A/N: To start things off, I watched an amazing movie that isn't really for little kids this week. Devil's Advocate. Keaneu Reeves is in it. . .so it actually wasn't that amazing, but still. There was this name that kept being mentioned. If you've seen the movie, you might see where this is going. There was this guy named Alexander in it. And his last name was. . . –severe drum roll– CULLEN. I kept thinking, hm. . .that has a nice ring to it. –snicker–
A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out, again. Again, and again, I'm sorry. Hey, I'm still waiting, two months later, for an update from this AWESOME other fanfiction on here, so patience is key. Plus, school started and have I said these things were tedious to type? Yeah, and I have three different works to get done in a week, each week. One is a piece of crap this one is for my friends and involves all my personal characters like Eve and Alexander and Keith and Tom and. . ., another that's on here and isn't so long lengths actually vary for 'A Possible Happy Ending', and this one which needs a min. of 6,500 to make you and me happy. And for all of them, I do little editing work what so ever. But they are good, or so I'm told.
A/N: This chapter was inspired by 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Green Day. Excellent band in my opinion. It was neck and neck with another song, 'Story of a Girl' by some band whose name escapes my mind at this instance. While it's being said here, it's not the song to have in mind while reading this. Still a good song though. Thank you, and review.
A/N: By the way, I always seem to have problems when it comes to being clear in my writing. People always, always, ALWAYS tell me they're confused when they read something that seems crystal clear to me or to someone else. Let's face it, I spin long plots and I'm an amateur at it. Still, if you have anything other than confusion for this chapter, please tell me your opinions. I LOVE to hear them, even though I can only get on once a week now.
A/N: As for the 'shadow' confused reviews, let me explain better. If you understood perfectly the point I was trying to get across, then just skip this to the chapter Eve was merely ranting to herself, so I'm afraid she wasn't very clear. The 'shadows' are people who have left memorable impressions upon the world. In order to understand this, you need to understand that in this story the world has magnetic fields that record periods of change, but in life that includes people, plants, weather, and animals. These are what you would call ghosts, but on the contrary not all of them are dead. Trees and rocks record things of their own, for an example. Trees record periods of drought and their age with their rings as rocks record periods of physical life and change within layers-cough- fossils. The reasoning behind why Eve can see these things she isn't really the only one, but she is rare is because she's super observant to the things around her. She can see what others can't or fail to see on a daily basis. She is more. . .open with her mind than others are. Kind of like the confusing fact that Bella's brain runs on a different 'frequency' than everyone else's. Also, the shadows vary on strength, either magnetically or whatever. They can be 2-D trapped on walls or on the ground or 3-D. Eve thinks they can not change beyond what they are grow in strength or weaken and that they can not 'harm' or 'touch' living beings. Well, just to tip you off and spoil something, they can. You'll find Eve jumps to conclusions, like a computer jumping on the most obvious answer to a logic problem, and she can be wrong at times ie. The Cullens aren't human but she has no idea what they are. I hope that helped in any way possible. – mutters to self – I really need to learn how to get this across in my writing instead of me explaining it myself. . .
--
Chapter Three - Nightmares and Broken Dreams
'Can't any one of you see it?' Her voice rose to the ceiling, panic and fear setting in completely. She was backing away from something that kept coming for her, and no matter how many steps she took back, it kept getting nearer and nearer to its target. Her pale, slender hands, unmarked by ink in this dream scape, were thrown out in front of her.
But I knew there was no protecting her from what was coming. The invisible menace that would tear her apart. Bring her to her knees, and then destroy her piece by piece.
The main hall of the school was lined with leering children, all laughs and smiles as they watched the execution of the girl. A sheen of sweat was taking over her beautiful face, and her flaxen hair was plastered all around her face, wet from perspiration. Wild emerald eyes darted around the room, frantic and desperate in their search for help.
We all knew how it ended. It would end badly. Sure, Eve would lie. . .she would say I was the hero in the end and I saved her. Her pulse told me she was lying. There was no hero at the end of this nightmare. There was no happy ending, or quite frankly any end to the nightmare at all.
Right before the incubus would have ended, the body would awaken and it would be banished away with comforting words. Soothing and quiet words to quiet the screams.
