A/N: All of your reviews make me unbelievably happy! Thank you so much for your thoughts. I'd also like to thank all the readers along with you lurkers, you all are super.

Disclaimer: Everything from Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I just want to play around with the characters for a bit. So no copy right infringement intended.

Chapter 4 - Missing

A few days have passed without any signs of the mystery man's voice. I was surprisingly sad about this. I thought over our conversation from that one night far too many times to count. He didn't see himself as a who, but a what. I almost giggled. Now I was sounding like Dr. Suess. Yet, the thought of that made me frown. Was he trying to imply he was something other than human? Well, obviously, considering he can somehow speak to me through my thoughts, but… what else could it be?

And his voice. That beautiful, rich voice that drove it's way into my every being. We hardly had a full length conversation, but just his laugh caused shivers to down up my spine. I don't know what it was, but I couldn't get my mind off of him. I was definitely going to have to ask for his name when he comes back, well, if he does. Suddenly the idea of never hearing his voice again frightened and saddened me all at once. I didn't want him to leave.

"Bella?" I blinked and focused back in on Angela. "You've been zoning out for a while now, you alright?" I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking," I said. It was Friday and I was sitting at lunch next to Angela. Alice stayed home sick, or so she says. I knew it was because Jasper still hadn't gotten in touch with her. It was breaking her heart and breaking mine from seeing her like that.

"Anyways, I asked if you've applied to any colleges yet?" Angela asked.

"I, well, not really," I blushed. I was still debating on what I wanted to do after I graduated. Everyone around me had a plan, heck even Alice did, but I still hadn't a clue what I wanted.

"That's okay, you have time," Angela said softly with a smile. She paused. "I just got back my letter from the University of Washington, I got accepted."

"Oh my god, Angela, that's great!" I hugged her from the side. She smiled, but it didn't seem to reach her eyes. "Isn't it?" I asked gently.

"Yeah, it is, I'm excited trust me, it's just…" She shrugged and glanced over at Ben who was sitting a few seats down next to Mike. "Ben's going out of state to California."

"Oh. Oh," I said as it dawned on me. "Is that why you were upset when I saw you down at LaPush?"

"Yeah, we got into an argument that day," Angela said with a sigh. Her expression dropped.

"California?" I asked. "That doesn't seem very…Ben."

"He says he wants a change from Forks, that he wants to go out and experience life," She said and shrugged.

"Are you two…?" I asked, not wanting to finish my question in case it upset Angela.

"We're taking a break. Well, that's how he put it anyways," she muttered. Ah, so that's why they weren't sitting together.

"But, what about prom?" I asked without thinking and winced.

"I don't know, we didn't really discuss it," she said while looked down at the table. Poor Angela. She sounded so excited about prom a couple of weeks ago. It was coming up in about a month. I didn't plan on going myself. I was too uncoordinated for dancing and I just didn't want to mess with it.

"You know what, how about we do something together this weekend? We can have a sleepover at Alice's?" I asked. We've done this before and it turned out to be pretty fun, but this was nearly a year ago. Angela's eyes lit up a bit as she smiled.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I think I'm busy this weekend, but I'll be able to next week if that's okay?" She asked.

"Of course! It's a plan. I'll talk it over with Alice, she'll be excited," I said. I at least hoped Alice would perk up a bit at the idea. She's been so sad lately and I have barely been able to get a laugh out of lunch bell rang and we stood up to go to our classes.

The rest of the school day went by fairly fast. I caught myself more than once not being able to pay attention to the lessons, drifting off into my thoughts of Alice and him. My teachers began to notice my lack of attention during this week and called on me numerous times. Much to my embarrassment, I was only able to answer their questions correctly twice, the other times mumbling out an 'I don't know' with a red face.

When school ended, I headed straight home. Walking into the house I found Charlie sitting at the kitchen table looking through the local newspaper. He cleared his throat once he noticed I entered the kitchen.

"How was school?" He greeted.

"Fine, the usual. Kind of boring," I answered and shrugged. He nodded. This was our typical type of conversation. We weren't much for sitting down and pouring out our feelings. This worked for us. Much unlike Renee who could sit and talk about anything for hours, grilling questions about my love life, or lack of for that matter. I loved both of them, yes, but I grew up fast for my age, maturing earlier than others. I seemed to be the adult during most situations.

"Your friend Alice has been trying to call you for the past few hours. She told me to tell you to come over as soon as you can. She said it was important," He said over his paper.

"Huh, okay," I said confused. "that's okay with you if I go?" I asked, already knowing he'd say yes.

