'Jacob, I'm sorry.' Send.

An hour passed. I spent it watching the Sunday morning advance in the form of heavier and heavier rain.

'Jake, I was wrong; I need to tell you something.' Send.

I let a day pass, almost. The rain blew away. Clouds stayed. I watched the sun set, I spent the day writing out mad theories on my computer, I only left to grab some popcorn and head back up to bed.

'Jacob Black, I can explain I swear. You were right. Can we talk?' Oh, why even bother? But still. I hit send.

I let a week pass. I let Isabella do the chasing.

"Bill says he's sick." Bella told me before school Monday. "Mono."

"Oh," was all I had to say, already stomping my way to the car. I couldn't help but pause in the door for one question. "You speak to him?"

"Jacob?"

"Yeah."

"No. Billy said he was too sick."

"Oh."

So, fine. I let a week pass.

...

'Feeling better?'

Friday night I try again. It feels like a huge risk, those two words. Admitting I care when I don't think he still does. But it was a bigger risk when I told him I didn't want him, a risk I hadn't thought through. One night's sleep had been all it had taken to realize I could have asked for his help instead. Sure, Gen: you can't handle all these problems and fears on your own. Fine. So maybe don't try to. Sheesh.

Too late now, I suppose.

No reply.

He could at least reply.

I fall asleep angry.

...

"I'm worried about Jacob."

I opened my eyes to stare at my sister's shape in the dark room, completely at a loss for the situation I currently found myself in. Middle of the night, two weeks since I'd talked to either Bella or Jacob, first time I could remember her coming up to my makeshift attic bedroom... "What are you doing?"

"I'm talking to you." Bella said. "I thought that's what you wanted."

"Meh." I buried my face in the pillow but she continued.

"I think Billy lied."

"No s***."

"I don't think Jacob was sick."

"So he's avoiding us. So screw him." I'm not sure how much of this she was understanding through the pillow so I turned my head. "If he doesn't want to be friends with the moronic Swan twins, good for him."

"But I don't... I don't think it's what he wants." Bella insisted, leaning over me to lower her voice even more. She was practically hissing in my ear... "That's... not Jacob."

"I don't care."

Bella fell silent finally but I felt the bed sag as she sat down beside me. Giving up, I rolled over and stared up at the shadows that made up my ceiling.

"Theory?"

"You know Embry?" Bella pulled herself further onto my bed, forcing me to pull my feet up for fear of being sat on.

I yawned as I curled my arms around my knees, wishing she'd saved this conversation for a less ridiculous time. "Yeah. Hangs around with Paul now. Used to hang with Jake and Quil. One of those douches."

"Exactly." Bella bit her lip. "Charlie was up fishing with Harry. He... He saw Jake with those guys."

"Wouldn't Jake hanging out with Embry again be a good thing?" For him, at least. I knew it was what Jake had wanted. Maybe we'd just been filling his time until he got his real friend back?

"It's not... There's something weird about those guys. Sam and Paul... Jacob doesn't like them either."

"So?" I sat up, getting out of bed to get away from her hushed tone, the voice that sounded like it was working up to some horror story. "So Sam is weird. So Paul is a suspicious guy; that's nothing too new. And since when do you share when there's something weird going on?"

I found myself by the back window, looking dozily out on the forest. Moonlight sparkled on the trees, creating a peaceful scene: it only took one breath of wind for me to have to screw up my eyes against the movement, wondering what was hiding out there.

"Gen?"

"You know I like 'Genevieve'." I ground my palms into my eyes, not giving her time to respond. "Why are you worrying about this now? Why tell me?"

She was silent for a second and I knew before she spoke that she was about to tell a lie, or at least a half lie. "Charlie said there are animals in the woods again."

"Yeah? Again: no s***. Attacks have been going on for months." I glared out at the forest, again seeing movement—this time an animal—but forcing myself to keep looking. "That has to do with us, not Jacob."

Yeah, so I lied right back; I wasn't about to spill my crazy theories about Paul just yet. Especially not if it meant Jacob was involved and I might endanger him. I frowned: why was that a worry? Did I think she was right about Jacob... Had I gotten Jacob involved in this by not being straight with him?

"Gen... Gen, I just wanted..." She started over. "Jake has the motorcycles so I was trying to think of something else to do."

