Author's Note- This story is going to be a little angsty for a while, but that is just because my life is at the moment, so my writing will reflect it. But- and this is a big one- this story has an outline!
Melissarxy1- I didn't expect to see you in this genre, it's a nice surprise! I actually didn't expect to see any familiar names at all. I'm hoping to surprise anyone who has read my work in the past with the new and improve writing style! I had the worst English teacher over the summer for a Lit class, he did things like make us take out all the be verbs and replace them... it was a nightmare.
Avoiding the Unavoidable
Chapter 2
Otherworldly Menace or Pranksters?
"Dad?" I call out unlocking the front door and opening it slowly. Whenever Jake and I fight I always come back to Charlie's house in Forks. It would be so easy for me to make Jake go to Billy's, but then Billy gets in our business and puts his opinion in on the fights- or at least what he thinks we're fighting over. Billy has actually told Jake he should go an imprint! Like I wasn't good enough for his son! Charlie doesn't do things like that, he leaves me alone unless I want to talk about it. "Dad, it's Bella. Are you home?" I call out walking through the living room and into the kitchen to check his calendar on the fridge.
With the amount of fighting Jake and I have been doing Charlie now keeps a calendar on his fridge so that I know when he'll be home. It's nice to know if he isn't going to be in until late- and I can always call him at work if it says he should be here. Finding the date on the calendar and when he's going to arrive isn't a problem- it's reading his handwriting about why that can be sometimes. Closing the gap between myself and the large calendar decorating the fridge I try to read the sloppy letters in the small box, hoping to make sense of them.
"Bonfire with Billy. Great, I pick the one day that he won't be home to be here." Then it hits me- I'm supposed to be at that bonfire. "Looks like I'm just not going to be there." I mutter sitting on the living room sofa and settling in for a while. I reach to the side table and grab the remote and begin flipping through the channels on Charlie's digital cable- a gift from Jake and I a few months ago. Charlie had fallen for this new team, but they weren't on regular cable, and they weren't on satellite, the only channels that covered them were digital. Well, Charlie wouldn't deal with it, and Billy put some pressure on us, since he still goes to Charlie's to watch games on his much bigger TV. Finally, after about three months of 'You know, I missed this great game- too bad a couple of nice people I know aren't helping me out' we caved and bought it.
Finally, around midnight, I got sick of waiting on Charlie. Pulling a notepad out of my purse and a pen I quickly wrote 'fighting with Jake, I'm in my room. If it's not okay I can go to the Days Inn for a couple of nights. Let me know.' and stuck it to his large LCD screen- another gift from Jake and I. Charlie's house was seeing a few big upgrades, and he should be thankful that Billy pressures us into these things.
Walking quickly up to my bedroom I notice the door is open slightly, and so is the window. Jake must have called him ahead of time and let him know I was coming. Sometimes there would be so long between visits- I guess I should say so long between fights- that the room would get dusty and I'd have to spend an hour cleaning up the dust, and even longer waiting for air that isn't stale to start circulating. Times like these I wondered what it would be like to not have to breathe- to be like the Cullens. I rarely think about them. It was so long ago, and scars have long since healed. Sometimes I wonder, just where are those pictures, the plane tickets and the CD. I want to listen to it sometimes, in my car or in my bedroom while I wait on Charlie to get home, or just when I want to remember happier times. When I'm mad at Jake I don't want to think about him, I always wonder what truly happened to the Cullens.
"Bella, the CD is under this floorboard here, but be careful termites are starting to eat at the floor boards." I hear a musical voice say from the direction of my bed. "It's been a long time." Alice? Alice Cullen?
"Alice?" I ask unsure if I'm dreaming or actually awake. "What are you doing here? I thought that you were never going to see me again. That all of you had left for good."
"We had, but something came up. Edward has had me looking for you, making sure you're happy, that you're alright. It's hard to see you sometimes, but now it isn't. I'm worried about why I can see you so clearly now Bella, like there isn't-"
"What are you talking about? You haven't been able to see me but now you can?" I ask in a rush knowing that no matter how quickly I spoke, or how soft my voice, Alice could hear me.
