She was looking at me so innocently… I didn't want to shatter that… What impact would this have on her world and her life? The same as it had had on mine? Less? More? I didn't know. Should I tell her the truth? Should she know about Edward being a vampire? She was my best friend, but I didn't know how much about him she needed to know. All I knew was that I was in conflict about telling her, and I had mere seconds to decide what to tell her.
"Well, Alicia, the truth is, there's more to Edward than meets the eye. The bear was just a cover-up story for what really happened," I started.
I might as well tell her the truth, I thought. She had the right to know as my best friend, and even more of a right since Edward had thrust her into it by bringing me to her house. If Alicia wanted to get me committed after I told her, that was her business, but I was telling her the truth if it killed me. I knew it was the right thing to do
So I proceeded to tell her the truth about Cades Cove, relaying it to her exactly as it had happened. Then I began to tell her what had happened that day after I had left school. When I got to the part about Rosemary, I began to cry even more furiously. Alicia listened to most of the story with an expression of only pity and concern for me, just like she would if I was telling her any other story about something that had gone wrong.
When I had finished, she just sat there, shaking her head with a sad expression on her face. Other than that, her face and attitude was unreadable. I couldn't tell if she thought I was crazy, lying, or what…
"Well?" I asked, eager to find out what was going through her head. I wanted to know what she thought. If she thought I was crazy, I had no way to justify against that, but I could try.
"I'm not quite sure where to start… Give me a minute," she said.
"Ok," I said, resolving to keep myself complete still and silent. If she wanted a moment, I'd give it to her. I'd give her all the moments she wanted if only she would give me an outsider's view on all this crazy mess that was happening to me.
"Brandy, I'm not quite sure what to tell you. I just wish you would have told me all this earlier. Then maybe I could have helped you with the whole him being a vampire thing… I'm just kind of upset that you didn't tell me before. You know you can tell me anything," Alicia said.
"And? You don't think I'm crazy or something?" I asked, almost a little too eagerly.
"No. I just think you needed to rant to somebody. Trust me, you can't lie that well. You have no poker face, plus you're not crazy. You love Edward too much for you to come up with someone weird story like that about him even if you were crazy, even I know that. Plus, crazy or not, there is no way you could make up that story. You have too short of an attention span," Alicia said.
I smiled at her last comment. She did have a point… I did have a tendency to start ten or so stories at one time and then only follow through with one or two of them… I was good at biting off more than I could chew with the whole writing thing, and I was afraid I had done it this time in everyday life with this whole Edward…
"So what can I do? What if he decides he wants to eat me or something? I can't fight off a vampire, and it's not like I know a werewolf or something," I said.
"Quite frankly, there's nothing you can do. If he wants you dead, you're gonna die. Simple as that," Alicia said, shrugging.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I mumbled. Prefect, now my best friend was own his side.
"He mustn't not really want you dead, otherwise, you'd be dead already, though. He did bring you all the way here from his house in a car with just you and him. It would have been nothing for him to kill you and then dump you somewhere," Alicia said.
What she said did serve a valid point. He could have killed me long before now, yet he didn't. Maybe there was a feeling there that prevented him from killing me, even if was only a little shred of kindness… This brought me hope, if only a little twinkle in the total and complete black of uncertainty.
"Thanks Alicia," I said, quickly giving her a hug.
"Ok… Not quite sure what I said there, but ok, if you say so," she replied, going rigid under my embrace.
"Maybe he's just confused is all," I said with a sigh, letting go of my best friend.
"Yeah, that may be it. You are what you eat, and he must have been eating a bunch of idiots lately," Alicia said with a smile.
"Maybe," I said, laughing at Alicia's interesting humor that always made my day a little more exciting and brighter. If I was in a bad mood I'd call Alicia, and BAM, she'd come up with some way to make me smile.
Just then, I started hearing this horrible scratching sound coming from somewhere else in the house.
"What was that?" I asked, looking around kind of franticly. Excuse me for being all jumpy, but I had just been attacked by vampires, remember?
"Aw, just the ferrets. Wanna watch Bleach?" she asked me, turning on the TV.
"That was not the ferrets. It was coming from outside, and unless Shuggy suddenly got tall enough to let himself outside and then scratch on the side of the house at about your eye level, then that is not him," I said. Shuggy was another of Alicia's ferrets, and I knew that it wasn't him. Whatever was making that noise certainly wasn't small and adorable.
"Brandy, Edward is not coming to kill you. He wouldn't have brought you all the way here for that. It's probably just a squirrel or something," she said, not taking her eyes off of Hitsuguya who was battling on the TV screen.
"No! Come on! You can fight better than that!" she yelled, waving her hands around like the soul reaper could see her or something. I smiled at the way she was jumping up and down the way my parents—whom claimed not to care, by the way—did when they were watching the Super Bowl.
Just then, I heard it again, only much louder. I stiffen immediately.
"Alicia…" I managed to say, dragging her name out. I was freaked out. Utterly and completely freaked out.
"What is it Brandy? Do you still hear that noise?" she asked, looking away from the screen.
"Yeah, and it's getting louder," I said, getting up off the couch to go investigate.
"Are you crazy? You're heading towards the weird noise! Haven't you seen enough horror movies to know that does no good?!" Alicia said.
I shrugged and continued the way I was headed down the hall.
"My life's a horror movie now I guess. My boyfriend's a vampire who's cheating on me with another vampire who looks like a supermodel and probably wants me dead," I said, going down the hall towards Alicia's bedroom.
As I pasted by the ferret's cage, I noticed there were all in more or less of a huddle in the corner, like they were hiding from something. They were all puffed up, making them look twice their normally size. I could tell something was bothering them, since that was what they normally did when they were frightened.
"What's the matter little guys?" I asked, bending down to open up the cage and reach inside to pet them. They only shrunk back more at the site of my hand in their cage.
"What's the matter? I'm not going to hurt you," I said, pulling my hand away, and shutting the door to the cage.
"I wonder what their problem is," I said, going to stand up when I noticed the gigantic shadow that had formed on the wall in front of me which belong to the large shape that I had now noticed had came to stand behind me.
"I am," the shape said with a maniacal laugh. I went to scream, but a hand quickly covered my mouth before I could even form a sound.
"I'd hate to let the whole neighbor know I was here, pretty girl. Then they'd have to die too," he said with a tone that I was certainly could come from only a smiling face.
"If you're quiet, I won't hurt your little friend. I only want you after all. Oh, how much enjoyment am I going to get from you and the many doors that you in fact open," he said with a smile.
Just then, I realized who it was that was restraining me without even seeing his face. The sound of his voice… Very Ichimaru Gin… The tone of his voice… Like Ichimaru Gin… This only pointed to one person, and it wasn't Ichimaru Gin since he didn't exist, or at least I hoped he didn't… The way my life was going, it wouldn't have surprised me though, but it did only point to one person… Jonathan McCaig… How had he managed to find me…? Unless he had followed Edward and I from his house… That had to be it… He had followed him to get to me… Edward was indirectly going to cause my death, whether he knew it or not.
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