"Oh, that's a good point." I pulled out my phone, half listening as I texted out an angry message about getting Bella's bike back. "Something else?" I added, not paying much attention to what I was writing.

"Like a hike... or... " She shrugged, getting off the bed and finally turning on a light. I blinked over at her as she returned to the bed through my messy room. "Something fun. Something to get our minds of things. Something exciting."

"Like riding a motorcycle. Or hiking in the... er, 'animal' infested woods." I emphasized the word animal and gave a triumphant smile as I saw her wince. Were we really still not talking openly about this? Was she really still so loyal to that dick that she wouldn't open up? "So what, take up skydiving? You don't even like normal sports."

"I'm tougher then you think." Bella retorted.

"What cause you dated the Dick?" I scowled. "Because you came to save me from those freaks?"

Bella winced again. "We don't need to talk about-"

"No. No, we don't need to talk about that! Know why?" I raised my scarred hand to wave it at her, too tired and angry and lonely to hold things in anymore. "Because I already know. I know about f***ing vampires. I know there's something weird about the Cullens. I know there's something odd in LaPush and that something's just as wrong with Paul and who knows what he's done to Jacob—" I had to stop there for a moment, a catch in my voice I didn't want Isabella to notice. As she tried to speak up, I managed to wave her off and thunder on. "If I was going to tell anyone any of this crap I would have done it already, genius."

"I didn't... it's dangerous." Bella stuttered.

"Yeah, blah blah blah. Don't want to out your weirdo ex who abandoned you in the woods." I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "It's like a bad fairytale."

Bella pulled back. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Neither do I; he's an ass. But at some point you have to share with your freaking sister." Am I really letting her fix this? Wouldn't it be easier to hold a grudge? Geez, I'm tired. "You spill. I spill."

"Gen... one thing he did tell me before he left..." She swallowed hard. "It's dangerous for you. It's dangerous for you and Charlie, even for me to know about... all that. There are... people who won't like it."

"Vampires who won't like it, you mean." Any lightness in my voice was gone. "Don't pretend you kept your secrets for my sake."

"I'm not—Gen, I'm sorry."

"I know it was for him. It's always for him. I bet somehow this conversation right now is for him." She didn't respond and practically growled my next words, barely remembering that we were trying not to wake Dad. "It is, isn't it? What you have some way to get him back?"

Isabella had nothing to say to this: she just stared at me, trying to find an excuse, a way to explain. She had nothing. I shook my head.

"So a hike, that's what you want." I walked over to the door and opened it, refusing to look at her. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Genny—"

"I'm done talking until you do some explaining." I hissed, glancing down the stairs for any sign of movement. "Out."

"Alright."

She slipped out quietly and I returned to bed, only to spend the rest of the night staring into the dark.

Yet again, my eyes saw more than shadows staring back.

...

I got out of work at the café at around 4:20 and was practically bouncing from caffeine overdose when I arrived home to see if Bella still wanted to talk to me. As I thought back to our conversation the night before and to spending an afternoon trying to pry secrets out of her without messing her up more... I was starting to realize just how much I was going to miss Jacob if we didn't fix things.

Either that or my three hours of sleep last night was causing my brain to short circuit.

I pulled up to our old house in our crappy old house in my cruddy white chevy to see my messed up sister waiting in her stupid orange truck. She didn't notice me driving up, her mind completely focused on reading some old map she'd dug up—probably from her job at the Newton's store. I could only hope she'd managed to get some survival gear as well, not that it would stand up if we really were attacked by something out there.

"Boo!"

I laughed a bit too long as Bella jumped and turned to glare at me. It really was her fault for all the interruptions she'd given my sleep cycle and I told her as much as I clambered into her truck.

"If you say so: and you're alright taking my truck?" She asked.

I glanced around the thing, wishing I had a reason to say no. "It has a better track record. And if we go missing it'll be easier to find."

"Not funny."

"Not joking."

Isabella shook her head and pulled out into the street, the map still on her lap. I nabbed it at the next stop sign, smiling as she tried to snatch it back.

"Just tell me where we're going. And why you asked me to come." I frowned down at it. "What's up with the lines?"

Bella sighed as someone honked behind us, forcing her to lay off me and continue forward. "I'm not sure exactly where it is. But if we find it, I think... I'll tell you more."

