I wandered into the kitchen. "Coffee?" asked Carlisle, he was already there sitting with
his newspaper, as usual. I sat down, and he handed me my coffee, then Edward and Alice
came in. I sipped my coffee slowly, as not to burn my tongue when Carlisle yelled "She's
still here!" I jumped, ten feet in the air, and spilled coffee all over myself; I couldn't
believe I was worried about burning my tongue a few minutes ago. "Ahhhhhh!" I yelled
out in pain. Edward rushed over, excitement cast aside over Carlisle's outburst and
forgotten for the moment. He glared at Carlisle, "Sorry," said Carlisle. Edward grabbed a
washcloth and tried to mop me up, he mopped at my shirt, but it still clung to my chest
and burned painfully. I shoved his hand away impatiently and turned to Carlisle, "So,
what is it?" I asked. Everyone was there in a second, literally, and gathering around
Carlisle waiting in anticipation for his news. "I was reading the obits, when I noticed that
there were several young deaths, mainly young men, it did not specify exactly how they
died, and they are all within a few weeks apart, I had noticed the pattern earlier, but I did
not want to say anything until I was sure. I didn't know who it was at first but now that I
know Victoria is in town, everything is pointing to her." He said this all in one breath and
exhaled sharply. I looked at Edward; he seemed to be deep in thought. Then I looked at
Alice, she looked like she was in pain, "What is it Alice?" I asked softly. "I should have
seen this coming; I should have seen all of this coming." "Alice, you can't see everything
that's to happen, so don't blame it on yourself," said Rosalie gently. I looked at Rosalie
in shock; this was the first time that I had ever witnessed her trying to help anyone but
herself. She smirked at me as if reading my mind. "But, I could have at least helped the
people." She looked at me, despair and blame etched clearly on the lines of her face.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN SHE HAS WRINKLES! I couldn't help it, I looked away, it
was just too tense for me to help her, too emotional. I blame myself for turning myself
away from her then, I should have pushed away any thoughts of letting her deal with it
herself. After Edward left me, I wasn't ever the same, the new Bella couldn't handle too
much emotion or tension. When I looked back at her, her face was drawn and….blank.
Wiped away completely of any of the emotion I saw only seconds ago. I looked at
everyone else, noone had seemed to notice what had just happened except for Rosalie,
they were all too caught up in the new information they had just discovered. My cheeks
flushed with shame, and I cleared my throat, everyone looked up, thoughts seeming to
clear and are stared expectantly at me. Edward looked concerned and Esme looked
curious. "What's wrong Bella?" he asked, noticing my flushed cheeks and heated
expression. "I…nothing, I just don't feel good, I'm going upstairs," I ran up them, feeling
to urge to look over my shoulder at Alice, but forced myself not to do so, I didn't want to
see that blank look again. I managed to do so without tripping, thankfully, I had too much
going on already. "What's wrong with her now?" I heard Emmett mutter. I flopped down
hard on the bed, so hard that my teeth rattled, Carlisle had moved the bed back in after I
got turned back into a human. Then I shut my eyes and tried not to think about Alice, or
Victoria.
"Edward," said Esme warningly when he tried to run after Bella. "But she needs me," he
argued," "No," said Esme sharply. Edward looked hurt, "She needs to be alone right
now," said Esme softly.
