Chapter 10:
More Sadness. Can My Life Get Any Worse? Ugh
It was near nine o' clock in the morning: the time A.C. wakes up. She slept downstairs last night away from me. Jasper was still in his tuxedo but I was in black sweats with a pink T-shirt. My soul mate had his arm around me when A.C. walked in the room. She stared at me but I wouldn't look at her as she went to the closet and grabbed a change of clothes. Then, she walked out of the room.
"No good morning from her?" Jasper asked as he still stared at the spot that A.C. just stood at.
I shrugged. I buried my face against Jasper's chest. We stayed in that position for five more minutes until Jasper got up to change. As he changed, I hugged me knees and buried my face in them. Then, a vision came up.
There was a house and it was on fire. Screaming was everywhere. I found myself in the burning house yelling someone's name. I couldn't make out whose name it was though. Suddenly something hugged my body. It shook me and I was back to the present.
Jasper was standing in front of me, shirtless. He had a frantic look on his face. I then noticed that I was breathing heavily… even though vampires don't even need to breathe at all.
I hugged Jasper tightly; he didn't ask about what I saw. He grabbed me onto his lap and rocked me back and forth.
"It'll be fine," Jasper said in a soothing voice. I instantly calmed down.
I looked up at him and out eyes met. Then we slowly leaned in towards each other. Finally, our lips were against each other's. At first I thought it was going to be a quick one but as I tried to pull away, Jasper pulled me back towards him. It was the beginning of a long make out session. On and on we went. As Jasper began to put his hand a little up my shirt, A.C. barged in the room. Her hair style was back to her trademark braids.
"I'm here!" she exclaimed happily.
Jasper and I jumped. We both glared at her and she smiled and waved. She had on a black and pink plaid button-down shirt that had sleeves going down to her elbows. She also had on a black tank-top underneath it and there were black skinny jeans wrapped tightly around her legs. In her hair was a little pink bow. Hey! She so copied the outfit I was going to wear today! Not right.
"Carlisle wants us to go meet him at the grocery store," A.C. said.
"Why there?" Jasper asked.
"Because he's gonna buy me vanilla ice cream! And maybe some strawberries, watermelons, apples, and raspberries. Crap… I should really tell him to buy green apples instead of red… Anyway, hurry up!" A.C. beamed. She walked out of the room.
Jasper looked at me again. He kissed my lips softly and passionately. I put my arms around his neck and we stayed in that position.
"Aw, that's adorable," A.C. suddenly said. She made Jasper and me jump again. We both looked at her. "But can you guys, like, please hurry up? Kiss later!" A.C. turned around to leave the room again but then thought twice. She turned to Jasper and said, "BTW Jasper, the rules are 'No shirt, no service.'" Then she walked out of the room.
I giggled a little at A.C.'s smirk and got up to change. Jasper put a shirt on and I walked out of the closet wearing the same thing as A.C. Jasper and I walked downstairs together.
Emmett blocked out path. "So, we heard you two making out," he said. He started laughing.
"Yeah, you guys were loud," Rosalie said.
"We'll make sure to keep it down next time," Jasper said in a aggravated voice and then he dragged me outside.
A.C. was waiting for us already. She hopped onto my back and yelled, "Run!" Apparently she wasn't mad at me anymore. Jasper took a head start and we ran through the forest. A.C. wrapped her arms tighter around my neck.
You won't fall, I said through mind.
She loosened her grip a little.
Once we weren't clear of humans anymore, A.C. got off of my back and started leading to where Carlisle was. We were at the local grocery store within minutes and Carlisle caught my sight right away. He noticed us and walked over.
"A.C., can you leave for a minute? I need to talk to your mother and stepfather," Carlisle said.
A.C. nodded and walked over to the candy section. She eyed us closely.
"How do you two feel about having a daughter?" Carlisle asked. "Especially you Alice. How do you feel about last night? You didn't stop crying."
"Uh, well, I felt sad at first but everything's fine now," I explained. I looked towards where A.C. was. She was still looking at us.