Or I wish that would be true. In reality, I would awaken to nothingness. An empty bed all alone in the world.
I had to watch myself getting stalked by another me. An alter-ego of me. The other me had her face twisted in a smile of rage, sorrow, and insanity, and her eyes were a brilliant red. Fingers, long and narrow, were curved into talons and claws, ready to rip apart both mine and the girl's flesh. Rend the elastic covering from rich calcium filled bones.
All the while the children laughed, egging the thing on. 'Someone help me,' the girl screeched, taking another faltering step back. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and she took another step and fell down with a sob.
The alter us was on her in a minute, and although I couldn't feel the skin being torn from the body, ripped away by sylphlike fingers, I could see it happening right in front of me.
It's one of those dreams you have when you have to watch yourself go through the motions, unable to change the outcome of events no matter how much they vary. You are the spectator to your own doom on dream scape. . .
I tapped my fingers impatiently against the desk, my eyes trained on the clock. Just another minute or so to go and I could get the hell out of this place.
Alexander wasn't there when I woke up. I knew he wasn't there before I woke up either, just because of that stupid dream I had. I only get the dream when he leaves, and by now he was normally lurking behind me in the halls and whatnot. No. Not this time.
And on top of Alexander leaving for no apparent reason, the Cullens wouldn't talk to me. They sat around at lunch, looking at everything but themselves or me, keeping fully quiet. Edward offered no odd smiles at any of my random thoughts, most thrown in for his sake just to annoy him or ask him something. Bella didn't say anything to me all day, although she looked worried and pained whenever I saw her, like she was fighting against her mouth and her brain and her heart; I knew she wanted to say something but the fact remained that she didn't. Not in a single one of my classes. Jasper helped keep the mood calm in that weird way of his, and I very much wanted to hate him for it because what I was feeling was not how I wanted to feel.
I wanted to feel frightened without Alexander. I wanted to worry about his well being. But I couldn't. Instead, I felt relaxed and calm and out of character, thinking that Alexander didn't matter much to me at all and he would come back soon.
Alice didn't reveal anything more about herself either, like how she knew the weather or knew when to send their siblings away because I would be riding home with them. But she seemed more on edge than Bella was, giving quick glances to Edward and then rolling her eyes and fidgeting. She wanted more than ever to tell me what was on her mind.
Amazing. This day was truly freaking amazing.
And it was two minutes. . .one minute from being almost over. Because the day actually didn't end for me until I was at home, lying peacefully in my bed with the blinds drawn and the covers thrown up over my head. Hiding made me feel better, like a turtle hides in the face of danger.
On that note, what else can a turtle do but get eaten alive by the dingo or wolf? I mean, it can't run can it? It only has one defense, and in my opinion that defense seems to be working just fine.
I'm not so sure the same defensive rule applies for human however. Is it really right to just hide away from the world and your problems, hoping and wishing something out of your control will change. Impossible. And yet, all I could do was worry about Alexander.
He couldn't have left for a very important reason. His eyes, when I last saw them, were dark, true, but not dark enough to send him on his way of whatever he does. Every time Alexander had left before now, he had done so in the middle of the night and was back before the middle of the day, excluding that one exception from the library incident. I normally knew when he had to leave because his eyes would go pitch black and the next day he would be gone, only to return with blood rubies for eyes.
The cycle goes on and off from there. Another possibility that makes sense would be if Alexander simply ran away from the Cullens. Still, that doesn't make much sense either. He said he had left his 'family' when the Cullens had appeared, and I'm thinking it was because they showed him just how corrupt they really were. So he had no place to go except back to roaming the streets like when I first met him.
Other than that, the others could have killed him. Could have killed him because he would turn them in for some misdemeanor charge or something stupid like that and his body was now floating down the Susquehanna River.
Option three seemed a little too irrational, even for me. I didn't place the Cullens down as the murdering type, although I still hadn't caught of glimpse of Emmett, the envy of all men, and Rosalie, the envy of all human beauty.
Then again, brawn and stunning beauty didn't matter when you had a large mass of numbers on top of it all.
