Rosemary was awake before she heard any movement from upstairs. The sun was just beginning to rise, shining through the thin curtains that covered her window. A morning chill had settled over the room, seeping through the framing of the house. I'll need to sleep in a sweater in the winter.

She stared up at the popcorn ceiling, looking for shapes in the pattern to distract her. La Push was very different from LA. There was the greenery, and of course the size and spacing of the town.

But the main thing was the quiet.

No matter what time of day, there was always something going on in LA. People going to and from work, coming home from a night out, road rage, unhappy children, drunken arguments and so many more.

There was hardly any of that here. She was pretty sure most of what she heard was from the wildlife.

Eventually, an alarm rang upstairs and it was immediately shut off. More silence. A little bit later it went off again; it had been snoozed. It was turned off again, and then again, and finally two people got up.

She was willing to bet it was Sue.

A minute later the shower turned on and someone was moving plates and mugs around in the kitchen; Harry. She smelled the breakfast before anything else; coffee, and there was definitely bacon cooking. That sent stumbling footsteps from the direction of Seth's room.

She listed as the footsteps from the bathroom made their way into the kitchen, and then there were hushed voices over the clanging of plates. Then; "Rosemary!" Seth yelled. "Get up here, it's breakfast!"

Not wanting to argue with him this early in the morning, Rosemary hauled herself off the air mattress and pulled on her sweater. Even with the carpeted floor her feet were still cold. She added fuzzy socks to her mental list.

The stairs creaked as she went up, but the air grew warmer and was accompanied by the scent of smoke. Someone had lit the wood fireplace in the living room. In the kitchen she was surprised to see she had been right. Harry was at the stove flipping bacon and fried eggs, Sue was pouring her coffee into a travel mug, and Seth was barely awake at the table.

Sue gestured to sit down while screwing the lid on her mug and then asked, "did you sleep okay?"

"I did," Rosemary nodded as she followed the direction. "Thank you."

"She needs a lamp," Seth mumbled, rubbing his eyes repeatedly. "And a clock. And clothes."

"And you need to go tell your sister breakfast is ready and she needs to eat," Sue said to him.

Immediately, his tired eyes were wide open. "Mom," he said. Clearly that was something neither wanted to do.

"Seth," she countered, one brown raised. They stared at each other for a long moment before Seth finally grimaced and rose from his seat. Sue then resumed what she was doing. "You can help yourself to the coffee, there milk and sugar somewhere...cereal in that cupboard, there might be some granola but I'm not sure. And there's fruit in the fridge."

"I'll go out and get myself groceries," Rosemary shook her head gently. "I really appreciate it but you've already let me in your house—"

"—eat," Sue cut her off.

Rosemary opened her mouth to object again, only to receive the same look Seth had gotten earlier. No room for argument. When she looked over to Harry for help, he was drinking his own coffee. His brows raised and his smile was hidden his mug. He didn't say anything but the sentiment was clear; you can argue if you want, but you're on your own.

Eventually, Rosemary was sat at the table eating eggs and fruit next to Seth. Sue was getting ready to head off to work, and was rushing both her kids so she could drive them to school and still be on time. Seth rushed down to his room to grab his things. Leah went out the door after her mom, taking a bite out of an apple as she went.

Then Seth came stumbling down the hall. His backpack was hanging on one shoulder and he stuffed his feet into his shoes and jogged out the door, yelling goodbye as he left.

The car started outside, and she briefly heard Seth and Leah arguing over the front seat. It ended quickly, and then he was in the back seat and they were pulling out of the driveway.

The house was swallowed in silence.

Harry closed his eyes and took another sip of his coffee. "Peaceful, isn't it?"

"Weirdly, yeah."

•••••

That afternoon, after making a full list of the things she would need, Rosemary had a quick shower, got herself dressed, and asked Harry to give her directions into town. When he offered to just drive her, she declined. Then he said, "does it look like I'll be doing anything else? Help an old man get out of the house once in a while," and she had to agree.

The first thing she needed was a job.

She mentioned to Harry the diner Seth had told her about, run by someone named Mona, and he'd immediately know what she meant. "You'll love her," he promised. The drive was only five or so minutes.

Harry was right. After a simple ten minute conversation with Mona — an old woman who was somewhat deaf and too stubborn to use a walker when she should've — Rosemary had a job. For the most part she would be waitressing, and was asked her availability.

"I'm finished school," Rosemary told her with a small smile. "I can work whatever hours you need me to."

And so it was decided that she would be working opening shifts with Mona herself. Her shift would begin at 5AM, which she thought was mildly horrifying, but it just meant adjusting her sleep schedule. She wouldn't do it without complaint, and ask to change it after a while.

From the diner, Harry then took her to one of the clothing stores further into town. She was able to get quite a few things; fleece lined leggings, sweatpants, jeans, comfortable tops, tops more suited for work, and a couple hats. She already had her winter jacket, so she was happy. They made another stop at the general store in town where she bought herself socks and underwear.

She told Harry the other things on her list;

     — alarm clock
     — cell phone
     — mattress
     — bedside lamp
     — dresser
     — curtains
     — shelves
— books

and he suggested that she either order online or check the local thrift stores.

By mid afternoon, the tarp in the back of Harry's truck covered two bedside tables, a lamp and the drawers of a dresser; someone from the thrift store was following them with the actual dresser itself in his truck, as Harry's was too full. Behind the drivers seat, she had a box of second-hand books, a nice thick table cloth to cover the desk, and a little standing mirror she could use to put on her makeup.