"And I'm supposed to go along with this because...?" I peered closer at the map, trying to calculate just how much time we were going to spend in this freaking woods. "I mean, yeah: everything I've seen of the 'supernatural' has started out there but... shouldn't we avoid it? I mean, if going to the source of the mystery was an option, don't you think I'd have tried it?"

"'Everything'?" Was all Bella replied.

"My abduction by the redhead—"

"Victoria?"

"Sure, why not." I grumbled: not the best reaction to finally getting a snippet of information, but again; lack of sleep. "So her. And then when we were in the pond and you freaked—"

"I didn't see anything at the pond." Bella interrupted quickly.

"Really need to work on the lying, Iz. But I meant Paul jumped out of the woods and there's something weird about him." I held up the map again, biting my lip as I remembered a joke I'd made once; that the two of us were cursed to be injured. We certainly were the center of a lot of weird stuff. Why... "Bella, are vampires hot? To the touch, I mean."

"No." She replied, her voice almost too quiet too hear. We were entering the woods and found myself hunching my shoulders just like her. The trees were pretty close to the road here, no one bothering to clear them for the useless dirt road we were currently traveling. I grimaced as we started to hit the bumps.

"This is a bad idea." I commented.

Bella's grip on the steering wheel tightened, her knuckles white. "Please, Gen."

"Yeah, yeah. If you're really going to share what the hell has been going on—" She nodded quickly. "Well, I guess I'm not running." I turned to peer through the thick trees. "Just wish we had Jacob or some pepper spray or something."

"We're going to get him back," Isabella promised, sounding almost apologetic.

I ignored her. We had finally pulled up to the dead end of the random dirt road. The trees were a little bit more spread out here, leaving enough room to park the truck and later turn around, though it would probably be tight. It would have been a pretty spot for most people, was probably even popular with the more hardcore hikers in the area. To me it felt abandoned.

"Why do I feel like we're about to get serial killed?" I climbed out of the truck and slammed the door behind me. "Is this somewhere you've been before?"

"Edward took me here." She said tightly, retrieving the map from where I'd left it on the passenger seat.

"Well that explains it. So we're here hunting down a place he liked?" I kicked at the dirt, making patterns in the already mucked up road. "So much better."

"I shouldn't be taking you with me." Bella agreed, getting flustered as she tried to uncrumple the map. "Just call Charlie and he'll come get you and I'll—"

"Wow. Bella's full of great ideas." I walked around the edge of the road. "Will you point me to the path so we can get this done with already?" At least it was daylight. Or did that make a difference? Hell if I knew.

Bella started to defend herself or maybe explain herself; I didn't have a chance to hear. From maybe a mile to the north a wolf's howl echoed, returned by an even closer cry from the south.

"This is literally the worst idea in the history of mankind!" I muttered to myself. "This is the only way you'll tell me what you know? And all about the Cullens?"

Bella looked at me nervously. "I need to get there, Gen. After... I saw something in the pond and I have to find out..."

"No, it's cool. I like being manipulated by crazy people." I started stretching, fear bringing back some of the caffeine buzz. "So what direction is it?"

"Um..."

"Where were you when you started walking?" I amended, seeing her looking at the map like it was covered in ancient runes or something. She pointed hesitantly. "Ok. So you walked from the car to this spot. Did you head straight in?"

"Yes." I sighed in relief as she said this: I was facing west and the wolf howl had definitely been a bit more east. "And we walked for a while." She finished.

"Good. You could use some exercise." I considered the forest: it was much more open than the trail I'd hiked with Jake in LaPush. No path, sure, but the trees gave each other enough space for the sun to shine through quite well. It was probably the least foreboding part of the woods around Forks. "Ready to push off?"

She nodded.

...

I actually felt better and better as we walked in, partly from the caffeine, somewhat from the exercise, but also because it felt nice to doing something instead of just wallowing in nightmares all the time. Was this little trip going to solve my mysteries? Probably not. But I couldn't help but feel I was finally on the right path, finally moving forward. My grins up at the trees and frequent skipping from root to root were only lessened by thinking of how much Jacob would be laughing at me right now if I hadn't—well, hadn't ruined everything.

I shoved the sick feeling in my stomach right back down and caught up with my sister.