"For whatever reason, I can't see your husband. I can't see Jake, or Sam, Embry, Quil, Paul or Jared. I can see people around them when they aren't there, but anytime they are around I can't see anything." Alice explains slowly, hoping I can give her the answer that she already knows, she was speaking of my new family with a familiarity that would be scary if I hadn't grown accustomed to it years ago.
"You can't see the wolves. What is happening Alice?"
"I don't know, I think you need to get to the bonfire." She says turning her head to look out the window, and away from me. Slowly I take a few steps toward her before the floorboard beneath my foot cracks and I'm across the room, in Alice's arms.
"The floorboard was going to crack, and you'd have fallen through. It would have broken your leg, and then I'd have had to explain to Edward why I let you get hurt." Alice explains setting me down on my feet. "Look in there though, you'll find what you're looking for." She says softly pushing me in the direction of the broken board.
Dropping to my knees I reach down into the gap and pick up a few of the cold items hidden by the wood all this time. The first things I bring up are the CD and pictures of Edward- his pained expression takes me back to those last few days we had together, before he left me broken. Quickly reaching down I bring up pictures and plane tickets until I reach back down and there isn't anything new. "Why did he-"
"He thought he was doing what was best for you Bella, but right now we don't have time to worry about that. You need to get to that bonfire. The wolves are going to smell me on you, so you need to jump into the shower first. I'll be close. We have all been in Seattle this whole time. I've seen you on the street before Bella, I just wasn't allowed to say anything. Edward will have my head for this, but I've seen what happens if you don't interfere here tonight. You'll go back to your dark days." Alice says cryptically before disappearing.
"Jake!" I call out running up to him and throwing my arms around him when I get back to the Reservation. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry."
"Bella, what's wrong?" He asks pulling me away from him and looking down at me.
"I had a-"
"I can smell them, what happened? Showering doesn't cover their smell as much as you think it would Bells. It's not him that I smell, it's one of the females. What happened?"
"Alice, she was in my room when I got to Charlie's. She can see the future Jake. She saw something happening, but she couldn't tell what. She said if I don't come back here tonight that I'd go back to my dark days- that I would lose you. I can't lose you Jake." I sob throwing my arms around his broad chest.
"Nothing is happening. Does this meant the- that they're back?" He asks quickly.
"No, nothing like that. She told me where to find all the pictures and gifts they all got me for my 18th birthday, and then she saved me from breaking my leg-"
"You mean she didn't break it for you?" Jake asks, venom coating his voice.
"No, there are termites at Charlie's, they ate away at one of the floorboards in my old bedroom. Right as I stepped on it, I felt it crack and then I was across the room, in her arms. The wood fell into the hole my foot created, and there is no way I'd have been able to survive that without a major break and splinters and the works."
"You're sure she didn't plan it?"
"Jake! I saw the termites! Are you going to trust me? How many times have we been over to Charlie's and how many times have you smelled them?" I ask pulling away from him.
"You're right. I don't wanna fight about this. I'm sorry, Bells." He whispers pulling me back into his warm embrace. In all the years I've been with Jake I had grown accustomed to not remembering the difference in his embrace and Edward's, but seeing those pictures brought something back. A flash of cold skin, cold lips, a burning desire to feel his cold- I have to stop thinking about it. Jake is here, and Edward left long ago.
"What is happening tonight?"
"It's a burial ceremony. We had to bury a couple of our own. Something is back, Bella. I hate to say it, but your Vampires might have picked a perfect time to come back. A couple of kids were found slaughtered in the woods a few days ago. Billy has kept it quiet the past few days, but we had a funeral for them tonight. It's not likely that anything big will happen, but something ate them Bella, sucked them dry."
"Oh God Jake... please don't tell me you're going out there."
"It's what I do, I have to help my people Bella. You can stay here or stay with Charlie. If you decide to stay here you can stick with Leah, or Emily, or anyone who is in town. Don't sniff around Billy's, he's already caught onto the fact that we had a fight."
