Prompt: Multimedia Share: Search Google or YouTube for one of the following words, then select a search result at random and write about it: Flock, horse, crumple
BPOV
Devastated. Completely devastated. And to think the day had started out so well.
I spent the weekend with Charlie in Forks to celebrate his birthday. He grumpled the whole time that he didn't care much for birthdays, but I could tell that he was glad I came home to spend time with him. When I put a plate of his favorite lasagna with garlic bread and tossed salad in front of him, the look of ecstasy on his face was priceless. My dad was a man of few words and didn't do well with expressing his feelings, so when he pulled me into an awkward hug and mumbled “Thank You”, I knew he was grateful I came home.
Before heading back to Seattle, I decided to take detour to First Beach and play around with my new digital camera that Jake had bought me for my birthday. The camera was state of the art and he had also purchased high quality lenses. He really should not have spent so much on a gift for me, but trying to talk him out of something was like talking to a brick wall. He was so stubborn sometimes, but I loved him. I was disappointed that he could not come back to Forks with me this weekend, but he had to stay behind and work at the Auto Shop he managed.
Jacob Black and I had been a couple for as long as I could remember. Even before he asked me to “go steady” with him when we were in junior high, we were inseparable. Jake grew up in La Push, the Quileute Indian Reservation, and his dad, Billy, was a good friend to Charlie. I don't remember a time in my life that Jake was not around. We played together on the beach as kids, building sandcastles and chasing each other in the ice cold waters of the Pacific Ocean. As I got older, my feelings for him evolved as well and he transformed from being Jake, my best friend and playmate to Jake, the boy that I loved. After I became his girlfriend, not much changed. We still hung out together like we did before, but we also held hands and stole kisses when our fathers weren't looking.
It almost seemed like a foregone conclusion that Jake and I would be together forever. In high school, nobody ever bothered to ask me out on a date because it was common knowledge that I was “Jake's Girl”. After we graduated from high school, we both moved to Seattle, he apprenticed in a repair shop while I went to college at the University of Washington. Last year, after I graduated with a teaching credential, I was offered a position teaching freshmen English at the local high school and I jumped at the opportunity. Jake was a fantastic mechanic and had worked his way up to manage the shop he worked in. We shared a small two bedroom house that we could just afford on our meager incomes, but we were blissfully happy. Or so I thought. Jake asked me to marry him a couple months ago, just before school started up and we were planning the wedding for the following June.
It was a rare sunny day in La Push and families were out enjoying the beach. I waved and greeted friends and acquaintances as I made my way along the beach. I took a few shots of a little girl building sandcastles, a couple action shots of local boys surfing in the tumbling swells off the shore, I even did a candid shot of an unsuspecting couple walking along picking up rocks and shells.
Photography has been my passion since I was a young girl. My dad gave me my first camera when I was eight years old and I have been capturing snapshots of the world around me ever since. I have never had any formal photography classes, but my friends and family tell me that I have a natural eye for catching images of life and nature from a unique perspective.
I was turning to head back to my truck when I hear the rustle of feathers in motion and the squawks from a flock of seagulls. They were rapidly flying toward me and I had to duck down low to the ground to avoid a bird careening into my forehead. On instinct, I raised my camera and pressed the shutter, hoping to get a halfway decent picture. After the birds were gone, I raised up and walked the rest of the way to my truck. Once inside, I could not resist the temptation to look at my most recent shots on the LCD screen of the camera. I flipped through the images quickly and was pleased with what I saw. When I got to the last picture, the one with the flock of seagulls, my breath caught.
I could not believe the perspective and motion that I had unknowingly captured. Off in the distance the waves were rolling in and a couple people stood near the water looking out toward the sea. The sky was a perfectly clear blue, the sun was bright in the sky and reflected off the water. There was a boy running carefree in the sand amongst the birds. There were nearly a hundred seagulls flying toward the forefront of the image in various stages of flight. They looked like they were right on top of me, still in flight and I almost felt like ducking for cover again. I had never taken a shot that encompassed so much life and motion, and I was overwhelmed with pride for such an accomplishment.
I couldn't wait to get home to load the picture onto my laptop and show Jake. I love the process of editing images and I was excited to tweak the shot in PhotoShop, my photo editing software. I drove home to Seattle as fast as my old truck would take me, and pulled up onto our street three hours later. The first thing I noticed was that Jake's VW Rabbit was parked in the driveway. I thought this was strange since he was supposed to be working today. I also spotted a red BMW convertible parked next to Jake's car.