She didn't seem to feel quite as positive as I did. The usually less athletic Swan twin was bulldozing ahead with a distracted look on her face, making record time but holding her arms tight against her chest in so that I was afraid of what would happen if she caught her foot on something. I wasn't even sure if she noticed me walking beside her.

Feeling slightly unwanted, I started to do zigzags. Bulldozer or not, I was still in better shape than her and was perfectly willing to jog back and forth checking for any meadow that might pop up. From her map I'd gathered it was probably a mile or more to go, but I was also pretty sure there was only so much of her tense face I could take before I did something stupid. This went on for quite a while before I realized I didn't know what I was looking for.

"So," I finally asked, popping up beside her for the umpteenth time. "What exactly am I looking for?"

"Large meadow. It was... round with tall grass and flowers and a stream going through it." She paused for breath. "We'll probably hear the stream first."

"I'll keep an eye out." I said with a shrug. "You doing ok?"

"I'll be fine," Bella said, avoiding a real answer.

Deciding I didn't care, I went back to my zig-zag hiking and she went back to tearing through the woods like her butt was on fire. The sun was peeking through the clouds and I was still in a much better mood then I would have expected, intentionally pushing away thoughts of where I was and what we were planning to discuss when we reached her stupid field. Part of me did wonder what Edward Cullen had done to get her all the way out here: right now she was walking like a woman with a purpose but six months ago or so? No. She would never have made it all the way out here and back. Eight mile hike was a challenge even for me. For that matter, how had he convinced her to date him? They'd been in a completely different clique. Though Jacob and I had never...

I stopped abruptly, my breath rough as I caught up with my surroundings. I'd just stumbled onto a clearing that had to be what Isabella had been talking about. Tall grass shimmering in the slight sun, a brook winding through the middle, definitely a circle. I fought to catch my breath as I turned to find her: my feet had gotten away with me and I didn't have an exact idea of where she was.

"Isabella?" I yelled, not wanting to step away and lose the stupid place. Not that I had even one moment of doubt that this wasn't a horrible idea: it was now clear that this was some sort of romantic memory place for her and we all knew what happened when Bella remembered romance existed. I should probably be carrying around an emergency pack filled with chocolate for her and ear plugs for me. "Isabeeeellllllllllllllla!"

I heard movement somewhere off to the south again, too large to be my sister. I opened my mouth to call a third time but swallowed the words back again when I heard another howl, this one to the east. I shuddered, turning back just as the sun drifted under a cloud; the meadow no longer seemed romantic to me. Suddenly it seemed like the perfect setting for a finale in some horror movie, ready and waiting for some monster to creep from the shadows and snatch me up.

Holy crap, not a good thing to tell yourself.

"BELLA!"

"Gen?"

"S***!"

Isabella simply looked at me. I shook my head in mild disgust, trying to shake off the feel that I was being hunted, and gestured her to move past me.

My sister took a couple steps in and glanced around, arms still tight around herself. Her weird determination was gone now, her steps now halfhearted as she turned to walk back to me. I took one look at her slumped posture and swore again.

"You are still telling me everything. You realize that, right?" She blinked up at me. "Goddamnit. Isabella, you promised."

"I know."

"So spill." I commanded, raking my hair back and out of my face as another strong gust of wind blew through. "What is the story about the freaking Cullens?"

"Edward—" She started, her voice filled with pain.

She was cut off by a vicious, bone-shaking growl.

"What the—" I swung around trying to find the source. My heart was thundering in my ears as I grabbed Bella's wrist and started to pull her back the way to the car. "Where did that come fr—"

Another growl, even closer.

"Frick." I quickened my pace. "Can you tell me while we walk?" I was so close to the answers and now some stupid dog was—My own scream broke that thought off as a large black shape appeared and disappeared just beside us.

"This way," Bella yanked my hand and I followed, forgetting to keep track of our direction as I searched wildly for a sign of the animal that was following us.

"It's getting dark." I worried, still following my sister through the trees. The wind was picking up, bringing in more and more clouds. Our hurried steps were bringing us into another part of the forest as well, with tighter branches above us to block out any sunlight that could have made it through.

Isabella started to slow down. "Do you know where we are?"

"We're getting too close to La Push." I told her. "We need to head more that way." I gestured south.

Pretty much immediately, a growl echoed around us from the south.

The heck?

"LaPush it is." Bella said nervously. She didn't move though, still staring into the shadows, trying to see.

