I heard the police sirens before I saw them. They came around the bend while I was waiting in the living room, my mom running her hands up and down my shoulders as a coping mechanism. For who, I'm not sure. She was just as shaken as I was when she came running up the stairs into my room to find me huddled into a ball, rocking back and forth. I had no words for this fuckery of what had transpired, or at least what I thought transpired. It was too fast to notice, but I thought… no. Nothing. I wouldn't say anything.

Charlie was the one who came up to the house while another police officer walked the perimeter of the house apparently, trying to find any footprints. "So, you said something about stuff being moved around in the room and then the window being open, huh?" I blankly nodded. He sighed and put his hands on his hips, looking around the living room before his eyes landed on my mom. "Well, I don't know what much to say other than we'll try and find the person responsible. They didn't take anything, right?" He glanced down at me for an answer. I shook my head. He sighed again. "Okay, well, we'll do a sweep of the house again and then go take it to the station. Whoever it was may have stayed around the area." Chief Swan turned to make his way out of the house, but stopped. "I'd also try and not stay here for a few nights, if you can."

He took his leave after that. My mom and I didn't move or say a word until the cruisers exited the driveway.

"I hate cops. They're never useful, fuck does he mean not stay here a few nights? Where else would we stay?" I muttered angrily.

"Come on, mija, they're just trying their best."

"Yeah, well, their best isn't enough, Mom." I got up with a huff and stormed away to my room. As much as I didn't want to be in there, I couldn't not be in there. I needed to look at everything. I needed to see just why the fuck someone would break in. It just didn't make sense. There had to be something I missed midway through my panic attack. From downstairs, I distinctly heard knocking on the door, but ignored it in favor of rifling through the clothes strewn about.

Are you checking to see if they took anything?

I let out a small shriek at the sudden voice behind me. I whirled around and saw none other than Jasper Hale standing in my doorway. He looked just as put together as he did in school earlier that day, calm aura enveloping him. I was frozen, stuck staring at him in awe. There was just no way someone could be this put together at all hours of the day.

"Jasper…" I shifted my arms to wrap around my middle. "What are you doing here?"

"Considering you just had a break in, I thought it was worth coming to check on you."

"Oh." My eyes traveled down to the floor, embarrassed by the sudden show of worry, not that he showed much emotion anyway. "Well, thanks, I appreciate it."

"No problem. Carlisle and Esme are downstairs with your mother, asking her how she feels. Esme heard about the break in and insisted on having Carlisle check her out. You'll probably be called down soon enough too."

I smiled at the mention of the kind adoptive parents. They were good people, just like my mom said. Not many people would pass by this late at night just to see how someone was doing. That made me wonder, though.

"How did y'all hear about the break in?"

If I hadn't been staring intently at Jasper, I might have missed the flash of hesitation that crossed his face. Had I been more awake, maybe I would have challenged the response he gave me about word spreading fast in town, but I didn't have the energy to question him. Instead I chose to notice how he flexed his hands often, and breathed deeply sometimes. Especially when speaking. Okay, maybe I did a lot of spying on him in Spanish... and lunch, but whatever, it was noticeable! How could I not gravitate towards the way he had huge hands, and the way he had button downs open really open too?

"Daniela?"

I realized too late I was just standing there without saying a word. "Ha, uh, sorry about that." He only smirked in response. "I guess I should go downstairs and say hi." Jasper nodded and made to step out of the room, but he paused. His stare was set on something behind me, so I followed his gaze - it landed on the window. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, neither did Chief Swan when he came in and scoped it out. On God, I did not know what he was staring at. Then he suddenly moved back into the room so fast I barely caught the motion.

"Woah, what the fuck?" I stood there in shock as Jasper scratched at something on my windowsill. "Jasper?"

He remained silent, deciding to instead leave as abruptly as he came in, sweeping down the staircase, leaving me as confused as I've been since I got to this godforsaken town. "Literally, what the fuck is this place?" I muttered, choosing to follow the confusing teenager. Downstairs seemed to be in an uproar. Carlisle was at the foot of the stairs, looking up at the landing where I was, Esme at his side consoling my mother who looked like she was about to faint, and Jasper was there beside his adoptive father, whispering so low I heard nothing. "What's going on, Jasper?" I asked as I came down the rest of the stairs. They didn't spare a glance as they spoke, they just kept speaking. I was fed up. My anxiety was at an all time high and I was not having it anymore. "Hello?" I shouted, regret trickling in as I saw them look up at me. Something in my facade must have given away I was about to become unhinged as their eyes held pity. I felt something in me shift as the fight drained out. I leaned more heavily onto the banister and held my head with my other hand. "Oh, fuck."

