"Jasper."

Jasper looks up from his hand of playing cards to see Peter in sunglasses and a navy tropical print shirt looking like he just came off the boardwalk. "Hey."

Lucy throws down an ace into the pile of cards in the center of the table and fiddles with the gold rings stacked on her fingers.

"You have a minute?" Peter asks.

"Sure."

Nettie laughs loudly as she takes a sip of her blended margarita, shooting Lucy a look over some inside joke that Jasper isn't aware of. Lucy giggles back and sips her drink too.

Peter motions towards the side door of the open-air bar.

He follows him outside to an alleyway. Without the shady cover of the awning, he's pumelled by midday sunlight.

Maria's there in her short, red sundress along with a jittery man that he vaguely recognizes from a deal a few weeks ago.

"I can pay tomorrow. I don't have the money today," the man says in a panic.

Maria rolls her eyes. "Call someone then and have them cover you. We won't be here tomorrow."

"I can get you it, but you're going to have to let me go. I don't have that much on me right now."

"What do you two think?" she asks, directing her question to Jasper and Peter.

It's pretty obvious he's lying, so Jasper shakes his head. "He won't come back."

Even if he does, what does it matter? Maria tried getting a hold of him for weeks. The fact that he blocked her number and they had to wait for him to show up at a bar for payment says it all.

She smiles, running her manicured fingers through her long, black hair. "Duct tape his hands and feet, and put him in the back of the car."

She gets into the passenger side of the silver Lincoln Continental—their rental car for this trip—and flips down the visor to check her reflection in the mirror. Pulling a tube of lipstick from her purse, she reapplies the deep burgundy color.

Nettie and Lucy come out to the alleyway just in time to see them hauling the man up while he cries out in protest.

He drops the man into the trunk roughly and keeps him down while Peter secures his limbs. He gets kicked in the hand in the process, but he's used to this. Collections jobs are never easy.

"Took you long enough," Maria snaps at Nettie and Lucy.

Lucy throws her arms out dramatically. "We just ordered another round of drinks."

"Are we going to drop him out in the middle of the desert like the last guy?" Nettie asks.

"No, we're just going to drive him around for a little while to shake him up. If that doesn't work, Jasper can surely convince him to find some cash for us. He's going to pay us for the what I fronted him whether he likes it or not," Maria says, flipping the car's sun visor back up with a snap. "Jasper, can you hurry up? We need to go before someone sees. This century."

He slams the trunk shut, nearly shutting the man's legs in it as he tries to kick him away again.

Sighing, he gets into the driver's side and grabs his sunglasses off the dashboard. The car's already running with the air conditioning on full blast. It's a nice break from the dry, hot Southern California air.

"We used to have so much fun messing with people," Nettie says from the back seat. "Are you sure you're not going soft, Maria?"

Maria's not in the mood for her today. "No, I'm not going soft, you dumb bitch. I'm making sure we don't draw too much attention and get caught like Benito did. Do you want to rot behind bars, or do you want to go to Coachella and rooftop clubs where you can drink your twenty-dollar drinks with your friends?"

"Rude, much? I'm just asking."

"And I'm asking you to shut up before I have you thrown in the trunk, too."

They do this a lot lately.

"You can't talk to her like that. You haven't paid us in, like, four weeks. We shouldn't even be here right now," Lucy argues back. "I thought we were friends."

Maria turns around in her seat to glare at them. In the rearview mirror, Jasper can see Peter's staring out the side window, ignoring them. The trio continues to bicker loudly.

His stress levels rise at the aggressive tension filling the small confines of the car. He's put up with their petty drama for years, but it never gets any less miserable. He's given up trying to mediate.

He punches the gas and backs out of the parking spot. Shrieking starts to come from the trunk.

Maria shakes her head and tsks. "You should have taped his mouth shut, Peter."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time we kidnap someone. Thanks, Boss."

She laughs.

Jasper slams on the breaks, making everyone in the car jostle forward from the momentum. The terrified wails stop abruptly as the man's body slams against the backseat.

Thud.

A textbook drops to the floor, colliding into the ground and waking Jasper up.

