Disclaimer: I don't own it.


Death and Resurrection

Chapter 7

Alice is babbling, babbling, babbling about everything and nothing under the sun.

I think she's talking about a new book she bought the other day and the date Jasper took her on last night at the same time.

I don't know. I'm not paying attention to her.

She brought me to her favorite coffeehouse in downtown Seattle. I know she didn't bring me here to talk about some inconsequential bullshit that only she cares about.

She still has that hesitant look in her eyes as she speaks and she won't look me directly in the eye.

There's a man and a woman sitting behind her. The woman, no, the girl has her back to Alice but I can see the guy.

He has dark brown hair in a buzz cut and beard that he keeps wiping clean with a napkin after he takes a sip of his coffee from the green mug the waitress brought him. And his eyes were the oddest shade of gray, almost silver. His skin was a smooth caramel brown that oddly went with his obvious African American features.

Dangerous was the first thing that came to mind.

But when he smiled at the girl, I knew that he wouldn't hurt anybody unless they gave him reason to.

"They say that she's staying indefinitely," he said to the girl, smiling at her over the mug.

I heard her sigh over Alice's nonsense. "Yeah. Apparently, they've stopped looking. But we've still got to keep her inconspicuous." I froze.

Her voice…her voice was so much like Bella's.

I brought my hand up to my chest as the other curled into a fist on my knee under the table. It felt as if my there was a stinging pain coming from my heart.

Can it be you? Can it really be you, Bella?


So, who do you think it is? Is it really Bella? Or is it someone else? A family member, even? Or a friend?