Pandora
Chapter V:
Dripping & Shining
I've decided to put original version of Pandora (chapter 1-18) on Dropbox (as PDF). Dropbox has two options you can choose from: with reviews replies or without.
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On my Tumblr, simply search 'PDF' OR Click Story Link on the sidebar.
Edited by YanaTG and updated on 11/05/2020
Her phone remained off and undisturbed. But she could only pretend it didn't exist for so long because she had to face the reality.
At least for now.. Jessica sighed.
Jessica loved rain, anything from drizzle to downpour and all the spits and spots in between. She loved the sound, the smell, the look and the feel of the droplets on her skin. Being out in it, hiding from it; the fact that it both cleansed the world and made it cozy. Above all, she loved that rain was unaccountable. It simply turned up or it didn't and there's nothing one could do about it. In an increasingly fast-paced and stressful world, rain kept people free and it kept them humble. Not many understood her preference, most of the time they looked at her as if she had just expressed a perverse preference for being in pain.
Although now it reminded her of a certain vampire too. Alec suits rain, she thought. He reminded her of the rain. Perhaps it was the perplexity of his being or a note of melancholy she could feel from him. She could see it and touch it but not catch it. Like a sand that slips through her fingers. Their meeting wasn't always consistent. They would meet almost every day and there would be times when Alec seems to disappear from Earth completely from days to as long as a week to two then reappears in front of her as though he was always there. He was like the rain that followed the wind.
The rain had a knack of stirring nostalgia in her. Standing under the castle tower's roof, sheltered from the falling rain, she took the time to take a journey down her memory lane. From her first encounter with Forks, her nasty break-up from Mike, to her taking a term off school, grabbing her lifetime saving, a bag, a ticket and plane, to her discovering about the dark secret that lurked underneath the human world ––the secret that was so close to her, right under her nose, right by her school seat.
She's oddly captivated by the droplets in ways she hadn't been before in Forks. Maybe it's the novelty of seeing it in another country. An exciting change.
Then she does something other people might find it odd were they to see it. She stepped out into the rain on her own accord. The water seeped through her hair and clothes and clung to her skin in tiny droplets. It freshen her up.
Jessica approached the ledge of the brick until her arms and top of her chest hung in balance between the landing and the soil ground. She didn't like heights, but the way her fears worked was quirky. It wasn't for all heights and situations. Just few, such as abseiling-bungee-jumping type of height. She loved looking down from the plane. And liked it here too.
It'd be a long fall from here. Very likely to be fatal if unlucky, crippling if survived. Or lucky depending on how you fell.
Even though she wasn't going to let herself plunge, she still can't help but feel the creeping fear on primal level rumbling in her chest. Her body was designed to survive as long as it could before the time got her. Humans lived with their foot on the death's door every day. Would these feelings disappear when she becomes a vampire? The feeling of dying every minute. The fear of wasting away to the ashes to the ground after living in vain. It's what made every day feel like a living. Why she woke up each day and do something. If that was gone, what would she live for? If one knew tomorrow was definite and always there, how monotonous would that be? Time forcibly stopped. An act against nature.
Her body tilted slightly forward. It was minimal but the balance was delicate thing. Even the smallest imbalance can tilt awry in directions you wouldn't want. Then she was pulled back, forcibly. A momentum that made her stumble slightly until her head hit something and stabilized her footing.
Few days have passed since Bella last heard from Jessica. It was obvious the phone had been turned off after her repeated attempt to reach her ended up in automated voicemail after reading the long message. The shock was expected, after all, finding out vampires exist and the knowledge of their existence would mean either being killed or becoming one of them –– none of them would sound appealing to most. Although Bella was the exception.
The person who picked up the phone that day wasn't Jessica. Her heart dropped to her stomach when a familiar but petrifying friendly tone could be heard from the other end.
"What have you done to her?!" Bella demanded, yelling.
"She's still alive." He calmly said, "But it seems that she found out about..us."
Bella wished her gut feeling was wrong about the last phone call with Jessica. That her deliberate prodding wasn't so deliberate.