"Isabella!" I called for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Move!"

"I'm sorry, I—" She turned to follow me and we walked quickly through the tight trees. "I'm sorry: I should have come here alone."

"How about you shouldn't have come at all?" I glanced behind again, starting to wonder again as the adrenaline started to fade. "You knew there were monsters in the woods."

"I know." My sister agreed, half running in order to keep up with my quick stride. "I... I just had to see it. And I wouldn't have found it without you."

"True. But why see it? That—tree branch, watch out—that didn't help anything." A howl echoed from back east, probably around where we'd started out. I wanted so badly to stop and catch my bearings but fear pushed us on. "Did you think you'd find something or..."

"Just some..." She struggled for words. "Some connection. I wanted some sort of... Something to bring him back, just for a second."

"And you couldn't just look at a freaking photo or something?" I asked incredulously. "We had to—"

"He took all the photos." Bella gasped. "He took everything that had to do with him."

Once again a reveal of her feelings for Edward made me stop and glare at her. She stopped as well, bending over to hold herself as she regained her breath. I watched her, pulling my sweatshirt tight against the cold as I tried not to be furious at her. It was him. Yet again, it was him. Taking my sister and leaving some mess for me to take care of.

"Iz, you need to tell me—you really need to tell me exactly what happened with him. Oh, f*** you, monster!" I yelled as once again we were interrupted a ferocious growl.

It went on like this for who knew how long.

Miles later, I was exhausted, lost, and it was brewing up to be a hell of a storm. Bella didn't seem to notice any of this; she seemed to be focused on simply not falling apart. What was going on? Were we being messed with? Was some thing wearing us down until we were too tired to fight back? And what was it? The shape I'd seen had been far too large for a dog or a wolf. It was itching at the back of my mind, the last puzzle piece I had to put into place and I was too afraid and exhausted too care.

Wind blew my hair in my face yet again and I left it: I didn't know where I was going and it was getting too dark to see anyway. I was barely lifting my feet, barely remembering to make sure that Iz and I stayed together. It occurred to me that I had been trying to get a glimpse of the thing before but I didn't really mind that I'd stopped. Did I really need to know what monstrosity chose to kill me? Did I really want to see it coming? I'd seen it coming last time, the vampire's red eyes getting closer, the pain growing and growing...

It occurred to me that I'd started out this trip hyper and happy, excited to find out what was going on. Funny how quickly that had turned to simply wanting to survive. And I'd fought so much harder last time. Maybe this search for answers had been stupid, maybe I'd just been wearing myself out with fear until I had the chance to give up.

"Gen."

Maybe I didn't want to know any more than I did about the monsters in the dark.

"Gen?"

I forced myself to focus, finding Isabella pointing at her feet. I laughed when I realized.

"Oh, hey, a road." I stepped onto the pavement, smiling in satisfaction at the feel of something solid beneath me. "Nifty.

"Nifty?" Bella gave a very hallow laugh as she sat down on the side of the blacktop. "Whatever you say, Gen."

"Well, we should be able to hitchhike." I glanced worriedly at the dark sky before checking our surroundings. "It's also a quick walk to the town. Actually I should call—"

I paused in the act of pulling out my phone as the sound of an engine started to echo around us. As we automatically looked down the road in the direction of the noise I felt my stomach drop; I knew that car. And I recognized the shirtless idiot driving it slowly down this stupid backroad, searching the tree line with his cell phone pressed to his ear. I saw the moment he found us and knew he'd been looking for us, even as he pulled up and gave me a confused look.

"Whatcha doing all the way out here, Swan?" Paul asked, pulling up and rolling down the passenger window to hear me better.

I leaned on the door, peering inside to see that he was wearing a pair of sports shorts and that was it. No shirt, driving barefoot, not even a coat in the back seat just in case. It made me shiver.

We looked each other over awkwardly, both somewhat suspicious. Paul gave up first, trying to act casual.

"Need a ride?"

I snickered. "Need a shirt?"

Paul rolled his eyes, jabbing a button to unlock the door. "Just get in the car, Gen."

I gave him one more suspicious look and then I clambered into his backseat, lay down, and promptly fell asleep.

...

I woke up in Paul's arms, opening my eyes to find the two of us approaching my house. The front door was just closing and I caught a glimpse of Bella looking back before she slipped away, probably to go sob about Dickhead Cullen. Not that I had anything to say really: I was feeling pretty messed up too.

