A/N: So first I need to apologize that it has taken me so long to get this chapter up. I really haven't had much time to write as of late. I hope it was worth the wait. If it wasn't please tell me why you think so. If it was then tell me that too darlings. Reviews are like candy, just less fattening. ;)
Also I need to make a clarification, evidently it wasn't readily apparent in the previous chapters that this story is in two perspectives. I'm sorry I wasn't clear about that. Basically odd numbered chapters are Jasper's and even numbered ones are Alice's but I will label them from here on out.
Disclaimer: The Amazing Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, I just like to make my favorites do my bidding ;)
Chapter 3: Loneliness - Jasper
"We should have headed back earlier. I told you we would be out after dark, but no you just had to look for that damned hat. Now we are walking home in the dark. Why couldn't you have listened to me Jen?" The man's voice sneared from around the corner of where I was hiding.
"Honestly George, you worry too much. It's not like we live in the middle of the city. There are no criminals in our end of town. The worst danger we could meet on this road is you stubbing your toe and then filling my ears with yet another string of complaints." The woman's voice answered him tartly.
They were older, beyond their prime. There was a slowness to them even here in the cold north where most people hurried their way along quickly, either to produce heat from movement or in an attempt to avoid the cold all together. Their banter spoke of a long relationship, well aware of each others habits and long past finding them endearing.
I had run for days, only slowing when the wind changed and the air became cooler. I knew I had come far enough that Maria would not follow. Of course I doubted she even tried. Maria did not like to lose but she liked humiliation even less. Even if there had been no one to witness it I had humiliated her once already, she would not risk rejection again.
I have not fed since that night though and the thirst is becoming unbearable, it would be irresponsible for me to starve myself this way, especially as close as I am to a highly populated area. There is no telling what would happen if I am overtaken by my thirst here. The lone older couple would serve well to sate the burning in my throat. I should be able to safely walk through the streets of St. Louis after feeding, or at least the rest of the humans would be safe from me.
When they came around the bend I made my move. I grabbed the man first counting on the woman to go into shock. As I drained him I felt something collide with my back multiple times. I could hear the woman's voice demanding, "Let go of my George!" over and over again. I took no notice of her feeble and foolhardy attempt to fight me off. She had no idea what I was. She had no way to know that her attack was useless, that her husband was already dead.
I dropped George's body and turned to his wife, grabbing her arm as she made to swing at me again. "I'm sorry..." I couldn't help the words that escaped my lips as I sunk my teeth into her as well. I was truly sorry. I didn't want to feed on them. I wished there was another way but this was the best that I could come up with. I hated causing her the anguish she felt at having watched her love die. I who had never felt love almost envied her that emotion. I who was a monster took it away from her, from both of them. I sincerely hope that they believed in God and Heaven, that they would find themselves there together.
As I dropped the second drained corpse I noticed a battered object on the ground where it had fallen from limp fingers. It was a completely ruined hatbox, complete with a now tattered hat peaking out of one torn side. I laughed a bit to myself at the absurdity of it all. Jen had tried to rescue her husband with the very object that he claimed had been their reason for being out here to die in the first place.
I buried their empty bodies under a tree well away from the road, they deserved that much at least. I had laughed for the first time in decades because of the woman with the hat. I owed it to her to make sure her and her husband were properly buried.
I began to make my way through St. Louis. It was by far the largest city on the road north that held the last dying traces of Peter and Charlotte's scents. I hoped that when I emerged on the other side that I would be closer to finding them. They would help me deal with this new found freedom. When I decided to leave Maria I never counted on the lonelyness.