"Of course. Just remember to be careful out by yourself," he said.

"Those people are still missing aren't they?"

Charlie sighed at my question and sat down his newspaper.

"We have no leads. They just…disappeared. It's been nearly a week now, there's still search parties, but we're kind of lost here. We can only hope for the best."

"Yeah," I murmured in agreement. It was so sad. About three people had gone missing. I didn't know much else about it, but I knew they weren't too far off from Port Angeles. Charlie had been working almost non-stop for three days at the station. Now he was back to his regular schedule.

"I guess I'll head over to Alice's before she comes over here and drags me away herself. I'll be back before dark," I assured him. He grunted in acknowledgement and went back to reading his newspaper.

~o~

I knocked on Alice's front door and Michelle opened it to greet me. I noticed she was frowning, but once she saw it was me her face relaxed with relief.

"Oh, Bella, thank goodness. Alice is in her room. She's been upset since this morning, I'm not exactly sure why," she said, her voice full of worry and concern.

"I'll go check on her," I said and led myself through their hallway and into her room. I knew Alice had been sad lately, but hearing from her aunt that she was upset made me hurry to reach her.

"Alice?" I asked quietly and opened her bedroom door. Alice was lying on her bed with her face in her pillow, but when she heard my voice her head popped up. Tears were streaked down her face and her eyes were red from crying. I almost gasped, I had never seen her so upset. I quickly made my way to her bed and gently sat down next to her.

"Alice?" I repeated in a soft tone, "What's wrong?"

She let out a sob and covered her face with her hands.

"It's-It's Jasper!" she wailed into her hands. I brought her into a hug and she began to cry on my shoulder.

"Shhh," I tried to calm her down and rubbed her back. "What about Jasper?"

"He, I was reading the newspaper, and-and then, he's one of them!" she babbled through her tears.

"One of who?" I asked, my eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"He's missing!" she cried. I inhaled quickly in a gasp. I hugged her tighter against me as she continued to cry into my shoulder.

"I-I knew it, I knew something was wrong, and now he's gone!" Her voice was muffled and her tears soaked through my t-shirt.

"Oh, Alice, I'm so sorry," I said quietly. This was terrible. Jasper was missing, but how? What happened?

"It's just, I, what do I do? I feel so lost now, but the weird thing is," she said and paused.

"What's weird?" I asked and she pulled away from me. Her face was red and her eyes were swollen from all the crying.

"At first I assumed the worst, that he was dead, but it's just," she wiped a couple of fallen tears off her cheeks. "I know he's not. It's like I can feel him still here. But, I think…I think something bad has happened to him. I know it sounds strange, I only ever talked to him a couple of times, but there is something between us, Bella. Something that I've never felt before," I grabbed her hand in mine and patted it.

"I believe you," I told her. Like she said, it was strange, crazy even, that something like this could happen in only a matter of a week, but the way Alice was acting and how she seemed to know something was wrong with Jasper made me realize I should've listened to her all along. I called her everyday after school during this week, trying my best to comfort her and assure her that Jasper was okay, but she was right this whole time.

"You do?" she stuttered out. Her chin quivered and she leaned over to hug me again.

"Yes, Alice, I do, and I'm sorry I didn't see it clearly before," I said while hugging her back.

We sat in her in bed for a while longer. Her tears began to dry up as I comforted her in the best way that I could. I was shocked at the news of Jasper missing and I couldn't even begin to imagine how Alice was feeling.

"Do you still have the newspaper article?" I asked. She sniffed and nodded, standing up and walking to her desk across the room.

"Here," she said and handed me the newspaper. It was on the front page, pictures of three people, Jasper being the middle one. I skimmed through the article. Jasper was found missing since last friday night, the night of the party we went to. The other two were of young women, missing for about two weeks. I read deeper into the part about Jasper. Friends said they went out to a bar and he told them he was going out for a smoke and simply never came back. They tried contacted him, but to no avail. They contacted the police the next morning, because they were supposed to pack up and head back to Seattle, but there was still no sign of him.

"Doesn't something seem a bit off? I mean, Jasper was on vacation here. There's no way he left on his own. Something had to happen. Something weird," Alice said with anger.

"I agree. Three people missing within the same month near the same place? That's just, I don't know, scary. Maybe I should ask Charlie more about it," I said and Alice nodded quickly.

"Yes, yes, do that," she nearly begged.

"I will. Do you want me to stay the night? I'm not busy and if you want…"

"No," Alice shook her head sadly. "I promised Michelle I'd spend some time with her tonight. I haven't exactly talked to her for the past week or so," she looked down guiltily.