"A-are you going to kill her..?" Her voice trembled violently at the thought of someone so close to her, to her home, ending up dying in the hand of a vampire. Almost like her mum and Charlie. James.
"In accordance to the law, I have the right," He told her and her breath hitched, "but I am willing to let her live if she's to be turned, given that she does not expose our world."
"T-turned? Like into a vampire?" She repeated, almost as if for confirmation although no answers were given. His implication was clear.
"S-she will be turned. By us. Edward will turn her. Please, don't kill her. She won't tell. I know she won't. She can't become a vampire now – she needs more time. Please." Bella pleaded, then added heavily, "I-I'll take responsibility."
Bella knew he was smiling over the phone. Was it from amusement at the how far an extent two friends went for each other? Or was this all part of his plan? She could not tell.
The phone was disconnected, indicating Alec was the one that hung up.
"Did anyone hear from Jess lately?" Her train of thought was interrupted by Angela's attempt to break the awkward silence in the group. The group were not the same without Jessica's bubbly spur. She was the mood maker of the group and when she was with them, it was as if she never ran out of anything to say. She never failed to make people laugh.
Angela's good willed but strained gesture seemed to be lost in the group, although a topic about Jessica always did manage to bring out a few sentences from each person around the table.
"No.. I WhatsApped her like two days ago and she hasn't even read it." Eric revealed with a frown, "How about you, Bella?"
For the first time in a long time, Mike looked up from his food and turned his attention to the table's discussion. He became depressed ever since Jessica had left for Italy, although he tries very hard to involve himself with his friends, the interactions often ended up in an awkward, forced one-sided reciprocation. Mike glanced up at Bella, as if waiting for her reply. Remaining two pairs of eyes all turned their attention to her.
"..Yeah, she messaged me yesterday actually; something about not having a good signal where she's staying. She's doing fine. She's.. happy." The latter word ignited a much more strong physical reaction from Mike, who pushed back his chair with a loud screech and stomped away.
"Uh, Bell.. maybe you should have left out the happy part." Eric suggested for the next time they talked about Jessica.
Bella suppressed the urge to bury her head in her arms and never look up.
Craning her neck ever so slightly, her nose touched a chin, cooler than the rain on her skin, and turned to face the figure behind her.
"Alec!" She blinked in surprise, "Been a while."
He under on the roof, just where she had been a few minutes ago. The water was dripping off the roof and onto his expensive looking coat, staining his shoulders a few shade darker.
"What were you thinking?" His voice was soft although there was sharpness to it.
"Thinking about what?"
"Your blood could have spilled." His eyes narrowed and darkened, "You could have fallen."
"Alec, calm down," Maybe she shouldn't have said calm down as his eyes seemed to flare in anger ever so slightly, "I was just looking down, I do that sometimes. I really shouldn't because it's really dangerous but, sorry. I didn't mean to make you… worry?"
"I would have lost control." He revealed to rebut her claim.
She nodded in understanding.
"What if someone comes up here?"
"I will know."
"You can smell them?"
He nodded.
"How do I smell like?"
"Food." He said with a playful smile.
Jessica rolled her eyes at his blatant but obvious reply.
"You said you can wear contacts to hide your eye colors right?" She asked. Just as the word left her mouth, the rays of sun began to shine through the inky clouds and onto the castle. It reached her first where she was out of the shadow the roof afforded.
Alec's hand, still on her arm, happened to be in the range of the sun. Her eyes widened as his skin glowed against hers'. So bright she feared if her skin under his palm had been burnt from the glare.
"Your skin…"
His arm retreated back into the safety of the darkness and the glow ceased.
"Shit, they weren't kidding." Jessica muttered, remembering the couple's and Giada's words.
"How are you going to leave?" She turned back to the sky, "Now that the sun's up."
"I can find the way."
"I have an idea." Jessica said as she reached out to him and pulled his hood over him.
"Wait here."
Giving him a final, firm glance, she quickly dashed down the stairs where she nearly ended up smacking into two girls on their way up the tower.
"Oh, sorry!" She apologized then instinctively turned toward the tower entrance. Shit, Alec's there.
"ARE YOU OKAY?!" She yelled, emphasizing each syllables. It was loud enough for the echo to reach the top.