He's seated in the undergraduate library at one of the benches around the central lounge area on the first floor. He was reading a passage from his Psychology of Emotion textbook while waiting for Alice to get out of her painting elective, but he ended up closing his eyes for a moment and drifting off.

He feels groggy and disoriented. The nap brought back the same anxious, cloying feeling he lived with all those years he spent in Maria's world.

He closes his book and puts it back in his backpack. He'll get a coffee with lunch. That might help.

When he arrives in front of the rain-spattered art building, it only takes a second or two before the door swings open and Alice comes skipping down the brick steps.

"Perfect timing! Let's go get food!" she sings out, leaping over a puddle to him with a sparkling grin. "Oh. What's wrong?"

"Hm?"

"You look so sad."

"I fell asleep studying," he replies aloofly.

He can tell she's watching him carefully, but she accepts the answer. "I see. Okay. Let's go then!"

...

"Bella?"

Knock, knock, knock.

"Bellaaa? Are you in there?"

Knock, knock.

"Bella..?"

Bella lies curled up in the middle of her bed, tightly wound up in the purple comforter.

Everything feels awful. Her eyes are painfully swollen from crying, and her throat feels hoarse. Nothing compares to the aching, hollow feeling in her chest, though.

Jessica gets tired of waiting for an answer and takes it upon herself to come in without an invitation. Bella can hear the sound of the blinds opening and footsteps on the carpet, but she's unwilling to pull back the blankets to see for herself.

"You've been cooped up in here for way too long." Jessica prods at the blanket to try to rouse her. "Come on, let's go get breakfast before class."

"I'm not hungry." Bella sniffles. Her voice comes out raspy and raw.

"Okay, but you have class today, right?"

"Not until noon."

Jessica puts on an obnoxiously chipper voice. "Well, it's ten. Rise and shine."

When Bella doesn't give a response, her roommate leaves. She can hear her arguing with Angela in the living room before sending her in.

"Bella, you're kind of scaring us. Your dad called yesterday because he said you weren't picking up his or your mom's calls..." Angela says meekly. "He's going to drive here to check on you if he doesn't hear from you soon."

Anger displaces her sorrows as the continue to badger her. "Am I not allowed to be upset for a few days?"

"It's been three weeks..."

Jessica's voice rings through the apartment. "Three weeks too long! Edward's dumb and you deserve better! Good riddance!"

Her heart clenches at the sound of his name.

"I'll...call my dad. Just give me a minute," Bella says, pulling back the blanket from her face to look around her room for her phone. She isn't even sure where she left it. It's surely dead. She doesn't remember charging it anytime recently. The daylight feels too bright, and it makes her eyes hurt more.

Angela spots the phone on the floor by her dresser and hands it to her. "Here. Um...I'll go."

"Thanks."

She plugs her phone into the charger by her nightstand and waits for the screen to come back on. She has fifteen missed calls from Charlie and ten from Renée, along with a slew of text messages from Angela and Jessica.

Nothing from Edward. Not a single text or call from Alice either.

Charlie picks up on the second ring. "Bells?"

"Hey." She tries to sound coherent.

"Where have you been?"

"Um. I've been...busy. With school and work."

"I don't expect a call every day or anything, but Renée and I haven't heard from you in a while. Especially with what happened with your TA last quarter, it, uh...it worries me. You're so far away from either of us."

"Sorry, I didn't realize."

"Everything okay? You sound kinda...off."

"Um. Ed...Edward..." Her voice breaks. "We broke up."

"What? He was just here for Christmas. What happened to all that stuff about wanting to take a trip through Europe this summer and him getting an apartment closer into the city?"

"Yeah. Well, he's gone. He went to some study abroad thing and we're done," she says, struggling not to start bawling again.

Hearing the words come from her own mouth solidifies the truth.

"He wasn't just saying all that to try to...you know...was he? College guys can be like that. They'll say anything to get what they want."

He thinks Edward was just trying to get in her pants? What a joke. Her dad couldn't be further from the truth.

"No. It's not like that at all. We weren't...we didn't..."

"Gotcha. Maybe you should come home for a while," he suggests. "Have you talked with Renée yet? Do I need to drive out there?"

"No. No, it's okay. I'm really busy with work and school. I'm fine."