The bell rang finally, three consecutive dings, and everyone stood up as one and rushed for the door. Me. . .well I could afford to waste my time some what. I didn't have to stop at my locker, for one, and my mom had off today just in case. I gathered my reading material and pencil, my things, throwing them into my shoulder bag.
I was on my way out the door when Bella's voice stopped me. I turned in time to see her pocketing her cell phone, and the look she wore was one of nervousness. The crease in her forehead was really apparent, and she was chewing softly on her lip as if to intensify the nervous energy being released from her. "Eve. Um. . .was your nightmare really bad last night?"
I paused, then froze, then tried to relax unsuccessfully, and then I just answered truthfully. "It was the same as the others. How did you know about–?"
Bella rushed past me before I could get my question out, but turned once in the hall. "Are you riding home with us?" She actually sounded hopeful, and the nervous shell about her body cracked slightly, but I shook my head.
The main reason was because I was not going home alone with a bunch of strangers with whom I knew weren't human and had just met. The second part of my reasoning was a bit more subtle, but still important. I didn't need the ride rather, and I could just get on the bus without any hassle.
"No thanks," I sighed, shouldering my bag and waving good bye to her. At least she had said something to me today. I made it out to the busses successfully as well, without much interference from the people around me.
The weather for the day was rainy, grey and overcast. One hundred percent dreary. People were wearing hoods to keep off the drizzle that fell from the over ripe, bruised clouds that hung poised above the world. Yesterday's rain had come as a surprise to the weather casters because the computer that tracked the storms normally, had not said anything about rain clouds in the area.
I think people are just afraid to say that the perfect storm tracking computer had a slight margin of error. That's a fancy way of saying it was imperfect and mistakes do occur. If the machines are imperfect, which makes sense since they're made by imperfect beings, then the world always has that unsafe margin of error that can go wrong. The world isn't comfortable and safe when there's the slight possibility that things don't go according to plan.
On the bus I chose to sit at the very back and turn up my iPod all the way it could go. I was surprised when someone chose to sit back with me, but I didn't object and moved over closer to the window. I gave her a quick one over and placed her as the one girl in my gym class. Her name was Jennifer and she seemed nice enough.
But her image was, to say in the least, downplaying. If anyone thought Brandi as a bad looking girl, then this girl made Brandi look like a freaking nun. And a nun looked like God compared to Jen.
She wore a sleeveless, strapless hot pink top with black designs running up the left side. She wasn't dressed for the weather obviously because she was wearing torn up short shorts that looked painted onto her body they were so tight. White threads were torn off the hems of the jeans and they contrasted greatly to her flawless tanned skin that seemed to glow even in this dim of light. Her hair was so it was boy-short in the back, but then grew longer by the front and it was a dyed deep burgundy color.
Her face was pretty, but you could hardly tell since she was wearing too much makeup. Jen was also pretty short, and I stood over her by at least a foot or so.
She smiled when she caught eyes with me, and said hello before I could turn back to gazing out the window. "You're Eve, right?"
Jen's voice was like candy. Cotton candy. Light and laughter contagious, like a yawn that spread goodness and pep wherever it was heard. Eve blinked. "Yes. I'm in your gym," I explained, turning back to the window finally.
The rain was starting to come down harder and drops were rolling down the pane in irregular interlinking paths. Like the different paths of life that you can take and cross paths with other people.
"That's right. You look very pretty," she beamed, almost bouncing in the seat. I think she was restraining herself from doing so. "It's also a beautiful day. Following the elections much? I wonder if the rain will cancel the speeches they have planned."
I blinked, closing my eyes for longer than a second needed, then turned to face her. She said I looked pretty. No one even bothers talking to me, letting alone telling me I'm pretty. Then again, Jen was a newcomer here and probably hadn't heard any of the rumors circulating around me. Better live it up now before she became a complete and total bitch to me. "Thanks. You look spiffy yourself." As for the elections. . . "And I haven't really been watching them, no. No one will ever have the same views as me, so what's the point? Not voting is voting to me."
They were all greedy bastards anyway. Who cares if one of them was a woman. She was still annoying as hell and was way too much of a liberal and investor in technology in my opinion. I think she had a holographic child which was too much for my comfort level to withhold.
