hello! this fic is a collection of extra, isolated side stories and flashbacks for my other AU fic, Addiction. most of these probably won't make much sense if you haven't read Addiction first.

overall trigger warning: this fic contains mentions of self-harm, attempted suicide, child abuse, and alcohol abuse. these are all running themes present throughout the entire fic. as for content warnings, this fic contains a lot of mild horror elements and, at times, graphic depictions of violence and gore. these moments are few and far between, but they are there.

i think that covers everything? if you decide to keep reading, i hope you enjoy!

Silence. So clear and so unusual, it stood out from all the noise surrounding it.

Edward had gotten used to the sound of other's thoughts. Not that they no longer bothered him—he was just used to them. He was used to the constant bombardment of everyone's innermost feelings. His world was almost never quiet. Even at home, he was subject to his family's ruminations. They were aware of this, and he would often hear things he wasn't supposed to, or things he would have rather not heard.

It was only through music that he achieved silence. That, and drink. A good combination of both would tune out everything. Alcohol to interfere with his own mind, and music to drown out everyone else's.

Shamefully, he was not immune to curiosity. He was as nosy as any other. In fact, his gift had made him nosier than anyone else. Edward had grown accustomed to knowing what was on everyone's mind; when something was being withheld from him, he would grow frustrated and impatient. Instant gratification, but on a whole other level.

That was why he was so interested in her, her silence. Everyone around her was broadcasting their opinions straight into his brain, but she remained quiet. No illumination. Who was she? What was she doing here? Why was she here? He could glean some of this information from the people she was talking to, but she remained an enigma. He could not ascertain her dark secrets, the things she thought but left unsaid. It bothered him so much that he was almost compelled to go up and talk to her, but he was far too afraid for that. Besides, being antisocial was part of their image. He couldn't break form like this just because of one human. One very interesting and very strange human.

"What's got you all worked up?"

Edward was startled out of his trance at the sound of his sister's voice. It was not often that Rosalie spoke directly to him on purpose. For a second, he wasn't even sure that she had spoken aloud, but the use of "you" instead of "him" signified that she was directly addressing him. It could still be in his head, but when he looked up at her, she was staring down at him, arms crossed.

"It's... nothing. I guess," he said, tapping the screen of his locked phone with his thumbs. "I don't know. The new girl over there, Chief Swan's kid. She's giving me radio silence."

"You can't read her mind?" Rose asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Not one bit. I've never seen anything like this before. It's…" He took a moment to search for the right word. Upsetting? Infuriating? No. Just… "Odd."

Rosalie's eyes shifted from side to side. She tapped her foot for a moment before looking back down at him.

"Which girl?"

Edward smirked. He found comfort in the fact that he wasn't the only one interested in this human.

"Long, brown hair. Dark circles. Standing with Jessica's group. You'll pick her out. She's the only one you've never met before."

Rose didn't turn around immediately. She wasn't sure if she was that interested in seeing this anomaly of a human, if it was worth giving her attention to this unusual mortal. But then, Edward leaned over and elbowed her shin.

"She's staring at you," he said quietly. "What on earth is she thinking?"

Curiosity killed the cat, as they say.

When Rosalie turned around, she didn't have time to form any opinion of the human. She instantly locked eyes with the girl. Her warm, brown eyes were the first thing Rose saw—she felt like they were planets, suddenly aligning.

The girl was slightly shorter than her, with messy brown hair and dark circles under her eyes as Edward had described. She looked permanently exhausted, though she seemed very awake (startled, even) as she stared back at Rosalie.

Time seemed to slow between them. Rosalie felt her siblings melt away as if they no longer mattered, no longer existed. The humans around the girl faded out as well. Rose had tunnel vision; the only thing she could see was this human girl, who was staring back at her, mirroring her expression of shock? Surprise? She couldn't name the feeling. She felt a pull in her chest, drawing her towards the girl—or was the universe pushing her? She couldn't tell. And she didn't want to know.

Abruptly, she turned around, careful not to show the human any emotion, but she let her siblings see the panic in her eyes as her hand flew to her chest, grasping at her dead heart, at the intangible line that was now connecting her to that girl.

Edward already knew what was happening.

"Rose, did you just...?"

She raised a hand to silence him. The others look at her, confused.

"We need to leave. Now," she said, her voice shaky.

"But they have skee-ball in the gym! I didn't get to play yet!" Emmett protested.

"No. We're leaving. We have to leave," she said, her voice firm.

As Rosalie started to walk away, Alice's eyes glazed over. Edward was now on his feet, hands in his pockets, staring at Alice as he saw what she saw, absorbing her vision as it happened. His only reaction was a widening of his eyes.

"Rosalie-!" he began again.

"No!" she hissed. "Let's go home."

Rosalie stormed off, not even checking to see if her siblings were following her. She made a beeline towards the parking lot. The entire time, she felt that pull, just a slight tug on her frozen heart, tempting her to turn around and run over to the girl, to introduce herself, to connect with her.

She could not allow that. She could never allow that.

Rosalie arrived at the Volvo before Edward had even unlocked it. She stood outside, hand on the door handle until she heard the lock click as he approached with the keys. She flung open the passenger's side door and sat down as everyone else piled into the back. A concerned Edward looked at her as he started up the car and put on some music to diffuse the tension she was creating.

"Rose-" he said, trying a third time.

"No."

She refused to acknowledge it. She shut him down before he could say anything. Both he and Alice knew now, and Rosalie was sure that her sister had whispered something to their brothers to make them aware of the situation at hand. She balled her hands into tight fists. She was angry—at Edward, at Alice, at herself.

But not at the girl. Never at the girl.

As Edward pulled out onto the main road, Rosalie closed her eyes and put a hand on her forehead. It was already hurting her. Edward anxiously looked back and forth between his sister and the road. She grit her teeth and groaned quietly.

Edward knew he had to do something, anything to ease the pain. He knew she would hate him for it, but he had to.

"Bella," he said softly. "Her name is Bella. Isabella Swan. But she goes by Bella."

Rosalie felt a warmth within her, a warmth she had never felt in all her years of this life. It was euphoric. She knew she wanted more. She knew the truth, the truth that she was going to try her hardest to ignore, to run away from.

It was love, and it was an addiction.

ever since i started writing Addiction, i've had a lot of ideas for other scenes and moments that didn't end up making it into the fic. i wanted to share them, though, so Withdrawals was born! i'm kicking it off with a fairly short one, a little peek into rosalie's side of things when she first sees bella. this isn't going to entirely be a midnight sun-esque ordeal; there's a lot of parts of the AU cullens' histories that i want to elaborate on and a few fun moments from the present action of the fic that i want to write out. each chapter is going to be a one shot, and there won't be any chronology to them. i'm just writing them as i come up with them.

as always, thanks for reading!