” He kept his voice calm as he spoke to her and even though he wasn’t sure what all had happened, he did know that they had to clear all of this fog. He also knew her though and he knew she wasn’t going to be easy to convince to listen to him either because of the stubbornness she had shown early on. He started to slowly approach her again not knowing if there was any way that he would be able to reach her right now but hoping that he could.

“Caitlin, I would never hurt you… I couldn’t ever hurt you, but right now I need you to come with me so that we can talk about this…” As he spoke he continued to slowly move toward her and reached out his hand offering it for her to take. He hoped that she would listen and he hoped that they would be able to work through this. However, he was worried that with what she had become and what he already was, that they may not be able to. Honestly, he had hoped to return to the states two years ago to find her grown and well still living in Knoxville and he might be able to sweep her off of her feet. He might have even gone as far as to turn her if that was what she had wanted after he told her the truth. That wasn’t even a possibility anymore and now that he saw her again he realized that his ‘love’ for her was still what it had been when she was a child. He was protective of her and still saw her as the little sister that he had never had.

[caitlintokala]

The sound of his voice drew Caitlin into that calmness that she often felt as a child when he would talk her to sleep at night just to make sure she actually did sleep. He was always the only one that could get her to sleep at night when her father had tried everything under the sun. She figured that had been why her dad had agreed to let him keep visiting her because after the first couple weeks of her sleeping, she was a completely different kid. All these thoughts and memories made her happy but it was the scent that lingered in the air that she just couldn’t get over. So many questions swirled through her mind as she breathed that scent in and she honestly didn’t know even where to start.

As he began to approach her slowly she instinctively began backing away not really sure that even though they had been friends if that still applied now that she was a wolf and not a little human girl. It was a scary thought thinking that someone she had become close friends with, to the point of practically viewing him as a big brother, might now be a mortal enemy. This thought alone was pushing her over the brink and she continued to move away from Erik with each step that he took closer and closer to her. As she heard him speak again it was the words this time that caught her attention and as he tried to reassure her that he would never hurt her, she found her eyes dropping to the ground. More than anything she wanted to believe this from him but the fact still stood that he was indeed a vampire and she was still a wolf.

She took some deep breaths and started to bring her eyes back up to him as he continued to reassure her and asked her to come with him to talk. As he reached out his hand though, she suddenly felt herself instinctually become extremely tense and she quickly backed away backing into a dumpster in the alley. She froze for a second as she looked at him standing still in front of her with his hand still extended to her. She could see the hope in his eyes and she knew that the sincerity of his voice when he had been speaking was genuine and real. However, her wolf instincts had started to kick in and she didn’t even have time to think before she suddenly reacted and took off.

The next thing she knew she was at a flat out run down one of the backstreets of Forks moving quickly through a housing area headed for the Forest as quickly as possible. No thoughts entered her mind as she kept herself at full speed not slowing for anything. Within moments she was in the woods and still running. She honestly didn’t know exactly what she was going to do or even what to think at this point. It wasn’t until she hit the first clearing in her path that she finally stopped and just suddenly dropped to her knees. She took two deep breaths before closing her eyes, laying her face in her hands and resting her arms on her legs.

“This can’t be happening… There is no possible way that this can be happening…” The denial was in her voice and she wasn’t sure yet that she actually believed what she had seen and smelled back in Forks. Erik had been there for her for four straight years and now all of a sudden he had become someone that was unreachable to her. She had fallen silent but in the silence she felt tears slowly run down her cheeks. When she had first seen him she had been so excited to talk to him and find out where he had been but now that had all changed, and not for the better.

[erikmorris]

Erik watched Caitlin so closely as she continued to back away from him and he could see the confusion on her face. It was so hard for him to see her like that and not be able to do something about it to help her. He had hope that she would take his hand and they could talk right up until the moment she backed into the dumpster, froze and looked him right in the eyes. It was at that exact second that he saw it, the wolf inside of her suddenly panicked and in an instant she was gone.