"That's a shame. But I guess you have a point." She paused, then continued. "Did you have a nice day today? I didn't see you get on the bus yesterday."
Those two things were so random and had nothing to do with the other, I didn't know how to address either of them. Jennifer must have had a small case of ADD. "I missed the bus yesterday, so I guess I'm having a better day than yesterday."
And I was. If Alexander had been here, and if Bella hadn't freaked me out with the whole 'dream' question, today most likely would have been the best of my too long school year.
"First day of school always bites." Jen leaned forward to look out the window, and I looked out with her. It wasn't like you could make out anything past the rain, which was pouring down now. The clouds had chosen a perfect time to dump their water packages; just as we were getting out of school.
I was still looking out the window when Jen started talking again. "I'm in eleventh grade, and I don't think I've caught which grade you're in, sorry."
"Tenth," I answered automatically, drawn in my the rain drops hitting the window. Rain was so pretty, and for a slight and brief moment I was happy to be living where I am. Where the sun hardly ever shines and the clouds turn the world to colorless ash.
People say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but I personally think that days like this was nature at it's most beautiful, weather wise. Now throw in some lightning and rolling thunder and you got yourself a symphony of sounds and sights that would rival an artist's masterpiece or composition.
"Got through ninth grade I see. Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but if I am you don't have to answer this." I'm already answering all your other questions, so what was the worse that she could say? "Why does everyone call you Ghost? I mean, Eve is such a pretty name I don't know why you would want something weird like that."
I finally turned to look at her full in the face. "Why don't you ask them why they call me that, and then get back to me on it?" I knew why they called me what they did, but I personally didn't care anymore. I had so much bigger things to worry about.
The bus was slowing in momentum, and I threw a quick look to the window. This stop was new on the route. "Well, that sucks. Eve, I'll see you tomorrow." Jen waved, giving me a small smile as she stood and made her way down the aisle and off the bus.
When the bus started to pull away, I heard some of the younger boys in front of me snicker. "Ooooh! Eve's got herself an actual friend to talk to now. Maybe she can dump whatshername and get a real fing life."
Ha ha. Real funny. How twisted the rumor was about me, they were calling Alexander a girl. Sometimes, I wished the people who made fun of me had more than two brain cells to function with.
I didn't bother listening to anything else anyone had to say, so I blasted my ears out with music. I felt so lonely without Alexander lurking somewhere near my side. So vulnerable. Looking out the window, I couldn't help but wonder where he was now. What was he doing? Why was he doing it? Why the hell had he left at this time, and not come back by now?
Eventually the bus screeched to a stop outside my driveway, and I eased myself down the aisle that was free of limbs and feet. I was the last stop always, and the first stop in the morning. I'm not sure if it rocked to live so far away from the school and people I knew, or if it just plain out sucked.
The rain had slowed a bit by the time the bus reached my home, so I endured the wetness for a few seconds before I was under the protection of my porch roof. I tried the door handle to find it locked, tight and secure, and I sighed when the beep sounded at my touch.
My mom was definitely home. In the morning I was the last to leave, so I never bothered with the alarm and security system and chose just to lock it. When my mom was in charge of the damn thing, even when she was at home and could manage it all herself, she had to have the security turned on.
"Eve. Now let me in dammit." The last part was for added measure, although the system just needed voice configuration to accept that it was me. While it read the matching vocal pattern on its hard drive, just to make sure the vocal patterns were identical, it also could read the amounts of stress put into my voice to read what kind of mood I was in. If the stress level was too high, it wouldn't let me in, figuring I was being held at knife or gun point to say something.
The feature was only added when my mom watched some lame cop show where some guy broke into a house by using the owner of the house as the key. The moral of that episode was that you needed a five hundred dollar upgrade to your system in order to be truly safe. Because that kind of thing happens to everyone.
The door clicked two seconds later, and swung open to let me in. On top of the outer security installed, there was an inner working to the house that I normally had shut down for the sake of my sanity. A feature of the house was to have a holographic customizable bust follow you around and offer assistance or just someone to talk to. That's a feature in most wealthy houses across America.
