Twilight belongs solely (to the extent of my admittedly limited knowledge) to Stephenie Meyer, and any plotline or character(s) that is/are vaguely recognisable will most certainly be in the ownership of her.
A World of One
The rain slammed mercilessly into my window. The trees waged war with the wind; their twisted branches casting eerie shadows on my walls. I watched on as the water drops streaked my glass, leaving tears behind. The weather in Forks often reflected my mood: despondent, dejected, miserable.
Hopeless.
Jasper slammed into Edward, the force equalling that of boulders. The blonde snarled, the sound tearing from deep inside his lungs, echoing out into the room. I watched with a desperate panic as Jasper tore at his brother in a terrifying attempt to get at me. Never had I witnessed any member of the Cullen's lose control like this; in my vague naivety I had almost forgotten that they were vampires at all.
My arm trickled with blood, pierced from the delicate fragments of glass. Jasper snapped his teeth with a startling amount of strength, growls erupted from his chest, his face inching closer and closer to mine. I found myself mesmerised by Jasper's eyes: they resembled large, golden orbs, a sense of insanity laced between his pupils. Not once did Jasper blink, not once did he lose focus, and this frightened me even more. I continued to cower behind Edward, my heart spluttering, my blood pooling, my hope tearing.
It was in an almost dream-like state that I watched Emmett pull Jasper away.
Jasper struggled to gain control and I looked on as he steadied himself against Emmett, attempting to transfer back into the calm person that I had come to know. I was transfixed. His mouth slowly lowered from the snarl, falling into a state of horror. I felt Edward's body tense up as Jasper looked at him; a sense of shame in his features. The shame that I, incidentally, had caused.
Jasper took a step back, casting his eyes over his family: he held my gaze for a fraction too long before turning on his heel and leaving the room. Leaving the house. Leaving the family.
And from that moment on I blamed myself. I caused the destruction of the Cullen family.
Perhaps I should have tried harder to convey that no harm was done. Or, better yet, perhaps I shouldn't have cut myself in the first place. What a foolish, ridiculous mess to be left in. A careless mistake, an infinitely irresponsible mistake. It ruined everything. I ruined everything.
I had forced Edward into looking for Jasper, to console him, to tell him that no blame was laid. It was easier than watching Edward try to control his need for my blood. It was preferable to watching him suffer.
I had been examining the blackening sky with an almost alarming curiosity, too caught up in ignoring the glass protruding from my arm, that I had missed Edward re-entering the room. His expression was neutral, masking sorrow and pain. My stomach plummeted, my heart caught in my throat.
Edward had directed his attention to his family, more specifically Alice. "He's gone," Edward had whispered.
I was perched on the wooden benches at Fork's High waiting for the Volvo to show up. And it did, eventually. Edward parked two spaces away; I easily covered it with my uncertain steps.
"Where was he?" I demanded as soon as Edward stepped out. His face revealed no emotion, his movements strangely robotic, forced.
"Where was he?" my voice was desperate, my eyes searching. Edward reached out to grab my hands but I jerked back. I repeated the question a third time with defiance.
Edward sat himself down on the damp asphalt and I knelt down also. This time I allowed him to grab my hands.
"Bella, they're some things you need to understand about Jasper. He's been a vampire for a long time now, and his . . . upbringing makes him see things differently to us. He's very skilled at fighting; he's very good at being sneaky. He's great at hiding evidence and he's brilliant at covering himself up."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Jasper has a lot of experience with hiding evidence."
"Y-you mean he covered his tracks?"
"He covered his tracks," Edward confirmed. "We can't find him. Bella, Jasper doesn't want to be found."
There were days when Alice wouldn't leave her room; there were times when she refused to look me square in the eye, moments when she would never seem to speak directly to my face. It would appear to most that Alice had become a shell, a clone of the old vampire. She shuffled around the house without feeling, her steps echoed dejectedly around the rooms. She, despite the irony, appeared ancient. And it terrified me.
She blamed me.
She blamed me that Jasper had left.
And so did I.
Sometimes I grew angry. Sometimes I was furious, livid, over Jasper leaving. How could he leave this family? How could he leave Alice? It was nonsensical to me. The Cullen's were grieving, they were broken. And while I was willing to bear the front of this sorrow, I refused to excuse the fact that Jasper had just left without a trace, with no goodbyes or farewells. It was uncomprehendingly selfish.
On a windy Saturday, a week or so after Jasper had disappeared, I was lounging on the Cullen's sofa when Alice appeared. And for the first time since Jasper had left her posture was straight: she had an air of meaning about her. For the first time since Jasper had left, Alice was showing emotion. She was brimming with emotion. Brimming with anger.
Anger at me.
"You!" she snarled, pointing her index finger at my chest. "You come in here with your stupid b-blood and your stupid paper-cuts and your stupid clumsiness, a-and your stu-. No, don't you dare apologize, Isabella Swan. You ruined my life, you wrecked my family!" Her voice was piercing and determined, and I hated how I stood there gaping. I loathed the tears that threatened to spill. "I hate you, Bella Swan. You're pathetic."
Alice swept out of sight, her footsteps coming from the porch landing. I felt a dead weight fill my stomach, my heart pounded against my ribcage with a startling determination. I was trembling, but from shock, fear, or the truth, I did not know. I wanted to grab her, to shake her and plead. I wanted to apologize, or else run far away, or perhaps sleep and not wake up until all this mess was cleared. Instead I spoke:
"Maybe you should find yourself a husband you can control." I closed my eyes. Shit, Bella.
"I didn't mean . . ." I attempted to salvage the situation.
I heard a car door slam and an engine start.
"I didn't mean that," I muttered.
I suppose her words were more to spite me than out of truth. I guess at the time I didn't fully understand; I wondered how Alice could hate me. I thought we were friends, if not best friends. She was a sister to me. After some thought, of course, I realised that all of which meant next to nothing. I was a mere mortal human, known for a fraction of a lifetime and then forgotten. Alice had been with Jasper for decades: they'd been through it all together. How pathetic, how ridiculous I must have looked to them! A papercut. A small, insignificant human's paper cut ruined the Cullen family.
I'd almost laugh it wasn't me who'd broken them.
.
Edward stopped coming to school after Alice left. A family crisis, Esme'd informed the principal. Meanwhile, Carlisle refused to allow Emmett, Rosalie or Edward to track Alice or Jasper.
"They'll come back when they want to. It's their decision." He'd repeated this mantra numerous times, until it was an almost constant chant in the back of my mind. 'Whenthey want to.' I'd liked that he'd said that, it provided a little gleam of hope in my otherwise tragic mindset.
.
The rain trickled down my window and I watched as it merged with the countless others: like tears, I had thought to myself.
A brief flash of lightening struck my room before casting it and myself back into darkness.
The next to leave was Rosalie.
Author's Note: My over-use of flashbacks are indicated by italics and the nifty spacer-lines. Originally I was using obnoxious bold font, but I felt subtlety was more aesthetically pleasing. It also looks ~pretty~ if you set the page to 1/4 or 1/2. Personal preference.
Reviews are, as ever, appreciated.