There was an indefinite

I stared back at him, frozen on the sidewalk.

"Bella?" Jess whispered. "What are you doing?"

I shook my head, not sure myself. "I think I know them…" I muttered.

What was I doing? I should be running from this memory as fast as I could, blocking the image of the
four lounging men from my mind, protecting myself with the numbness I couldn't function without. Why
was I stepping, dazed, into the street?

It seemed too coincidental that I should be in Port Angeles with Jessica, on a dark street even. My eyes
focused on the short one, trying to match the features to my memory of the man who had threatened me
that night almost a year ago. I wondered if there was any way I would recognize the man, if it was really
him. That particular part of that particular evening was just a blur. My body remembered it better than my
mind did; the tension in my legs as I tried to decide whether to run or to stand my ground, the dryness in
my throat as I struggled to build a decent scream, the tight stretch of skin across my knuckles as I
clenched my hands into fists, the chills on the back of my neck when the dark-haired man called me
"sugar."…

There was an indefinite, implied kind of menace to these men that had nothing to do with that other night.
It sprung from the fact that they were strangers, and it was dark here, and they outnumbered us—nothing
more specific than that. But it was enough that Jessica's voice cracked in panic as she called after me.

"Bella, come on!"

I ignored her, walking slowly forward without ever making the conscious decision to move my feet. I
didn't understand why, but the nebulous threat the men presented drew me toward them. It was a
senseless impulse, but I hadn't felt any kind of impulse in so long… I followed it.

Something unfamiliar beat through my veins. Adrenaline, I realized, long absent from my system,
drumming my pulse faster and fighting against the lack of sensation. It was strange—why the adrenaline
when there was no fear? It was almost as if it were an echo of the last time I'd stood like this, on a dark
street in Port Angeles with strangers.