And there waiting at the now opened door, like I knew it would be, was the floating bust. The hologram was projected from the sensors which were found in every corner of the room. It was a shimmery pale blue that hovered about eye level to you. It was customizable, but ours was still in its default mode which was a neutral looking female with her pale hair thrown up over her shoulder.
"Having a nice day so far Miss Eve?"
"Maybe," I muttered, walking through the hologram and up the stairs to my room.
The thing was there already, probably in every single room of the house, waiting for me. It seemed expectant. "You're stress and hormone levels are reaching remarkable new grades today Miss Eve. I suggest you relax."
This thing was so being shut down before I fell asleep. Nothing like trying to sleep with a hologram computer hanging over you, checking your stress levels and making suggestions for you. Subliminal messaging while you slept.
I swear, I'm not paranoid, these things are just creepy.
I dropped my bag to the floor and then went to go do my daily routine. Well, my daily routine when Alexander wasn't really looking. With him not here now, I might as well take advantage of it all. Besides, stats don't really lie. I was feeling stressed out, with what Bella knowing I had nightmares and all of that. Had I been thinking excessively of that all day? So much so Edward had overheard and blabbed over to his family about me?
I shuddered to think of it, so I tried not to.
But it was really always there, in the back of my mind.
--
I lowered myself deeper into the bubbles, blowing a few away so I could breath without getting the suds up my nose. I felt so nice to just relax in warm water, that I thought nothing of breathing until the moment I had done just that. I snorted, trying to clear my airways, when my mom knocked on the door.
"Honey? You haven't drowned yet, have you?" There was concern in her voice, and I felt my heart pang because I didn't return the sentiments.
I cleared my throat so I could reply. "Nope."
The pang left immediately. "Darn. Can't get the insurance money yet." I was pretty sure this was a joke, and yet the tone didn't sound like a joke. I sunk lower into the bubbles, closing my eyes.
I was lying in my bathtub as I had been for the past hour or so. I had honestly lost track of the time reading a book about a weird vampire who ate food because he hated what he was until he met a girl who was attending his school. It was a continuum in some series by a lady named Terra Smithson.
She was still churning out books, had been since she was in high school, but she was older now for sure. Her books made a little more sense than that of her earlier novels, but I still enjoyed reading about her silly and insane characters as they tried to fix the problems of their somewhat perfect world.
It was like Terry Pratchett novels, only with more romance thrown in. Just to compare.
The book was interesting, and I wasn't quite done yet, but I hoped to be soon. I had to learn what happened to the spunky, music loving, vampire hunter girl who reminded me so much of myself that it was uncanny.1
You can't spend all day reading books though, so I forced myself to stop. They were like drugs, to put it simply. You put off homework, eating, and even sleep just to get lost in a good book. It made you feel better when you felt so horrible. And then you could talk to people about them and you had something in common with this person who you've never seen before in your life. The internet was a wonderful thing.
I sat up abruptly when there was a loud pounding on the front door. The heated water sloshed around the tub, missing by near inches my book. I glared at the water level, daring it to touch even a page of that book, before I carefully stood and wrapped a towel around me.
My mom knocked on the door again, and I rolled my eyes. I could only nab an hour to myself, huh? Well, that was better than what some people could get. I opened it a crack, hating the cold air that rushed forward to meet the warmth I had staved away in the bathroom. "Yeah?"
"Honey, I hate to tell you this," she started talking and I tuned her out. Every time she started a conversation with that line, she never seemed to hate telling me that she was going out with such and such to someplace I've heard of too many times. You know, that little pizza place in that little town, just outside of this shopping complex? Yeah, that's the one, with the Italian name. Well such and such is taking me to that place, so I'll see you later. Eating dinner on your own tonight. Love ya!
And I knew, from the bottom of my heart, that she wished I was gone. Really, honestly, and truly wished that I wasn't a hassle. That perhaps, I had a boy friend of my own or was distracted with something other than sports.
Which reminded me; I had practice tomorrow and a game coming up for volleyball. Then there were track sign ups to think about that were fast approaching as well.