Charlie sighs. "Alright. I gotta go to work, kiddo. Go do something fun with your friends this weekend to take your mind off things."

"I will."

"Catch you later, Bells."

Bella hangs up the phone and lays back down on her bed.

She doesn't feel like talking. She doesn't feel like having fun either. She just wants to lie down and pretend she doesn't exist.

Things don't feel right without Edward. He became such a permanent fixture in her daily life that everything she did became carefully fit around him like a game of Tetris. Take him away, and it all falls apart.

How did she live before him? The life she led in Forks feels so foreign now.

Her eyes start to sting more as she thinks of how right she was about their relationship's expiration date. She wasn't—she isn't—right for him. He said it himself.

Angela's back. She stands in the open doorway looking at her with concern. "Bella, we're going to head to campus. Are you going to come with? I think Jessica wants to see a movie later. I can't because I have a group project to prepare for, but you should go with her."

Her body feels heavy like it's made of lead. She can't get up.

"That's okay. I'm going to stay here for a while," Bella replies. She remembers Charlie's request and figures if she agrees to the movies tonight, she'll be able to ease her parents' and her friends' worries. "I'll...go to the movies, though."

"Oh, awesome! Okay! Girl's night!" Jessica squeals.

She hears the front door open and close as they leave. The deadbolt turns and locks. Their muffled voices retreat down the hall.

Bella closes her eyes and pulls the blankets back up over her head.

...

Alice grabs her macchiato off the cafe bar and returns to her table. Rosalie sits sipping an Americano across from her place, scrolling through something on her phone.

"You only work three days a week? Is that stressful or more relaxing to have it all condensed?" Alice asks.

Rosalie continues to spend a long moment staring at her phone before looking up and answering. "Both. It's super annoying if there's something I want to do during my work week because I don't have the time, but I like the long weekends."

"Yeah, it sounds like the perfect schedule for weekend trips." Alice pulls the lid off her drink to let it cool. She got a blueberry scone, which isn't her favorite, but they were out of cranberry. She breaks off a corner of the crumbly pastry and pops it in her mouth.

Rosalie sighs. "Right. Like I have to go to New York next week for a thing."

"Ooh, what kind of thing?" She perks up at the thought of shopping around New York or going to the Metropolitan Museum.

"A pressing-charges, legal kind of thing."

That sounds like a major downer. "Are you charging or being charged?"

"First one."

"What happened?"

Rosalie furrows her brows irritably. "I trusted someone I shouldn't have."

Alice tilts her head a little and wonders what that means. She clearly doesn't want to talk about it. She pictures Rosalie sitting in a courtroom opposite a blurry defendant for a little less than half a second. The vision—if it is a vision—isn't the slightest bit enlightening.

"I'd invite you to join, but it's not going to be fun," Rosalie continues. "You're better off missing out."

"Some other time, then! I hope it goes well. It's always so hard to tell with those sorts of things."

Rosalie gives her a strange look.

"Oh, we have the same bag! Mine's yellow, though." She points at Rosalie's red Mini Kelly purse. "So cute. Hey, we should get lunch or coffee every Friday if you're going to be free and waiting around for Emmett to finish practice."

"Sure. Yeah. Like I said, I'll be back home next week, but that after we can," Rosalie agrees.

Back home. Alice tries to remember the last time she was in her hometown three years ago.

She wonders what happened to her sister Cynthia and if she still goes to the studio to dance every afternoon. Alice has a few of the girls from rival studios added on her Instagram—they were already on her friends list as far back as she recalls—but they don't talk.

Even with photos online to jog her memory, she hardly remembers what the building she practiced in looked like. She found videos posted with her in the background, but she wasn't tagged or featured ever. She was more of a background fixture, dancing or walking past here and there. When a full year passed and not a single person reached out to ask where she went, Alice assumed she must not have had actual friends.

What had her house even looked like? She remembers her room being upstairs, with a twin-sized canopy bed and a view of a big, green field. The kitchen was dated, with tile floors and countertops. The floors were hardwood. There was a creaky board at the bottom of the stairs.

And she danced a lot. She doesn't remember going out to eat, shopping, attending parties, or going to other people's houses at all. She's not sure if she did anything but dance.

