"Leah! Wait!" I yell running after my sister.

She disappears out the door and flies down the porch steps heading towards the woods.

"Leah!" Before I can get to her, her shadowy figure vanishes into the forest.

She was crying again about Dad. He died while on a hunting trip. According to Charlie – his best friend – he had a heart attack. Leah's been crying every night since it happened. Today marked one month.

As I turned to walk back into the house, I was surprised to find that it had started to snow in the dark of night. I didn't feel cold, so when I went back inside our quiet ranch on the Quileute Reservation, I was shocked to find that I was outside in twenty degree weather for fifteen minutes without even feeling a single sting of the crisp night air.

As the floorboards protested against my weight on them, (as they always do) I passed by my mom in the kitchen. Apparently she was on the phone because something she said caught my attention. I stopped and listened for a minute.

"Seth's been handling it well. He's been trying to help more around the house and he's been trying to help Leah...Yes, he is very mature for fifteen. He's been so helpful lately. He's growing up so fast...Would you believe he could crack more jokes than usual to try to cheer us up?" she asked with a small chuckle. There was another pause, but as the floorboards beneath me creaked again, she turned and caught my eye. "Oh! Charlie, I'm sorry. I have to go...Thank you...You too. Bye." She hung up the phone and walked over to me in her bathrobe and slippers. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I could ask the same about you," I joked. She laughed.

"I called Charlie just to check up on him and Bella. They seem to be getting along better now. And your excuse for going outside in the midst of the night is...?"

"Leah," I said sighing.

She nodded her head and sighed before talking again. "She'll come around. She's been through a lot. First she loses Sam to Emily and this. We just have to give her some time."

"Alright...I'm beat. See you in the morning."

"Night, Seth." She kissed me on my forehead and went back to the kitchen. "Oh, and Seth...?"

I turned and looked at her. "Thank you."

I smiled before heading to my room. I dragged my feet across the floor as I walked to my room. It was silent, breezy, and dark outside my window, with the breeze making a slight howling sound on the glass. The twin bed in corner was undone, and the only other thing in the room was the three-foot-high pile of clothes. I forced my mind to pull my legs forward, and rather than getting comfortable under the covers, I let my body collapse onto the bed with a thump.

I laid there and let my mind wander to everything Leah's been through. She was engaged to Sam, and he said he loved her.... But that was before he met our cousin, Emily. He immediately canceled the wedding, and then, he proposed to Emily. It was one of those blink – and – you'll – miss – it situations.

Leah isn't just my sister...she's my best friend. She's ten years older than me, but we do everything together. Seeing her this way has been breaking my heart. She stays up crying all the time and says she wants to be alone. She never was this way before. Leah's always been so strong...so confident. She was the Redwood tree that stood forever, tall and proud.

I just wish she was herself again.