WARNING: SLASH.
A/N: Hey guys and gals, sorry this update took two weeks but it was a process. This last chapter was a little agonizing, as I'm sure you'll notice when you read it. I wanna thank everyone again who reviewed or favourited or alerted. I wanna give a shout out to Korissa, whenever you guys get a chance read her story "Angel of God" is really amazing. As always The updates may start to be a two week thing still.. Sorry, life is attacking me :
Disclaimer: I don't own twilight. Just my version of Jasper and Edward ;)
So without further hesitation, here it is.
Chapter 8
Edward's POV
Knowing there was nothing I could do about her lying there bleeding to death I did the next best thing. I got free from the grasp Emmet had me in, and lunged myself at him. The feeling of rage wholly consumed me. I couldn't control myself, and not in a good way. My hands found their way to my Father's chest as I pushed with all the force I had in me. I revelled in the feeling as his weak body, soaked in some type of alcohol, hit the wall with a slam. He laughed as he slid down the barren wall, causing even more furry to run through my body. My blood was boiling with a hate I had never felt before, so what I did next held no type of surprise to me.
I lunged down to the ground and grabbed the knife from my Father's hand. He gladly let go when I pulled aggressively at it, baffling me. Yet no matter how confused I was I was still more than a force to be reckoned with. I took the finely crafted piece of metal in my hand and pressed it against his throat. His neck bulged up fatter as I pushed the blade farther into his flesh, threatening to draw blood.
This wasn't me. What the fuck was I doing? I dropped the knife and it clanged on the floor with a rattle that echoed through the entire house. I stayed there on all fours as my Father, slouched up against the wall, continued his sick excuse for a laugh. My head was swimming with suggestions from my better and worse halves. I panted there staring at the knife that caused it all when I heard Mya let out a whimper.
All the rage and anger literally melted off of me at the sound of her. I crawled back to her and rested her head in my lap as tears escaped my blood-shot eyes. This wasn't how I envisioned my return to even this hell hole. I leaned my head down to Mya's and whispered in her ear,
"I'm so-sorry gir-l." I choked out between sobs.
She whined back.
I've never had children but I would imagine that this is how it felt to lose your own child. She'd brought hope to me as I lived here the past month, and she'd already worked her own way into my heart, so it was completely unfair to think that she'd be taken away now. I was beyond over-come with emotions right now. How the fuck could he do that to her? To me?
Just then I felt a hand on my shoulder, a cold, rough, grasping hand. I turned around to feel a sharp pain sear my flesh, just under my cheek. I yelled out in agony as I starred at my Father who had just sliced a gash into my face with a broken vodka bottle. I could barely feel the pain over the emotions that welled up in that moment. I regrettably left Mya and charged my Father with a resentment that came from the depths of my inner being.
He hit the ground like a ton of bricks and continued that vile laughter that I was beginning to loathe with such a passion it was unbearable. I went to lunge at him again when I was held back. I turned around to release my anger on whomever it was when Emmet appeared. Once again, my emotions abandoned their defences and I collapsed. I fell to my knees and Emmet helped me back up.
"You don't want to do this man. I know this is bad but just don't. He's not worth it."
I couldn't take Emmet's words to heart but I decided against my stronger willed emotions and tried to calm down.
"Rose is outside. Let's get Mya and go okay?"
I wanted to agree with him but the next words that dribbled from my Father's mouth ignited my next spur of hatred.
"Come on pussy. I killed your fuckin mutt. What the hell are you going to do about it?"
Through blurred eyes I threw myself in his direction, and connected a fist with the right side of his face causing him to laugh even harder. This pissed me off even more. I couldn't see how someone could do this and laugh about it. It was making me physically sick.
"Is that all you have? I killed your fucking dog." He slurred out.
I kicked him, with a solid blow to the stomach, and he coughed up what seemed like blood. I was beyond caring now though. He let out a loud bellow of pain, and my eyes held no sympathy as Rosalie watched from the door-way.
My Mother came out of the next room with a bottle of an unnamed liquid, three-quarters full, taking generous gulps of it.
"What the fuck are you boys yelling about?" She stammered. Her attention was now pulled to Mya, who was taking deep, feeble breaths. "Can someone put that fucking mutt in the ground already?" Her eyes were glassy and far away.
"Fuck you!" I seethed at her.
Her eyes and whole appearance seemed more alert now as she stared me down. Emmet walked over carefully towards me and grabbed my arm as she walked towards us.