But other than sports, I'm assuming she thought I was in the house too much and too often. There was no alone time for her and her apathetic boy friends (eventually I'll have to touch upon them, but for now just imagine the worst possible marriage candidate and you're there).
I shut the door while she ran downstairs to answer her call and leave me alone. I couldn't help but think about yesterday when mom had actually engaged me in conversation. Most of it was about herself, but at least we were connecting on some parent-child basis.
I slid back into the bath, steam rising from the water, the heaters just under the surface of the tub glowing red as they did their job. I sighed, letting the water relax my already too tensed muscles. I leaned my head against the lip of the tub, and then fully settled in.
Sometime later I woke up, my mind in a haze, the home security hologram hovering over me. I shrieked, splashing water everywhere and the hologram dissipated only to reappear a few feet away from the tub. It looked upset over something, but I was just pissed that it had woken me.
The tub in the water drained slowly as I rescued my dampened book from the perilous edge, and dried myself off. In response to how late it was, my stomach growled and I went down the curvy stairs in search of food. I was sure my mother wouldn't have left anything out for me. I was right.
"Report on house, please," I said to the hologram, my mood seeping into my tone.
It was hovering over my shoulder, watching as I fluffed out my hair with a towel, then let the towel drape over a chair as I head into the kitchen. "The room temperature is sixty-two degrees Fahrenheit. The time is eight, forty-two p.m. Total missed calls, two. Alarm was not triggered during your nap, Miss Eve. Shall I prepare your bed as well?"
Preparing my bed meant that it would be nice and cozy warm when I hopped into it later, since in the mattress itself there was a heating system, much like the one in the bath. It helped keep you really warm on cold late nights.
"Yes, please." Why not use the services while I had them? As appalling as it was to me, the idea of relying on something so eerie, it was rather convenient I guess. But I was curious... "More on the missed calls."
"Yes. The first was made at six, fifty-seven p.m. from your father. Play message?"
"Play," I sighed. I had been expecting this.
My father's tired voice filled the room then, much like the hologram's voice did except its was more centered on the image while the recorded message just sounded. "'Eve, I won't be able to make it to your birthday party. I have a meeting that day, over in Japan. I know you like it there, so I'll pick you up something nice while I'm there and I'll ship it to you. It should get there within the day or two. Love ya'. Goodbye.' Reply?"
"No." My tone was curt. Although I had been expecting him to completely bail out at the last minute, these kinds of things always hurt. I guess if you couldn't rely on your mother to be there for you, dad was no exception. Especially when you knew he thought of you as more than a daughter. "Next message," I snapped, grabbing a can of soup from the closet. New England Clam Chowder.
The hologram answered while I opened the can and poured the soup into a bowl. "Message number two was received at seven, forty-three p.m. by private. Play message?"
"Give the number." I knew a couple private numbers by heart. It could have been my father's office phone, or his office cell phone. The system didn't quite pick up on those numbers, but my brain could.
The numbers were rattled off, but they were new to me. "Is there a location for the message?" I asked, confused now.
I placed the bowl in the microwave and shut the door, about to punch the option for soup in when the system took over and did it for me.
While the soup cooked, a low hum in the background, the hologram answered. "Location undisclosed. Number is private."
Person was going through a lot to call and not be recognized. The system was blocked both ways. Only the insanely rich and powerful could extend to that kind of privacy. Probably one of dad's partners who thought he would be coming home for the weekend. Just one more thing to check. "Cell or home phone?"
I started walking up the stairs, intent on dressing myself, but I had to grab the towel first. "Undisclosed. I am sorry. Should I play the message now?"
I blinked, my hand halfway to reaching the towel. The system had never been blocked from that information. It could tell whether the line was through the ground or given by a satellite. The differences were obvious to it. So what did that mean? This person didn't want anyone to know what phone they were using? Paranoia swept me and I hurried up the stairs to the bathroom, towel in hand.
"Play the message," I nearly screamed when I was prompted the question again. Now Alice's cool voice played in the background, and I think my legs nearly gave out.