The two girls, taken back, blinked in confusion and one of the girl replied, "Uh, yeah, we're okay. It's fine. No worries."
"ARE YOU GUYS VISITNG THE TOWER?!"
"Uh…yeah…."
"I HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE TIME!" Jessica gave a good final yell before heading down.
Arriving to the street, there was a drug store across the castle. Entering and heading toward the eye care isle, she managed to find one day contact boxes with clear and various different eye colors. Brown, blue, green and icy gray.
She instinctively reached for the clear ones, halted and slowly hovered over to the ones with colors. She needed something that hid his colors. Would brown be dark enough? Would blue be too light?
Then…
What was his eye colour as human? Was it blue? Was it gray? For some reason, she thinks he'd suit blue eyes. The colour of clear, cloudless sky.
She grabbed the blue contacts off the counter and paid for it. Then she ran back up the castle stairs, ignoring the puzzled glance from the secretary until she reached the top where hopefully he was still waiting.
To her surprise, although deep inside, she knew he'd probably disappeared to a safer location, the space under the roof was vacant. She had expected it yet a pang of disappointment shot through her that he had left.
The two girls on the far side of the circular tower noticed her and acknowledged her with brief, friendly wave. Jessica smiled and returned the greeting while her eyes carefully scanned the area. Few minutes later, the rain stopped and sharp rays of light shone through the gray veils.
"The rain stopped!" One of the girls said to another and they shared a look of relief. They must have sought shelter in the castle.
"Let's go."
They passed her and their eyes met, smiling in response before heading down. Jessica held up the contact lens from the plastic bag, wondering whether she should return them or not. She told them to throw away the receipt – maybe if she quickly went back, they'll still remember her.
Jessica turned toward the entrance, nearly dropping her bags and letting out a breathy scream barely louder than a whimper. Every time their eyes met, it felt like a deer staring into the predator's eyes. More specifically, he reminded her of black leopard if she had to pick out his spiritual animal. They were both solitary, mythical animal. And those eyes. She was only seven when she came across the image of a black leopard staring with its penetrating, piercing gold-yellow eyes to the person behind the camera. And the spectators too. The focused, electrifying stare signalled that death was stalking. Was it not a perfect animal to compare?
"I thought you were gone." She said with a pleased smile.
"Yes. The humans were here." He said with a slight nod toward the stairs.
She held up the lens box, "I got you blue. I have a feeling you had blue eyes. As human."
A small smile appeared, almost bitter sweet, before he confirmed her suspicion,
"You're right."
"Well, does that earn me a prize? Like 50 years extension from becoming a vampire?" She joked despite knowing all she would get was a curt shake and a 'nice try' look.
"Why would I need these?" He asked.
"Well, to go out." Jessica shrugged in a 'matter-of-fact' tone, "I mean it's a bit boring just sitting in hiding, right? So let's go somewhere new for once. Not around lots of people but like you know with other people if you get my drift."
"I do not think that's a good idea." He said.
"Do all vampires have low self-control around humans?"
"Would you not be tempted to eat if you were surrounded by food?"
"Well," The metaphor did made her empathize his plight, "But people can choose to eat or not."
"Our thirsts don't work like that." He revealed. "It's a thousand times more unbearable; more agonizing. It's always there no matter how much we drink. We can never be satiated."
"So…even now…"
"I'm barely holding myself back from ripping out your throat." He finished with a tone one would usually use to say 'Hey, Gary, I just dropped off my kids to school and thought I'd do some grocery shopping for dinner tonight.'
Jessica did a step back, an action even he approved.
"Well, you're good at not showing how you really feel, do you?" She commented, although it could be used to generalize on other aspect of his character. "How about we go somewhere where there are not much people then? Like um..oh, there's this really nice hanging out place outside the wall."
She pulled out a pair of lens from the box, handing it toward him when he revealed with almost an embarrassed whisper, "I don't know how to put them on."