"Hi Emmet," she said, seemingly cheery and sober. She then turned as if to walk away and whipped her body around, followed by a stiff hand that struck me in the left side of the face with a loud smacking noise. Immediately my hands drew up to my head clasping it in aggravating moans of pain. She walked away as I writhed on the floor.
I turned around with tear filled eyes, grabbed Emmet's shirt in two fistfuls and spoke to him in a shaky, almost pathetic voice, "Em-mmet. Ca-an you get Ma-ya and bring her to th-he truck-k please."
Emmet looked into my eyes and his whole person seemed to shatter on the inside. I figured I was quite the mess right now. Regardless I let go and left the hell house behind me. I passed Rosalie while hearing my Father in the background laughing manically.
I covered my ears as I past Rose to drown out the laugh that would undoubtedly haunt my nightmares. I almost tripped down the stairs of our front porch as I stumbled out of the house. Fire like liquid was still coursing through me as the evening air hit me straight on. As I walked across the lawn to Emmet's truck, which was parked on the side of the road, I tripped and fell to my knees.
Tears fell from my face in a constant motion now, as a feral scream ripped out of my chest and pierced the night air. Our block was fairly quiet tonight, quite the contrast to what was going on in my mind. I was furious but I couldn't do anything about it, so I started to tear pieces out of the lawn, ripping the grass fistful by fistful. I dug my fingers into the bare uncovered earth as voices surrounded me, none of them making any sense. I could hear sobbing, yelling, and a wild moaning. None of it made any sense until Rose was in front of me. All the noises and disturbing sounds were coming straight from me, I just couldn't realize it.
She lifted me up as my noises started to calm down, but I didn't have the energy or the will to get up, so I slumped back down to the earth that was beginning to cool. I don't remember lying there for long till Emmet picked me up the same way he carried Mya. I was fairly retreated for a while but the memory of Mya and what was going on brought back the tears, sobs, and the uncontrollable shaking. Emmet lied my in the box of the truck with Mya until I stopped. I lifted my head to see Mya when I heard her breathing start to take on a laboured quality.
"No! No! No-o!" I cried out. Mya was quickly fading and there was nothing I could do except hold on to her for the few minutes she had left. I grabbed Mya gently around the neck and held her close to me. I never wanted her to leave but along with my last wish, her last breath escaped her, and her body became agonizingly stiff and frigid. I sobbed loudly into her until I felt like I had nothing left. My chest felt like it was breaking on the inside as I was torn apart.
Rose was the first one to try any attempts at talking to me. I saw her from the corner of my eye and slowly left Mya for the comfort and warmth of Rose's arms. I looked down to my hands which were covered in a deep, smooth, velvet; the colour of a fresh poppy. At the sight of this I cried even harder, to the point of convulsions.
I couldn't take my family anymore. I couldn't live here and I didn't intend to. Rose pulled me off the back of Emmet's truck just in time for me to release the contents of my stomach on the pavement. I cringed back into Roses arms and just let go. With the help of Emmet, they lifted me into the back seat of Emmet's truck. Rose sat in the back with me as I laid my head in her lap. Emmet got in and started driving, to where, I didn't know, nor did I care. I just wanted to be away from 'home' and that's what was going to happen. I continued to shake and spasm for fifteen minutes, but soon the mesmerizing sounds of the road and the truck calmed my nerves.
Once I was close to silent Rose started to speak to me.
"Edward, I'm sorry. We got there just after it had happened. Dad threatened to kill anyone who touched her. He wanted you to see it, the sick fuck. Sorry about the language, and if it wasn't obvious, you're staying with me from now on. Okay?"
I could only nod to what Rose was saying. If I tried to speak I'm sure I would start crying again.
I pulled out my phone as a distraction and saw one new message;
Are you okay Edward? Text me when you can...
I took the time to quickly de-brief Alice on the situation; I at least owed her that.
Hey, Mya is dead. With Emmet and Rose. Dad did it.
I didn't know how she'd take that but I didn't really have the energy to care. Two minutes later a distinct ringing came from my phone. I gave Rose my phone seeing it was Alice who was calling.
"Want me to answer this?" She asked.
I simply nodded my head in response. I looked out the truck window to see storm clouds coming in and I thought of my distain for thunder. When I was a kid it was one of my worst fears. Now I could handle it but it still made me jumpy.
"Hello?" Rose answered my phone. "Yeah he's here, he's not so good."
Rosalie paused a moment, presumably to let Alice speak.
"Yeah we're actually headed out your way, to our old cabin. If you wanted to that be great."
