Starting Over
Nessie:
I was at the airport waiting. My flight was delayed due to weather conditions. I figured I’d better call home and let my mom know I was going to be late. As I dialed the phone, I was thinking about the last time I had seen my parents. I wasn’t told what the outcome was of my fight with my father. I nervously waited as the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey Mom, its Nessie.”
“Hey, honey! Are you calling from the plane?”
“No, my flight was delayed.”
“Oh…well that’s okay honey. I’ll pick you up from the airport. Just call me when you’re in the air so I know what time to meet your flight.”
“How’s dad?”
“I wouldn’t know, honey.”
“What…why?”
“Nessie your father and I are separated.”
“Separated…”
“After what he did to you, I just…can’t forgive him for hurting you. I just can’t.”
I was silent as the news churned my stomach. I was really hoping that my parents had gotten over the fight and made up. But, my mother’s words confirmed my worst fears. My parents had separated…over me…over me and Jacob? I didn’t have words for what I was feeling right now.
“Honey, Nessie are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m hear mom.”
“Honey, don’t worry about this right now. We can talk when you come home, okay?”
“Okay, mom. I love you and I’ll call you soon.”
“Okay, sweetie, I’ll be waiting here, bye”
Bye.” I said as I slowly hung up the phone. I stood for a moment looking at the phone and shook my head as if I could actually shake off the idea of my parents not being together. When I finally turned around, Noah was standing behind me. He stared at me with a completely pitiful look in his eyes.
“Hey, Nessie”
“Noah, what are you doing here?”
“I’m catching a flight home, but it was delayed.”
“Oh”
“Nessie…I’m really sorry about what happen in the field. I was a real jerk to you. I just…”
“Yeah you are a jerk.”
“I know I am, but I really want to do my best to apologize anyway. If you don’t accept it, I can understand. But at least let me try first”
“I’m listening”
“Not here though, can we just take a walk or something. I heard you flight was delayed too.”
“You were listening to me on the phone?!”
“Not intentionally…I was just waiting for you to hang up, that’s all… I really wanted to apologize to you. Please take a walk with me.”
“Okay” I gave in to him. I couldn’t stand his pitiful look anymore. I would listen, but probably not change my thinking on Noah being a jerk. As I followed Noah out of the terminal I could see his haste. He walked to the far end of a large parking lot where there were less cars and people that might be listening and the stopped to wait for me to catch up. Again his face had the same regretful, pitiful look. When I reached him, he fell to his knees as if to beg me for forgiveness.
“Nessie, I’m so…SO sorry about what I said to you. I should know better than to treat someone else the way people treat me. I really messed everything up. It’s just that I really had no idea that…well vampires existed. I thought it was just all make believe. And I’m not saying that you are one. I know you’re not…you just caught me way off guard when I saw you that night. I mean you’re my best friend. Or at least you were till all this happened. I don’t want to lose you over this. It’s killing me that I hurt you like I did. Please, please forgive me. I’m the monster here not you. Please say you’ll forgive me.” He begged
I stared at him for a moment. The tremendous pleading in his eyes and his voice melted my anger for him. I heard all the sincerity in his voice. I knew he meant every word. I felt kind of stupid letting him hang there. But I wanted to let every word he said sink into me.
“Please Nessie…I’m begging you. Forgive me?”
“Okay, Noah…I forgive you”
“YES! Oh, thank you!” He said as he jumped to his feet and hugged me. Just as before my feet were completely off the ground as he laughed hysterically. When he finally put me down he took my hands into his. “Still friends?”
“Yeah, were still friends” I giggled.
“Oh that reminds me. I have something for you. A package came to the lab for you today. I went to your dorm to give it to you but your roommate told me you had already left for the airport. I have it stored in a locker at the terminal. It’s marked urgent.”
Noah held my hand as he led me into the terminal to his locker. When he opened the locker he turned and placed a brown box in my hands. It was cool to the touch. I read the name C. Cullen on the return address. I knew immediately what it was. My eyes lit up as I jumped up and down a little.