"How about you Jasper?" Carlisle asked.
Before he had time to even pronounce the first syllable of what he was going to say, I asked Carlisle, "Why are you asking us this?'
"Just to see if you're okay about being a parent," Carlisle explained. "Jasper, what were you going to say?"
Just then, A.C. dropped whatever she was holding. The whole store looked at her. Even though she was holding back her tears, it still looked like she was about to cry a very long river.
I turned to Jasper. "It's obviously not good isn't it?"
Jasper took a breath and then turned to Carlisle. He said exactly this: "A.C. is a hard child to take care of. She's constantly running about and always has ice cream on her mind. She's never away from Alice and that stops me from having alone time with her. A.C. is an annoying little brat and I don't love her as stepdaughter! I frickin hate her!"
That put Carlisle and me into shock. I just stared at Jasper with sad eyes as A.C. came and cried silently in my arms.
"Shh, it's okay. He didn't mean it," I said but my voice broke. I looked at Jasper. "Did you?"
"Every word," he said through gritted teeth.
"But, all of those other days! You seemed like you were getting along with her!" I yelled. Surprisingly, no one stared at us. For sure I thought my yelling was going to attract attention. Hmm… Guess not.
"It was to make you happy! I know you care about A.C. too much to just let her go! You don't spend time with just me anymore! Alice Mary Cullen always has to be there!" Jasper yelled and then he stormed out of the store.
A.C. was now crying harder in my arms. I hugged her tighter and Carlisle rubbed out backs.
"What are you going to do?" he asked me.
I shrugged and picked up A.C. "I'll talk to him."
I kissed Carlisle's check and then walked out of the store with A.C. still in my arms. I walked the whole way home and A.C. and I didn't say a word to each other. At first I thought she fell asleep but then she kept shifting her weight.
Finally we were home. Only Jasper's scent was there and that meant he was the only one home. I set A.C. down but regretted it right after that. Jasper grabbed A.C. and ran out of the house. A.C. started screaming as I raced after them. I didn't know what was going to happen; I was too scared to look in the future.
Jasper stopped by a cliff. He was planning on pushing A.C. off of it. I noticed that she couldn't swim thanks to the look she gave me. To distract Jasper from his thought, I ran up and stood in from of him.
"Don't you dare push A.C. off the cliff," I said but I didn't sound as threatening as I intended to.
Jasper grabbed me and he started to attack. He was not acting like the Jasper I fell in love with. I tried fighting back but he knew all of the tricks already. A.C. kept her distance as she started to freak out. I tried giving her a soothing look but at that moment, Jasper bit my arms and tried tearing it off of my body. I screeched as an unremembered pain burned through my bloodless veins.
"Jasper – Stop!" I yelled.
Before he even finished tearing my off, he pushed me off of the cliff. I screamed until I hit water. Even underwater, I saw A.C.'s look of terror. Her face was red from crying. Tears were streaming down her face rapidly.
"MOMMY!" she yelled from the top of her lungs. Her voice even broke.
Suddenly, my foot got caught in seaweed but I didn't bother to try to get out of its grip. A.C. jumped off of the cliff and landed in the water head first. Luckily, she jumped in close to me. As soon as she untied the seaweed around my leg, I grabbed her and swam to shore.
I laid her down on the rocky beach and lay down next to her. I waited until she calmed down a little to say what I had to say.
"Why the hell did you jump in? You can't swim!" I yelled.
A.C. winced. "Don't yell."
I sighed and remembered that my arm was about seventy-five percent ripped off. A.C. noticed and looked at me.
"You need venom," she said. "Here."
She put her hand in front of me and I looked at her like she was crazy.
"I would use my own venom but guess what? I don't have any! Oooh! Now spit!" A.C. exclaimed.
I did what she told me to do and she rubbed my venom on my ripped up arm. It burned so I bit down on my bottom lip to stop me from screaming. Soon, my arm was back to normal.
"Thanks," I said.
