14. Born Again

…I opened my eyes, and I could see! I looked around and immediately knew where I was, Edward’s room in the Forks house. I recognized the wrought iron bed; I saw the familiar wall of CDs and the wide window across the back of the room. Had it all been a dream? I tried to remember what had happened. I remembered the wedding, the honeymoon, Denali, and the attack. I remembered the cliff, the fall, and Edward and Jacob finding me. Edward, Jacob, where were they?! I was about to jump up to go search for them when I heard a faint noise to my side.

     I looked and saw Jacob sleeping in a chair. I looked at Jacob as though he were a hallucination that would vanish if I touched him. Then I noticed something odd; I could smell him. His odor was musky, woodsy, like a combination of animal and human. But, there was something else I smelled; I couldn’t quite identify it, but it had bitter pungent smell, I didn’t like it. I looked at Jacob’s sleeping face. It was peaceful, serene; it reminded me of when I first met him on First Beach. He looked like my Jacob. I had missed that Jacob. I felt strangely rested and strong, but I was content to lay there and look at him. I sat up, rested my cheek on my knees and just watched him. He was quantifiably older; it seemed he had aged while he had been away. Of course, I knew he had not. Like Edward, he could not age, or at least not quickly. I reassessed that his weeks on his own had not aged him, but rather had hardened him. I also realized I could hear a sound coming from Jacob. Like a soft thud, repeatedly in a rhythm all its own. I was not sure what it was at first, but out of nowhere the answer was clear to me; his heart! Odd that I should hear it from this distance I thought.

     Finally I whispered his name, “Jacob” I heard his heart beat slightly faster before he opened his eyes. He stared wide eyed at me for what seemed like a long time. His expression made me uneasy at first, so I did nothing and I waited for him to speak.