I felt cold hands on me, guiding me from the stairs to a seat. They were soft to the touch and so freezing that it calmed me down. The hands brushed against my forehead, moving misplaced strands of hair aside.

"She's so warm, Carlisle." Jasper's alluring voice was like the most beautiful ballad I'd ever heard. At that moment, I thought I could sit and listen to him forever. "She's burning up."

I vaguely understood they were speaking about me, and I could feel my mom's warm fingers clutching at mine, but I could also feel the fever they were talking about. I hadn't realized I was burning up in the midst of all the panic. It made sense, though. Considering what I saw… who wouldn't be worried sick, literally.

I mumbled my mom's name, trying to catch her attention from where she was conversing desperately with Esme and Carlisle. She wasn't the one who answered, Jasper was.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and through the haze, though he may have been pressing his hand to my forehead, I noticed he was now keeping his distance with his face contorted almost as if in pain.

I weakly smiled at him, stuck on the thought that he had the prettiest eyes I'd ever seen. The amber color was entrancing. "Nothing… you know," I started, "you have really pretty eyes."

"Ay, Dios, she's delirious," my mother cried.

Carlisle crossed the room quickly and with hands checked my forehead as well and flashed a light in my eyes. Where he got it from, I have no clue. After a few seconds of back and forth he stepped back.

"She has a mild fever, but she should be fine with sleep. The stress from the night must have gotten to her," he concluded. He gave me a nod and asked if I needed help getting back upstairs. To my shock, and I think everyone's in the room, Jasper offered to take me upstairs. He wrapped one of my arms around his shoulders, lifting me off the ground at an awkward angle, and put his other arm around my waist to steady me. I was too far gone in the moment to consider how the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen was this close to me. But God, I wish I'd reveled in that moment more.

He pushed the covers aside and let me sit myself down. I felt woozy, that was the only way to describe it. I pushed a hand to my forehead and let myself fall back against the pillows, kicking off my slippers as I did. I vaguely understood Jasper saying something about leaving and seeing me tomorrow, but I didn't respond. I snuggled deeper into the sheets and clutched at the duvet. I let myself fall into a fitful sleep.

The first thing I registered were the red eyes. A shiver ran down my spine, the goosebumps coming after. My feet shuffled back, one following the other tentatively, anything to put distance between the red eyes and my body. The very presence of those eyes were haunting and I could feel the temperature of the room dropping. Something wasn't right - those eyes weren't normal. Once the red eyes shifted closer to me, I broke out into a full blown run. I heard the tiles and heels of its shoes clicking after behind me, fast, faster, and then I ran into a wall. I looked up and saw them there. This wasn't a wall. This was… whatever this was.

In a flash, it had a hand around my neck, squeezing every last breath out of me. I couldn't breathe. I was going to die. But, this is a dream. It had to be. But why was it so realistic?

I struggled to lift an arm up to push away at the thing crushing my windpipe to no avail. Is this how I would die?

I let myself fall limp in its arms, choosing the easy way out if it meant this would stop and my heart would stop racing so fast I was having trouble breathing. It would be so easy to just -

I startled awake, seeing nothing but darkness. I shifted in my tangled sheets, thrashing every which way to get free of the constraints. With a thump, I landed on the floor, my head knocking back onto my nightstand. With a groan, I sat up, my legs still tangled in sheets and duvet. I reached behind me and felt around my scalp for the source of pain. Retracting my hand, I found it stained with red. With another groan, I slumped back, careful not to hurt my head again.

I checked the clock on the wall and noticed it was about to be seven in the morning. Deciding it was worth it to get up seeing as I had school and was no longer delirious, I rolled over out of the mess of sheets. I tossed everything back on the bed and threw a cursory glance around the room, freezing in place once more. The window was open again.

I laughed nervously. This was a fucking joke, my mom must have just opened it to circulate some cold air, that had to be it. There couldn't be something else. It couldn't be… that.

I heard a rap on my door and dragged my eyes away from the open window. My mom crept into the room hesitantly, nothing like she normally was, as crossed the room to hold me in her arms. I felt the stress of the night emerge again and I allowed myself to collapse in her arms like I did when we found out about Dad. I felt like a baby again. I was sobbing, ugly crying that made my face hurt, and my mom whispered in my ear, completely oblivious to how much I was starting to hate this place. I had only been here a few days. God help me.