She hates how difficult it is to picture what things were like growing up. It feels almost like someone else's life. Everything's fuzzy and jumbled together like a puzzle missing half of its pieces.

When she'd mentioned it to Carlisle a little after she arrived in Seattle, he had her come in for a checkup at the hospital. They didn't find anything wrong. It was attributed to a case of stress-related amnesia, though she doesn't remember feeling extraordinarily anxious or troubled. Maybe that's the point.

Edward was the one who used his detective skills to find the articles about her parents along with her hospitalization records. He likes researching and knowing things just to know them. The rest she gathered off the little social media posting she had done. After the run-in with James, they discovered more information regarding her being homeschooled, but it still isn't enough to fill in what's been lost.

All in all, Alice doesn't tend to worry about it much. She didn't and still doesn't really care. As far as she can tell, the chapter of her life in Mississippi is over.

Still, there is a mysterious, curious aspect of it all. How is it that her life in Seattle is so intensely clear and vivid, but every moment prior to arriving sits hiding behind some sort of foggy, incomprehensible haze? She was told that memories often come back within a few years, but hers haven't.

She can picture the first time she saw Jasper as if it were yesterday. She was on a train from Jackson to Chicago, staring out at the endless sea of agricultural fields passing by when it hit her. A vision of a tall, honey blond with broad shoulders and light brown eyes looking at her and saying her name in a low, smooth voice. Alice.

It still makes her heart skip a beat just thinking of it. She wasn't sure why she was heading toward Seattle at the time, but when she saw the image of him in her head, she knew. He would be there.

And once she made it from Chicago to the Spokane station, she saw Edward—her new best friend—along with Carlisle, Esme, and Emmett. It made her so happy to know she wouldn't be alone once she reached her destination.

"Tired?" Rosalie asks, noticing Alice's lack of attention on their conversation.

"No, I was just thinking about how I haven't been back to Biloxi since I left," Alice explains.

"Oh. Yeah, what's even down there anyway? Alligators? I wouldn't go."

"I have a sister there I think."

Rosalie isn't impressed. "Jasper lived in Texas for almost a decade, and I never visited."

"Are you not very close?"

"Not really. We'd see each other, like, twice a year. We aren't all twin telepathy or anything. Although, when we were kids, Jasper did do a lot of sympathy crying."

"Hm, yeah..." Alice trails off noncommittally as she breaks apart her scone into more bite-sized pieces. "Do you want to walk around for a while? It looks like it's about to stop raining."

Rosalie looks out the windows of the cafe as if to verify the statement. "Yeah, sure. If you think it's not going to ruin my hair if we do."

...

The red and blue neon lights of the building glow overhead, cutting through the darkness of the drizzly night. Bella stands beside Jessica, gazing up at the list of showings displayed over the movie theater ticket box with her.

"What should we see?" Jessica asks. "Something funny? Maybe a rom-com?"

Bella's stomach lurches. She doesn't want to see a romance in any way, shape, or form. She also expected Jessica to already be set on what movie she wanted to see. There was no mention that she would have to contribute to the decision. "No! No, um...how about...the zombie movie."

Jessica's head pulls back skeptically. "What zombie movie?"

"The one with the zombies and...blood and guts...it came out last month. I've been wanting to see it," she fibs, pointing to a poster of a gruesome-looking undead character plastered up on the lobby wall.

It's the only poster that doesn't have a picture of a couple or some indication of a romantic plot on it.

"Weird. Okay. Thought you hated blood, but sure." Jessica walks forward to the short line at the box office and orders them two tickets for the next showing.

Bella follows her through the lobby and down the hall to theater 10. She listens to Jessica talk about her classes and her new professor that she claims is the sexiest man in graduate school while they weave through the rows of seats, finding the most centrally located pair in the auditorium.

Jessica continues to chatter through the previews and into part of the opening credits, and Bella's thankful for her talkativeness. She doesn't have to say much when Jessica's more than happy to carry the entire conversation.

None of it really matters, either, which is nice. Nothing Jessica ever says carries much importance. It's always empty fluff and gossip. If she misses something, she'll hear about it twenty more times, because that's just how Jessica is.

