Author's Note - Thank you so much to those of you who review, and those of you who just add me to your favorite story/story alert lists. I know you're at least reading it, right? LOL.
Of course, it's still not mine.
Haunted Memories
Chapter 10
We left for Barrow the night after my insightful conversation with Jasper and reached it a day later. It wasn't hard for Carlisle to squeeze himself into the local hospital. I was pretty sure any hospital in the world would give their ICU and ER to have him. Esme established herself as the decorator she is and they both got all of us 'kids' enrolled in school.
Today was our first day of school and for some reason, I was nervous. We arranged our schedules so that either Alice or Jasper was in class with me. Unfortunately, Rosalie and Emmett couldn't pass for freshmen and they had to be in the grade ahead of us, which meant no sharing classes.
We had kept the cars and everything else the Cullens had from Forks and I tried desperately to keep from having to ride in the Volvo, but it was useless. It truly was the least ostentatious vehicle the Cullens owned, unless they wanted to count my truck. It was still in Forks with Charlie, so obviously out of the questions. Being the least spectacular car that we owned, it was the one that we had to use to drive to school. I kept my complaints to myself, even though there was no hiding them from Jasper.
None of us could read minds, but it was plenty obvious that the entire school was just as excited about our arrival as anyone could be. I could hear the whispers and comments as we pulled into the school parking lot.
"I heard that they were all adopted, but all together; like a big orgy or something," one of them said. Obviously a guy. Alice, Rose and I rolled our eyes while the guys chuckled. Of course.
"Did you hear about the new kids? They're starting today. I wonder if they're really as hot as everyone says," another one said. We had been seen in town and of course Carlisle had been seen at the hospital.
Emmett parked the car and we all filed out, going to the office to check in and get our passes.
I was a little nervous about today. I've had first days of school before, but aside from Christmas with Renee, I hadn't been in a human environment for long periods of time since I became a vampire. Certainly no more than three or four hours.
Once we had our passes, we all went to our respective classes. I had English with Alice, then went to US History with Jasper. Truthfully, I was glad I had that class with Jasper. He had lived it; I was sure to ace the class with his help. Acing US History was something I'd never been able to do as a human.
I could tell right away that I was going to hate Mr. Thompson, the English teacher. Alice and I joked that he sounded just like the Economics teacher from Ferris Beuller's Day Off.
Throughout the day, I noticed that people were staring at us quite a bit. I knew what it was like, though, from being the new kid in Forks. The staring would eventually die down, but the gossip would probably continue for the next year or so.
By lunch, just about everyone knew that I was the single one. And that meant that just about every hormone-driven teenager had to make a move on me. Thankfully, it was easy enough to avoid being touched with my 'brothers' Emmett and Jasper giving everyone the evil eye.
I had gym right after lunch and I was thankful I had it with Alice. She helped me keep myself in check when it came to the physical activities. Although I wasn't nearly as clumsy and I could actually concentrate on more than one thing at a time, I still had to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. Like hit the ball too hard or run too fast.
After the first week of school, the guys stopped trying to hit on me. I had tried to be nice when I turned them down, but after the nineteenth person asked me to go out with them, I lost it. I made it very clear that although I was single, I was not interested. Now everyone left us alone. We had been labeled the new freaks, and somehow that didn't bother me.
"Is it always like this when you go somewhere new?" I asked Alice on the way home on Friday.
Rosalie decided to answer for her. "Oh, yeah. Always. You get people hitting on you and asking you out for the first week or two, then you become the psycho-freak bitch. It's great fun," she said as she rolled her eyes.
I laughed. Rosalie could definitely pass as a psycho-freak bitch.
"It was probably a little easier for you; being the youngest and all. I mean, Edward was usually the one who was the odd man out and nobody really tried to keep the girls away from him. But with you, you're the baby sister, so of course Emmett and Jasper are going to be protective and threaten life and limb to anyone who touches you or looks at you the wrong way or even breathes halitosis your way," Rose continued, shrugging her shoulders.
I laughed out loud. "Halitosis?" I said mockingly.
"Yes. You know, bad breath," Emmett said, still laughing.
"I know what it means, but why would I need to be protected from halitosis?" I asked.
"Come on, little sis," Emmett said as he drove, "We'd protect you from anything. Even when you don't need it. That's what big brothers are for; didn't you know that?" he said with a huge grin.
Jasper reached over and ruffled my hair.
I ducked away from him and smoothed my hair back down, laughing.
~*~^~*~
The next few weeks passed quickly enough. It was getting easier to ignore everyone. I mostly just followed the examples that Rosalie and Alice gave me. Just don't talk to anyone and keep to myself. I was good at that. I had that mastered even as a human.
Eventually, we just became part of the school. Teachers called on us and we answered correctly. We did group assignments and only socialized as much as was absolutely necessary.
Somehow I was a little afraid that I would meet someone who would smell better than anyone else, the way Edward had smelled me, but it never happened.
It was a little hard for me, being near so many humans, but having my family around helped a great deal. Although they all knew how I felt, Jasper was the one who knew my situation. He had been the weaker one in Forks; the newest vegetarian.