Another pause.
"Do you know the lake?"
The conversation continued for another five minutes as I started to fall asleep. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted from today. I was fighting sleep; I didn't want to sleep without knowing Mya was at least in a safe place. To my distain, sleep overtook me.
Alice's POV
I put the phone down in my lap as I took in all the things Edward's sister had just told me. His fucking Dad. He must feel terrible right now, not to mention pretty beat up. I couldn't imagine him looking like what I thought.
I sat there for a minute thinking about what I was about to do. I then got up and went to my laptop and pulled up an online mapping site. I punched in the directions Rosalie had given me and found directions to their lake-side cabin. I quickly printed them off, grabbed my jacket and took off to Jasper's. I didn't really care if Jasper came or not but I thought I'd invite him to be polite, he seemed close to Edward so maybe he'd want to come. I doubted Edward would be going to school tomorrow so I'd go see him; regardless I wanted to tell Jasper just in case. I grabbed some more clothes as I planned out my thoughts, and put them in a bag. I quickly scanned my room and left to the hallway. I put the key in the door and locked it.
I went through the elevator, which was slow as fucking hell, then past all the rooms and finally arrived at Jasper's. I lifted my hand to knock on the door and then paused. I had full intentions of bringing Jasper with me, but Edward had to tell me something, so maybe it would be best if he didn't come. I brought my hand back down and headed back towards the elevator. I didn't even hear the door open as a voice followed after me.
"Alice? What's up?" Jasper looked confused as I walked slowly up to him, planning my every thought carefully.
"I just came by to drop off your key," I lied smoothly. "I thought you might be studying though so I thought I'd bring it tomorrow."
"Oh okay, yeah I forgot you still had it."
I walked closer up to him and opened my bag to find the key. I dug through it a while till I found it, silver and well-polished; new maybe? I carefully placed the key, or my new found distraction, into Jasper's outstretched palm.
"Thanks Alice." He said happily.
I gave him a small head nod and then turned around to walk away. I made it to the elevator and pressed the down button. My conscious weighed me down as I thought about how selfish I was being, but I needed to have that talk with Edward and I doubt he'd do it with Jasper there.
I was out to my car in no time flat. I don't know why I was so nervous but rather than dwell on it I pulled out my own set of keys and shoved the more prominent one into the door of my red, 1991, Chevy Cavalier and unlocked the door. I got in the car and threw my bag in the back seat. The car was cold as I got in and so I started it up in a hurry and turned up the heat.
I was out of the campus in no time as the car started to warm up. I turned onto the highway in a rush as I was thinking about Edward. I grabbed the directions I had brought with me and looked them over. I would be on this road for another hour and a half so I decided to relax a little and put them away. I grabbed my phone and saw one new message, the light blinked on and off, from Edward;
Hey Alice, this is Rosalie, we're probably going to be staying at the cabin tonight if you want to your welcome to join us, Edward still won't talk.
I slowly pushed my foot down a little farther as I was more determined to get to this cabin, and the car sped up.
I drifted off in thought, and before I realized two hours had gone by. I looked at the time and where I was on the map I printed off; it said I was about twenty minutes away from the cabin now. I quickly typed a message back letting them know where I was and that I would be there soon,
Hey, be there soon
I sent it and focused on the map.
I drove for another ten minutes before I found the turned off onto a dirt road. I rolled down the window and the cool evening air swarmed the warmth of my car. I travelled down the dirt road for five minutes before I pulled up to a nice looking wooden cabin.
I shut off my car, got out, and went to find Edward.
Edward's POV
I woke up with a start when the truck halted to a stop.
"Where are we?" I asked, my voice still heavy with sleep.
"We're at the lake." Rose said to me while running her fingers through my hair.
I calmed down quite a bit from the sleep but I assumed my eyes were still puffy and red from all the crying. Rose continued to stroke my hair as Emmet got out. I barely heard the door open and slam shut as I was in my own world.
She was gone.
I got up from Rose's lap and took off my seat belt; I gave Rose a hug and left the truck. I stumbled down through the woods around our cabin and allowed myself to become lost in the scenery around me. I became lost in the pine and birch trees that casted shadows along the spot we called our 'home away from home'. The air was chilled and I felt it in my arms and legs, exposed to the wind. The sun was setting and it felt like the perfection earlier today had faded into oblivion and all I craved right now was Jasper. I walked by our cabin and took off my shoes; I didn't really like wearing shoes when I was here. I let the grass feel its way under and around my feet, the coolness of the lawn felt amazing. I walked sombrely down to the dock, and loved the feeling of the wood underneath my toes. It felt like home to be walking down the wooden dock again. I stopped midway down the dock when I heard someone walking towards me from behind.