“Scheiße!” The German rolled off of his tongue with ease as it was practically a second language to him and he often found himself turning to it for expression. He closed his eyes as he took in one long deep breath and slowly sighed. Panicking was the last thing he wanted for a girl that held dearly in his heart. As he re-opened his eyes he swallowed hard and sighed before taking off after her. He wasn’t sure that going after her was the right thing to do but he knew he couldn’t just leave her the way that this situation was at the moment. He also wasn’t sure what he was going to say to her when he finally caught up to her but he knew he needed to say something and at least try to make it right.

When he hit the woods he picked up his pace and followed the young female wolf scent into a nearby clearing. He stopped immediately as soon as his eyes landed on Caitlin in the center of the clearing. He could see tears running off of her face and down her wrists. She had broken and he knew that there was no way that he could approach her out right like he did when she was a child so he stood back and just watched her for a few minutes.

“Please… Caitlin, talk to me…” It was a simple request and at this point he was getting pretty desperate to explain himself to her. He had already been a vampire for 31 years before the night he met her and he needed her to let him explain it to her. He knew he owed her an explanation of why a vampire would befriend a human child and he wanted more than anything to provide it to her. However, after his small request for her to talk to him, he got this funny feeling that he was going to be getting an earful more than he had originally bargained for. Honestly though, he just hoped she would let him reach out to her and give him the chance to be honest with her now that he could. What could she really have expected from him back then? How could he have even possibly thought of explaining him being a vampire to a little kid and then expect her to live with that knowledge for the rest of her life? There’s no way she could have expected him to do such a thing, so whatever the price was that would come his way now, he would take it.

[caitlintokala]

She had heard him coming long before he ever reached the clearing and she heard him when he stopped at the edge of the clearing to watch her. No matter how she tried at first she couldn’t stop crying and she felt each tear that danced down her cheeks onto her arms and slowly down to her knees making them slightly damp. She still didn’t fully comprehend what had just happened in the alley but she knew that her life had just been turned upside down once again.

She listened closely as he spoke to her and she instantly bit her lip holding back the words that she instinctively wanted to spit out at him. Her mind swam in confusion and frustration as she tried to slowly figure out what she was going to do, or even what she was going to say to him. The fact that no matter what she was now, he still cared about her well-being did touch her heart and she recalled how he had been like the brother she never got to have. She felt like her heart had shattered as if she had been stabbed in the back. Finally she let out a sigh and slightly shook her head as she looked up into the tree tops avoiding looking to her right where she knew Erik was slowly approaching her.

“What do you want me to say, Erik? That it’s all okay… That we can just pretend we aren’t what we are and that everything is just like it was twelve years ago... That we’ll be just like brother and sister forever and nothing will change that… I wish I could say all of those but that’s just not the way it is anymore…” She paused feeling herself choke up a little bit and she slowly stood hearing Erik come up behind her. Suddenly her sadness was overcome by the frustration and anger over his abandonment. In an instant she spun around and slammed her fists into Erik’s chest. It wasn’t like she was hitting him but it was more like a child slamming their fists down on a table in frustration.

“You should have been there!!!” She screamed without intending to and in that moment it was too late for her to take control of her emotions. She completely broke and was flooded with all of her emotions that she had been trying so hard to hold back.

“You never should have left! It was rainy that day… You could have come on the hike… He wouldn’t be dead! I wouldn’t be what I am now! You should have been there!!!” With each statement she slammed her fists into his chest again and again as the words just poured from her lips unfiltered. As she finally stopped speaking she shoved him away from her and turned her back on him. Yes… She still cared about him like a brother but she still struggled with the fact that he had left her alone like he did. One evening she had gotten ready to sit at her window and use the telescope he had given her to spot whatever new star he was going to tell her about. However, instead of starting to look through the telelscope while she waited on him, she had found his note and ended up going to bed early. It took her two months before she would even use her telescope at all but it never brought the joy to her like it had before. Even now, star gazing just wasn’t the same as it had been during the four years she spent learning stars from him and now it appeared that she may never look at the stars the same with everything between the two of them changed forever.