But life went on. We did our assignments and turned them; acing every single test given to us. Having a photographic memory really helped.
The first week in June proved to be a strange one. The school was buzzing with excitement about the school year being nearly done. This was the last week. On Monday, I got asked twice to go to some party or dance or something on Friday that I was sure Freshman weren't allowed to, even though nobody had talked to me in over two months. I turned them down, of course.
On Wednesday, I sat at my desk in English, next to Alice, and knew that if I could sleep, I would be sawing logs. Lucky for the teacher, I couldn't lose consciousness and had to suffer through the hour-long lecture.
I peeked over at her and she had her face turned toward her desk with her eyes closed tightly. She was rubbing her temples with two fingers and she looked almost like she was in pain.
"Alice?" I whispered, too low to interrupt the insipid lecture.
She didn't look at me. Her fingers stopped their massaging motion and she stiffened. I heard her faint whisper, "He's gone."
For a moment, I thought about panicking, but at that second, the door opened and Jasper came in.
Everyone looked over at him, except the teacher. He continued to drone on about revolutionary literature.
Jasper waited impatiently for the teacher to respond, shifting from one foot to the other. He glanced at Alice and back to the teacher before clearing his throat.
I glanced at Alice as well. She was still in the same position, looking down at her desk. This time I did begin to panic; she must have seen something and he felt her distress.
Mr. Thompson finally responded, turning toward Jasper.
"Can I help you, young man?" he asked.
I tried to hold back my smile. Jasper hated being called 'young man.' He took it in stride and stood up straight.
"Yes, I need to get Alice and Bella. We have a family emergency," he said confidently and handed a paper to Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Thompson took the note and inspected it closely for two seconds too long. Jasper was obviously getting anxious, probably trying to deal with whatever it was Alice was feeling and my terror in addition to his own distress. He snatched the note back and strode toward Alice, motioning with a jerk of his head for me to go into the hallway. I grabbed my bag and stood up slowly, watching as he grabbed Alice's arms and made her stand up. The look on her face was panic as he led her out of the room. As the door closed, I heard Mr. Thompson resume the lecture.
We met Emmett and Rosalie outside the school as we climbed into the Volvo.
"What is going on?" Rosalie asked.
"I don't know. She's seen something, but she won't tell me. She just keeps saying 'he's gone,'" Jasper said. I saw her shake her head slightly against his shoulder as he held her in the back seat. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back as Emmett sped to the house. Jasper had already called Carlisle to let him know he needed to get back to the house.
We skidded into the driveway and piled out. We were in the house in less than a second, Jasper setting Alice down on the couch. He sat next to her and held her close.
"What do you mean 'he's gone,' Alice? Who is gone?" he asked.
She gripped his shirt so hard that her fingers ripped a hole in it. "Edward," she said.
The room was suddenly way too crowded and I pushed myself to get closer to her. "Edward is gone? What do you mean?" I demanded.
"I don't know! I can't see him anymore! He's gone," she yelled as she closed her eyes tightly. "One moment he's in West Coast, New Zealand and the next he's gone."
"Alice, I thought we weren't going to look for him for a few years," Carlisle said.
"Well, I wasn't planning on going after him or anything, but if you expected me to leave it all the way alone, you were wrong," she said, defending herself.
"Okay, so what do we do now? What if something happened to him?" I asked. "What if... I don't know, what if he hurt himself somehow?"
"Bella, how is Edward going to hurt himself?" Emmett asked.
"I don't know, but if he's gone then obviously something happened!" I countered.
"Calm down, everyone, please," Carlisle said, holding up his right hand. "I do agree that if he is gone from Alice's vision, something may have happened."
"We have to go find him," I said. I was determined. I would go by myself if I had to. I knew the region he was in, I would scour it from top to bottom if I needed to.
"Bella, we have to decide how best to proceed first. We don't have all of the information." Esme became the Voice of Reason that I desperately wanted to ignore, but I knew she had a point.
"Well, what do you know, Alice?" I asked, regretting my tone immediately.
Jasper came to her defense. "She may not know any more than that, Bella. Please calm down before I make you."
Somehow his threat broke through my distress and made me laugh. He sounded like a bully, threatening to 'make me' to do something I didn't want to do. The reality, of course, being that he really could make me clam down, no violence involved.
I took a deep breath and knelt down next to Alice. "I'm sorry," I said. "I'm just a bit on edge. I'm sure everyone is."
I saw Carlisle nod his head out of the corner of my eye.
"Okay, so what do we know?" I asked calmly.
Alice sat up a bit straighter. "I saw him go there about a month ago. In Te Namu. He's stayed there for the last month. He was in some kind of clearing in the woods and it looked like he was in pain. And then he disappeared and all I have is black."
I tried to quell the panic rising steadily in my chest, but it refused to cooperate.
"What can we do?" Rosalie asked.
Carlisle sighed. "I think it would be best if we at least go to make sure he is okay. If he's in trouble, he may need some help."
I nodded my head in agreement, too panicked to speak.
"We'll take a flight this time; it will be easier in the long run. We won't have to swim," Carlisle said as he walked into his office to get the documents we would need.