"'Hello Eve. Not sure we've introduced ourselves formally - Edward stop, go away - but this is Alice Cullen. You're going to take this well, so I decided to drop you a line. I was wondering if you had anything planned this weekend - yes I know she doesn't, her father cancelled - and I thought you might like to go shopping somewhere. Just a girl thing. You can bring anyone you want, but I was just offering the option if you'd like. I'll see you in school Friday. Give me a call back when you've decided.' End of message. Reply?"
I was still in shock. She called this 'handling it well'? And how did she know all that anyway?
The weather forecast shot into my head again, and I was whirring away with ideas. Maybe it was obvious that it was going to rain. Maybe she just knew my father or had somehow hacked the pitiful system and heard the message.
But it seemed less clear than that. Something I wasn't expecting, but it wouldn't surprise me if I learned the truth. "Reply?" the hologram repeated again.
I ground my teeth together. If I told my mom she was going to have to make other plans for my birthday, dad wasn't coming after all, and I was going to be out of the house all day, then she'd smile and tell me to have a good time. However, if I said I hated my life and my rotten luck, dad wasn't coming, and I would be locked in my room all day, she would probably grab the phone and force someone to take me somewhere. Pay a freaking driver to -
The phone rang, making me jump. My towel slipped, and I forced it back up around my chest. Who would be calling around now? And just when I was about to call Alice back too and...accept? I was about to accept her invite, wasn't I?
"Pick up the damn phone already," I snapped, storming to my room. I was just about spent with this day and all its lonesome glory.
Alice was there in my head again, and for a moment I thought the system had just replayed the message. But she was engaging me in conversation, not speaking into a machine. "Hey. Glad you could make it, now I'll pick you up at around -"
I heard someone the in background laugh. It was a pleasant, boisterous sound, deep. "Give her a chance to speak Alice. Sheesh." I couldn't put the voice to a face.
"Shut up Emmett, I'm on the phone," Alice snapped, holding the phone away from her face but still sounding close enough to hurt my ears.
What?
What was going on here? I had just made my decision to call Alice and here she was calling. . .
It all fell into place. "How'd you get this number?"
Alice took a breath. "You're in the phone book."
I rather didn't care if she was lying. I could always check the book later. But I either didn't say anything now and forever hold my peace, or I just blurted what I thought out - "Physic. You see the future, don't you?" - like I knew I would have.
"Of course. But I can't see what you're going to do this weekend unless you make a decision to actually do something. I just saw you calling me back." I could hear the smile on her face. Hear it. Touch it. It was tangible in the air.
The phone system of our house doesn't need a portable or a cell to listen in to. All I needed to do was talk. If I spoke it, she would hear it. It was convenient in that it could be limited to one room and could hold multiple lines at once. Otherwise, I found it a bit odd, like I was talking to the house that could reply back.
And yet, annoying as it all was, I was touched. Someone, who I had just met and who had ignored me all freaking day, was inviting me out to a birthday whatever. Forget that they weren't human; they had more heart than some humans I knew. Either that, or they were cruel and ill intentioned . I couldn't see Bella being cruel intentioned though. I doubted the second thought.
"Well, I don't know. I've never really done anything for my birthday before," I admitted. I wasn't exactly fishing for comments, although it sounded like it to me once I said it, but it was the truth.
Sure, my dad gave me presents as did my mom, and Alexander always smiled and wished me a happy birthday, but I never really had a party or anything. Not in the longest while. It would be so nice to just have some cake or celebrate with one other person. . .
"Settled then," Alice chirped into the phone, all aglow. "Not sure if you'd invite anyone else, but be here at three." Then the phone clicked off.
"The call has ended. You're bed is approximately seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. Anything else I can get you tonight, Miss Eve?" The hologram's voice kicked in after the call had ended.
I stood there in my damp towel, thinking it over. "No. Shut down."
"Should I keep security protocol up and running?"
"No. Lock the doors, windows, and keep cameras up. If someone should come to the door, open it." Doubted my mother would even come home at this point. "Then tell me about it in the morning."
I smirked. Let the thing presume I would wake it up in the morning. If it was lucky, mother would get the systems up and running two days from now.