"It goes on your eyes. Like you put one on your finger so the hollow-side is facing up then you just gently place it top your pupil and blink a few times." Jessica explained but she was pretty sure, even if he tried not show, absolute confusion was written on his face. Imagining him trying to put on the lens and making every beginner's mistakes was a bit comical and laughable, but she was never going to voice that opinion out loud.
"Okay, I'll put them on for you." Jessica said. Angela rarely wore lenses except for very special occasions where she wanted to look as pretty and sexy as possible without becoming a poster child for the 'sexy teacher/business woman' look. Being horribly bad at putting them on, she would bring it along to put them on at the place and Jessica would help her put them in as it seemed was easier.
Jessica tore the wrapping, used her nail to pick them, placed it on her dry index finger and slowly re-approached Alec.
"I need to touch your face." She warned him. He remained stoic, making her unsure whether he was giving her the permission or not.
Gently, she placed her fingers on the top and bottom of his eye. Her heart thumped violently against her chest. His red eyes remained on hers', unblinking. With a shaking finger, she placed the lens on his crimson pupil, watching it turn dark violet, almost light navy. A rare, if not, non-existing colour for human eye color. Still it was passable, anyone would see it and think it was contacts.
She did the exactly the same for the other eye. Only her palm accidentally brushed past the bottom of his lips and elicited a visible reaction at the contact. It almost resembled a movement a fly trap would make when a prey moved across its trap; an instinctual, primal rouse. Eat it, it was saying.
But Alec remained still, unmoving rather than lashing out.
"Sorry." She apologized with a slight blush. He definitely caught the rush of blood to her cheeks.
The new eyes of Alec were an eerily strange thing for Jessica to see. She always saw Heidi with the same vivid colour that was not red so it was more familiar to her, but her first colour of Alec was crimson. Now it was violet. It was strange.
"You look…" She was about to say human but then thought not many people would like to be compared to a food, "Like people are gonna stop you and say 'cool lens bro, where'd ya get it?'"
He blinked rapidly, as if irritated by the foreign object in his eyes. This was expected although she never expected what he was about to say.
"There are scratches on it."
Jessica tilted her head with a confused frown, "Scratches? What do you mean? Wait, like on the lens? There are scratches on them? Woah, you can see them?!"
He kept blinking, clear distaste for the contraception scrawled on his eyes.
"Holy shit, just how good are vampire eye sights?" She murmured.
"Quite good, I presume."
It took her a few moments for his reply to sunk in and hear the playfulness in his tone. He was joking with her. Maybe he was opening up, even if it was just a little.
"Let's go." She turned to the entrance, one step down the stairs when she glanced over her shoulder to see if he followed. He was gone.
"Alec?" She panicked, twirling around the tower only to see him at the foot of the steps as though he had been waiting for her from the beginning.
"W-wh-ho-damn it Alec!" She rolled her eyes with a weak growl, hurrying to where he was, "Can you stop with that disappearing ghost act, like thank my heart you at least did it in the daylight."
The only reply she got was a small, arrogant smirk.
Jessica walked in front of Alec toward the exit, noting the hesitance from the vampire.
"What's wrong?"
Wordlessly, he held up his bare hand into the light which began to glisten like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in his skin.
"Oh.." Jessica muttered, momentarily forgetting her words at the sheer beauty of it, "Right.. I forgot." Sunscreen will definitely not cover that.
Just as all hope of venturing outside seemed lost, the sun was usurped by large, endless clouds still heavy with trapped rain. His hand became halky, almost bloodless colour it was once again.
"What you know." Jessica grinned and stepped outside. "Your turn."
A small pause; wary and careful, as he always were. Then his leather shoe crossed the line separating the safety of the shadow from the exposure. And now everyone could see them. See him. The people in the street seemed to deliberately slow their pace just to admire his beauty.
Jessica wondered if that was how she often looked when she saw the Cullens' and Alec's face for the first time and even most times despite becoming more used to their unnatural good looks. Not the kind of face she definitely wanted to see herself being tagged with and shared on Facebook for the sake of her self-esteem.