An hour later, we were at the airport with Carlisle dazzling the woman behind the counter into finding seven available seats on a full flight to New Zealand that was leaving in just three hours. We ended up sitting in separate seats, but I didn't care. As long as we were going and would be there soon.
We had to wait another three hours and I considered just leaving. I decided against it; I really should stay with my family. We were in this together. I was so nervous, wondering what could possibly have happened to cause him to drop out of Alice's visions completely. I wondered briefly if he just found a way to keep his future from being seen. Maybe some kind of force field or something.
I wanted to laugh at myself.
We waited at the airport for the flight and somehow Emmett got into a story of Christmas. He was telling everyone about our bonding experience in the bushes. I know he'd told it before, but Jasper couldn't seem to get over it. He thought it was hilarious.
Our flight was finally called and I tried to keep my speed fairly human as I got up to sprint to the gate. Emmett's hand on my shoulder restrained me.
"Slow down there, Speedy," he said quietly. I took a breath and slowed down, staying with my family as we boarded the plane and found our seats.
I was seated in the aisle next to a punk rocker who appeared to be about twenty, give or take. He was dressed from head to toe in black leather and a green Mohawk on his head. We regarded each other for a few seconds before he looked out the window and I looked over at Jasper, purposely trying to project my humor at him. I saw him smile and shake his head slightly.
Throughout the flight, Mohawk didn't try to talk to me once. Not that I wanted him to. He had his headphones in and I recognized Cradle of Filth blaring into his ears. I kept my chuckle to myself.
Throughout the flight, I peeked out the window several times. It never ceased to amaze me how clearly I could see the ground from this height. Of course things were very small, but if I focused hard enough, I could see the people as they milled about.
I relaxed against the seat and tried to relax a little. We had a whole 14 hours to go before we would make it to New Zealand. I envied Mohawk when he pulled out some sleeping pill and cozied up to his little carry-on pillow and closed his eyes. Damn you.
I texted Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie on my phone for a few hours and had a great conversation with them about the different wildlife available in New Zealand. Apparently the deer there were supposed to taste better than the deer elsewhere in the world. I doubted it. Deer were deer. Personally I was excited to try the penguins, no matter how much Emmett told me to stay away.
My giggles stirred Mohawk and he gave me a look to kill before passing out again. I wondered how it could be comfortable sleeping with green, inch-long spikes coming out of your head.
I wondered if I could dye my hair. I texted Alice and found out I couldn't. My hair lacked the ingredients now to take the dye. Well damn.
After what felt like the longest fourteen hours the world had ever seen, we finally began our descent into New Zealand.
We exited the plane and made our way to Te Namu. Once we were there, we asked the locals if they'd seen anyone who met Edward's description.
A few of them had, and they directed us to the forest, stating there was a small house about thirteen miles away that had once been owned by a hermit and they thought he had taken to living there.
We left immediately and found the house without too much trouble.
As we walked in, I could smell Edward everywhere. I noticed that things were in a bit of disarray, something that was very uncommon for Edward. He was usually impeccably neat. He had a few drawings out, most of them of me.
But he was not here.
"Do you think he ran again?" I asked.
Alice shook her head. "I don't know. I still can't see him at all. He was in a meadow when the vision disappeared. He might be in the area still," she said.
I nodded and walked outside. I sniffed the air and found a very weak scent trail, but it was hard to determine which way it went.
We branched out and tried to figure out which way Edward had gone. We ended up going in the same direction, through the woods, searching for any sign of him or a meadow.
"Over here," Emmett called.
As I came near, I could see the meadow and a form laying in the middle of it.
"Oh my god!" I screamed, running full speed ahead. "Edward!"
He lay on the ground, unresponsive. His face looked peaceful with his eyes closed. He was not breathing, but I didn't let it scare me because I knew he didn't need the oxygen. He was asleep?
"Edward?" I said softly as I knelt down next to him. I wasn't sure if I dared to touch him. I reached out a hand and very tentatively brushed his cheek with my fingertips. "What happened?" I asked myself.
Carlisle came over and did a quick inspection.
"He looks okay. Except that he's... well, asleep or... something." I knew he hated that word when describing someone's medical condition. "How did this happen?" he asked.
"Is he going to be okay?" I asked, looking at Carlisle pleadingly.
"I don't know, Bella. We just have to wait and see if he wakes up."
IF. Oh, god.
"Why don't we go back to the house and wait for him?" Carlisle suggested.
"No, I'm not leaving him," I said, sitting down and preparing myself for however long this would take. I didn't care, I was not leaving him.
"We'll go. You wait here and call us if he stirs," Esme said, rounding everyone up to go back to the cottage.
"Okay," I said, nodding my head.
As they walked away, I lay down next to him and couldn't help but think of how changed our situations were. For the first time, and possibly the last, I was watching him sleep.
A cliffie? (sigh) yes, I'm sorry. But, I had to end it there for reasons you will see in the next chapter.... Those of you who write will understand when I say the characters made me do it....
Please review? Reviews make me very happy and will maybe help to get the next chapter up a bit faster... (evil grin)