As I dressed, I thought over the conversation I had just had with Alice. Of all things to end this miserable and lonely day, I had to get a phone call from her. About my own birthday party. This joy I held overshadowed the fact that my father had cancelled on me again and was probably going to get me some stupid geisha dress to add to my growing collection, and my mother still cared more about other men than her daughter. Although it overshadowed those bad things, one thing was barely covered.
Alexander was still missing. He should have come home by now. No doubt the Cullens appearing had something to do with it, but how could they be evil or dark hearted? How could they have possibly hurt him? Edward seemed annoying with the whole mind thing, and granted they were all a little scary, but weren't they people? In a way.
In the slightest of ways.
When I was dressed for bed, wearing a thin black strapless shirt that covered only my chest and a pair of old sweats, I danced downstairs and started to eat my soup. The house was oddly quiet, most of the electrical equipment turned off for the night. It did so to conserve the solar energy the house somehow managed to grab on sunny days.
And while I ate in silence, the conversation drifted in and out of my mind. What a wonderful thing to have happen.
But. . .had Alice said she would see my on Friday? I checked the date in my head. Today was Wednesday. Where would she be on Thursday? Maybe it was a holiday I was missing out on or something. Maybe that's where Alexander was, if the Cullens were going to be disappearing as well.
So I shrugged it off. Seriously, I was too elated to care about anything anymore.
I felt it before I heard it. The creeping feeling that something was standing right behind me, and if I turned my head slightly I could see it, but turn it all the way and it was gone. A prickling feeling came over the back of my neck and I nearly gagged on my soup. It burned my throat on the way down, lingering longer than I would have thought necessary.
Good girl. Be happy, Eve dearest. Find joy so I can be born in Misery. Smile, and give me life, little Eve. Give me life so I can loathe you.
I think the blood in my veins ran like ice in that second after the voice had faded. The feeling of being stalked had gone with the fading, hissing noise that could not be known other than a whisper. A ghost of a whisper.
I whirled in my seat, knowing I wouldn't see anything standing there. And indeed there wasn't. "Computer systems on," I said, my voice sounding strangely off and small.
The house clicked on, humming to life. "Yes, Miss. . .what is wrong? Your levels of -"
"Could you run a recording of what happened in this room for the past minute?"
The hologram appeared in front of me, across of the table as I turned around, back to the soup I no longer wished to eat. Her default face was worried. Worried, I guessed, for me. Whatever levels and some chemical I was giving off, it couldn't be good.
"Doing so," she complied. I heard the snap of the system turning back time to get to the recording. As a protocol, all rooms were required, by law, to have listening devices. They didn't link anywhere, they just recorded things up until two months. A minute shouldn't be any problem for it.
On the sound byte I could hear myself moving around, shifting slightly. Then the sound seemed to pop, and I could make out the sound of me gagging on soup. But there was no voice.
Maybe I was a complete schizo. Maybe I did need a therapist and some medication.
"Something seems to be interfering with the recording device. Magnetic difference perhaps. I am truly sorry Miss. Is there anything at all that I can do to alleviate your concern?"
Anything I can do to alleviate yours?
"No, thank you. Could you stay operational tonight?" Not sure what changed my mind about this, but suddenly having something that you thought could turn on you but knew wouldn't, was different than having something hanging over you with malcontent.
Maybe this was just a stupid trick played on me by the Cullens. Maybe I was the butt of some joke.
Or maybe this was a bit more than that. "Certainly, ma'am," the system replied, cheered that it was needed, finally, by me.
"Good. Now play CD five, track three for me please?" I tried to spoon some of the soup into my mouth, but after I winced around it in my damaged throat, I realized I would get no where tonight with this meal.
In the back ground, the music started and I had no choice but to try and settle in for a long night. . .
--
(1) - I have to explain. Eve and Alexander are my own characters, so this is her referring to where I got the idea for them from. I can't say the story plot got justice here, but I was so trying to sell it there. Sorry.
A/N: I saw HBO's True Blood tonight. It was. . .interesting. Can't say you should watch it with young children or if you are a young child. I had to previous the channel a couple of times it got really bad. But it's kind of just like Twilight I think. And I think that's why my Dad let me watch it. I have no idea, but it is interesting, honestly. She reads minds, but can't read his. Cute in a way.