“What is it Nessie?” he said as he saw my excitement.
“Thanks Noah! I quickly pecked Noah on his cheek and headed out of the terminal. I could hear Noah following me. “Wait! Nessie! Where are you going? He called running behind me.
“I’ve got to get back to the lab!” I shouted back. I hailed the first taxi I could find and left Noah standing at the terminal entrance.
When I finally got back to school I immediately headed to the lab. I was too excited as my hands trembled slightly as a slowly opened the box at my station. Inside were two vials perfectly intact from their long journey and a note from Carlisle.
Nessie, here is everything you need. The red capped vial is Jacob/Human and the green capped vial is Jacob/Wolf. Destroy this note after you read it. Good Luck, Carlisle.
I happily grabbed butane lighter and burned the note as grabbed two microscopes and a handful of glass slides. I quickly extracted the blood and laid it out under the microscopes. Both specimens looked identical under the microscope. I guess Carlisle was just being safe. I was so deep in my examination that I didn’t hear the lab room door open at first but when I looked up I saw Noah was walking towards me.
“Noah…what are you doing here?” I said as I defensively came around my station.
“I thought…maybe since you helped me I could help you?”
“No...No I don’t need any help, but thanks.”
“Oh come on Nessie.”
“No my work is private”
“Come on we’re friends. I won’t tell anyone”
“No Noah!”
“Nessie, my work was private too…but I allowed you to see it. Come on I want to help. I thought we’re friends.”
“We are friends, but this is different”
“Nessie, I thought there we’re no more secrets between us. We know each other pretty well by now. Besides I’m not an A+ student because of my looks. If we work together it would be faster. Four hands are better than two you know.”
He was making a little too much sense for me. He was right though. I had seen his work. He had gotten a lot farther than I did in a lot less time. And right now time was not on my side. But how was I going to explain this to Noah without telling him too much. I just had to take the chance though. I would tell him as little as possible and hope it was enough.
“Okay, you can help”
“Good, let’s get to work then”
I got a third microscope as Noah put his lab coat on. Before I got to my station Noah was already peering thru the first microscope with Jacob’s human blood on the glass slide. I bit my finger to get a sample of my blood. I got so used to doing this as I let my blood drip onto another glass slide and put it under the microscope. Noah was busy looking at the second slide on the microscope next to mine.
“Huh, this is really interesting.” He said as he looked from one microscope to the other.
“What’s interesting?”
“Well the two samples look identical, except the first one is a bit more active.”
“More active?”
“Yeah, here take a look”
As I checked back and forth over the samples I did notice the slight difference. Jacob’s blood was a little more active when he was transformed. Other than that there really was no difference between the two.
“So whose blood is this anyway?” Noah asked
“I can’t tell you”
“Come on Nessie…no secrets, I can’t help if you don’t give me a little bit more to work with here”
“It’s a…friend?”
“A friend, like Jacob, huh?”
“No…”
“Nessie, come on you can tell me. I have a pretty big secret too and you haven’t told anyone about me. Why would I tell on you?”
“Okay, yes it’s Jacob’s”
“It’s remarkable you know”
“What is?”
“Jacob’s blood. It’s really interesting”
“Huh?”
“Never mind” He said as he went to the third microscope and peered into it. “And this is your blood Nessie?”
“Yes”
“Again, it’s remarkable. Looks like if I put the two of together…maybe the combination would look similar to mine.”
“What?” he could see the panic on my face.
“Nessie, I’m just kidding…relax. It’s just a joke!”
“It’s not a joke Noah.!”
Noah was smarter than I thought. I could hear the wheels in his mind kick into high gear. He figured out what I was looking for. A stunned expression crossed his face as he realized I was serious.
“Nessie, are you trying to find out if you and Jacob…if you…had…a…baby? Together? That the additional chromosomes might create something…like me?”
“Yes, Noah”
“Amazing…but doubtful. And I’m going to do everything I can to prove that to you, right now.”
