Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
A/N: Hello! Thank you guys so much for the reviews, they really do keep me motivated to write. Plus they just make me really happy. :) And, also, I've been seriously slacking on review replies, so from now on I will reply to every review, even if it's just a simple 'thank you' so you know I really do appreciate the feedback and advice. On with the chapter!
Jasper P.O.V.
"Alice." I whispered, shaking her shoulder gently.
"Alice, wake up."
"What?" she asked groggily, her eyes fluttering open.
"I think your grandmother is awake. I hear something" I whispered.
"Oh. Oh!" she exclaimed, sitting up quickly and swinging her legs off the side of the small bed. She hopped up gracefully, making for the door, before doubling back towards me. She wrapped her thin arms around me, squeezing tightly.
"Thanks for staying." she murmured in my ear before dancing out of the room and down the hall. I followed quietly, slumping down on the living room couch.
The house was silent for a moment before I heard Alice's squeal of joy echo through the house. She came scampering down the hall, sliding on her sock covered feet past the couch. She hastily ran back to where I was standing.
"Come on Jazz." she squeaked, grabbing my hand and towing me down the hallway.
"What is it?"
"My grandma is having a good day. She remembers me. I want to introduce you to her before she slips back under." she explained in a rush, her excited words blending together. I grinned, happy to see Alice so free of the restraints of her stress and responsibilities for a moment. She skidded into the room on her sock clad feet, dragging me along. Willingly, of course.
Her grandmother was sitting on the bed, the many layers of quilts swallowing up her tiny frame. The childlike bewilderment was nearly gone from her aged eyes, replaced by the same knowing wisdom that filled Alice's.
"Hello there." she said pleasantly to me as Alice scurried up onto the bed beside her, wrapping her in a tender hug. She stroked Alice's hair gently.
"Why did you cut your beautiful hair, dear?" she asked sadly.
"Oh, it's the style now." she lied shakily. I assumed she didn't want her grandmother to know how much stress this was putting her under.
"Hmmm." was the only reply her grandmother gave. Alice bit her lip.
"This is Jasper, my friend." Alice stated proudly.
"Hello Jasper. What a nice, old-fashioned name. I used to have a friend named Jasper back in the fifties. I think." she murmured uncertainly.
Alice seemed to deflate slightly, curling closer to the old woman. Her grandmother reached up with a shaky, wrinkled hand and patted Alice's face reassuringly.
"Don't worry, I'm still here darling. For a little while at least. I need to talk to you." she stated stubbornly. Alice nodded.
"Now look here girl. I'm getting worse. Pretty soon I won't even have brief moments like these where I'm aware of everything. I need to you to promise me something." she said, her voice slightly rasping.
"Anything grandma. What do you need?" she asked, eager to be of any help she could.
"If I get too bad, put me in a nursing home. They'll take care of me. I can't burden you with this big of a responsibility any longer. You're a seventeen year old girl, for goodness sakes. She should be out going to parties, with your friends." she declared in a worn voice. Alice shook her head fiercely.
"No. I'm not doing that to you. You'd hate it." Alice vowed.
"Darling, I don't even know what I like or dislike most of the time." she stated sadly.
"I'm staying with you for as long as you need it. I get a check every week because of Ma's passing away and dad's child support. I can keep up with the bills, and we don't eat much. And besides, you know I don't party. I'm not into that kind of stuff." she finished. Her grandmother sighed.
"You always were stubborn little girl, weren't you?" she asked quietly to herself. Alice nodded. I smiled slightly, leaning against the doorway.
"Well, I'll leave the decision up to you, I suppose. You're a smart young woman. But I want to do a little something for you. Under my bed, there's a box. I have some extra money saved up from a long time ago. Take the money and go with Bella and your new friend here to buy a pretty dress. Wear it on your first date, whoever it might be with. It will be my last gift to you. If I can't be there for you to tell me about it, at least you have a reminder." she smiled softly. Alice looked gloomy. The corners of her lips turned up slightly, and she hugged the old woman tighter.
"I love you grandma."
"I love you too dear. I don't know where I'd be without you."
"Same here grandma. Same here." Alice mumbled.
I slipped silently out of the room to give them a moment of privacy. I realized before how much her grandmother needed her, but I never grasped how much Alice needed her grandmother also. I waited on the couch for a few minutes until Alice came wandering out. She looked a little lost.
"She said she thought she felt herself slipping back under and that she didn't want me to see that." she explained a moment before I asked. I could almost swear she really was psychic sometimes.
"Oh."
She nodded.
"Jasper?"
"Hmmm?"
"Which pictures do we have left to take?"
"Uhhh…I have to find a friend to take a picture of, we both have to take a picture of a family member, and….something beautiful." I murmured.
"I already took one of a family member. Bella. Edward was the friend picture." she reminded me softly.
"Oh yeah." I mumbled. She sat down on the couch beside me, staring straight ahead. Her eyes were emotionless.
"Well, I suppose I should get dressed." she stated, standing up swiftly.
"Yeah. Me too." I mumbled. "Should I stop back over when I'm done?" I asked hesitantly.
"I'd like that." she smiled, slipping into the hallway.
I walked outside, only to remember I didn't have my truck with me. Alice didn't have a car either and there was no way I was calling my parents. I sighed, starting my trek down the roads encased with green. Spring was definitely here to stay. The sun was warm and comforting and it shined an early afternoon glow. The clouds were light and fluffy, for once free of the watery burden they carried.