"Hey, it's okay, but I know she's been worried about you. Maybe you should fill her in on what's happened today," I said and patted her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know," she nodded in agreement.

"Did you ask her how her date with David went?" I asked and smiled, trying to change the subject to something lighter and to get her mind off of Jasper for a few minutes. She smiled and giggled softly.

"Yes, and she's totally smitten," her smile widened a bit, but her eyes were still glossed over with unshed tears. I sat with her for a few more minutes then walked out of the room to grab her some tissues. We talked more as I tried to get her to think of other things rather than the fact that Jasper had gone missing.

About an hour later Michelle called to ask if Alice was ready to go shopping. That was something the two shared in common. They loved bonding over clothes and shoes. I can think of many times where they decided buying a purse was more important than paying a utility bill, but that was who they were. I was glad Alice was going out, she needed it.

"Call me tomorrow, okay?" I said as I hugged Alice goodbye. She squeezed me tight and let go.

"I will. Thank you for being here and listening," she said quietly with a smile.

"Of course. You know I'm always here for you."

We said our goodbyes and I left to head back home. Today turned out to be awful. I was feeling so many different emotions at once, for Alice and Jasper. For him, the mysterious voice in my head. I blinked a couple of times to pay attention to the road ahead of me as I drove. I couldn't wait to get home. I was suddenly tired and the idea of a nap sounded wonderful.

~o~

Bella.

I rolled over in my sleep and mumbled out something incoherent.

Bella.

"Go away," I mumbled into my pillow. I dragged the blanket up and over my head. Just let me sleep a little longer.

Bella, wake up.

I groaned and sat up, blinking my eyes to adjust to the darkness of my bedroom. I sat still for a few seconds before my eyes widened as I suddenly realized who I was listening to.

"It's you, you're back," I breathed out.

I can't find it in myself to stay away from you any longer.

His voice was like velvet, deep and soft as it brushed against my thoughts.

"What do you mean? I haven't heard from you in almost three days," I basically whined. He didn't answer and I blushed. I knew nothing about him. Nothing. And here I was was complaining that he wasn't here. He must think me foolish, but his voice finally replied.

There were some…urgent matters I had to attend to.

"Like what?" I blurted out. My face darkened another shade of red. "I mean, I'm sorry, that's none of my business," I apologized. It was silent after that. I bit my lower lip in worry that he left.

"Are you still there?" I whispered.

Yes.

"I was just wondering…how are you able to do this? Talk to me, I mean, inside my head?" I listened as he chuckled to my question.

You mean within your thoughts? I have to admit that I actually have no idea.

"Wait, what? You don't know?" I asked bewildered.

Yes, as shocking as it may seem.

I continued to chew on my lip in thought. This was all too weird.

Stop doing that.

"Doing what?"

Biting your lip. It's…distracting.

I blushed and followed his demand, releasing my lip from my teeth. Then my eyes shot towards my bedroom window. The blinds were pulled up, as they usually always were, but if he told me to stop biting my lip, then that must mean…

"You can see me?!" I gasped. I jumped up from my seat on the bed and ran to the window. The moon was shining bright, but it was still too dark out to see anything.

Yes.

He began to laugh.

What is it that you're doing?

"Looking for you," I answered. His laughing ceased.

It's useless for you try.

"Oh," I mumbled dejectedly. "If I can hear you then why can't I see you?"

Getting close to you can lead to something disastrous, Bella. I can't let that happen.

"I don't understand," I whispered out. I was confused and saddened by what he said. He didn't reply and I didn't expect him to. I walked back to my bed and sat down at the edge of it, staring out my window.

I'm sorry.

His voice was barely a whisper.

I must leave now.

"No!" I shouted. Then I shot a look towards my bedroom door, forgetting about Charlie. Hopefully he didn't hear that. His voice sighed in return.

I have no choice in the matter, believe me.

"But you woke me up. You just got here. Please don't go yet," I pleaded.

If I could stay here any longer I would.

His voice sounded regretful.

"I, well, can I at least ask you a question before you leave?" I asked and he hesitated for a moment.

You can.

"What's your name?"

There was a pause and I wrung my hands together nervously.

"It's okay, you don't have to answer, I was just-"

It's Edward.

"Wh-what?" I stuttered.

Edward. My name is Edward.

A/N: Aw, yay! Bella finally got to have a conversation with her mystery man. And poor Angela and Alice, right? Anyways, don't be shy to leave a review! I love hearing from you all.

~ Jamie