Noah moved through the lab in a flurry of activity. He knew his purpose now. He dragged half the lab back over to two stations while I sat still watching him. His movements made me think of a mad scientist as he grabbed his notes out and took a blackboard. Feverishly his hands crossed over the blackboard as he cryptically scratched out the knowledge in his head with the chalk leaving a trail of light dust on the floor. The whirling and churning and bubbling of machines began to make me dizzy as Noah began to break down the puzzle I had given to him. Hour after hour went by while Noah lost no momentum. He checked his notes frequently, rubbing out huge sections on the blackboard and starting over. Over and over he kept changing the glass sides on the microscope. He preformed test after test after test and suddenly after what seemed like an eternity he went to the printer. He tapped his fingers on the side of the printer in anticipation as I waited. When the printer was finished he held up two pieces of paper and scrutinized the results. I didn’t move. I was too afraid to know the results now that it sat in his hand. I could see that he had the answer. He looked up at me with a puzzled look in his eyes.
“Nessie…I need you to come clean on something”
“What is it Noah?”
“Are you one hundred percent sure that you and Jacob are not related?”
“Yes, why?”
“Well if someone had just given these two pieces of paper to me and told me nothing else…I’d swear that…well someone had given me a duplication of one just to see if I was paying attention. I can’t tell the difference between you two. It’s like your twins or something. Even the twenty-forth chromosome is lined up perfectly. It’s like you two were genetically made to match. It’s the most unique thing I’ve ever seen. Here take a look.”
Noah handed me the two sheets of paper. I looked in disbelief. Noah was right, Jacob and I were perfectly matched. My hands started to shake as my emotions ran wild. Shock, Disbelief, Happiness, my body couldn’t make up its mind. Noah saw the strain I was going through as tears welled up in my eyes.
“Nessie, are you okay, say something”
I didn’t know what else to do. I dropped the papers and grabbed Noah around his waist in a vice grip hug and started crying. That freaked Noah out.
“Nessie…what’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy. I can’t see any reason why you and Jacob could not have a baby. There is no evidence that I can find to say that your baby might wind up…like me. It would be too easy. Genetic perfection!”
“I am happy Noah” I sobbed into his chest. “You just made me the happiest person on the planet, Thank you!”
“O-kay” He said and gently wrapped his massive arms around me and rubbed my back. “Glad I could help. But why did you think your baby might wind up like me? Isn’t Jacob like you, part vampire?”
The waterworks immediately shut off on me and I tensed up. I hadn’t told Noah about Jacob being a shape shifter who turns into a wolf. If Noah had been assuming the whole time that Jacob was part vampire then the results could be all wrong. I pulled away from Noah and looked up at him. I had to just spit it out about Jacob at this point. I had to know if the results were correct.
“No Noah, Jacob is not like me. Not like me at all.”
“Okay, then what’s different about him. Because I can’t figure it out unless you tell me”
“Jacob is a shape shifter”
“A what? You’re making this up right?”
“ Seriously he’s a shape shifter who changes into a wolf”
“Get outta here. Stop pulling my leg Nessie. Shape shifter. Ridiculous! He laughed
If Noah wouldn’t believe what I was saying then I’d have to show him. Concentrating on Jacob’s transformation I focused the image I wanted and touched Noah’s face quickly. Noah shot back across the station as I touched him and then shook his head. “Impossible!”
“What’s impossible, Noah. You’re real, I’m real and Jacob is real. We are all real! Every legend that anyone has ever told is real. I bet there are even real witches flying on broomsticks.”
“I believe in witches at this point. How do you do that? How do you put images in my head? Because it’s really freaking me out that you can do that.”
“I was born with a…talent”
“One hell of a talent, Nessie” Noah snorted
“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again”
“Yeah please don’t” Noah grinned slightly trying to hold a straight face
“Noah, you still think the results are accurate.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m positive. You both are definitely nothing like me.” He giggled, then busted out laughing. I couldn’t help myself as I busted out laughing too.