Emmet put a hand on my shoulder and spoke gently,
"Do you want me to dig her hole here? It's all up to you bud."
I could tell Emmet was trying to be careful with what he said around me and my eyes watered up again. I thought about where my favourite places were, because that's where I wanted my Mya. I loved Rose's, but that wasn't possible. I loved this place, it was my safe place where I always felt content; but most of all, I loved Jasper's beach. I knew I couldn't do that there so I decided that letting go of Mya would be done best here.
I turned around and looked at Emmet. He looked softer somehow, like he pitied me. I hated that look but it was really nice that Emmet cared about me that much, he was definitely like family to me.
"Sure Emmet, that'd be good." The sadness in my voice didn't really surprise me but what did surprise me was when Emmet grabbed me and pulled me in a bear hug.
"It'll be okay Edward."
"Do you want help?" I asked quietly.
"No I think I can handle it."
Emmet let me go and I slumped down to the dock. He walked away in the direction of the cabin and I focused my attention back on the lake. I got up and soaked in all my surroundings.
The clouds in the sky sunk back into a fading white as they accented a lightly blushed atmosphere. The entire lake seemed to mimic my mood as the water quieted to small waves and the sun retreated back into the earth. I walked further to the end of the dock and sat down letting my feet make contact with the water. I flinched and recoiled at first from how cold the water still seemed to be but then relaxed into the cold. I let the water numb my entire being as my thoughts drifted away.
The sun was low in the sky as Rose came to get me. She came up behind me and kneeled down, then she gently placed a hand on my shoulder, then wrapped her arms around me. She then whispered in my ear,
"Are you ready? It's all set up." She sounded more composed as her voice carried the same serene feel of the lake.
I let down all my guards and got up with Rose. She led me back across the dock as the wind ruffled her golden hair.
I followed her slowly, each step weighing a hundred pounds as I tried to move my feet. My thoughts were pulled across the lake with the small wind blowing east, leaving my head with a still uncomfortable uneasiness. My stomach growled at me and my head was feeling light, but at the same time I still was in no mood to eat anything. I tried my hardest to walk with Rose but Emmet ended up coming over to help her with me. They lifted me up by my arms and I felt like I was weightless, which didn't help my emotions in the slightest.
Once we came up by the hole Emmet had made, my knees buckled underneath me and I hit the grass with a loud thud, by this time I couldn't feel the pain. It was even harder knowing that Jasper wasn't here right now. I carefully lifted my torso to slowly look inside the hole that would become Mya's new resting place. It was a crude looking hole, but empty.
"Do you want me to get her?" Emmet suggested quietly.
I looked back up at Emmet, a plain look on my face, I'm guessing my eyes were everywhere but on him, not to mention the red circles.
"I'll go." It felt like they were the first two words I had spoken since home. I carefully went up on my knees and pushed up off the ground till I was standing straight up. I slowly walked over to the back of Emmet's truck and looked in the back.
She was still lying there, unchanged, unmoved. Another tear escaped from me as I continued to lift her body off the bed of the truck. I carefully carried her back to the spot Emmet picked out. I stood there with Mya in my arms and looked out from her spot, it was really nice. A birch tree shaded the area and the view of the setting sun was unmatchable. I forced myself to continue with what I was doing, so I turned away from the setting sun and bent down to put Mya in. I slowly placed her body, cold and stiff, into the ground. I pulled my hands out of the grave and looked down again. I saw the crimson liquid smeared over my left hand. It made me start to cry, then with both hands planted on the ground, dry heave. I felt what seemed like Rose's hand on my back and I jumped a little at the feeling. She started rubbing small circles on my back. My eyes were sealed shut as I continued with my grieving. I opened them a little to lean down more and brush my hand, for the last time against Mya's soft fur. I leaned back and sat cross-legged on the ground sobbing still. Rose's hand never left me and when I turned around to look at her I saw someone I didn't expect. Alice was kneeling beside me with a look of sadness on her face and so I pulled her close to me. Well it was more like I grabbed her and wouldn't let her go, but another round of tears spread unto my face and into Alice's shirt. I could barely talk but what I managed to get out was a muffled,
"Than-k yo-you."
I held onto Alice until the tears stopped coming.
I let go and slowly got up, looking for a shovel. I found the one Emmet had used and found the pile of dirt. I grabbed a shovel full and raised it slightly off the ground.