It took her another hour to properly set up her new furniture and get everything into place. She put the new clothes in for a wash, re inflated the air mattress as it had gone down a bit over night, and fixed her blankets. With Harry's help she was able to order a set of shelves and some curtains from the family computer.

They were set to arrive in two or three weeks.

Once her room was close to where she wanted it she gave everything a good wipe down. She moved the laundry, wandered upstairs to find a new bulb for the lamp, and looked through the books to fix any bent or crumpled pages. After a good few minutes of dusting the lampshade was essentially clean. She only had to scrub at a couple spots on the base of it.

After taking a breather and going upstairs for a glass of water, she had laid the table cloth over the top of the desk and went to work putting her books into piles. It wasn't an overly intricate system; piled by genre and then series put in order within them. It didn't take long, but by the end of it she was fighting to get the window open for some airflow. The pages were all quite dusty.

By then the laundry was done so she hauled all of that into her room and dumped it onto the bed. The clothes were all folded when the front door creaked open above her. Seth and Leah were bickering about something again, and Rosemary could only laugh.

She was deciding what would go into which drawer when three knocks sounded off the hallway outside her room. Seth rounded the corner a moment later. He took a long look around, his face clearly impressed. "Not bad," he admitted.

"Thank you very much," Rosemary grinned. "I told you to give me some time."

He took another quick look at the pile of clothes, and clapped his hands together. "Get dressed, Rosie, we're going out." Rosemary looked down pointedly to her jeans and sweatshirt, brows raised. "I meant into something warm, you'll freeze outside in that."

"Why the hell am I going outside?"

"Because I'm taking you to the beach, dingus."

The kettle whistled loudly upstairs. She stared at Seth for a long moment in which he stared right back, unblinking. When it became clear she wouldn't be able to get out of it, she sighed. He had the same stare as his mother when he wanted to. Rosemary grabbed some of her newly folded clothes.

He grinned at her reluctance and dramatically ran back upstairs.

Fleece-lined leggings, a long sleeved shirt, thick socks and then her sweater over top. She slid on her shoes and grabbed her heavy jacket from the desk chair.

When she got upstairs, Seth was just coming out of the kitchen with a travel thermos. "Hot chocolate," he smiled while holding it out to her. "Even with the coat you'll freeze, so..."

"I adore you," Rosemary smiled back at him.

From there, Seth yelled that they were going to the beach — Harry yelled back an unintelligible series of sounds — and they were off. The rain had picked up slightly, now falling at a heavy drizzle. Small puddles were now filling the dips in the roads.

There weren't many people out as they walked through the small portion of town. A few kids her age were walking with backpacks on and hoods up. Parents stopping at the general store. Getting gas.

Seth directed her to the end of town, which continued on to a much busier road. Apparently it was one off of the highway. They walked for a good twenty minutes while Rosemary sipped at her drink, kicking sticks and chatting. Even with the hot chocolate her hands were bordering numb.

They rounded a corner and while the road continued on further than she could see, a strip had been cleared on either side where gravel replaced dirt; parking spaces. Beyond those spaces, it was just trees and highway. Seth all but dragged her down the road until the twos of trees on the right ended and gave way to something beautiful. As far as Rosemary could see was open sky over water.

Massive clouds in greys and whites and hues of bruise blue and purple smothered the blue sky. All of these colours reflected onto the water. Further down the road the ground rose to a hill that eventually became a rocky cliff face in the distance. Swirls of dried and dying leaves billowed in the winds around her, the sounds whistling over the ground and through the narrow walkway that lead down to the pebbles and sand.

Even with the cold sinking through her layers of clothing, Rosemary could only stare. It was incredibly common to see sunny beaches and white sand going on for miles in LA. There were a few beaches that looked like this somewhere in the state, but she had never seen them in person.

But this...

"Holy shit," Rosemary breathed out. Her brown eyes were wide enough that the wind had them pricking with tears.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Seth grinned from beside her.

She could only shake her head in astonishment. "It's beautiful."

"It's even nicer when we get sun."

"I'd rather this," Rosemary said without putting much thought into it. "Sunny beaches are always crowded and overrated. You can...you could find peace here."

I could write here.

After snickering at her amazement, Seth dragged her down the two dozen steps to the sand.

The wind was sharper right at the water. There was nothing around to block it, and Rosemary could hear it whistling through the trees above them. Logs and sticks of varying sizes littered the beach. Fallen trees. Snapped branches. Entire trunks. It was a mess of nature, and it was perfect.

Seated on one of the logs off to the left of the stairs was two teenage boys. They both seemed unrealistically tall for their age. One taller of the way was more fit, and had his shoulder-length black in a ponytail to keep the wind from blowing it into his face. The other was gangly, a little more awkward, and his hair was curly and cut quite short.

The two of them were in deep conversation, so focused it was as if they hadn't even realized others had come down the stairs. "That's Jacob," Seth told her quietly, gestured to the boy with long hair. "Jacob Black, his dad and my dad are friends so you'll probably see him around a lot."

Rosemary's head tilted to the left. "And that one?" She asked of the other.

"That's Quil, uh...his Grandfather is also friends with my dad and Jacobs dad so he might be around a lot too. I don't know, they've been having dinners more and more often, either ours or the Black's...oh, that's Jacobs last name. I think they're getting sentimental or something, probably gonna become little old ladies gossiping over the photos you brought."

Rosemary couldn't help but laugh. The sound carried with the help of the wind and the two boys — Jacob and Quil — looked over. "Hey Jake!" Seth yelled, waving with more enthusiasm than Rosemary had in her entire body.

After a moment the two boys waved back and yelled something that the wind carried away, and Seth was dragging her down to the water to look at shells.