Nessie:
I was at the airport waiting. My flight was delayed due to weather conditions. I figured I’d better call home and let my mom know I was going to be late. As I dialed the phone, I was thinking about the last time I had seen my parents. I wasn’t told what the outcome was of my fight with my father. I nervously waited as the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey Mom, its Nessie.”
“Hey, honey! Are you calling from the plane?”
“No, my flight was delayed.”
“Oh…well that’s okay honey. I’ll pick you up from the airport. Just call me when you’re in the air so I know what time to meet your flight.”
“How’s dad?”
“I wouldn’t know, honey.”
“What…why?”
“Nessie your father and I are separated.”
“Separated…”
“After what he did to you, I just…can’t forgive him for hurting you. I just can’t.”
I was silent as the news churned my stomach. I was really hoping that my parents had gotten over the fight and made up. But, my mother’s words confirmed my worst fears. My parents had separated…over me…over me and Jacob? I didn’t have words for what I was feeling right now.
“Honey, Nessie are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m hear mom.”
“Honey, don’t worry about this right now. We can talk when you come home, okay?”
“Okay, mom. I love you and I’ll call you soon.”
“Okay, sweetie, I’ll be waiting here, bye”
Bye.” I said as I slowly hung up the phone. I stood for a moment looking at the phone and shook my head as if I could actually shake off the idea of my parents not being together. When I finally turned around, Noah was standing behind me. He stared at me with a completely pitiful look in his eyes.
“Hey, Nessie”
“Noah, what are you doing here?”
“I’m catching a flight home, but it was delayed.”
“Oh”
“Nessie…I’m really sorry about what happen in the field. I was a real jerk to you. I just…”
“Yeah you are a jerk.”
“I know I am, but I really want to do my best to apologize anyway. If you don’t accept it, I can understand. But at least let me try first”
“I’m listening”
“Not here though, can we just take a walk or something. I heard you flight was delayed too.”
“You were listening to me on the phone?!”
“Not intentionally…I was just waiting for you to hang up, that’s all… I really wanted to apologize to you. Please take a walk with me.”
“Okay” I gave in to him. I couldn’t stand his pitiful look anymore. I would listen, but probably not change my thinking on Noah being a jerk. As I followed Noah out of the terminal I could see his haste. He walked to the far end of a large parking lot where there were less cars and people that might be listening and the stopped to wait for me to catch up. Again his face had the same regretful, pitiful look. When I reached him, he fell to his knees as if to beg me for forgiveness.
“Nessie, I’m so…SO sorry about what I said to you. I should know better than to treat someone else the way people treat me. I really messed everything up. It’s just that I really had no idea that…well vampires existed. I thought it was just all make believe. And I’m not saying that you are one. I know you’re not…you just caught me way off guard when I saw you that night. I mean you’re my best friend. Or at least you were till all this happened. I don’t want to lose you over this. It’s killing me that I hurt you like I did. Please, please forgive me. I’m the monster here not you. Please say you’ll forgive me.” He begged
I stared at him for a moment. The tremendous pleading in his eyes and his voice melted my anger for him. I heard all the sincerity in his voice. I knew he meant every word. I felt kind of stupid letting him hang there. But I wanted to let every word he said sink into me.
“Please Nessie…I’m begging you. Forgive me?”
“Okay, Noah…I forgive you”
“YES! Oh, thank you!” He said as he jumped to his feet and hugged me. Just as before my feet were completely off the ground as he laughed hysterically. When he finally put me down he took my hands into his. “Still friends?”
“Yeah, were still friends” I giggled.
“Oh that reminds me. I have something for you. A package came to the lab for you today. I went to your dorm to give it to you but your roommate told me you had already left for the airport. I have it stored in a locker at the terminal. It’s marked urgent.”
Noah held my hand as he led me into the terminal to his locker. When he opened the locker he turned and placed a brown box in my hands. It was cool to the touch. I read the name C. Cullen on the return address. I knew immediately what it was. My eyes lit up as I jumped up and down a little.