The first scene of the movie is a young couple having a picnic together.

"I thought this was horror," Bella complains, feeling sick.

"They're getting to that. It just started," Jessica hisses.

She can't do this. "I need popcorn," she says before getting up and making a beeline for the exit. She picks the longest line, orders popcorn, and sits out in the lobby for as long as she dares before returning.

It isn't until she can hear screams coming from the door that she knows she can go back in.

Jessica shoots her a look when she sits back down. "You missed everything. There are so many zombies now."

"Long line. The popcorn machine was having issues," Bella lies, holding out the buttery bag of kernels.

Jessica grabs a handful, dropping most of it when she lets out a scream. "AAH!"

One of the zombies jumped out from behind a corner, but Bella doesn't react. She just doesn't care.

The zombie chases one of the supporting characters—who's shrieking along with Jessica—as she stumbles down a dark hallway.

There aren't any lovey-dovey couples on the screen to remind her of how alone she is, but she still feels uneasy. It takes her until the end of the chase scene when the girl is being eaten alive to realize why: she identifies more with the zombie than the terrified victim.

She feels just as cold, dead, and miserable as the monster.

Bella passes the popcorn over to Jessica and stands up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Jessica whispers, batting at her arm as she walks by her.

"I'm thirsty. I'm getting a drink."

"The movie's almost over, though."

She returns to the lobby and orders a small cola. Sitting down at one of the benches, she waits. Two minutes. Five. Ten. She studies the old, scratchy carpeting under her sneakers.

Fifteen minutes later, Jessica comes into the lobby looking irritated. "Was it too scary for you?"

"Yeah. You were right. I can't handle horror. You're...really brave.."

Jessica grins. "Right? It was so scary. I thought you were bored or something because you weren't screaming. I bet we're going to have nightmares tonight."

"Definitely."

"Hey, let's go get something to eat. I think there's a Mcdonald's close by."

Bella follows her down the dark, rainy street past bars and restaurants with bright, flashing signs. She doesn't pay attention to where they're going. Life is easier when her brain's on autopilot.

They turn a corner and the golden arches of their destination light up the opposite end of the block like a beacon.

Something else catches Bella's eye, though. As they walk past a crowded bar with a line trailing down the sidewalk, she finds herself stopping to take a closer look.

Four men stand off to the side of the door, leaning against the building and smoking.

They look just like the guys who tried to mug her in Queen Anne back in October. One even has a similar type of haircut and stubbly face. There's no way they'd be here—that's too much of a coincidence—but she can't bring herself to look away. It's as if she's hypnotized.

"Bella?" Jessica calls behind her when she realizes she isn't keeping pace.

She makes an excuse to linger. "I think I know them..."

"Doubtful, but okay. Let's go. I'm hungry."

She ignores Jessica's urging and walks towards the little, smokey alley. The closer she gets, the more her heart rate rises.

"Hey there, sweet thing!" one of the men calls out to her.

The adrenaline, she quickly realizes, feels good. She isn't afraid. She feels alive.

Jessica grabs her arm. "Bella..."

She shakes it off and continues towards the men. She wants to see what happens.

"Bella, what are you doing?" a familiar voice says in her ear.

Her stomach drops. She spins on her foot and sees nothing but darkness and the city streets behind her.

She could have sworn she just heard him. It sounded exactly like Edward.

"Bella, let's go," Jessica says in a low voice that sounds uncharacteristically serious.

She's can't. She wants to hear him again. She needs to see if she can replicate the voice in her head. "Go ahead without me," she says.

She hears him again, this time a bit stronger. "Bella, stop."

"Are you lost? Can I buy you a drink?" one of the men asks.

Jessica pulls her arm with a bruising grip suddenly. Bella trips over her own feet as she's dragged away from the men.

"Are you trying to find some skeezy dude to rebound on or something?" Jessica seethes. "Gross."

"No...I...I thought I recognized the one guy."

"From where? There's no way."

They walk the rest of the block to McDonald's in silence.

While she should be feeling something like pain or sadness at being reminded of Edward again, she's only relieved. Relieved that she could hear his voice again.

She wishes she could hear it again.