“Hmm,” I mumbled to myself. “I wonder who is here?”
The answer to that question rocked my world. I gathered my overnight bag as well as my camera bag, and hauled them it into the house. I was just about to throw my stuff on the couch and find Jake, when I saw what looked to be a very expensive ladies handbag sitting on the end table next to an assortment of framed pictures of Jake and I over the years. I suddenly had a bad feeling grip me. Something was definitely not right with this situation.
I climbed the stairs after surveying the lower level without finding Jake and the feeling of dread only increased. As I got closer to our room, the cries and moans painted a clear picture of what was happening in the room I shared with my fiance. I had a decision to make. Did I want to open the door and be confronted my the visual image of his infidelity or did I want to just descend the stairs, get back in my truck and drive away?
The Bella I was before this moment, timid and shy, an accommodating pushover, wanted nothing more than to run. The Bella I became when my mind finally wrapped around the reality that the man I loved was nothing more than a cheating son of a bitch was filled with anger and wanted to burst through the door and tear them both apart. Angry tears threatened to spill over, but I stubbornly wiped them away and swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat. I was not going to allow them the satisfaction of seeing just how much pain I was in.
I gently turned the handle of the door, mentally steeling myself for what I was going to see. They didn't notice my presence right away. I saw clothing scattered all over the floor. An unfamiliar odor that could only be described as sex was thick in the room. I didn't know the odor first hand because I had made a commitment to retain my virginity until my wedding night. I didn't do this because of any religious belief or anything of the sort. I knew I was a plain girl with an average body. I didn't come from money and I didn't have much to offer my husband. I decided long ago that the one gift I could give my husband on the occasion of our wedding was my purity. I always assumed that I would be sharing that experience for the first time with Jake. I raised my eyes to the scene unfolding on the bed-our bed. I couldn't take much more of this so I cleared my throat.
All the disgusting noises stopped and motion ceased as they realized that they were not alone. Jake looked over his shoulder with wide eyes. He visibly paled as he pulled away from his...tramp. As his body moved to the side, I finally got a glimpse of the woman that he was fucking Jake and tearing my world apart. I could not deny that she was beautiful with her long blond hair and piercing blue eyes. She had the look of a model with her long legs and pert breasts. I wondered if they were real. She wore an evil smirk on her face, clearly she was pleased with herself.
“Bella, ah..uh, this isn't what it looks like,” Jake stammered and he reached down the floor and scrambled to put on his jeans.
I gave him an incredulous look. Was he out of his mind? “Really, Jake? Because I am pretty sure this is exactly what it looks like. How could you do this to me? What did I do wrong?”
Jake stood up and approached me as I took a step back. “Bells, I am so sorry. Please forgive me. This was a one time thing and it will never happen again. Please, just give me a chance,” Jake pleaded.
The blonde bombshell snorted. “Just a one time thing? If you are too chickenshit to tell Mary Poppins over there that we have been having sex for the past three months, then I will,” she turned to me, still smirking. “Apparently, since you won't put out till you say 'I do', Jake here had to seek out his release elsewhere.”
“Get dressed and get out!” Jake roared at her. She rolled her eyes and shrugged before she gathered her clothes.
I had seen and heard enough. I had to get out of there. Now. I turned away from them and walked down the stairs. As I made my way onto the porch, Jake caught up to me, followed by his fuck buddy.
He grabbed my arm desperately. “Where are you going?” he fumed.
“Don't touch me!” I bit back. I yanked my arm free from his grasp. “You lost the right to know where I am going when you stuck your cock into that whore over there.” I emphasized this by pointing exaggeratedly at the unnamed blond home wrecker.
A look of anger overtook the smirk that was previously plastered across her face. “Look here bitch,” she seethed at me. “Who do you think you are calling a wh-”.
“Save it Barbie, I really don't care what you have to say for yourself. You can have him.”
“Bella, please wait, honey, don't..don't leave me” Jake said weakly. His shoulders were slumped forward in defeat.
“Go to hell, Jake,” I yelled back at him. I walked away, flipping him off over my shoulder. I climbed into the cab of my truck and drove away without looking back.
I finally allowed my tears to fall freely.
What a lovely picture. Great job.
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