The women, in particular, seemed to notice them more than others while their boyfriends' confidence and self-esteem seemed to wither each second go by. She has never felt more ugly and embarrassed than she did now in her whole life. It made her wanted to be far away from his side as possible because she knew they were judging her. Who is he? Why is he with her? Why is she with him? What's so special about her? Are they friends? Even without power of mind reading, she knew those thoughts were flashing pass their minds. Call it a woman's intuition. That's what she did when Bella and Edward announced they were dating and when she noticed his attention on Bella ever since her arrival.
It didn't feel too good to be on the short end of the stick at all.
"You know how I said it'd be a good idea if we hang out where people are…I take that back."
"It is a little too late for regret."
"All regrets are too late. That's what regrets are. Just take a peek at my Instagram and you'd know." Jessica sighed. How was she going to walk through these people without her mind automatically guessing what others were thinking and self-killing her own self-esteem.
"Let's go." Jessica said, chin up and never avoiding their stares. He followed closely behind her.
"So…is being beautiful a trait thing or like it's just beautiful people that happened to be turned." She quietly said, barely audible to human ears.
"How one was perceived as a human is enhanced after transformation." He explained in voice so low she had to lean toward him just to catch a wisp of some of the words.
"Gee so it's not just your senses that's enhanced.." She muttered, "It's so different from my version of you-know-what but I think I've seen physical transformation tropes in TV."
Talking helped. It helped herself distract her mind for a minute. Gave her something to think about. They were nearly there, just few minutes and they'd be out of the wall. Away from the crowd.
"Hey." The sweet, soft, high pitched interjected from Alec's side. His other side. That girly, breathy voice did not belong to her even if she deliberately tried. Jessica presumed the girl was around her age and also an American from her accent. Another tourist like her.
"Hi, I'm Esther." She introduced with her practised dazzling grin that showed off her white, brace straightened teeth. A Lauren Mallory of Italy.
Alec briefly glanced at her before walking away, toward the entrance. Jessica, despite being briefly caught off guard, standing in stupor with an expression mirroring Esther's, quickly recovered and hurried to catch up with Alec, whose pace was noticeably more quicker but not too quick that it was beyond human's possible speed.
The girl, now known as Esther, seemed intent on sticking around more, gaining proximity with long, smooth strides with her long legs.
Esther grabbed hold of Alec's arm, intending to have him stop for a minute, "Wait––" Alec shook her off with a sharp swipe of his arm. Displeasure and anger was evident, the icy glare he gave was enough to send shivers down not just Esther's but Jessica's spine as well.
"Do not touch me." He slowly said, pressing each word with great emphasis. Get lost, his eyes were saying. If looks could kill, she'd have disintegrated into ash. Or froze into a human ice statue.
Esther's eyes widened, finding herself taking a step back before rebounding back with an attempted smile, "Sorry, but I just wanted to know your name." His glare would have been enough to discourage her futile effort to flirt but she was tenacious.
"Leave me. Now." That tone meant it was final and last warning. Jessica's heart thumped so fast she thought she was having a heart attack. This girl was going to get herself killed.
"Hey, Esther," Jessica spoke, turning her attention toward her, "Alec's having a really bad day today. Um…his pet hamster died so…"
The girl feigned a saddened gasp, her hand on her chest, "Oh my God, I didn't know…aww, that's so sad."
"Yeah.." Jessica nodded in agreement, "Like he had that hamster for two years and.. he tapped out."
"I so know that feeling, like when my cat died; it was so horrible." Esther shook her head, "He doesn't look like a hamster guy to me though."
"Yeah, lots of people say that."
"No wonder…" She glanced at Alec who seemed to have enough of their nonsense and decided to turn away to walk toward the wall's gate.
Taking out her phone, Esther showed Jessica her screen. It was a number. A Seattle one to be exact from the area code.
"Here, take my number down and give it to him when he's feeling better." She said then added with narrowed eyes, "You're not his girlfriend or anything, are you…?"
"Oh, gosh no!" Jessica shook her head vigorously, now that would be just plain weird, "No I'm his friend. Just a friend."
"Oh that's good! Thought you were his girlfriend!" She giggled.
And you were flirting with him even when you thought I was his girlfriend? Jessica resisted the urge to raise her brow at the girl's questionable moral. Instead, she took out her phone and took a picture of the screen.