"I'm sorry girl, I love you." It came out more jumbled then I intended but regardless, it came out.
I threw the first shovelful of dirt unto her. Her body didn't whine, didn't complain, didn't move.
I dropped the shovel and fell back to my knees. I could finish it. I couldn't bury my own dog. I didn't want to let her go. I leaned into the grave on last time and took her tags off her collar and put them in my pocket. I looked back at Emmet and said shaking,
"Cann-n yyou fini-ssh i-it? Pl-lease?"
He nodded his head and got to work as I watched. I looked on seeing my girl being slowly covered until there was no hole left.
There was almost no daylight left as Alice and I walked down to the lake. We walked down the dock and I put my feet into the lake.
We sat there in silence until I spoke.
"Alice, I didn't want to let her go." I whispered, mostly to the lake.
"I know. I wish I had better advice for you Edward. But I've never been through this so I can't really even say I know the feeling."
"It's okay."
She grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers. This felt nice, but I assumed it meant something totally different to her than it did to me. I even let her lay her head on my shoulders but I knew that I needed to tell her tonight; maybe not about me and Jasper, but about the fact that I was in love with someone else. Regardless, Alice was like a sister to me now. She knew a lot about me, she even instinctively knew things about me that I haven't even told her.
It felt like I had a brain explosion. I suddenly realized that she probably knew about Jasper. Maybe I would tell her. I hadn't even told Rose yet though, and if I put them on the same level then what could I even do?
We sat there a long time, no one saying anything. I leaned up as the sky became a midnight black. The waves diminished to smaller, unnoticeable waves and the sky became a darker black than I had ever seen out here. Few if any clouds dominated this terrain tonight, no, tonight the sky was dominated by small bits of light. Small stars clouding the space above, with one big light. The light from the moon reflected off the lake and hit all of Alice's features perfectly. She looked like one of those mythological goddess'. The water looked like a black abyss, engulfing even the smallest emotion to the depths of the bottom. The only light out here now was the one provided by the moon. I hadn't even realized the time until Alice had spoken up,
"Edward, it's one am." Are we staying here or are you going home?"
Truthfully I didn't really know. "I'd like to go home I guess. I have school tomorrow."
"Okay, let's go talk to your sister then."
We both got up, me with more strength and will then before, and walked back to the dimly lit cabin. I wished Jasper was here right now. It was amazing with all this going on, that Jasper was still one of the main focuses of my mind. We got up to the main door and walked in. The cabin looked like the average cabin anyone had, the inside was made from beautiful wood, glass windows, a small fire place.
"Rose are we going home now?" I asked nervously. I didn't even know why I was nervous but I just felt that way.
"If you want, sure." She let a small smile grace her face and with that started collecting the few things she had brought. In a few moments she had everything packed and we were all standing outside the vehicles, cabin door locked.
"Do you wanna go with Alice back home?" Rose asked me.
"Is she staying over?" I asked confused.
"Yeah I invited her." Rose said sheepishly.
"Okay yeah, that'd be nice." I smiled at Alice.
Rose and Emmet got into his truck and started to back up and drive away. I walked back to Mya's grave and said a quick good-bye, then rushed over to Alice's small red car and got in. She already had the car started and so once I got in and put my seatbelt on she was ready to go.
At first when we started on our way back to Rose's it was mostly silent, Alice put on some music that I actually liked so that made the ride a little more bearable.
"Edward..." Alice trailed off while staring straight ahead.
I straightened up from my current slouching and answered,
"Yeah," I said gruffly, almost asleep.
She paused a minute before continuing, obviously deep in thought.
"Remember when you said you had to tell me something back at the campus? What was it?" I had never heard Alice this nervous and it made me nervous. I felt bad for what I was about to do but, I guess it had to be done some time.
I turned the music in the car down a little as I planned out how I would tell her, or even better, what I would tell her.
I thought about what I had been through with her, how she made me feel, how to explain how Jasper made me feel. I sat there for maybe five minutes deep in thought when it was broken by Alice,
"Edward?" She asked, her voice still shaking.
"Sorry, I'm just trying to put my thoughts together." I said calmly. The voice I toted now was a lot different from the weak and feeble one earlier today. Regardless how my voice sounded I felt like shit. My body ached and I was really craving a bed. My day had been so fucking up and down it was almost unbelievable, but it had started and ended with Alice. In the middle were quite literally though, the best and worst moments of my life. Jasper was fucking amazing and everything I could ever ask for, and the fact that he felt the same way drove me nuts. I couldn't have ever pictured it turning out this perfectly but somehow it did. The part that struck me the most about Jasper today was when he said,
"Edward, you do have me. Don't worry",
That one memory would always get me. I loved how he was so sure. It was the little things he said, little things he did, it was too good to be true.