"No problem," A.C. replied.
I picked A.C. up and I ran back to our house. Bella, Edward, and Renesmee were in their cabin and that's when it hit me: I needed to leave Jasper. I'm not leaving him forever but just long enough for him to cool off (however long that will take). Bella has to let A.C. and I stay with them…
"Go by dad and wait until I get back," I told A.C.
A.C. went through my thoughts. "Should I ask if we could stay?"
I nodded and she ran off. I walked in the house and again, no one was home except Jasper. His scent led to our room and that's where I went. I saw Jasper sitting on the couch, staring into space. I walked quickly to my closet and packed as much as I was able to. I finally found the place where A.C. hid her clothes so I packed those too (and guess what? She hid them in the corner of the closet! Man do I feel dumb about not finding them sooner…). Trying to hold as much stuff as I could so I didn't have to make two trips, I started walking out of the room. I got interrupted by Jasper.
"Where're you going?" he asked, still sitting on the couch. He gave me an expressionless look.
"I'm leaving you," I said quietly.
Jasper jumped up and was quickly by my side. He grabbed my arm tightly and said, "No you ain't."
I jerked my arm from his grip. "It's only for a little while. You need to calm down."
"Calm down?" Jasper exclaimed. "What do you mean 'calm down'?"
"Jasper, you're not acting like the Jasper Whitlock, the Jasper Hale, the Jasper Whatever I fell in love with. I love A.C. as much as I love you and you have to accept that. I'll be with Bella and Edward," I said.
I tried turning around but Jasper pulled me back. I winced a little and tried to get loose but his dang hell-of-a-grip was too strong.
"You're not moving in with the guy you had A.C. with," Jasper growled.
"Try stopping me. I dare you!" I exclaimed.
I moved a little and Jasper's grip got tighter (if that was even possible). I started shaking but then Edward and Bella walked in the room. Edward pulled me out of Jasper's tight grip. As he attacked Jasper, I hugged Bella tightly and she hugged back.
"A.C. and Renesmee are waiting," she said.
We ran out of the house with me and A.C.'s clothes and stopped at Bella and Edward's cabin. As we walked in, Renesmee stared at us with nervous eyes. A.C. stood behind her but her look was different. She looked as if I just died or something. She came up and hugged me. Soon, Edward walked in the door. He looked at A.C. and I as we sank to the ground and sat against the wall. We both stared into space but Bella and Edward brought us back.
"What happened?" Edward asked.
I replayed the moments through mind for Edward to see as A.C. put her hand on Bella's cheek. Renesmee started getting impatient and jealous that we weren't telling her anything. Before she was able to let her anger out on something, I ran up to her and picked her up.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I'll tell you later," I said.
"Promise?" Renesmee asked. She stuck up her pinkie.
"Promise." I wrapped my pinkie around hers to finish off the pinkie swear. I kissed her forehead and then set her down. A.C. came up to me and hugged me. I picked her up and Bella guided us to the room we were staying in. I set A.C. down on the bed and sat next to her. I rubbed her back as she slowly fell asleep.
"Thanks so much Bella," I said.
"No problem. I don't think you would've lasted if you stayed," Bella said.
"Same here," I agreed.
As I was still rubbing A.C.'s back, Renesmee came in and leaned against Bella. Bella picked her up and Renesmee rested her little head on her mother's shoulder. Steady breaths came from her mouth as she fell asleep.
"I wish I remember doing that to A.C.," I said.
"Didn't she show you your past?" Bella asked.
"She stopped when we reached the part of where she was about thirty minutes old," I explained.
There was silence but suddenly, A.C. and Renesmee woke up. I stopped rubbing A.C.'s back.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I woke up to the smell of smoke," A.C. said.
"Me too," Renesmee yawned.
Bella and I looked at each other. We started smelling it too. Bella sat Renesmee next to A.C. and her and I looked out of the window. Before our very eyes, we saw the house on fire.
And according to the scents we smelled, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper were all in there.