“What is it Nessie?” he said as he saw my excitement.
“Thanks Noah! I quickly pecked Noah on his cheek and headed out of the terminal. I could hear Noah following me. “Wait! Nessie! Where are you going? He called running behind me.
“I’ve got to get back to the lab!” I shouted back. I hailed the first taxi I could find and left Noah standing at the terminal entrance.
When I finally got back to school I immediately headed to the lab. I was too excited as my hands trembled slightly as a slowly opened the box at my station. Inside were two vials perfectly intact from their long journey and a note from Carlisle.
Nessie, here is everything you need. The red capped vial is Jacob/Human and the green capped vial is Jacob/Wolf. Destroy this note after you read it. Good Luck, Carlisle.
I happily grabbed butane lighter and burned the note as grabbed two microscopes and a handful of glass slides. I quickly extracted the blood and laid it out under the microscopes. Both specimens looked identical under the microscope. I guess Carlisle was just being safe. I was so deep in my examination that I didn’t hear the lab room door open at first but when I looked up I saw Noah was walking towards me.
“Noah…what are you doing here?” I said as I defensively came around my station.
“I thought…maybe since you helped me I could help you?”
“No...No I don’t need any help, but thanks.”
“Oh come on Nessie.”
“No my work is private”
“Come on we’re friends. I won’t tell anyone”
“No Noah!”
“Nessie, my work was private too…but I allowed you to see it. Come on I want to help. I thought we’re friends.”
“We are friends, but this is different”
“Nessie, I thought there we’re no more secrets between us. We know each other pretty well by now. Besides I’m not an A+ student because of my looks. If we work together it would be faster. Four hands are better than two you know.”
He was making a little too much sense for me. He was right though. I had seen his work. He had gotten a lot farther than I did in a lot less time. And right now time was not on my side. But how was I going to explain this to Noah without telling him too much. I just had to take the chance though. I would tell him as little as possible and hope it was enough.
“Okay, you can help”
“Good, let’s get to work then”
I got a third microscope as Noah put his lab coat on. Before I got to my station Noah was already peering thru the first microscope with Jacob’s human blood on the glass slide. I bit my finger to get a sample of my blood. I got so used to doing this as I let my blood drip onto another glass slide and put it under the microscope. Noah was busy looking at the second slide on the microscope next to mine.
“Huh, this is really interesting.” He said as he looked from one microscope to the other.
“What’s interesting?”
“Well the two samples look identical, except the first one is a bit more active.”
“More active?”
“Yeah, here take a look”
As I checked back and forth over the samples I did notice the slight difference. Jacob’s blood was a little more active when he was transformed. Other than that there really was no difference between the two.
“So whose blood is this anyway?” Noah asked
“I can’t tell you”
“Come on Nessie…no secrets, I can’t help if you don’t give me a little bit more to work with here”
“It’s a…friend?”
“A friend, like Jacob, huh?”
“No…”
“Nessie, come on you can tell me. I have a pretty big secret too and you haven’t told anyone about me. Why would I tell on you?”
“Okay, yes it’s Jacob’s”
“It’s remarkable you know”
“What is?”
“Jacob’s blood. It’s really interesting”
“Huh?”
“Never mind” He said as he went to the third microscope and peered into it. “And this is your blood Nessie?”
“Yes”
“Again, it’s remarkable. Looks like if I put the two of together…maybe the combination would look similar to mine.”
“What?” he could see the panic on my face.
“Nessie, I’m just kidding…relax. It’s just a joke!”
“It’s not a joke Noah.!”
Noah was smarter than I thought. I could hear the wheels in his mind kick into high gear. He figured out what I was looking for. A stunned expression crossed his face as he realized I was serious.
“Nessie, are you trying to find out if you and Jacob…if you…had…a…baby? Together? That the additional chromosomes might create something…like me?”
“Yes, Noah”
“Amazing…but doubtful. And I’m going to do everything I can to prove that to you, right now.”