On the opposite hand my family couldn't be worse, well not Rose, she was perfect, same with Emmet, but my Mom and Dad. They just treated me like garbage and I took it. My Dad was right, I was a pussy, I couldn't even defend Mya when he killed her. I just couldn't. How could things get this fucked? I spent so much time reminiscing on the day that I forgot I had left Alice in complete and utter silence. Shit. I looked over and she was a little pale, fuck me; as if this was because of me.
"Alice?" I asked, getting her attention. This was it. I had to tell her now. Now I was sweating with nervousness though, this was making it a lot harder to explain things.
"Yeah?" She said more calm now.
"Well I'm going to try and explain this to you but it probably won't come out right and you might hate me, fuck I hate myself right now for it but just hear me out okay?"
"Edward, I couldn't hate you."
"We'll see." I laughed. I looked down at the clock to see that it was almost three am, we would be home in about a half hour. "Here it goes I guess." I wiped my hands against my legs since they were getting sticky with sweat. My heart was even racing a little, and not in a good way, I was beyond nervous. "Alice, I really had a good time this weekend. Everything we did was amazing and I don't regret it at all. I really didn't want to lead you on but obviously I was and I screwed up. I feel like shit, and you must be so angry with me, and I don't blame you at all, but..." I took a deep breath in preparation for what I was about to say. "I'm in love with someone else Alice. I'm so fucking sorry, I still love you like a sister but I just... Fuck, I'm sorry."
She was silent for a long time, and each passing second was driving me crazy. I looked over at her slowly to see how I had affected her and she just stared right ahead.
"Alice say something... I'm sorry." I said pitifully.
"It's okay Edward, you can't help who you fall for. I'm just glad you still want me in your life. She turned towards me with a smile that made me want to cry with happiness. I thought she would take it a completely different way. She was seriously the best. I lunged and hugged her tightly.
"Alice you're fucking amazing. You know that?" I said excitedly.
"So..." She prodded. "Who's the lucky one then?" She laughed a little.
"Ali?" I'm sure you have a guess so you tell me." I suggested playfully. "Shit. I just called you Ali. If you don't like it... I'm sorry." I looked down in embarrassment.
"Hey Edward it's fine. I like it." She smiled. "It's cute."
I relaxed a little as she settled into her seat. The car's atmosphere was a little lighter now that we we're past the heaviness that came along with 'the talk'. We both sat there silently smiling to ourselves, obviously pleased with the mood we were in. Mya came back in a flood. I pictured her body, cold, lying in the ground, and then stopped myself. There's nothing I can do about it now and I was certainly not going to ruin Alice's mood because of everything I was feeling.
"Oh shit," she said, "I have to guess don't I?" She laughed at herself and I nodded. "Hmm, let's see. Could it be Jasper?" She looked right at me with a clever smile as my mouth dropped.
"How the fuck did you know!" I said surprised.
"I never would've known so don't worry. I just caught you one day starring at his ass, that's all." She winked at me and looked back at the road.
"Oh." I looked back down at the floor, embarrassed.
I looked at the clock and we we're almost in town.
"Ali, can we stop by my house I need my other stuff if I'm staying at Rose's this week?" I asked.
"Sure."
We sat there in silence for another couple minutes.
"I like it, keep it."
"What?" I asked confused.
"Ali, it's cute. Keep it." She smiled and I smiled with her.
We pulled up to the house of my parents, it was dark and gloomy. It was also past three am so that probably didn't help with the look of the house either.
"I'll just be a few minutes okay?" I turned to smile at her and then left the car.
The air was still. It felt odd walking up the stairs to the house I used to call a home. The air was warm and humid, it felt like a storm was coming and I welcomed it with a smile. I loved rain but hated the thunder. When I was a kid I used to hide under the covers from the thunder, I was terrified of it and it still kind of affected me still, not badly, I just really didn't like it.