About a half an hour later I made it home. No one was there. I got dressed and took a shower, cleaning up the empty and broken bottles and cans from the other night.
A tiny clear sliver pierced the hard skin of my palm. I winced, quickly ripping out the tiny fragment. Alice's words replayed in my head: "You're hurting yourself by doing that Jasper. You'll end up killing yourself one day." Little did she know that I already had a close call.
A very close call.
******Flashback*******
Ping. Ping. Ping.
The rain leaked through the barn's roof and into the metal bucket set on the hay coated floorboards. It pinged metallically. The typical drizzle of Forks continued with no sign of stopping soon.
A boy of sixteen years old with a shaggy blonde mop of hair and deep blue eyes sat leaning against the rotted wall of the barn, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He wore his usual outfit of a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans, along with his beaten up work boots. His skin was tanned and his muscles were sturdy from his summer job at the logging company.
Girls though he was good looking, or at least that was what they told him. But he couldn't hold a conversation so they all gave up on him eventually. He was so hardened from his experiences and they were still so innocent.
He drummed his fingers against his jean covered thigh, his head lolled back. Empty beer bottles of all shapes and sizes lay strewn around him, looking like a glass graveyard. Rosalie had left less than a year ago, that wound was still new on his heart.
He stumbled to his feet unsteadily, hobbling across the barn. His calloused palms trailed along the splintered walls as he walked in a slow daze, his mind muddled. He climbed up a rickety staircase and past the barn's rafters. Old, broken furniture lay scattered around the empty room.
Jasper stopped in front of a mirror. Long, spidery cracks impaired his blurry reflection. He glared at the young man in the mirror, his eyes bloodshot and his mouth pulled down into an ugly grimace.
"What are you doing?" he asked the reflection.
"You're worthless. Hanging around this crappy little town, and for what? Because of a promise you made eight years ago. Pathetic." he spat, leaning unsteadily against the wall.
He glowered at the refection as it seemed to mock him, looking back angrily. He bent down and grabbed a splintered piece of chair leg, smashing it into the mirror with the entirety of his drunken force.
"There." he slurred, letting the wooden fragment roll off his palm. The glass lay shattered on the floor.
He threw the rest of the broken chair at the shattered pieces, losing his balance. He crashed to the floor.
The tiny glass shards tore into his arms and chest, ripping open tiny wounds. Through his drunken stupor he felt the pain and heard the groaning of the rotted floor beneath him. He panicked, thrashing as he tried to get to his feet. The shards worked themselves deeper and cut long gashes across his torso and arms.
He moaned as the barn shook beneath him. The floor slowly gave way and he plummeted down though the splintered wood, landing twisted on the ground.
His screams went unheard and he fell unconscious on the thin layer of hay, the rain dripping around him. In the morning the couple that owned the land the barn rested on found him there, blood soaking his white shirt, turning it crimson. His mom and stepfather visited him in the hospital for a few minutes, still bickering and still drunk.
The glass was gone, but the shards would leave their mark in the form of long scars.
That was the day Jasper Whitlock swore he would leave Forks the moment he graduated. And that he would never step foot there again.
*******End flashback******
I shook my head back and forth quickly, trying to shake loose the venomous memory.
I sighed, grabbing a jacket before I stepped onto the porch since it had started to drizzle once again. I started up my truck and drove, perhaps a little too eagerly, back to Alice's house.
She was waiting on the porch with her short locks of black hair held securely with bobby pins. She wore a long flowery skirt and a yellow pastel sweater, the gossamer materials hanging loosely on her tiny frame.
I supposed it was better that way. The musical tones of her voice were enough to distract me form what she was saying, I didn't need to be further preoccupied by the subtle curves of her body showing through her usual jeans and t-shirt. She drove me crazy in every way.
I sighed to myself, turning the truck off and slipping the key into my back pocket. I needed to stop getting so involved. It wouldn't lead to anything good. As I climbed out of the truck Alice danced over to me, her smile bright and welcoming.
"Let's go for a walk?" she suggested.
"Whatever you please, fortuneteller." I grinned. Her smile faltered, turning into a look of wide-eyed fear.
"What?" she asked warily.
"I was just referring to the way your clothes make you look like one of those fortunetellers at the fairs." I explained hastily, hoping I didn't offend her somehow. She relaxed instantly, her shoulders slumping.
"Oh. Okay." she mumbled. I nodded, concerned. She told me with her eyes she didn't want to talk about it, so we began walking down the back road.
"One of the neighbors is staying with my grandma." Alice murmured.
"Oh."
She smiled slightly.
We walked in silence for a moment before she gently slipped her hand into mine. I pulled her closer until she was resting against my side.
We walked for hours without talking, letting everything flow freely. I'd never felt so connected to another human being in my entire life. It was like I was an open book and so was Alice. We didn't need to speak, the words were already there, unspoken but exposed.
And then darkness began to fall and we ended up back at her house, the vines casting shadows on the walls in the dim lighting. We said a brief goodnight and then I was alone.
As I drove back to my house one thing became clear. I was getting in too deep. Way too deep. If I didn't stop soon I wouldn't be able to.
I walked up the porch steps and opened the door, preparing myself for another night of fighting.
Suddenly the two months left until graduation didn't seem like a very long time at all.
And that scared me.
A/N: Hi! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review if ya get a chance. :)