"Put me down."

I immediately regretted this: he was so warm. He let me down and frowned at me, rolling his eyes when I started to shiver. I scowled right back.

"I know –" I started, stopping as I found I had no way to put into words what I did know.

Paul shrugged and my eyes caught on the tattoo on his arm, a circle with shapes I couldn't quite make out. "You don't know anything, Gen."

"I know enough to be royally pissed at you." I wanted nothing more than to go inside, actually, but I had Paul here in front of me and I knew I'd be just as frustrated with myself if I let him walk away. So instead I tucked my hands inside my sleeves and frowned up at the giant shirtless boy on my driveway. "Would it really be so awful to just tell me?"

Paul scoffed, stepping back to leave. "Yes. Just move on, Genny."

I raised an eyebrow, grabbing his arm and noticing his wince as my cold hands met his burning skin. "You think this is about you?" I demanded.

"It doesn't matter what it's about." Paul grumbled, trying to gently shake me off. "It's better for everyone if you don't know... Yes, it's even better for you."

"Better for me?" I dropped his arm only to raise my hands, trying to fight off the urge to strangle him. "What do you care about that?"

"We're trying to protect you—"

"By keeping me in the dark? That has nothing to do with protecting me. That's sheltering me, treating me like—It's not your job to protect me!"

Paul laughed, his voice equal parts anger and humor I didn't understand. "Uh, yes it is. So just stop worrying about—"

"How can I stop worrying about it? I just want thing to make sense again." I choked. "Like they did before. Before that night—"

That finally got his full attention. He stared at me, considering me. I forced myself to wait, shivering even harder as the rain finally started to fall. Paul looked up at the sky, closing his eyes to let the water trickle down his face before shaking it off and turning back to me.

"That night I called you." He agreed. "And I know: it's not fair. And you can blame me all you want but..."

"But you still won't tell me." I felt my jaw pop as I clenched it, frustrated beyond words at the giant man before me. "So what? You'll just keep taking and taking and letting me be afraid while losing people to this f***ing secret world. My sister, Jacob... you... What is it that makes everyone pick... pick..." I shook my head, screwing my eye closed against angry tears. "What is it about this secret that everyone cares so much about?" So much more then they care about me?

"Why is this about you?" Paul snapped.

"Because that's literally all I have to go on!" I cried. "You were going to tell me something and... and next thing I know..." I raised my hand and stared helplessly at the bracelet covering my scars. "And then I'm waking up and my own sister—my f***ing twin sister—picks her boyfriend over the truth. But at least she was choosing a person." I accused, stepping closer. "As far as I can tell you're just messing with me. You call, you forget me, you come to a Halloween party and hang out, you tell me we can't be friends. And fine, I had Jacob, I was happy... Even without him, I wouldn't give a crap about this if it all didn't circle back to me being grabbed off a road and tort—" I cut off, still finding myself following the same taboo as Bella: she hadn't mentioned vampires to protect Dickbreath, I wouldn't mention vampires to keep a reputation of sanity.

Paul was staring at me with a look of horror that was almost unPaullike before it turned back into a twitch in his eye and a look of pure fury. "You got grabbed coming to see me," He didn't sound surprised. "And you... you were tortured."

"Well why else would I have been in Phoenix?" I snapped, realizing almost too late that referencing my multiple broken bones and fear of vampires was a little too real for a sarcastic retort.

"I..." Paul's hands were in fists. "Those..." His eyes widened and he stared helplessly at me, standing in front of him and glaring right back. "I have to go."

"What? Cheater!"

But in a few seconds Paul had taken off in a run, disappearing into the rain and leaving me standing by myself, soaking wet and exhausted and ready to fall down and cry. I forced myself to turn around and head inside, meaning to finally get the answers that my sister had if nothing else. Fear or no fear, I couldn't take the not knowing. I wished I could just forget it, I really did, but I had to keep going if I was going to stay sane. I was going to do whatever I could to figure this out.

I went inside only to find that Isabella really had fallen asleep, leaving that conversation for yet another day. Nothing more to go on, I figured, and I followed her lead, only stopping to grab a sandwich before I headed to bed.

It didn't occur to me until ages later that Paul had left his car behind.

I think I might literally be the world's worst detective.