I sat there, rather calm, for a while, attempting to absorb the information with which I had just been presented. I guess I should have expected it, to some extent. After all, about half the pack had imprinted when I’d left, and Jake had told me that they had realised that it was more common than the legends had said. 

“All the pack has now.” He spoke quietly, but due to the silence surrounding us, I could hear him perfectly. I nodded feebly, only half-conscious of my actions. This was just…wow. It was totally unexpected on my part. I mean, after all he’d said…

“How long ago?” I asked the question only to give myself more time to think and reflect upon his words. Perhaps all hope for me was lost; and had been since I’d made that choice to move here…perhaps even from the time I’d been born.

He screwed up his face in an attempt to recall some memory. I continued to avoid eye contact, and started fiddling with something that lay next to my foot.

“I can’t really remember. All my memories of around that time are blurred. I think it might have been a few months after you left. Yeah-that seems about right. About the time I started going out of the house; talking to people again. I was with most of the pack, and we were just wandering around; one of them said we should go visit someone. A girl. So, we went. She couldn’t move, couldn’t get out of bed, just lying there. And when I saw her, I immediately recognised how I felt-I recognised, from the others’ memories, exactly what was going on. They saw it in my face, and so they left after a few minutes. If I hadn’t believed in…the supernatural before that time, I wouldn’t have questioned it then.” He gave a small, watery smile, and then turned his head away. I stared at his face, wondering.

“Why-” I cleared my throat, “Why couldn’t she…move?” I regretted the question immediately as I saw a tear running down his face, slowly dropping onto the floor. I felt like crying myself, though I was not entirely sure why. I guess it was the pain from seeing his pain, like before.

“There was…an accident. A few years ago. Something to do with a shooting; no one ever really knew what had happened. A bullet lodged in her spine…she lost the use of her legs, and part of the use of her arms. The doctors still aren’t sure to what extent the damage is. She can breathe by herself, and she can talk. But she needs a wheelchair to move around, and she can’t really do anything else,” A sob broke through his restraint, “She’s not that badly affected, considering. It could have been much worse, and her organs still function properly, so she’s effectively ‘healthy’. Aside from being a paraplegic, that is.”

I sat perfectly still, shocked, and feeling sick. I couldn’t believe the atrocity of it-Jacob had finally imprinted after so much unhappiness…and then this. I felt nauseous, that this was how luck turned out. I wondered if Jacob was actually happy-or whether he hated the way things had turned out. Did he spend his days happy for the good he had found or miserable for the bad?

I didn’t think that any words I could say would be enough, and so I placed my arm around his shoulders, and pulled him close, for once knowing that the tears were not my own-but the pain was shared regardless.