"Sure! I'll pass it on to him!"
"Thanks…?"
"Jessica."
"Thanks Jessica." With friendly grin, she headed back to where her group of friends were waiting, quietly watching from afar with excitement.
Jessica let out a relieved sigh as she hurried to the gate where Alec had been waiting with slight irritated expression. Good, no one was dead or dismembered or injured.
"I'm proud of you, Alec." Jessica said, "I would have Game of Thrones her ass!"
"I don't understand."
"Oh, it's another way of saying I'd have killed her."
"Unfortunately, killing within the walls is prohibited."
"I know!" Jessica laughed and wiped her imaginary sweat off her forehead with an exaggerated sigh of relief, "Thank God for that!"
"You're amused at the expense of my anger."
"Well, it was pretty annoying and funny at the same time – you have to admit."
Jessica shrugged with a smile, "Let's go before that girl decides to chase you around."
Jessica only recently discovered the plain only few days earlier, whilst snooping around the outside area of the Volterra. Balze Cliff it was called. One had to walk half an hour to reach the actual cliff but the far start of the cliff was just as beautiful and offered plain, unobstructed view of the preserved, untouched nature surrounding the beautiful town.
"This place is so beautiful." She said, "You're so lucky you live in such beautiful place."
Alec wordlessly watched as the foggy cloud cleared away and the sky became painted with hues of orange and red from scattering. It was dusk. Through his eyes, everything in the world was incredibly beautiful, more so than the human eye could ever comprehend. Yet the appreciation for such beauty was lost to him after centuries of living. The nature was as beautiful as ever but it was just that. It no longer touched him anymore.
He slightly turned so that he could watch her reaction toward the sunset. Eyes widened with gleam of awe and gratitude and a bright grin. Ah yes, was that how he had been watching his first sunrise and sunset as a vampire? As a human? He can't remember anymore.
Then their eyes met when she briefly looked away from the sun to him. Her expression was unchanging as she had watching the dusk take place. Why?
"You're glowing…"
"Ah.." So that was the cause of her wonderment.
"Do you mind…?" She trailed off as her index finger approached his face. He felt her gently poking his right cheek, a gesture that confused him.
"I knew it." She said, "You're skin is as hard as it looks. Like a diamond."
Then she sprawled her fingers wide so that her whole hand was caressing his cheek. It was surreal how someone's skin could feel just as it looked. There was neither softness nor malleability to the texture, no visible pores or blemishes. Just smooth, marble-like flesh that didn't really felt like flesh.
"You're…pretty."
"Pretty?" Alec scoffed, allowing Jessica's curious hand to travel across his face. Her skin looked as if it were glowing too.
"What's wrong with being pretty?" She asked as she took her hand away to her side, "The scenery is pretty too. So is the Volterra."
"You remind me of my sister." He muttered.
Jessica turned to face him again with wide eyes, "Wait, you have a sister?! What's her name? How old is she?" The image of a lovely girl with fuller lips resembling Alec flashed passed her mind; that must be her.
Alec seemed contemplating whether to tell her or not, scanning her face as if searching for something.
Then after a long silence between them, he said warmly, "Jane. Her name is Jane. She's my twin sister."
"Jane…" She tested out, "That's a pretty name. I bet she's as pretty as you are."
"She's…the most beautiful girl in the world." He told with sincerity in his voice and a tender smile. She was dazzled by the gentleness he never shown until now. Although she had her doubt, she always thought that maybe he was an emotionally stunted vampire boy who won't ever know what it means to smile or love in a way a normal vampire would. Yet just by mentioning his sister, whom he clearly loved and treasured very dearly, shattered her preconceived bias about him. He was endless ball of surprise she untangled each day.
"Alec," She said, "I think you're more harsher on yourself than I am. I know now, for a fact, that you're definitely not a monster. I don't know who said that to you but they're wrong. You're just…" Jessica shrugged, "Alec."
He glanced at her which she responded with a small uplifting smile before turning back to the sunset.
"I'm glad I met you, Alec."
He didn't respond but she could feel he appreciated it.
Edited by YanaTG and updated on 11/05/2020