Noah moved through the lab in a flurry of activity. He knew his purpose now. He dragged half the lab back over to two stations while I sat still watching him. His movements made me think of a mad scientist as he grabbed his notes out and took a blackboard. Feverishly his hands crossed over the blackboard as he cryptically scratched out the knowledge in his head with the chalk leaving a trail of light dust on the floor. The whirling and churning and bubbling of machines began to make me dizzy as Noah began to break down the puzzle I had given to him. Hour after hour went by while Noah lost no momentum. He checked his notes frequently, rubbing out huge sections on the blackboard and starting over. Over and over he kept changing the glass sides on the microscope. He preformed test after test after test and suddenly after what seemed like an eternity he went to the printer. He tapped his fingers on the side of the printer in anticipation as I waited. When the printer was finished he held up two pieces of paper and scrutinized the results. I didn’t move. I was too afraid to know the results now that it sat in his hand. I could see that he had the answer. He looked up at me with a puzzled look in his eyes.
“Nessie…I need you to come clean on something”
“What is it Noah?”
“Are you one hundred percent sure that you and Jacob are not related?”
“Yes, why?”
“Well if someone had just given these two pieces of paper to me and told me nothing else…I’d swear that…well someone had given me a duplication of one just to see if I was paying attention. I can’t tell the difference between you two. It’s like your twins or something. Even the twenty-forth chromosome is lined up perfectly. It’s like you two were genetically made to match. It’s the most unique thing I’ve ever seen. Here take a look.”
Noah handed me the two sheets of paper. I looked in disbelief. Noah was right, Jacob and I were perfectly matched. My hands started to shake as my emotions ran wild. Shock, Disbelief, Happiness, my body couldn’t make up its mind. Noah saw the strain I was going through as tears welled up in my eyes.
“Nessie, are you okay, say something”
I didn’t know what else to do. I dropped the papers and grabbed Noah around his waist in a vice grip hug and started crying. That freaked Noah out.
“Nessie…what’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy. I can’t see any reason why you and Jacob could not have a baby. There is no evidence that I can find to say that your baby might wind up…like me. It would be too easy. Genetic perfection!”
“I am happy Noah” I sobbed into his chest. “You just made me the happiest person on the planet, Thank you!”
“O-kay” He said and gently wrapped his massive arms around me and rubbed my back. “Glad I could help. But why did you think your baby might wind up like me? Isn’t Jacob like you, part vampire?”
The waterworks immediately shut off on me and I tensed up. I hadn’t told Noah about Jacob being a shape shifter who turns into a wolf. If Noah had been assuming the whole time that Jacob was part vampire then the results could be all wrong. I pulled away from Noah and looked up at him. I had to just spit it out about Jacob at this point. I had to know if the results were correct.
“No Noah, Jacob is not like me. Not like me at all.”
“Okay, then what’s different about him. Because I can’t figure it out unless you tell me”
“Jacob is a shape shifter”
“A what? You’re making this up right?”
“ Seriously he’s a shape shifter who changes into a wolf”
“Get outta here. Stop pulling my leg Nessie. Shape shifter. Ridiculous! He laughed
If Noah wouldn’t believe what I was saying then I’d have to show him. Concentrating on Jacob’s transformation I focused the image I wanted and touched Noah’s face quickly. Noah shot back across the station as I touched him and then shook his head. “Impossible!”
“What’s impossible, Noah. You’re real, I’m real and Jacob is real. We are all real! Every legend that anyone has ever told is real. I bet there are even real witches flying on broomsticks.”
“I believe in witches at this point. How do you do that? How do you put images in my head? Because it’s really freaking me out that you can do that.”
“I was born with a…talent”
“One hell of a talent, Nessie” Noah snorted
“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again”
“Yeah please don’t” Noah grinned slightly trying to hold a straight face
“Noah, you still think the results are accurate.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m positive. You both are definitely nothing like me.” He giggled, then busted out laughing. I couldn’t help myself as I busted out laughing too.