I opened the front door and a wave of smell hit me. The main component of the smell was definitely vodka, or some other type of booze. I shifted uncomfortably at the doorway, scared to walk in further. I yearned for Jasper then, I know it was a weird feeling but I just went through hell in this house and now I was back. The blood stain was still on the floor and it made me flinch. I looked around the first open area or foyer of the house and cringed. The house in its entirety was black, all the lights were off. I heard noise from each direction. The stairs in front of me led to my room and I was certain no one was up there, then to my left an open door-less doorway led to the kitchen and to the right then same doorway led to the family or TV room. The TV was on and it emitted an eerie blue glow into the foyer. I quickly rushed up the stairs, luckily making minimal, if any noise. I quickly went to my room and grabbed a large bag from my closet. I packed everything I could. I grabbed almost all my clothes and packed them neatly into the bag until all my dresser drawers were emptied and my closet emptied too. I closed it and grabbed a suitcase and filled it with the rest of my valued collections. I grabbed my writing, my booklet I wrote my piano music in, an old photo album of Rose and I as kids and all the other things that held meaning to me. I left the room rather bare, not caring that this was the last time I'd see it. I turned and quickly grabbed all my belongings from the bathroom and then left for Ali's car. I got to the door way to leave when someone grabbed a fistful of hair from behind me causing me to drop my bags and pulled me back, then once I was in far enough, pushed me up against the nearest wall. I was horribly confused. As I tried to figure this out I was hit across the face with what I'm assuming was a fist. My head rocked back as I tried to recover from the blow.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going you little bitch?" He pinned me to the wall with his forearm and spit into my face. I was shaking against the wall as another blow hit my face.
"What in the fuck are you going to do now? No one is here to save you, you're so weak, just like your filthy mother." He spat.
I tried to contain the rage and pure loathing building up inside me but I couldn't. I burst out into tears for fear of losing my life, three weeks ago I wouldn't have shed a tear, but now I had something to live for, something worth dying for.
My father slowly raised a knife till it was in my line of sight, light from the TV in the other room glinting off of it. I was trembling now as he traced the blade across one of my forearms leaving behind a trail of scarlet liquid that fled down my arm, over my wrist, and encompassed my fingers; finally, dripping to the floor with an unruly splatter. I screamed out in agony as he traced another slightly above the first, allowing more blood to flow freely to the floor.
"Remember that time you and your sister hid in the cellar that day you broke the lamp? Just so I wouldn't find you?" He slurred most of his words, his breath laced with the smell of intoxication.
"Well, this is for that." He slid the blade over my flesh again as I screamed out a tortured cry.
"Remember that day I told you that Rosie couldn't have another popsicle and you took an extra one for her? Well this is for that too." Another cut, another scream.
"What about that time you and little Rosie went to the corner store and stole my money to do it?" He cut deeper this time, causing more blood to come out.
"And Edward, what really upsets me is the time you tried to run away. Why would you do that to parents who love you so much?" He cut even deeper this time, I knew that would be a scar. He dropped the knife and with both hands grabbed my shirt so I was almost off the ground. He pinned me against the wall.
"Eddie, why? You're such a bad influence on your sister." I was shaking violently now, sobs rocking through my weak body, my head spun with dizziness, most likely from blood loss.
"Honey!" My mom called from the living room. "Your show is back on."
While he was distracted I gave my best effort at getting free. I kicked my foot up as hard as I could and wouldn't you know it, it landed right where I wanted it to. My foot, after being pressured with much force, landed right between his legs causing him to drop to his knees, letting me go.
I scampered to my feet and headed to the door in a wavering pattern. I made it out the door and grabbed my bags, dripping blood everywhere I half jogged to the car and threw my bags into the back seat. I got in the car and held onto my arm as Alice gasped in terror.
"Oh my god Edward! What the fuck!" Alice panicked as she tried to find something to stop the bleeding with. She found a towel in the back seat and made quick work of wrapping me up. She then made me put pressure on it to slow down the bleeding. Without another word she backed out of the drive way like a professional with a purpose and sped off in the direction of Rose's. Tears stained my face and blurred my vision as Alice drove. She never once slowed down as she drove.
"How do I get to Rosalie's from here?" She asked, her voice quivering.
I gave her directions and then let out a whimper as I put more pressure on it. Hearing this Alice sped up, and now we were less than five minutes away from Rose's. Usually it would take about twenty minutes to drive to Rose's but today, with Alice at the wheel it took us seven.
We arrived at her apartment and right away Alice popped her trunk open and went to get some things. She came back to my side with a small bag and opened my door. I slid my feet out onto the ground but she stopped me there. She set the bag on my lap and opened it. Kneeling down in front of me she dug through it and pulled out a bottle of water in an odd looking container, some saline, a disinfectant, gauze, fancy clips, some asprin another bottle of regular water and another towel. She got to work right away, she gave me the asprin and water bottle and told me to take two right away. I did as I was told and then she took the towel off and opened the weird bottle. It looked regular but the top had a weird nozzle that was very small at the end. She bit a cap off and spit it somewhere into the parking lot, then sprayed my arm with the water at a high pressure, which hurt like a complete bitch. She then put that bottle on the pavement and took the saline and poured it over the cut, next with the disinfectant, both hurting like a bitch.
"Can you try-y" I hissed in pain as she took out some cotton and pressed it against the cut. "To not get it on the shirt?" I asked.
She looked up as she wrapped it in gauze next. "Why? Is this a special shirt? Maybe Jasper's shirt?" she teased.
"Yeah." I said back, turning a full on shade of red.
"Oh... okay." She gave me an apologetic smile and I smiled back.
She placed the clips carefully so the gauze would stay in place. If I didn't know any better I would say, just by looks and procedure, Alice was a doctor.
"Holy fuck Ali, what are you some kind of doctor?" I teased.
"No, just a nursing student." She laughed. Wow, I didn't even know. "This would've been a trip to the hospital but thankfully whoever did this missed the main vein in your arm, just barely, but they did."
I slowly got up and Alice grabbed my bags from the back seat. Just as she got back out it started to rain.
"Edward, there's blood on these. This is kinda gross." We both laughed as we made our way up to Rose's room, but just as we stepped inside it started to pour. I looked back out at the rain which was making quite a mess outside.
We got up to the door and knocked three times before we were let in. Rose answered the door and pulled me into a hug seeing my new bandages.
"What the fuck happened?" She said, almost in tears again.
"We stopped by Dad's to get the rest of my things..." I trailed off not wanting to continue but knowing I would probably have to.
"How did you get fixed up and how did you get that other bruise on your face? And what the fuck is under all that gauze?" She was becoming hysterical.
"Rose just calm down and I will explain it all." I said. "I'll be right back."
Alice and I went to the spare room and put my bags down. I clumsily tried to change into some pajama pants but couldn't manage it alone,
"Ali... could you maybe?" I gestured to what I was trying to do.
She looked over sympathetically and nodded. "Of course."
We both put pajamas on and left the room to see Rose again, Emmet was already sleeping.
"So?" She urged.
"Well, Ali fixed me up in the parking lot, she's in nursing. She had all the stuff in her trunk, and Dad hit me a couple times..."
"Edward what's under the bandages?" she asked cautiously.
"Cuts." I answered.
"From what exactly?" She asked again.
"Dad, and a kitchen knife. He had me pinned up against the wall and named off all these things he wanted to punish me for from when we were kids. Like when I broke the lamp and we hid in the cellar and when I tried to run away when I was eight. Everything I did, he cut me for. I'm sure he would've kept going if Mom hadn't distracted him from the other room with her voice." I finished my story and everyone sat there in silence, Ali and Rose too shocked to say anything.
"Edward I'm so sorry," Rose pulled me into a hug. "You're never going back there again okay? Thank you Alice for all your help, you're quite the life-saver." Rose gave her a quick smile. "You should rest Edward."
With that we said our good nights and left to our bedrooms, Rose went to the kitchen and made a phone call fist and then Alice went with me to our room. It had been a long day. I pulled the covers of the bed back and laid there in silence. I then heard the thunder and I winced. Alice noticed and pulled me close to her.
"Not a fan of thunder eh bud?"
"No... not at all." She really sounded and felt like a sister right now.
She held me there for a while, while the thunder continued. She then started to run her fingers through my hair and my tensed up body relaxed a little. I was glad to have Alice here. She definitely felt like part of the family.
We sat there for another half an hour listening to the thunder before it started to fade away, allowing me to finally relax completely. My arm still hurt but it was bearable. I thought of Jasper now, and how I wished so badly that he was here, that he was holding me right now. So I leaned my head down and breathed in whatever smell of him was still on my shirt, it was still there, and even though not as strong, it was still enough to calm me down. I was almost asleep when I remembered, that it was the little things about him that I loved.
a/n: so I hope you guys liked this update , and I hope you all still like the longer chapter. Thanks for all the readers who have stayed with me to this point, and thanks for all the support always. It's amazing to hear from you guys.
i used things in peoples reviews to help me out in this chapter believe it or not so reviews do help a lot.
Much thanks, Xavier Willow
P.S. NEXT UPDATE MAY, BE IN ONE WEEK ;)
